F*ck Your Team: Why I Hate the 2025-2026 Seattle Kraken | NHL Season Preview

8 comments

1. The Kraken are what would happen if for some reason you tried to replicate the mid 2010s Carolina hurricanes. Right down to employing Ron Francis

2. The medi-est of ocres LOL!

3. The entire team is composed of slightly below average to slightly above average players for their actual position except for goaltending which was among the worst league-wide until recently.

   Looking at their depth chart, it is quite literally full of players that other teams openly didn’t prioritize in free agency, trade or draft, McCann wasn’t protected for example, Wright’s value dipped in the draft, Stephenson bounced around the league, because he always was good but not good enough to be a priority, Kakko just got tossed aside from New York like he was unimportant to their plans, so did Marchment who just got deemed the most convenient vet to let go in Dallas, just to give a few examples.

   Seattle still seems shocked that Beniers is stagnating instead of progressing, idk if he’s an elite 2nd line center or if hes a Suzuki waiting for complementary pieces … hopefully for Seattle the 2nd one.

   100% agree on the defense, good but everyone is one chair too far, Dunn would be extraordinary as a 2nd, just move everyone down by one slot because they signed an imaginary number 1D and it all ligns up ….

   The second they get rid of Grubauer this team instantly jumps 5 position in the overall league rankings.

4. Just a Palat away from success, give Tom Fitzgerald a call.

5. My biggest beef with the Kraken, for years, has been their lack of all-around team toughness. Aside from John Hayden, the rest of this club would get destroyed in a bench-clearing brawl….. if the NHL still had them.

6. nah this series aint it, do not recommend

7. I don't think there's any logical Kraken fan who believes that Kakko is really a top-line player right now. I think the team sees that as well, which is why he got a short deal in the 4.5m range. He really should be playing somewhere in the middle six. Schwartz as well – he has never been a top-6 player, even on this mediocre team – I think the Kraken dealt with so much line shuffling that when they landed on the Kakko/Beniers/Schwartz line actually producing, they just left it alone and let it ride. Bylsma was so wishy-washy last year with how he was deploying players that it really just messed up the chemistry for most of the year

   I think what this team really needs to do is just play the young guys. Move Wright to wing so you can utilize his offense up in your top-6. Play Catton at 2/3C all year, sheltering him with less ice time in tougher matchups or switching him with Stephenson late in games. He's 19, sure, he's undersized, but Beniers debuted at 19, Beddard was 18 (and undersized), Celebrini was 18 – just let him play, don't send him back to the WHL. Put him with larger physical players like Kakko and Marchment. For the other young guys – Nyman is ready for a full-time role, Rehkopf is close, and they even have a few other guys that could just come up at this point because there isn't much left for them to do in the AHL like Winterton and Melanson, as well as D like Ottavainen and Nelson being close. It won't be pretty, but this team isn't going anywhere until the young guys develop. Let Matty and Shane play on the same line because they complement each other perfectly

   You're right about McCann – I've had the hot take for a while now that this team won't get better until they trade him. If they wait too long it will blow up in their face. If they don't move him this offseason they absolutely need to at the deadline. It's not because he's physically holding them back; it's because the return would be so high and he doesn't fit the timeline of this team – you just have to do it to move forward

   There are 5 expiring contracts on this team – Schwartz, Eberle, Tolvanen, Marchment, and Oleksiak – all or most of them need to be traded at the deadline if this team is out of it. Maybe you hang onto either Tolvanen or Eberle if you think you can bring them back cheap (Tolvy because of the age/potential or Eberle because of his leadership) but the goal should be to get assets for the future at this point

8. Mason Marchment is 30 years old. That’s not ‘young’ by NHL standards.