Are the ODDS in Seattle’s Favor? 2025 NHL Draft Lotto Preview

Are the ODDS in Seattle’s Favor? 2025 NHL Draft Lotto Preview

All right. All right. All right. Seattle hockey fans. Tonight is tonight is the NHL draft lotto. What do we need to know about the Seattle Kraken regarding the lottery? Plus, um I’m coming back from a few different illnesses. So, we’ll talk a little bit more about the AHL playoffs. We’ll talk about the PWHL to Seattle. And also, should the Seattle Kraken buy out Andre Burikovski? All of that coming up on this very special live edition of Locked on Kraken. You are Locked on Kraken, your daily podcast on the Seattle Kraken, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey, what do you say Seattle Hockey fans? Welcome to another episode of Locked on Kraken, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, where we bring you your favorite team, the Seattle Kraken, every single day. My name is Erica L Ayala. I am your host of Locked on Kraken. I’ve been your only host of Locked on Kraken since the very beginning, the expansion draft, and you can find me in addition to at Locked Onraken. I host the Women’s Hockey Report podcast right here on the Locked On podcast network. It lives on the NHL channel on Saturday mornings. You can find that. And I am a contributor at CBS Sports where I cover women’s basketball and the NHL. Before we get into it, I want to let you know today’s episode of Locked on Kraken brought to you by our friends at Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Hello to the everydayers. Hello to the oers. I’m so grateful to be back. You might still hear it in my voice a little. I’ve been dealing with a little bit of a spring cold. Not fun. Then I got a little food poisoning while I was in New York. Super duper not fun. And that was while traveling. So I apologize. I’ve been away for a minute. Wanted to come on here live because um we have the draft lottery coming up for the NHL. We’ve got playoff hockey in the NHL happening tonight. We’ve got playoff hockey happening throughout the AHL and the ECHL. And uh I didn’t want to miss another day. So, I’m here a little bit sniffly, a little bit of raspby, but here nonetheless. Okay. Now, we talked about this before on the show, but worth going over it again. And stick taps to our friends over at Sound of Hockey who have a really great primer for you. But the draft lottery is tonight where the fate of uh you know really the the you know the bottom few teams and if they can move up or get that number one spot that’s what we’re looking at here. And um you know again the the Seattle Kraken and the whole tanking conversation. This is I guess when uh we you figure out where you land on all of this. But um there are technically two different drafts that are going to happen tonight. And so um you know, we’ll talk a little bit about that. But again, if you check out this primer, Sound of Hockey, um I think also uh The Athletic has a little bit of an overview here. But let me spare you uh the suspense for those who do not know. the Seattle Kraken as we go into the draft lottery which will start within the hour. Uh they have a 7.5% uh chance to win the first overall pick and um that is based on a bunch of math that I have absolutely no idea and really honestly no no interest in doing. But um you know so the worst team in the league only has a 25.5% chance of drafting the first overall pick rather than a 100% chance. That’s because of how the NHL does things. Um and the draft lotto the way it works is that there’s um you know there’s the draft um there’s the draft to win the first lottery pick. And so right now the best odds to win the be the first pick um or to win the lottery draw I should say uh the odds to win the the first lottery draw which means that um you move up in position up to 10 or you move up 10 spots. San Jose Sharks have 18.5% chance. Your Seattle Kraken also have a 70 7.5% chance for that. So again that’s um uh I’ll I’ll read it here. Uh the the first the first phase um includes the 10 teams that can move up in the event that one um they win the lottery draws. Only the top 11 seeds will be eligible to receive the first overall draft pick. So, you know, again, there’s only in the first cluster the the only a handful of teams can actually move up. And so, that’s the 7.5 odds. It just so happens that the Seattle Kraken also have 7.5% odds to um to receive the first overall pick among lottery participants. And that’s where the San Jose Sharks have the 25.5% odds. That’s what I just told you because they are the last place team and immediately they get those odds. Following them, Chicago, Nashville, Philadelphia, and Boston. So, those are all of the teams ahead of the Seattle Kraken when it comes to getting that number one pick. Chicago has 13.5% odds, and they have the second best odds behind San Jose. Nashville at 11.5, Philly at 9.5, Boston at 8.5. So you see it’s a scale there, you know, and so now there’s another wrinkle here um when it comes to the draft and that is that, you know, um Seattle could fall anywhere between really one and about eight. Our best odds are at seven. And this is in this the um sound of hockey article, but it’s per tankathon and they have this whole grid and everything. So our best odds are to win the seventh overall pick. Our second best odds would be the sixth pick. So if you’ve been looking at mock drafts, that’s why a lot of mock drafts are um picking on behalf of the Seattle Kraken at either six or seven. and our le the the we have the fewest odds to win um the the third overall pick. Um 9.1% odds if you were curious about the the ninth overall pick. Um so other things to keep in mind overall the Seattle Kraken who are roughly 67 um they have 15.4% 4% chance to improve in their position. They have a 34.1% chance to stay at the number six overall pick and 50.5% chance that they could slide from six. And that’s determined again by how they finished. So I mean this is where people who are all about tanking the where the Kraken are is not it it’s almost like the worst of the worst case scenario in some respects. You know 50% chance that we could slide um don’t have the best odds for number one. So I get it. Team tankers are super mad because this is not mathematically speaking, statistically speaking, not going to be a fruitful draft for the Kraken. But you never know how the things are going to pan out. Either way, there is a decent chance that the Seattle Kraken can still get a top six pick. This is a draft where there are a lot of different things that can move at that position and we’ve talked about a few of them on another draft lotto recap that we have gone over. Um and you know for me whether you’re looking at Anton Fondell a lot of people looking at him he’s playing in in Sweden right now. Um, uh, you know, Kellb Doy, uh, who’s playing with Mockton, um, you know, Michael Misa in the OHL. Um, those are kind of the top players that a lot of people are thinking of. Of course, we always have to look at who are the centermen in the draft. James Higgins from Boston College comes to mind. Roger McQueen is another centerman. Jake O’Brien. Um, I don’t I I I’m I’m almost exhausted thinking about what the Seattle Kraken even need in a draft because there’s so much that this team needs to just figure out where they’re going to be in the pecking order next year that it makes my head hurt. Hey, Kevin, if we don’t go one through three, Jackson Smith will be there. um you know, so that’s a player I haven’t um you know, not not someone that’s necessarily super high on some of the lists. I’m going to pull up the list um that we talked about on the other episode, um the Upper Deck rankings that we have here, but um you know, I I think I’m I’m really kind of having an issue figuring out what this team is going to look like in the NHL next year. that the lotto the the lotto for sure and then the draft itself is just a little uh you know prospects um I’ll leave this to the experts but the Seattle Kraken if we know anything about the Seattle Kraken they’re going to want to draft up the middle um that’s really what they look to be doing and you know I I I think that if you look at Shane Wright’s development if you look at Mattie Beneer’s development They could potentially turn things around. For sure. Absolutely. For sure. And is there more work that they need to do? Absolutely. Absolutely. So, I I mean, I’m not opposed to taking a centerman. I would love to see us get a few more high-end defensemen because now everyone agrees with me that the Seattle Kraken don’t have great defense. So, I’m just saying that. Uh so Jackson Smith 13th overall in the final rankings from central scouting NHL central scouting uh is with Tri City in the WHL uh 63 195B uh defenseman. So there you go. That fits into what I was saying. So Kevin Kevin likes um you know Jackson Smith hoping for a new strategy under bottle. Aren’t we all? Aren’t we all? I I wanted us to go with a defenseman last year. If you listen to the show last year, Every Day’s OGers, you know that I really wanted us to take a defenseman last year. Um, you know, if you check out Sound of Hockey, they have another article or honestly, it’s really in some of the comments. I think the comments on Sound of Hockey articles are great. I I read them all the time. But a lot of people talking about Riker Evans. I think Riker Evans, we saw some great things from Riker. We saw some limitations with Riker. you know, needed a little bit of a reset. I think that I would like to see a little bit more size with Riker or or a little more size on the defensive side, but size versus the agility that maybe we get with a Brandon Montour. If we could find a guy in the draft that not only we think can have that agility, high-end octane when it comes to the offensive side of the game while also bringing a little size, a little bit of weight. Um, I mean, you know, that’s hard to find in one singular defenseman. And and can you identify it at this time when they’re in the draft? I mean, if someone had a magic wand, I’d say go for it. Crystal ball, whatever you Yeah, a lot of people have been talking about Redeem for sure. Uh, definitely a name that I’ve seen not only high on some of the drafts, but could be someone, yes, that I personally when it comes to how players are um being classified and identified and what I think or what I want the Seattle Kraken to do absolutely is a name, Kevin, for sure. Now, we haven’t I haven’t gone through a lot of the different names. I’ve more so just been speaking generally because we don’t know what pick the Seattle Kraken will have. But once we know after today in a little bit, about a half hour, right? Um we once we know where the Seattle Kraken are actually going to land when it comes to the draft, absolutely. I’m totally down to talk about specific players. Um but I just I don’t know. I’m still I’m still not in love with um you know everything that’s going on right there. But you know plays in Seattle uh in the WHL 65 207 defenseman. Um so yeah completely fits the bill. Uh in 43 games, three goals, 32 assists, 35 points overall, 46 penalty minutes. Uh, not the most in kind of that top 10 area. That would go to Carter Bear. Um, oh no, Kan Aerson actually has 88. Uh, Kan Aerson with Barry OL. uh 61, 196 defenseman, left shot, 88 penalty minutes, but is also tallying in 64 games, 26 goals, and 33 assists. I mean, all right, I gotta I gotta look into that. Uh yeah, same with me, Streatic. I’m definitely doing a lot more research because obviously because of today and knowing that we were we had the draft lotto coming up. But, um, I think this draft, a lot of people tend to agree it’s topheavy. And my takeaway might be that if you’re looking, if you’re a team looking for a defenseman, you might be in a good position. But again, especially if you’re in the top really eight or so range, you never know. I mean, hey, we got Shane, right? That was not expected, right? So, you literally never know. Um, but yeah, I I’d be lying if I said prospects. Not necessarily my forte, not my ministry, as I sometimes say, but you know what’s great is that we have the locked on NHL prospects. Uh, so I can always cheat and go there. But, um, I think it’s going to be interesting. Excuse me. As I, as I said at the top, I’m still recovering from a few illnesses, so apologies for how I may sound and if I have to just clear my sinuses every once in a while. But, um, you know, not the greatest draft. Um, yeah, Bear, a a name again that I’ve definitely heard ranks high. Um, and once we get on the other side of tonight, once we know what the pick is for the Seattle Kraken, I’m absolutely going to talk a little bit about that. But another reason, excuse me, another reason I wanted to talk about the draft lotto and prospects is because I talked about buyouts in the last true episode I had because I did put out some um I I did put out some extra content for our locked on Kraken insiders. You got to hear from Jessica Campbell a very interesting wrinkle um in some ways regarding Jessica Campbell. She also talked about the PWHL. She also talked about Shane Wright and Mattie Veneers. We’re going to get into that coming up. Um, okay. Okay. Before I I finish that thought, okay, this intrigues me. Okay, Kevin, if you’re an everyday or an OGer, you know that I was high on game and I w I also wanted Z uh Z Bull last year. Talked about it with our locked on Minnesota Wild host uh Seth Toppel. I I that was the pick that I wanted. I I was feeling good that the Kraken would go in that direction and they didn’t. We went with another center, Berkeley Ken, who’s crushing it. There’s a I think on um NHL.com/cattle, they actually have a check-in with Berkeley Katton. We we can talk about that later in the week, but this is the kind of defenseman that I wanted to see. So, if you’re saying Jackson Smith has a little bit of that game, I I’m going to keep him high on our list. He’s high on the prospect list anyway that I’ve been looking at. So, we’re probably going to talk about him either way. I always look at centerman because that seems to be we have a type. Seattle, we have a type. Um, but I personally would like to see a defenseman. Um, I forgot what I was saying. Whoa. Uh, maybe remind me. I don’t know. I’m like I said, I’m still a little sick, so on some meds. Oh, but what I want to talk about um as we move on from draft lotto, another great um article I broke down the other day from Sound of Hockey on buyouts. We were more so talking about the Philip Grubour of it all. But the reason I think that the draft lotto draft stock and just who we’re getting could be interesting this year and could it be a tell? I don’t know because there’s so much time generally speaking between when you get a draft um or a prospect, excuse me, at the draft and then depending on when when you pick them when they come to the NHL. Now, if we’re a top three, top four, it might be escalated. But anything lower than four, I’m thinking it’s going to be a while before we see this pick. I mean, right, that’s what we saw with Ken. That’s what we saw with Shane Wright. But could what the Kraken do if we do have a top four pick at the draft, could it be indicative of what we might see when it comes to the roster for next year at Forward? And that to me is a conversation about someone that we did not hear from at least on the media side of exit interviews and that is one Andre Burikovski. Is everyone finally ready to put the b the Berky basket away? Are we moving our eggs in a different scenar in a in a different way completely? I want to talk about that just a little bit on today’s episode. And then I’ll also give you a quick touchin on what’s happening with the AHL, what’s happening with the E, CHL, and of course the PWHL coming to Seattle. That and more on today’s episode of Locked on Kraken. 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Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s code L O C K D O NHL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And thanks as always for making locks on Kraken a part of your daily destination. Erica L. Ayala coming to you live as we get ready for the draft lottery. Talked about that in the first segment. I love that there are some people that are down with me to pick a defenseman. Let’s pick a defenseman. Let’s go. It’s time, right? It’s freaking time. But if we don’t pick a defenseman, and if we don’t pick a centerman, I would be shocked if we picked a goalender. Although I already outlined buyouts for goalending. You can check that out. Check out all of the episodes for Locked on Kraken. Whether you’re watching on YouTube, you can watch on Amazon ad free actually. Um, you can listen wherever you listen to audio podcast. But I talked about buyouts for Philip Grubower. What about buyouts for another player and that being Andre Burkovski? So, we’re going to go back to our good friends at um Sound of Hockey. So, this is the article that I talked about the other day. Talks about the buyout process. We went over that a little bit. Um, now here’s they did two case studies. Spent a lot of time talking about Philip Grubau. I think a lot of us for years. I know I have on this program, right? Been talking about for years. What are we going to do with Philip Grubower? Here’s some more math. All of the maths for you. In this article, you can see it right there. sound of hockey is purporting that you know Andre Burikovsky has underperformed I I that’s not cruel that’s just truth um you know it’s the truth people he has underperformed and what are the Kraken going to do now that that is the case um you know I I think that the Seattle Kraken have to figure out what they want to do and so in this article we see that a buyout out is a potential option. Now, here’s the rub. You can see some of the math here. The buyout at um 2526, the cap hit would be 1.96 million, would save 3.54 mil, and you can see all of the math there. Um so, you know, this would be the time to do it um if if we’re going to do it. But as this article had said, even in the the section where we talked about Grubower, you have to think about the math also in that if we’re not going to have Andre Burikovski, then we have to find someone to replace him. Now, if we think we have that player in the pipeline already, then maybe that’s not such a big deal. Um, you know, I think it’s a little bit different with goalending, especially NHL ready goending. And so that brings us to what could we potentially do if we want to move Andre Burikovski? Because the whole point in moving Burikovski at this point is because we want to get someone who’s a little bit more of a sure thing, so to speak offensively, and that hasn’t been the case with Berky. Yes, I understand he’s been hurt people. We’ve talked about that so many times on this podcast, right? I’m not going to, you know, put up the whole article there. Definitely check it out though at the sound of hockey. Um I want really wanted to just show you the numbers for those watching on YouTube. So So should we move on from Burikovski? I personally would be okay with it. I think that we we thought the confidence was going to come back. We talked a lot about that this season. He was very open about that. Talked about how mentally on the podcast maybe even though he was healthy, as healthy as we’ve ever seen him, right? What was the mental weight of knowing that he got hurt the last handful of seasons and not wanting to um to to miss time because of injury? Did that make him a little more hesitant or was there something else going on? Because I mean, you know, it’s not like his numbers were great. Um you know, Andre Burikovski, you know, he he if if we look at um I thought I had it up here. Hold on. I gotta get myself situated. Um, you know, if we take a look at his um at what he was able to do, I mean, some of his lowest numbers have come with the Seattle Kraken. Again, caveat, he has not been healthy. But for a guy that was relatively healthy, if we look at what he did this season, you know, 79 games, 10 goals, 27 assists, 37 points, a minus3 overall, averaged about 14 just a a touch over 14 minutes of ice time time on ice per game. uh you know his best year was let’s see when it comes to goals specifically he had a 22 goal season uh in 202122 with the Avalanche she also had uh a 20 goal season in 2019 2020 with the ABS uh as far as points overall um again all all top three with the Avalanche and in consecutive years 20 1920 45 points. 20 2021 had 44 points. And then in 2122 is where he broke out for 61 points overall. That was the year right before we got him. But then went from 61 points um to in the first season with the Kraken. 39 points in 49 games. Uh 16 points last year in 49 games. and 37 points in 79 games for the Seattle Kraken. Uh so against his numbers, you know, not looking great. Uh could you make an argument against some of what we saw from the Seattle Kraken overall? Okay, maybe you take it. H I don’t know. I don’t know. I think it’s been average at best for me. I I do I’ve said this before. I do think that we put more attention into getting Andre Burokovski off of the Schneide as opposed to leaning into Jared McCann. And Jared McCann still ended up being one of our top scorers particularly this past season. But as we were trying to make the Berky experiment work, I’ve said that how many times? I don’t even know on this ep. But is the buyout the right thing to do? And that’s why I want to point you to, you know, um the the article for Sound of Hockey. Overall, they’re saying who are the UFAS that are going to give you 37 points or more and can we afford them? Mitch Marner, Elhers, you know, Nikolai Elhers, Brock Bozer, um you know that it’s not going to be a like for like we’re going to have to pay more. So, we’re pay we’re buying out Berki, which comes at a cost. Then we have to pay someone else. Now, yes, the salary cap is going to go up. But even if we get rid of Berki, if we want to get somebody else and really go shopping for someone who can get us more offense, it’s going to come at a cost. Yes, monetarily, dollars, salary cap, and or it’s going to cost us prospects. Is that something that the Kraken want to do? That’s where, and again, if I take it literal, what Sam Holloway versus uh Jason Bal versus Ron Francis versus what the roster is showing us they can do. What is ASAP? What is as soon as possible? Um, you know, we can throw uh uh liewiki in there as well. What is realistic when it comes to as soon as possible? Is that next season? Is that 256? Is it 26 27? Is it 2728? Because for me now you have a new general manager. I think there are things that this general manager could do in my estimation that are correcting some of the things that shouldn’t have been done before. Maybe you say the um depending on you know how what story lines you lean into a little bit more. Is that why Dan Bilesma got let go to correct? And I mean, I don’t know if that’s really a question. We talked about this, right? Sam Holloway alluded to that. Um, definitely alluded to um that being the case. So, I don’t know. I just don’t like I don’t like how things went down with Dan Bilesma. Yeah. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The guy’s gone. So, what are we going to do? Um, how do you ameliate that? What what was what was wrong in the approach for Dan Bilesma? I keep saying I really think we handed him a hot mess. And I liked his philosophy regarding talent development and not just focusing on prospects. Was that something where and I I think we I got to look back in the archives because I’m pretty sure I I said there are some vets that are not going to respond to that. Are the vets right? Is the coach right in a season where the Kraken slide what five points right? Five standings points lower than last year something like that. 20 almost 30 points out of a playoff race. I mean, listen, the guy was put in a tough spot and we can say special teams not great. Um, there was a lot of sending messages and or resets. I said it before in the LA within the last week or two. It just seemed that the power struggle the the organization was tired of the power struggle. I do think there was a little bit of a power struggle going on in the locker room. It I’m assuming that some of the reporting from 32 thoughts that we talked about alluding to differences of opinion. I’m assuming that there was at some point in time a power struggle or power power struggles that happened at that level. But I mean anyway you slice it any way you slice it um this this was um this was not set up for success. So now what does Jason Bol do? Uh will you be are you going to be announcing the pics? No, I will not be announcing the picks because um we’re going to hop out of here before the before the draft starts. So, you can watch it on TV. I have another podcast I have to record around that time, but we will talk about it on the next episode of Locked on Kraken. Um, so the Berky buyout I I I guess what I’m trying to say here is either either Philip Grubau or Andre Burakovski without having a little bit more of a set foundation. I don’t honestly know if either one makes economical sense, right? Does the does the money move make sense? If you offload these guys, you have to almost guarantee that you’re going to get better. I mean, it’s not a question when it comes to goalending. It’s not a question. You cannot afford to on any level bring in another goalender and that goalender somehow make more of a mess with the goalending situation. That cannot happen. absolutely cannot with Berky. I’m I I think I’m indifferent at best. And I’ve been saying at at this point in time, I should say I’m indifferent. I’ve been questioning not so much Andre Burkovsky wanting to give him grace while he was injured, but putting everything in the Berky basket without having other options. And so that’s where you have to look at the contracts, the terms for the Seattle Kraken and do they make sense? We just lean on guys at a high amount or a higher amount relative to the active roster. And then when those things don’t pan out, we’re scrambling and kind of, you know, moving pawns, lower contracts, things that are not going to move the needle as much as if we either didn’t make those contracts in to begin with or if we move some heavy hitters. Now, you could say maybe that’s what the Kraken did at this trade deadline. Maybe. Maybe. I just don’t know. I mean, that’s I hate saying that, but that’s I I mean, some of this is obvious, right? It’s the off season. We don’t know the draft uh order yet. We’ll find out soon. Um all of these things. Um you know, we’ll see. I might actually still be on when they do the pick because I I do want to talk about the ECHL. I want to talk about the AHL and and I want to talk a little bit about Jessica Campbell. So, I might still be on, but no, there’s going to be like a whole production. I don’t know what they’re doing. Anyway, um I I just don’t know. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, including that once again the Seattle Kraken don’t have a head coach um as we march on with the draft lottery, the draft itself, and of course free agency opening up. Now, how long we will be without a head coach, you know, I think it was end of May that we uh well, it must have been, right, because the AHL playoffs were still happening. Um mid to end of May. So, we’re we’re coming up on that. No, we’re not. It’s literally May 5th. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m still tired. Let me take a sip of my tea. I’ve been so sick. Get brain fog sometimes. It’s May 5th. I don’t know what I’m thinking. May is a crazy month. Um, but yeah, we’ve got time relative to when we named a head coach last year. Um, I just want I want to see them move a little more swiftly. um urgent maybe but more it’s not the urgency that I’m looking for. It is the conviction moving with confidence moving in a way that whether it’s right or wrong they’re standing by it they are um explaining um and and helping us understand what the what the archetype of of the team will be moving forward. That’s what I want to see. I feel like that’s asking for a lot for this Seattle Kraken team. H which is kind of sad. It’s kind of sad. But we have to talk about let’s get on the other side of the draft lotto. But I want to talk about what coaching what what because you know there’s options. Some guys have already been picked up. Others have been let go since the last time we talked. Um is is there someone that that you know in the carousel in the coaching carousel who we want to nab? Is there an upand cominging coach that we want maybe want to give a shot? Who’s going to be a good fit? But also again, what do we need? What what do we need? What is what are we trying to accomplish? Because if it’s still player development and Dan Bilesma and his specifically Dan Bilesma wasn’t your guy, I think there was there were some clashes. There had to be some clashes. That’s my final answer. when it comes to that. But coming up, um I’m going to keep tabs. I might still be on. I didn’t think I was still going to be on, but we’ll see what’s happening with the draft lotto. And uh I want to talk and get you ready for the ECHL uh Mavericks play tonight. They won game one against Tahoe. It’s a sevename series in the second round. So, we’ve got a ways to go. They’re playing the Night Monsters, the Tahoe Night Monsters. And then, of course, you’ve got your Coachella Valley Firebirds. Uh they are taking on the Abbottzford Canucks. We will talk a little bit about that and yes what Jessica Campbell had to say about the PWHL, what she had to say about Coachella Valley players right now and what she could and couldn’t say with regard to what’s next for her. That’s what’s coming up next on Locked on Kraken. Today’s episode of Locked on Kraken, also brought to you by our friends at Upwork. Scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more. Experts ready to help you take your business to the next level. Upworks Upwork gives businesses flexibility by connecting them with top freelance talent across multiple industries. a uh AI, IT, web development, marketing, and more. Whether you need extra hands for a project or a long-term partner, Upwork makes hiring simple and affordable. Again, someone who owns our own business, I work with freelancers all the time. Finding the right fit, sometimes you find the right fit, sometimes you don’t find the right fit. Just like in hockey, but if you don’t find the right fit at the right time for the right projects, it could delay and cost you money. So instead of hiring full-time, Upwork helps find affordable top tier freelancers to scale businesses efficiently. And you can also do things fast and easy through their hiring platform. Posting a job is free and simple and within days. Uh multiple qualified candidates. You will have multiple qualified candidates to choose from. So visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That’s upw.com. upwork.com to connect with top talent and grow your business today. All right, Seattle Kraken fans, Draft Lotto’s coming up. I’m not going to stay on for the whole thing. It’s going to be a whole production. Um, but I’m going to leave you off into that. But if you want to stick around and hear a little bit, just briefly about the ECHL and the AHL, we’ll do that. Now, your Kansas City Mavericks, they took a 53 win in game one over the weekend against the Tahoe Night Monsters were in the Mountain Division finals. Mountain division finals of the 2025 Kelly Cup playoffs. The Kansas City Mavericks, of course, defeated the Tulsa Drillers. Oilers, excuse me. The Drillers is the hockey team, the Tulsa Oilers in the first round. very physical matchup and Tulsa did do a good job at sometimes really agitating Kansas City. I was at the games here in Tulsa, but Kansas City comes through. Another good performance from Jack Lefontaine. I mean, where we saw last year that Kansas City went back and forth, they are definitely sticking with La Fontaine for this uh 34 saves, I believe. Yes, 34 saves. So, a nine basically 19 save percentage. Um, and so looks like he got some penalties called against him, but the I mean, if Tahoe saw what Tulsa was doing, that doesn’t surprise me at all. As far as Kansas um excuse me, I just talked about Kansas City. As far as Coachella Valley, they’re taking on the Abbottzford Conucks and um Jud Spicer uh who hosts the Fire and Ice podcast. If you haven’t t taken a look um definitely listen to that. Um has previewed this best of five series. They’ve never been met before, Coachella Valley and Abbottzford in the postseason. Um but um you know when you look at how these teams match up um you know definitely some players to keep an eye on when it comes to Abbottzford uh you know Climovic Baines uh Ratray Center Ratray um some players that um that we hear from Jud Spicer to to keep an eye on. And then of course for your Firebirds, I mean, I’ve really liked what Koko has been doing. Mitchell Stevens was huge in the last two wins for the Coachella Valley Firebirds um to sweep uh why am I blanking right now? Oh. Oh. Um the Wranglers, right? Um Calgary. Uh to sweep Calgary, but Mitchell Stevens coming in hot. Always love what John Hayden is able to do. Um, Firebirds have a great TK. Um, and we saw that against the Wranglers. And so now it’s a matter of who’s going to step up. I’d like to see more from Yanni Newman. I thought he had uh I think it was in game one he stepped up a little bit. Ben Meyers is someone else we’re going to be looking at. Uh Fergus and Lommo, Logan Morrison also some players to keep an eye on. So, um that series is going to uh get started or um uh excuse me, continue up here um on Wednesday, May 7th. So, the series tied 1-1 right now. Um Coachella Valley got the win game two. Uh another overtime game. So, they’ve had to see some OT games on um on their road to the postseason in or in the playoffs I should say this year. Melson scored about five minutes into the OT to to get the win. Um, you know, we saw Olivesson um, you know, really play a role here, set Ben Meyers up for one of those. So, 1-1 is the series going into game three on Wednesday, day before my birthday. Uh, so that’s what’s going on there. And uh if you want to hear what Jessica Campbell had to say about Coachella Valley, I’m going to play you a little clip. If you’re one of our every or excuse me, if you’re one of our Locked on Kraken insiders, you have access to this full interview. But um Jessica Campbell, she um talked to me at an event in New York. That’s why I was in New York. She talked to me at an event in New York about what she as someone who at least as of now is still on the Seattle Kraken coaching staff. Like what is this look like right now um for these players? I’ll get to that in just a second. You know, what does this time look like for these players? What is she looking for from Coachella Valley? Here’s what Jessica Campbell told me in New York last week. Some of that was with the AHL. I mean, what conversations are you having, if any, with excuse me, whether it’s the coaching staff or some of the guys now that, you know, they’re they’re competing once again in in the playoffs? Yeah, obviously. Oh, you’re talking in terms of Coachella. Coachella. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously they’re very equipped with what they need to do and they have the culture and everything, you know, to to continue to get players into positions to again be impact players. And one way to come, obviously the direct way to become an NHL player is to dominate at the AHL level. And so I think obviously that’s always the focus of the American League staff and coming into playoffs, even more more critical than ever, the embracing roles, embracing the identity of the type of player. And I think many guys down there need to need to find that that moment for them to to show who they are through playoffs and to rise up to the challenge to show, you know, the Kraken who they are as a player. Um, and the playoffs is the tried and tested time to to be able to embrace that opportunity. So, I’m excited for them. And then although I’m very thrilled to be here with you, I’m also gutted that I was in Seattle yesterday with the official announcement of PWHL Seattle. I know, right? Uh we talked about that again in January. Just your your world’s converging and sharing the same house. I mean, just your initial thoughts when you knew it was like really really going to happen and and what you’re expecting from PWHL Seattle knowing they’re sharing that house with you. Honestly, you just gave me chills thinking about that because, you know, it’s it’s super cool. I got a text obviously yesterday from one of the players in the league saying like I can’t believe they’re playing in climate pledge and and I right away my first thought was wow I know but I but I say that with some remorse because that’s what they deserve you know they deserve the stage of climate pledge they deserve to be seeing themselves in the same equation of the Kraken and they you know that’s just I I can’t speak enough to how far we’ve come on the women’s side and it’s like the best is yet to come. We’re just getting started and I think the expansion draft is a testament to the sustainability behind the league and obviously they’re always working through growing and becoming better. But to know our fan base to personally have experienced what our fan base represents is I I know that they’re going to wholeheartedly embrace this women’s team, make them feel like the true pros that they are and to show up for them. I I can’t wait to obviously be neighbors and be there for the girls and just just to see them in the same space that we get to, you know, with full gratitude experience every day. And there’s more there. We’ll talk about it. If you’re one of our Locked on Kraken insiders, you should already have access. If you want to become a locked on Kraken insider, then make sure that you are texting uh 918731-3154 to join our locked on Kraken insiders via subtext uh 918731-3154. You can also find that information in the show notes. But we’re going to close this out because again, Draft GL uh should be happening right about now. Gotta get ready for that. But um you know are the odds in the Kraken’s favor? No, not really. Odds are not in our favor, but you never know. You never know what could happen and uh we shall see. Yes, PWHL Seattle. So exciting. I’m going to have more on that. Um talk to Jessica more about that, including are her loyalties now in the PWHL going to be with Ottawa, who for those who don’t know, she helps with the scouting team. um or will they be with Seattle? I have that answer for you. Also, I’ll just say it this way, and I’ll talk more about this um in the coming days, in the coming episodes. Insiders, you probably already heard this audio. I’ll just say it like this. It doesn’t seem like Jessica Campbell exactly knows what her future will be with the Seattle Kraken. Now, we’ve heard a few different ways that she will be with the organization. Will she be a bench boss? We don’t know. We don’t know. But yes, Bal luck be a lady or a bouncy pingpong ball. Will some of Bal’s luck with Buffalo in the lottery um come with him to Seattle? I mean, when you say luck and and Buffalo, I think we have to be very specific. But, uh, we’ll see. Whatever happens, however the the balls bounce or whatever the case is, there are a lot of things that Seattle has to do. And it’s not all going to be done in whatever our first pick is in the draft. That being said, I do think that what not only who we pick, but what positions we prioritize in this upcoming draft might be hints into what Bal and company now are thinking. And what will this president role look like? We know there’s a vacancy for uh you know, president in with the Kings right now. They just got rid of a president. We just got one. We’ve never had a president. That’s Ron Francis, of course. Um, so we’ll see. Lots to figure out, but let’s see how uh the roll of the dice, all of these metaphors for luck. Let’s see what happens tonight. And I will catch you on the next episode of Locked on Kraken. You know what we do? We uh are kind to ourselves so that we can extend that kindness and grace to other people. Life is hard. Sometimes you get sick. Sometimes, you know, other things happen that will blow you off course. But we always hold fast, we stay true, and we say, “Let’s go Kraken.” We also, of course, are going to root on the Coachella Valley Firebirds and your Kansas City Mavericks. But I am Erica Layala, your host of Locked on Kraken, and I will catch you on the next episode. Peace out, everybody.

Will the Kraken get a Top-5 pick?

Locked on Kraken host Erica L. Ayala breaks down the Draft odds ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery.