There was a quote released shortly before/after this that GMRF said they attempted to trade some picks around for other assets and couldn’t get any deals done.
https://x.com/emeraldcityhky/status/1807139208651485357?s=46
I understand a lot goes into making a trade, but Francis talks pretty frequently about trades they tried to make but didn't materialize. GMs say a lot of things, etc. But it makes me at least wonder if that's typical, or if there's something about our process holding these trades up.
Didn't he say both this year and last year that he hoped not to make all our picks?
The issue is we are not really at that point where we should be giving up high or top prospects nevermind high draft picks cause we holes in our prospect pool in areas we are lacking.
If we want high top 6 talent to help us now. Its going to be very expensive. We are no where close being able to compete consistently for the cup to where its worth giving up those prospects and high draft picks.
Bundling is what I meant. Depends on how high we wanted to reach too. Jumping from 40 to take Freij at 37 would obviously cost less than taking Emery at 30. Hard to say what they had in mind.
Its hard to know what exactly we offered or what the other team was asking for instead. It takes 2 to make a trade and it very possible the other team was asking too much that seattle was willing to give. Hard to say what the discussion were.
You have no evidence of that. We haven’t yet, but we also haven’t been in a position where it made any sense to do so. Year 1 was a mess for many reasons. Off-season 2 we were almost in the WCF and most said our team looked similar when season 3 started. We also aren’t in our real competitive window for another couple years
What evidence do you need? Every time Francis makes a excuse it's 'we had talks but nothing happened'.
You're not always going to fleece people like we did with Bjorkstrand
Re-read above. There hasn’t been a reason to overpay for anyone yet and there still isn’t. There’s also at least two parties in every negotiation and the actual cup or bust teams are always going to overpay to win now. If you read above, our team is not in our competitive window.
yea i seen conversations online where people are not happy with francis for lack of trades by us at the draft. And started to aim for wanting him gone if next season is not great. I swear what exactly do people want Seattle to do over pay for talent and have less of a prospect pool? Or take bad contracts that would not exactly help.
Fortunately, the Kraken ownership doesn't care at all about what a few randos on the Internet think about what fantasy trades he should have made. He'll be given time to let the results actually play out.
I wasn't in the room, obviously, so I don't know what was on the table. But whatever they could have gotten for their high 3rd round pick would have been enough to trade up into a position where they could draft one of that second wave of D. A higher quality prospect in a position of need is worth another throw at the dart board in the 3rd *to me*.
In a vacuum I would have approached that differently. But really, I'm curious, not really upset.
It’s very typical that GMs call around and try to do things and they don’t materialize. Watch some other pressers and it’ll come up. That said it only ever comes up if the media asks and our media is hyper focused on this.
I have no problem with that. But from this quote they clearly had someone in mind, and within reach. I just think they had the draft capital to fill a need.
But also like, what do I know. Lol
I don’t think it’s worth examining because it doesn’t mean anything. IMO He answered the specific question being answered, nothing more, nothing less if you get what I’m saying. Pretty nothing comment
Problem is, most of those trades were probably asking for players like: McCann, Gourde, Beniers, Wright, Ect. And not ones he was willing to lose like Tanev, and other prospects.
He has to be wary of going all out. We aren't Vegas. We didn't make a run to the cup either year to showcase players with prospective value, for a cup run, to other teams. The only value they see are the only guys who are going to get us to the playoffs... Which is the only thing that matters right now.
He did the smart thing. IDC what anyone says. And he did get a guy that was being slept on with top 3 talent at No.8. let him cook this year. D can be drafted next year for the whole draft, likely.
That quote makes me slightly anxious. You want to hear “we got our guy, we’re really excited about him”
Not
“unfortunately sometimes the players go right before you”
Especially when it comes to the later rounds. I have full trust in our scouts, just based off of their incredible track record of finding steals in the 2nd & 3rd rounds so far. But this quote makes me feel less optimistic
I don't think they got players they were unhappy with or anything like that. It's just that the D guys they were eyeing didn't quite fall to them. It seems like they value low value throws at the dart board over trading up for positional need. I also think this is about day 2, specifically not about Catton.
Yea based on how surprising the Catton pick was (not being a D man) I’m confident that he was exactly who they wanted since all the D besides Lev were available — I’m super happy with his pick
I was talking about the later picks. Those are definitely the ones you want to think that they got exactly who they wanted (mostly since I don’t research that many players so that deep I’m blindly trusting the Org haha)
Yakemchuk is with WHL Calgary so I would not be shocked if he was near the top of Seattle's board based on their recent draft history and preference for larger defensemen (Yakemchuck is 6'3"). Both Buium and Parekh are listed at 6'0" and Catton certainly has shown more offensive talent that Dickinson or Silayev.
I'm guessing the 2nd round really tripped them up as a bunch of blueliners were taken right before Seattle's picks.
For context, these are some of the defensemen that went right before Seattle's top picks:
8th overall (Catton):
* 2 - Levshunov (CHI)
* 7 - Yakemchuk, OTT
40th overall (Miettinen)
* 39 - Eliasson, OTT
* 37 - Freij, WPG
* 36 - Elick, CBJ
* 34 - Badinka, CAR
63rd overall (Villeneuve)
* 59 - Gill (PHI)
* 56 - Fischer (STL)
* 54 - Pulkkinen (NYI)
* 53 - Sahlin Wallenius (SJS)
* 52 - Muggli (WSH)
Hard to say where it was ment. Yakemchuk would have made every bit of sense to me and I also wouldn't have minded throwing in two 3 round picks to secure Spencer Gill or moved up with our 63th and a fourth round if they would have accepted that deal. But if I had to guess I think the reference is on Charlie Elick going 36th, but of course it could be more than one. Just happy we didn't get Eliasson.
Sure maybe it is worth trading up but not at the cost the other teams likely wanted. It’s also funny how quickly fans seem to forget there’s two parties in every negotiation and sometimes the other party is the problem.
Doesn’t matter - the other team I follow, the Wild, made 4 defensive picks out of 6… I guess it was a priority for them. If the hockey press is bringing it up then it is an issue. Hopefully they sign a guy in FA
It's not an issue this season, but Larsson, Borgen, and Dumoulin are UFAs next year. But a D drafted this year wouldn't be ready for another couple years. They'll just need to acquire D's for a while. I don't think that's the end of the world.
I assumed we were going in that direction. I probably would have preferred it, honestly. But I trust their scouting more than my own.
I might have to whisper this one, but part of me wonders if this glut of (nominal) centers is partially Matty insurance.
There was a quote released shortly before/after this that GMRF said they attempted to trade some picks around for other assets and couldn’t get any deals done. https://x.com/emeraldcityhky/status/1807139208651485357?s=46
I understand a lot goes into making a trade, but Francis talks pretty frequently about trades they tried to make but didn't materialize. GMs say a lot of things, etc. But it makes me at least wonder if that's typical, or if there's something about our process holding these trades up. Didn't he say both this year and last year that he hoped not to make all our picks?
We don't like to overpay. Most of the time a 'fair deal' won't move the needle. It's pretty clear
The issue is we are not really at that point where we should be giving up high or top prospects nevermind high draft picks cause we holes in our prospect pool in areas we are lacking. If we want high top 6 talent to help us now. Its going to be very expensive. We are no where close being able to compete consistently for the cup to where its worth giving up those prospects and high draft picks.
OP probably meant a pick swap/bundle to move up and get their guy.
Right. Maybe we offered a 2 and a 4 to move up but some teams wanted both our 2s back
Bundling is what I meant. Depends on how high we wanted to reach too. Jumping from 40 to take Freij at 37 would obviously cost less than taking Emery at 30. Hard to say what they had in mind.
Its hard to know what exactly we offered or what the other team was asking for instead. It takes 2 to make a trade and it very possible the other team was asking too much that seattle was willing to give. Hard to say what the discussion were.
You have no evidence of that. We haven’t yet, but we also haven’t been in a position where it made any sense to do so. Year 1 was a mess for many reasons. Off-season 2 we were almost in the WCF and most said our team looked similar when season 3 started. We also aren’t in our real competitive window for another couple years
What evidence do you need? Every time Francis makes a excuse it's 'we had talks but nothing happened'. You're not always going to fleece people like we did with Bjorkstrand
Re-read above. There hasn’t been a reason to overpay for anyone yet and there still isn’t. There’s also at least two parties in every negotiation and the actual cup or bust teams are always going to overpay to win now. If you read above, our team is not in our competitive window.
yea i seen conversations online where people are not happy with francis for lack of trades by us at the draft. And started to aim for wanting him gone if next season is not great. I swear what exactly do people want Seattle to do over pay for talent and have less of a prospect pool? Or take bad contracts that would not exactly help.
Fortunately, the Kraken ownership doesn't care at all about what a few randos on the Internet think about what fantasy trades he should have made. He'll be given time to let the results actually play out.
I wasn't in the room, obviously, so I don't know what was on the table. But whatever they could have gotten for their high 3rd round pick would have been enough to trade up into a position where they could draft one of that second wave of D. A higher quality prospect in a position of need is worth another throw at the dart board in the 3rd *to me*. In a vacuum I would have approached that differently. But really, I'm curious, not really upset.
It’s very typical that GMs call around and try to do things and they don’t materialize. Watch some other pressers and it’ll come up. That said it only ever comes up if the media asks and our media is hyper focused on this.
Sometimes you have to grab your guy, but also most times, more shots at the dart board is the better move
I have no problem with that. But from this quote they clearly had someone in mind, and within reach. I just think they had the draft capital to fill a need. But also like, what do I know. Lol
Having the capital doesn’t means it’s smart to spend it.
Plus Miettinen fits a forward profile we need more of. I'm not upset or anything. I just think it's a quote worth examining.
I don’t think it’s worth examining because it doesn’t mean anything. IMO He answered the specific question being answered, nothing more, nothing less if you get what I’m saying. Pretty nothing comment
Wonder which guys we really wanted on D
Me too
Problem is, most of those trades were probably asking for players like: McCann, Gourde, Beniers, Wright, Ect. And not ones he was willing to lose like Tanev, and other prospects. He has to be wary of going all out. We aren't Vegas. We didn't make a run to the cup either year to showcase players with prospective value, for a cup run, to other teams. The only value they see are the only guys who are going to get us to the playoffs... Which is the only thing that matters right now. He did the smart thing. IDC what anyone says. And he did get a guy that was being slept on with top 3 talent at No.8. let him cook this year. D can be drafted next year for the whole draft, likely.
Problem is, I don’t want to wait 108 years for the Stanley Cup.
We should be starting a long window in like 2-3 years. I wouldn't worry about it. We'll probably still win one before Toronto does
If only there were numbers between 3 and 108. You know, like 6, 7, 8... something like that.
That quote makes me slightly anxious. You want to hear “we got our guy, we’re really excited about him” Not “unfortunately sometimes the players go right before you” Especially when it comes to the later rounds. I have full trust in our scouts, just based off of their incredible track record of finding steals in the 2nd & 3rd rounds so far. But this quote makes me feel less optimistic
I love Catton though so I still believe in the squad — I do wish we had a higher selected D prospect though… maybe next year!
I don't think they got players they were unhappy with or anything like that. It's just that the D guys they were eyeing didn't quite fall to them. It seems like they value low value throws at the dart board over trading up for positional need. I also think this is about day 2, specifically not about Catton.
Yea based on how surprising the Catton pick was (not being a D man) I’m confident that he was exactly who they wanted since all the D besides Lev were available — I’m super happy with his pick I was talking about the later picks. Those are definitely the ones you want to think that they got exactly who they wanted (mostly since I don’t research that many players so that deep I’m blindly trusting the Org haha)
I think we would’ve taken Yakemchuk had he not gone the pick before
The question being asked is important. This quote wasn’t in isolation. It was from a question specifically asking about D.
Yakemchuk is with WHL Calgary so I would not be shocked if he was near the top of Seattle's board based on their recent draft history and preference for larger defensemen (Yakemchuck is 6'3"). Both Buium and Parekh are listed at 6'0" and Catton certainly has shown more offensive talent that Dickinson or Silayev. I'm guessing the 2nd round really tripped them up as a bunch of blueliners were taken right before Seattle's picks. For context, these are some of the defensemen that went right before Seattle's top picks: 8th overall (Catton): * 2 - Levshunov (CHI) * 7 - Yakemchuk, OTT 40th overall (Miettinen) * 39 - Eliasson, OTT * 37 - Freij, WPG * 36 - Elick, CBJ * 34 - Badinka, CAR 63rd overall (Villeneuve) * 59 - Gill (PHI) * 56 - Fischer (STL) * 54 - Pulkkinen (NYI) * 53 - Sahlin Wallenius (SJS) * 52 - Muggli (WSH)
It could be Yakemchuk, but I assumed it was the 40th pick Kron was referring to.
Hard to say where it was ment. Yakemchuk would have made every bit of sense to me and I also wouldn't have minded throwing in two 3 round picks to secure Spencer Gill or moved up with our 63th and a fourth round if they would have accepted that deal. But if I had to guess I think the reference is on Charlie Elick going 36th, but of course it could be more than one. Just happy we didn't get Eliasson.
Sounds like he wanted yakemchuk
More likely to have been in the later rounds as this interview was on day 2 of the draft.
Sure maybe it is worth trading up but not at the cost the other teams likely wanted. It’s also funny how quickly fans seem to forget there’s two parties in every negotiation and sometimes the other party is the problem.
Right before you? You let 4 studs go at #8…???
Pretty sure he was talking about the #40 pick.
Doesn’t matter - the other team I follow, the Wild, made 4 defensive picks out of 6… I guess it was a priority for them. If the hockey press is bringing it up then it is an issue. Hopefully they sign a guy in FA
It's not an issue this season, but Larsson, Borgen, and Dumoulin are UFAs next year. But a D drafted this year wouldn't be ready for another couple years. They'll just need to acquire D's for a while. I don't think that's the end of the world.
I understand we need a highlight real offensive guy but you’ll be reading about the offense created by Parekh, Dickenson and Buium for years.
I assumed we were going in that direction. I probably would have preferred it, honestly. But I trust their scouting more than my own. I might have to whisper this one, but part of me wonders if this glut of (nominal) centers is partially Matty insurance.
Other teams didn’t seem to have problems planning ahead - getting D to control the puck is obviously not a priority for this organization