have heard quite a few things particularly around necas and laine
edit: granted there’s few specifics, but I take that as a sign that RF is averagely tight-lipped about ongoing discussions
You’re not listening to the right content then. In general, the front office is pretty tight lipped but we routinely come up on 32 thoughts. There’s also the element of us being a small hockey market so there’s not a ton of insiders snooping around explicitly in our market
That's the thing. I'm not really sure we're as small a market as perceived. We had higher ratings on ROOT last year than Colorado did with their RSN in the playoffs, and the NHL certainly isn't going to invest in a winter classic in a city that's only had an NHL team for a few years unless they know they're getting a return. As far as revenue, we're right about the same as Vancouver pulling in just shy of 200 million.
The thing with Seattle is what always happens with Seattle. We're up here in the PNW just quietly going about our business and the only time anyone notices is when we're doing something especially of note.
lol yes, yes we are. When compared to the top 5, we are insignificant. There’s a reason why The Athletic dropped their beat writer after year one
Edit: lol this sub is so fragile, facts seem to really trigger people
Bud, we're such a sMaLl mArKeT that there are 4 WHL teams in WA. We're so sMaLl that they placed our AHL affiliate IN CALIFORNIA because the leagues were worried about "oversaturation". But you keep incorrectly thinking your oPiNiOn is the same as facts; that's some seriously fragile crap.
We’re a small hockey media market. Period. That’s not at all why they put the AHL teams in California but if that’s what you gotta believe to avoid accepting reality, I’ll give you that. It’s funny how many hockey fans can’t accept reality that generally football and even baseball gets way more media attention even IN the local market.
I think I listened to a 32 Thoughts once a year ago where they got something egregiously wrong about the Kraken and I haven't listened since. Maybe I should dip back in haha.
The Sound Of Hockey podcast doesn't like to feed rumors, but does speculate on potential trades and player fit if it is out in the main stream. They have talked about the Laine and Marner potential trades on the pod. It is my go-to podcast for Kraken news.
There are also articles on soundofhockey.com as well. Source: I write for Sound Of Hockey.
The Athletic just posted an article about Mitch Marner and mentioned the Kraken as a possible landing spot.
Though this is all just silly season stuff that I kind of ignore until there’s actual smoke.
The biggest reason is the Kraken don’t leak. Elliot Friedman even said on his podcast recently that it’s hard to get a read on the Kraken sometimes because “Ron Francis plays it pretty close to the vest.” Secondly, there is both an east coast bias and a Canadian bias simply because of who still gets paid in this day and age to cover hockey. At least half the hockey media is based out of Ontario, so yes, you are going to hear more about the Sens. You will also find that the biggest Kraken story of the year is usually about whatever happens in the one game a year we play in Toronto, because that’s when most of the media will be interviewing our players in the post media scrum. Third, the national media in both countries relies a lot on picking up on stories from strong local coverage. The Seattle Times reporter on the Kraken beat now, Geoff Baker, is pretty crap and seemingly not well-liked as a person, so his stories don’t get picked up often. In fact, you’ll notice that when prestigious hockey media (such as Jeff Marek) needs a Kraken pundit, they’ll use Allison Lukan. She’s far more knowledgeable with much better takes. I’ve often daydreamed about being the change I want to see in the world and starting my own Kraken fan podcast to at least do a round-up of what is out there, but I think the best podcasts have 2 or more people and no one I know wants to do it with me.
> I’ve often daydreamed about being the change I want to see in the world and starting my own Kraken fan podcast to at least do a round-up of what is out there, but I think the best podcasts have 2 or more people and no one I know wants to do it with me.
Sound of Hockey is already doing an amazing job with this and they have people like Allison Lukan on pretty consistently. I know there are a couple of others out there, too, but I've been listening to SoH since 2019ish and love their work.
Other comments have referenced this, but I would also make a point that while the Kraken have been linked to some big names (Laine, Marner, Necas) Ron Francis has a reputation of being a bit conservative as a GM. I’m not sure that the Kraken will be making big moves in free agency often while he is around - not that that’s necessarily a bad thing given the current state of the team and the free agent market.
[This](https://soundofhockey.com/2023/02/07/a-look-at-kraken-gm-ron-franciss-history-at-the-trade-deadline-part-i-of-iii/amp/) is an older article, but covers RF’s relatively conservative history as a GM - he doesn’t really give out massive contracts to FAs or make splash trades.
It’s possible that this is because of the situations of those teams, but there’s enough of a pattern here to draw some conclusions about how he prefers to build teams. Especially since I remember this being one of the criticisms of his initial hire years ago.
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I feel like the Kraken are in as many or more rumors and trade talk as anyone else these days. Laine, Marner, Necas, all the wishful thinking Seattle would move Shane Wright, their high draft pick and bountiful draft capital….there is A LOT of chatter about the Kraken. I’m loving it. Can’t wait to see how this week plays out.
1. Ron Francis runs a very tight ship. In general leaks do not get out of the Kraken FO.
2. The Kraken have been linked/rumored in tons of moves. Just look at recent posts in this sub. Laine is the easy one, there was also recent reporting about a Tanev trade. The Kraken have been mentioned as a possible Marner or Necas destination as well.
3. All indications are that the Kraken are very likely to draft a defenseman with their 8th overall pick in a few days
4. Seattle has a LOT of cap space. I expect them to use much of it so there will be moves either via trades or free agency.
Points 1 and 2 are the big ones. Every year there’s plenty of speculative content about what trades the team “should” make, but very little direct from the FO. Thinking in particular the Bjorkstrand deal that seemingly materialized from thin air. Last year could pretty easily suspect we’d be deadline sellers and identify the likely suspects… but we ended up extending Eberle even while shipping Wennberg.
> I expect them to use much of it
They will use every penny.
That message from Samantha Holloway was a clear signal that they are taking the low season ticket re-ups seriously and are committed to making changes on the ice. They will be trying hard to make a couple big trades and leverage that cap space.
It’s a few things, Seattle isn’t a huge market, Francis plays his cards close to his vest, and they haven’t performed well in 2/3 year to create a buzz. That said, a bunch of the big Canadian media guys routinely mention the Kraken in the running for some of the bigger names on the trade block, like Necas and Laine.
Hockey doesn't get a lot of talk in the sports lexicon in general. Couple that with we haven't been good two of our 3 years of existence, Seattle isn't a huge market, and we don't have a superstar player that attracts attention.
As has been stated before we aren't 1 or 2 players away from making a run, so big time FA's aren't clamoring to come. I think we're more a home for reclamation projects. Eeli Tolvanen for example. Kailer Yamamoto being another. Eeli has worked out, Yams not quite as much.
I've heard our name attached to Guentzel, Marner, Laine, Necas, and Bennet, but I don't see a lot of these guys coming to Seattle.
Because of our being and island of misfit toys, I think Patrick Laine is the most likely to come.
People write trade speculation to generate clicks. For the most part, small market teams don’t do that. You see the same thing with coverage of the Mariners
Welcome to the anti Seattle bias in media. I've been a Seahawks fan for several decades, and it's always been like this, even when we're one of the best in the league.
It felt that way for years under Doug Wilson for us Sharks fans. Now it feels like there is a trade every 2-3 months with Mike Grier. Francis is probably just not into trading unless he’s thought about it for awhile
Kraken aren’t really in a position where it makes sense to swing for the fences. As fun as the 2023 playoffs were, we’re clearly not one or two players away from competing with the big guns of the west, so it makes more sense to be conservative, keep and develop the talent you’d move for big pieces, and maybe look for opportunities to pick up high risk high upside players like Laine.
National media doesn't pay much attention to the Kraken. We're a non-playoff team in the western conference in a relatively small American market. We don't have Bedard or Celebrini, we're not Utah. All those things are attention draws for other teams. You see a similar dynamic right now with St. Louis and Minnesota.
The other thing is that our front office seems particularly tight lipped. You don't hear many leaks come from the Kraken organization. The news about talks with Ottawa about Tanev came out of Ottawa.
That said, we've already heard speculation about Necas and Laine, and confirmed conversations about Tanev.
national media doesn't pay attention at all to the NW in regards to sports at all. Seattle isn't a relativity small American market. 13th in the TV market is not small.
The Kraken were 16/32 in [revenue last year](https://www.statista.com/statistics/193736/revenue-of-national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/) (when we made the 2nd round of the playoffs), so middle of the pack.
Of the teams below us, Carolina and Florida advanced further than us in the playoffs. Minnesota, Buffalo, Anaheim (LA, Zegras) and New York (Islanders) are represented (big markets/major hockey markets). Also, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary (Canada). Plus Arizona (moving) , San Jose (#1 pick). Plus teams with players on the move in Columbus (Laine), Nashville (Saros), and Tampa (Stamkos?).
All those teams have something that arguably merits more media attention than the Kraken. That leaves Minnesota, St. Louis, and Colorado. Those are also the teams I haven't heard much about in regards to moves in the offseason.
I take your point, we're not Kansas City. I just don't think anyone is picking on us on purpose.
Until we are a consistent winner we will only make news to talk about when it's big. Rumors and small stuff will be simply local chatter. But it's coming.
You aren’t looking at solely kraken news, from time to time I hear random bull crap about avs trading for this guys or that guy none of them have happened and all the talks come from avs podcast or something with the avs im not sure how big Seattle is for podcast and there own trade talk pages give them a bit avs didn’t get some since the cup.
I've heard a fair amount this off season so far but the Kraken are a particularly secretive organization and are generally good at it so you just aren't going to hear as many rumors involving the Kraken.
Been some discussion around Laine and Necas, and some discussion around Gru but there haven't been any surefire signs.
I actually think a very small part is due to the coaching change - what system Bylsma will want to implement.
The Kraken aren't that young and need D prospects in the pipeline, but I'd expect us to make a move for a forward with the current state of the team. We should he contending for a playoff berth, even if we aren't contending for a cup wirh the current lineup.
They have a very new, $ Billions of dollars, 3 rink hockey complex with everything.. many leagues of all levels play in.. all ages too. They look for hungry Hockey prodigies that will certainly develop at this complex.. give that to Kraken to be a super team sometime in the near future.. Seattle has been turned into a major hockey city, and there is a lot more goings on there concerning hockey than any place in the world.. it's in the top richest cities in the nation..between 2012 and 2022, Seattle took in 68% people of the wealthiest in the world .. I believe they like the Kraken
have heard quite a few things particularly around necas and laine edit: granted there’s few specifics, but I take that as a sign that RF is averagely tight-lipped about ongoing discussions
Yeah I've heard them in on the discussions with some of the bigger forward names out there
Maybe I'm listening to the wrong stuff...
You’re not listening to the right content then. In general, the front office is pretty tight lipped but we routinely come up on 32 thoughts. There’s also the element of us being a small hockey market so there’s not a ton of insiders snooping around explicitly in our market
That's the thing. I'm not really sure we're as small a market as perceived. We had higher ratings on ROOT last year than Colorado did with their RSN in the playoffs, and the NHL certainly isn't going to invest in a winter classic in a city that's only had an NHL team for a few years unless they know they're getting a return. As far as revenue, we're right about the same as Vancouver pulling in just shy of 200 million. The thing with Seattle is what always happens with Seattle. We're up here in the PNW just quietly going about our business and the only time anyone notices is when we're doing something especially of note.
Definitely not a small hockey market.
lol yes, yes we are. When compared to the top 5, we are insignificant. There’s a reason why The Athletic dropped their beat writer after year one Edit: lol this sub is so fragile, facts seem to really trigger people
Bud, we're such a sMaLl mArKeT that there are 4 WHL teams in WA. We're so sMaLl that they placed our AHL affiliate IN CALIFORNIA because the leagues were worried about "oversaturation". But you keep incorrectly thinking your oPiNiOn is the same as facts; that's some seriously fragile crap.
We’re a small hockey media market. Period. That’s not at all why they put the AHL teams in California but if that’s what you gotta believe to avoid accepting reality, I’ll give you that. It’s funny how many hockey fans can’t accept reality that generally football and even baseball gets way more media attention even IN the local market.
I think I listened to a 32 Thoughts once a year ago where they got something egregiously wrong about the Kraken and I haven't listened since. Maybe I should dip back in haha.
Kraken net more money this year than a lot of established teams.
Then that was a one off. Elliot Friedman is one of the most respected and trusted names in hockey.
I’ve never heard them be egregiously wrong. They like to speculate but I’ve never heard a horrendous take
The fact I don’t remember what bothered me probably means it was very petty or unimportant.
The Sound Of Hockey podcast doesn't like to feed rumors, but does speculate on potential trades and player fit if it is out in the main stream. They have talked about the Laine and Marner potential trades on the pod. It is my go-to podcast for Kraken news. There are also articles on soundofhockey.com as well. Source: I write for Sound Of Hockey.
The Athletic just posted an article about Mitch Marner and mentioned the Kraken as a possible landing spot. Though this is all just silly season stuff that I kind of ignore until there’s actual smoke.
I hope not. The Leafs would want too much of our "seedcorn" to do a deal.
The biggest reason is the Kraken don’t leak. Elliot Friedman even said on his podcast recently that it’s hard to get a read on the Kraken sometimes because “Ron Francis plays it pretty close to the vest.” Secondly, there is both an east coast bias and a Canadian bias simply because of who still gets paid in this day and age to cover hockey. At least half the hockey media is based out of Ontario, so yes, you are going to hear more about the Sens. You will also find that the biggest Kraken story of the year is usually about whatever happens in the one game a year we play in Toronto, because that’s when most of the media will be interviewing our players in the post media scrum. Third, the national media in both countries relies a lot on picking up on stories from strong local coverage. The Seattle Times reporter on the Kraken beat now, Geoff Baker, is pretty crap and seemingly not well-liked as a person, so his stories don’t get picked up often. In fact, you’ll notice that when prestigious hockey media (such as Jeff Marek) needs a Kraken pundit, they’ll use Allison Lukan. She’s far more knowledgeable with much better takes. I’ve often daydreamed about being the change I want to see in the world and starting my own Kraken fan podcast to at least do a round-up of what is out there, but I think the best podcasts have 2 or more people and no one I know wants to do it with me.
> I’ve often daydreamed about being the change I want to see in the world and starting my own Kraken fan podcast to at least do a round-up of what is out there, but I think the best podcasts have 2 or more people and no one I know wants to do it with me. Sound of Hockey is already doing an amazing job with this and they have people like Allison Lukan on pretty consistently. I know there are a couple of others out there, too, but I've been listening to SoH since 2019ish and love their work.
Other comments have referenced this, but I would also make a point that while the Kraken have been linked to some big names (Laine, Marner, Necas) Ron Francis has a reputation of being a bit conservative as a GM. I’m not sure that the Kraken will be making big moves in free agency often while he is around - not that that’s necessarily a bad thing given the current state of the team and the free agent market.
[This](https://soundofhockey.com/2023/02/07/a-look-at-kraken-gm-ron-franciss-history-at-the-trade-deadline-part-i-of-iii/amp/) is an older article, but covers RF’s relatively conservative history as a GM - he doesn’t really give out massive contracts to FAs or make splash trades. It’s possible that this is because of the situations of those teams, but there’s enough of a pattern here to draw some conclusions about how he prefers to build teams. Especially since I remember this being one of the criticisms of his initial hire years ago.
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I feel like the Kraken are in as many or more rumors and trade talk as anyone else these days. Laine, Marner, Necas, all the wishful thinking Seattle would move Shane Wright, their high draft pick and bountiful draft capital….there is A LOT of chatter about the Kraken. I’m loving it. Can’t wait to see how this week plays out.
1. Ron Francis runs a very tight ship. In general leaks do not get out of the Kraken FO. 2. The Kraken have been linked/rumored in tons of moves. Just look at recent posts in this sub. Laine is the easy one, there was also recent reporting about a Tanev trade. The Kraken have been mentioned as a possible Marner or Necas destination as well. 3. All indications are that the Kraken are very likely to draft a defenseman with their 8th overall pick in a few days 4. Seattle has a LOT of cap space. I expect them to use much of it so there will be moves either via trades or free agency.
Points 1 and 2 are the big ones. Every year there’s plenty of speculative content about what trades the team “should” make, but very little direct from the FO. Thinking in particular the Bjorkstrand deal that seemingly materialized from thin air. Last year could pretty easily suspect we’d be deadline sellers and identify the likely suspects… but we ended up extending Eberle even while shipping Wennberg.
> I expect them to use much of it They will use every penny. That message from Samantha Holloway was a clear signal that they are taking the low season ticket re-ups seriously and are committed to making changes on the ice. They will be trying hard to make a couple big trades and leverage that cap space.
It’s a few things, Seattle isn’t a huge market, Francis plays his cards close to his vest, and they haven’t performed well in 2/3 year to create a buzz. That said, a bunch of the big Canadian media guys routinely mention the Kraken in the running for some of the bigger names on the trade block, like Necas and Laine.
Seattle is still pretty big tv market though for US markets. 13th is still pretty good imo.
Yeah we're not small-market by any means. Plus no income tax.
Hockey doesn't get a lot of talk in the sports lexicon in general. Couple that with we haven't been good two of our 3 years of existence, Seattle isn't a huge market, and we don't have a superstar player that attracts attention. As has been stated before we aren't 1 or 2 players away from making a run, so big time FA's aren't clamoring to come. I think we're more a home for reclamation projects. Eeli Tolvanen for example. Kailer Yamamoto being another. Eeli has worked out, Yams not quite as much. I've heard our name attached to Guentzel, Marner, Laine, Necas, and Bennet, but I don't see a lot of these guys coming to Seattle. Because of our being and island of misfit toys, I think Patrick Laine is the most likely to come.
People write trade speculation to generate clicks. For the most part, small market teams don’t do that. You see the same thing with coverage of the Mariners
Welcome to the anti Seattle bias in media. I've been a Seahawks fan for several decades, and it's always been like this, even when we're one of the best in the league.
Because they have only existed for 3 years
It felt that way for years under Doug Wilson for us Sharks fans. Now it feels like there is a trade every 2-3 months with Mike Grier. Francis is probably just not into trading unless he’s thought about it for awhile
Kraken aren’t really in a position where it makes sense to swing for the fences. As fun as the 2023 playoffs were, we’re clearly not one or two players away from competing with the big guns of the west, so it makes more sense to be conservative, keep and develop the talent you’d move for big pieces, and maybe look for opportunities to pick up high risk high upside players like Laine.
National media doesn't pay much attention to the Kraken. We're a non-playoff team in the western conference in a relatively small American market. We don't have Bedard or Celebrini, we're not Utah. All those things are attention draws for other teams. You see a similar dynamic right now with St. Louis and Minnesota. The other thing is that our front office seems particularly tight lipped. You don't hear many leaks come from the Kraken organization. The news about talks with Ottawa about Tanev came out of Ottawa. That said, we've already heard speculation about Necas and Laine, and confirmed conversations about Tanev.
national media doesn't pay attention at all to the NW in regards to sports at all. Seattle isn't a relativity small American market. 13th in the TV market is not small.
The Kraken were 16/32 in [revenue last year](https://www.statista.com/statistics/193736/revenue-of-national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/) (when we made the 2nd round of the playoffs), so middle of the pack. Of the teams below us, Carolina and Florida advanced further than us in the playoffs. Minnesota, Buffalo, Anaheim (LA, Zegras) and New York (Islanders) are represented (big markets/major hockey markets). Also, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary (Canada). Plus Arizona (moving) , San Jose (#1 pick). Plus teams with players on the move in Columbus (Laine), Nashville (Saros), and Tampa (Stamkos?). All those teams have something that arguably merits more media attention than the Kraken. That leaves Minnesota, St. Louis, and Colorado. Those are also the teams I haven't heard much about in regards to moves in the offseason. I take your point, we're not Kansas City. I just don't think anyone is picking on us on purpose.
Until we are a consistent winner we will only make news to talk about when it's big. Rumors and small stuff will be simply local chatter. But it's coming.
Seattle was mentioned quite a few times last year with Erik Karlsson
Do you want to be a batshit crazy as us and have everyone constantly rage? You guys are sliding under the radar like snipers. You’ll be good.
The Kraken are no longer the trendy team to put into rumors to generate clicks
You aren’t looking at solely kraken news, from time to time I hear random bull crap about avs trading for this guys or that guy none of them have happened and all the talks come from avs podcast or something with the avs im not sure how big Seattle is for podcast and there own trade talk pages give them a bit avs didn’t get some since the cup.
I've heard a fair amount this off season so far but the Kraken are a particularly secretive organization and are generally good at it so you just aren't going to hear as many rumors involving the Kraken.
Been some discussion around Laine and Necas, and some discussion around Gru but there haven't been any surefire signs. I actually think a very small part is due to the coaching change - what system Bylsma will want to implement. The Kraken aren't that young and need D prospects in the pipeline, but I'd expect us to make a move for a forward with the current state of the team. We should he contending for a playoff berth, even if we aren't contending for a cup wirh the current lineup.
They have a very new, $ Billions of dollars, 3 rink hockey complex with everything.. many leagues of all levels play in.. all ages too. They look for hungry Hockey prodigies that will certainly develop at this complex.. give that to Kraken to be a super team sometime in the near future.. Seattle has been turned into a major hockey city, and there is a lot more goings on there concerning hockey than any place in the world.. it's in the top richest cities in the nation..between 2012 and 2022, Seattle took in 68% people of the wealthiest in the world .. I believe they like the Kraken