During the lead-up to this year’s expansion draft, the rumor mill was in high gear. Speculation surfaced that Mark Giordano, the Calgary Flames captain who would be selected by the Seattle Kraken, may not be on the expansion roster very long. When the Kraken brought him out to the stage during the event itself, it seemed to confirm that wouldn’t be the case. Now, speaking with TSN’s Salim Valji, Giordano explained that not only is he looking forward to playing for the Kraken, but intends on taking a leadership role in the team’s inaugural season:
Yeah, I think myself, obviously being the oldest guy on the team, you go in and you want to embrace those leadership qualities. You want to help out the young guys as much as you can, but with the NHL today, most of the superstars are anywhere from low- to mid-twenties, to be honest. So I’m looking forward to being around the young guys on our team and having good leaders, guys like Jordan Eberle are there, and a bunch of different guys I should mention but will leave it for later. I’m just looking forward to being around a good, solid, young core group who’s going to provide a lot of energy for me. I’m looking forward to that, just as much as hopefully guys are looking forward to playing with me.
Giordano, 37, will likely be looked at as the team’s de facto captain this season, even if he isn’t given the letter. It is also unclear how long the veteran defenseman will actually be there. His contract expires after the 2021-22 season and he will be 39 before the 2022-23 season starts, likely with more than 1,000 games played.
- The Kraken have said goodbye to one of their pro scouts, as Stu Barnes leaves the organization to take the head coaching role with the Tri-City Americans. Barnes is a co-owner of the WHL team and played there for two seasons before his long NHL career. In fact, Barnes holds the second and third-best offensive seasons in Tri-City history. A veteran of more than 1,100 NHL games, he served as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars for two different periods since his retirement and was hired by the Kraken last summer.
- Speaking of hirings, the Kraken are expected to make a decision on a goaltending coach within a week according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. Baker assumed that Andrew Allen, currently working as a pro scout, would take that role given he held it with the Buffalo Sabres previously, but also notes there are few other prominent names like Mike Buckley—recently fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins–out there right now.
Show of hands, here. Who believes Buckley learned from his mistakes in PIT and won’t do the same in SEA?
Let’s correct that, from “won’t do the same” to “wouldn’t do the same, if given the chance”
Stu coming back to the tri city Americans got to love that.
Back when the Pens were almost bankrupt, Stu Barnes was playing LW on Jagr’s line and had a hat trick one game. He was on the third line the next game because he had a goals scored bonus clause in his contract and they couldn’t risk him hitting it.
Ownership matters.
Stu barnes got a look at the roster and thought hed be better off with a minor league team
Kyle Lowry says hi from Miami.
Tri-City is not in the minors, it Juniors which is just kids 16-20 and not a bad gig.
Does it seem a bit dumb & irresponsible for team to have waited this long and STILL not have chosen a G coach, especially with how much they’ve prioritized Defense & Goalies as top priorities of building the franchise?
IMO is pretty dumbfounding, for what to me is arguably most important coaching pos on a NHL team, arguably more so than HC as good to elite G coaches seem to often outlast multiple HC & even GM regimes. I know good let alone true Goalie guru coaches are pretty hard to come by, but it’s something they should have been focused on a helluva lot more & prioritized soon as GM was hired. Would’ve been awesome to get (especially from a natural rival) a guy like Van G guru Green? (I think)