What happened in Vegas stays there
Rest of the league ensured a repeat of Knights’ strong start was never in the cards for Kraken
It’s far too early to depict the firstseason fate of the expansion Seattle Kraken, but it hasn’t been a smooth start. Mired in a six-game losing streak that has dropped them to 4-12-1 out of the gate, those who thought modern-day NHL expansion meant instant success are being reminded that’s not the case.
It’s difficult to be an expansion team.
This is how things are supposed to be for the newcomer in an established league. Pro sports is a hard business. There’s a learning period. Teams have been building their current iterations for years. They’re much further developed, both on and off the ice.
But Seattle faces one significant problem that is not of its own doing. No one told the Vegas Golden Knights — the NHL’s last expansion entry, five seasons ago — that’s the way it was supposed to be. Or maybe Vegas just didn’t listen. Comparisons are inevitable, and so far they aren’t going well for the Kraken.
Off the ice, Seattle has been almost perfect — from eco-friendly Climate Pledge Arena to their esthetically pleasing jerseys and intriguing name. Ticket sales have been brisk and the community response has been overwhelming. Every off-ice detail has been attended to, and a talented and diverse staff has been constructed under the watchful eye of veteran general manager Ron Francis.
It’s the little matter of playing the actual games that has been the challenge.
The on-ice product has been, well, expansion-like. A team with several high-profile players, through the expansion draft and free agency, just has not melded.
The defence was supposed to be the foundation, with former Calgary captain Mark Giordano leading a respected group that includes hulking Jamie Oleksiak, puck transporter Vince Dunn and veteran Adam Larsson. Former Avalanche stalwart Philipp Grubauer was a surprise free-agent signing in net. Yet they rank 31st in goals-against average.
Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz have been solid up front, but there is nowhere near enough scoring depth to atone for the team defence.
At this point in their inaugural 2017-18 season, the Knights were cruising along with a 10-5-1 record and never looked back. They started well, then got better. They won so often that they expected it, and so did the rest of the hockey world.
I remember speaking with Knights Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb on their first trip to Toronto in the fall of 2017, and they both gushed with confidence. Independently, they both mentioned an early-season win over the Chicago Blackhawks, with a core that had won three Stanley Cups, as a foundation piece. They were getting used to winning. They had managed to pry Cup-winning goaltender Marc-André Fleury away from Pittsburgh and his spirit, confidence and winning ways became contagious.
The question is: Why aren’t the Kraken’s early results mirroring those of the Knights?
The answer came long before the first puck was dropped in Vegas.
The Knights were the first expansion team since the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league in 2000, and the ground rules had been altered significantly to ensure a better on-ice product. Vegas management led by GM George McPhee was masterful in creating fear among the existing clubs. The expansion draft was the first in a long time. They were able to spin tales of the unknown. Social media fed the speculation about which key players might be lost.
The Vegas draft was also the first of the salary-cap era and teams looked at the newcomer as a place to move unwanted contracts, for which the Knights were rewarded with additional assets. They amassed high draft picks, then traded them for players that other teams couldn’t afford. They played the money game perfectly, because they had more than anyone else.
Ultimately, Vegas also chose the right players, and the great game of hockey always comes down to the players.
Fleury taught them how to win by stealing games with his stellar play, and the team started to expect it. Their top five scorers all posted career highs, led by William Karlsson’s 43 goals. His previous best in Columbus had been nine. None of their top five that season — Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, David Perron, Reilly Smith and Erik Haula — have scored more since. In many ways it was a perfect storm. The players performed, to a man.
A lot of professionals in the industry view the Kraken as more of a long build because they weren’t risk takers in the same way out of the gate. Other teams were wary of dealing with them pre-draft. The Kraken chose one player from each team as the rules dictated, but there was little side-dealing for extra assets. Teams had learned their lesson.
The Knights built impressively on their first-year run to the Stanley Cup final with seven playoff rounds in the next three years. Many have chosen them as early Cup favourites in their fifth season. That accumulation of assets from their early wheeling and dealing has allowed them to trade for and sign stars including Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Max Pacioretty and most recently Jack Eichel.
Somehow they’ve become mature beyond their years.
If a star is available, they find a way to get him. They have played through early-season injuries and are hitting their stride as players begin to return. The recent acquisition of superstar Eichel, when healthy in the new year, could be the final piece to put them over the top.
Shortly before they played their first game in 2017, a good friend and I had dinner in Vegas with owner Bill Foley and two members of his senior management team. Early in the evening, he casually mentioned that they would win the Stanley Cup within six years. He may have been wrong. They may do it in five. They almost did it in one.
They’ve set a pretty high bar for the new expansion kids in town.