The Seattle Kraken may have selected Yanni Gourde from the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he won’t be in the lineup on opening night. Kraken GM Ron Francis revealed after the draft that Gourde will be out for the start of the season thanks to shoulder surgery he had earlier this week. The expected recovery time is four months, putting him on track to return at some point in November.
A back-to-back Stanley Cup champion, Gourde is one of the most expensive players the Kraken took this evening, with a $5.17MM cap hit that stretches through 2024-25. The 29-year-old forward is expected to be in the mix for the top two center spots when healthy, but the Kraken will need to move forward without him for likely at least a month of the regular season.
That absence should provide even more opportunity to players like Jared McCann and Calle Jarnkrok, though the final Seattle roster is obviously not set. With no side-deals being announced in connection to the draft, you can bet there will be plenty of other transactions coming for the Kraken in the coming days.
man this might look ugly out if the gate
Yanni Gourde with one arm is still better than 80% of the other guys Ronnie drafted.
so im new to hockey, im a big seahawks, mairiners fan so i know absolutley nothing about any of these players, i did watch 2 seasons of canucks hockey back in the bertuzzi nazlund era so i know the rules some what ,and with seattle finally having an nhl team i am planning on watching these kraken games, So what ive gathered so far the defence could be decent but there isnt a star scorer on this team and not many people like the head coach, is that the general gist so far.
The coach was good in college and was mediocre in a few seasons as head coach in Philly. The offense won’t be near the top of the league but the Islanders made the semifinals the last two years and they don’t score
First off, congrats on the choice to be a hockey fan. Best sport on Earth.
D is pretty good, but they have 11 so a few will be traded. Maybe they can get some scoring in those deals.
The offense is really weak. I get that they didn’t want to use up a lot of cap space but they left a lot of good scorers on the table. Tanev and Gourde are elite third line players (more defense, hits, etc with some scoring) though. Maybe they will sign someone. Center is the most important position and they are really weak there right now.
The goalies have done well but in really small sample sizes and none of them had/has much pedigree.
All in all, they look a lot of the expansion teams of old (which were built with much tougher rules) so many (like me) are questioning why Francis went with such a timid strategy.
Not that I’m defending what they’ve done, but I love new hockey fans and want to provide some context. In 2017 when Vegas drafted a team, William Karlsson had a career high of 9 goals. He scored 43 in his first season in Vegas. So you might have a top end scorer and you don’t even know it.
Hope you like the AHL
Expect the team to make a few trades and get some other players. The d look good and no star scoring like u said. Teams have
4 forward lines of 3 and
3 d pairs of 2
Just to give u an idea of the types of trades they will make given who they have selected. Also they have lots of cap space while 90% of teams have very little, expect them to use that to essentially buy players/prospects from teams.
Example take a player from a team that cant afford him and get prospects/players for doing so
The defense is going to be your team’s biggest strength. Your offense is balanced, but lacks the big name firepower. You’re going to need guys to step up. Keep your eye on Donskoi, Eberle, McCann, Gourde, and maybe even Geekie.
Seattle is going to be a tough team. They’re not favorites to go to the Finals right out of the gate, but neither was Vegas. You’ll be a competitive team, fighting for a playoff position. Enjoy the season!
Don’t know about the head coach. The scoring sentiment is true, but you never know. People said same thing about Vegas.
The irony here is unbelievable. That they look past the shoulder for Gourde , but not for Tarasenko.
Especially on a team of which they could’ve had Killorn or Palat among others.
Idk what they’re trying to pull.. the big Seattle defense gimmick will only hold up so long.
I still can’t believe they took Tanevs bloated contract for the next 5 years too.
Overall C+ draft.
They went with youth, size and physicality.
All great things to target in this league.
But not taking a single playmaker/point guy with the likes of Domi, Zucker, freaking Tarasenko available is very questionable when given the one single opportunity in life to steal anothers teams player for no assets in return.
Even if they build a solid line 1 with Eberle and maybe Berniers in the draft at center,
It would’ve been nice to have zuck or domi line 2
Gourde is a center which was a weak point in the draft. He also has a better P/60 over the last four seasons than Domi, he hits more and takes less penalties. The two cups also help his case as someone who knows what it takes to win
Gourde also draws a lot of penalties as he is a pest to opponents. He is an Energizer Bunny and forces the opposition to be on their toes and he kills penalties. He can be a serviceable #2 center and score for a season or so until the Kraken can get proper scorers. Bolts will miss him as we love our guys.
Spent so much time trying to figure out if SEA could match what VGK did in 2018, never occurred that they might try to match what Ottawa did in 1992 instead.
He might still get some good things in trade to eat a bad contract and some mid round picks for some of his D, but…it’s now clear that Francis’ plan is to pick near the top of the draft for a few years.
Gotta hope you get Crosbys or McDavids instead of Daigles and Bonks.
I think Shane Wright in 2022 and Connor Bedard in 2023 will be closer to Crosby and McDavid then Daigle or Bonk
LOL. I remember going to a baseball card show at Monroeville Mall back in ’94 and the hot hockey cards of the day were Alexandre Daigle and Radek Bonk rookie cards. Good times!
or they can miss both of them in the lottery and it wolnt matter
5.17 MM for an injured 3rd liner with Palat, Killeen and Foote all available. Nice pick Seattle.
What was Francis doing last night, left a lot on the table. He essentially drafted an AHL franchise