Kraken need to tank hard to get the team where it needs to be

The Seattle Kraken had another disappointing season, finishing with the sixth-worst record in the league and failing to miss the playoffs for the third time in the four-year history of their franchise. To make matters worse, the lottery results dropped them down two spots in the draft, so they won’t even be rewarded for a tough season.

The Kraken have been stuck in the murky middle, too bad to win a lot, but too good to lose a lot, and they need to stick to a direction. And with the way the team is heading, tanking may be the right choice.

Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen talked about the Kraken and how they need to commit to a rebuild to turn around the franchise on Daily Faceoff Live.

Tyler Yaremchuk: To tell a little story, I was in Seattle back in November, and I went to a Kraken game and sat in the stands. Me and the guy next to me are chatting, and he’s like “Oh, you’re from Canada, you got to know hockey. What do we got to do to get some of the players like who the Edmonton Oilers have?” I told him, “It ain’t fun, but you have to suck for a while.”

And that’s the biggest problem here with the Seattle Kraken. They made the playoffs early, they had this high sense of belief, and they put themselves in a spot where their roster was too bad to compete for a Cup, but too good to suck hard enough that you get some talent. And this offseason, when I look at what the Kraken have to do, I think they have to make some tough decisions, sell off from some quality players and suck.

Colby Cohen: Yeah, they’re just in no man’s land. They had a lot of head scratching decisions. I haven’t necessarily agreed with some of the coaching decisions that they’ve made the last couple of years. I didn’t think walking away from Dave Hakstol when they did was the right decision. They had a good staff with him and Jay Leach steering the ship. But they’re just a team that has been stuck in no man’s land.

The Vegas Golden Knights changed our recency bias on expansion teams, but let’s go back. Remember the Columbus Blue Jackets, when they were the expansion team? They weren’t very good for a while. I think this is normal for expansion teams. Vegas is the exception to the rule, they’re not the rule when it comes to expansion.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, even going back to last summer, I like Brandon Montour, I like Chandler Stevenson, but you’ve signed those guys and it’s like, “Okay, are you just trying to stay mediocre here?”

So there’s a couple of guys heading into the final season [of their contracts]. Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen, and Jamie Oleksiak. You could probably get a lot for these guys at the deadline if you want to hold them, so it’s not like you need to make the move right now. But again, it’s never fun trading your captain.

I would even look at Jared McCann, I’d look at a Vince Dunn, guys with two years left who are going to get a first round pick plus, probably plus plus, for those two guys. That’s something you need to consider doing.

Again, it doesn’t need to be a long six-year rebuild, you can do it quick if you do it right would be my message to the Seattle Kraken. This should be a summer where they sell off.

You can watch the full episode here…