Hakstol named Kraken's first head coach

[tweetdrivr]

i think NHL learned from their mistakes and Seattle will not be a power house for a while, therefore coach is more of stop gap for now...i dont think he will be around when Seattle makes their first playoff run.

i also thought Tocchet will get this job but now thinking about it maybe he had enough o loosing in Arizona...

I don't understand here. The rules for Seattle are exactly the same as they were for Vegas. In what way has the NHL learned a lesson? That doesn't sound very NHL like. I don't really think there is any impactful way that teams can change the way they go into this expansion as compared to the last one. They just make the best decisions as they see them. It's not like the other 30 teams were thinking "hey, let's be generous and make Vegas a contender right off the bat."

[2014olympicgold]

A lot of the guys selected I think had a fair amount of GP, including the young guys. Marchessault, Karlsson, Neal Perron, Smith, Haula, Merrill, Methot, Schmidt, TVR.

They all had a fair amount of games played by the point the draft happened.

My thought without doing a ton of digging, is there is a fair amount of guys that don't have the same Games Played amount, and young, as what VGK were either gifted or selected. So if they go young, they won't have the same GP as the young guys VGK got, or if they go old then this is a weird choice but ...

If they are even the same aged as VGK, I don't know how much the team can actually gel as quickly as that team did. Your Captain was from the city, the mass shooting brought the team/city together, and I don't know if Seattle will have that same gel-ness. Hakstol is used to coaching in the NCAA where you get new guys all the time and maybe he has more experience bringing together a new team which is a hard thing to do.

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I don't understand here. The rules for Seattle are exactly the same as they were for Vegas. In what way has the NHL learned a lesson? That doesn't sound very NHL like. I don't really think there is any impactful way that teams can change the way they go into this expansion as compared to the last one. They just make the best decisions as they see them. It's not like the other 30 teams were thinking "hey, let's be generous and make Vegas a contender right off the bat."

Less NMC it seems were given out, so teams have more flexibility in who to keep. Which seems like a lesson learned.

[tweetdrivr]

Less NMC it seems were given out, so teams have more flexibility in who to keep. Which seems like a lesson learned.

For the Vegas draft there were 66. This year there are 52. So that would probably drive the age/GP levels available up as it's usually guys off ELC's with NMC clauses. It would also probably improve the player pool slightly. Not make it worse. I guess it depends greatly on who those contracts belong to. Certainly can't see it rising to the level of making that much of a difference at all - and particularly not driving your head coach hiring decision.

[skinnypete88]

Does this help Toronto at all? Hakstol ran that PP right? So is there potential here for a different look and perhaps even a loaded #1 unit?

[2014olympicgold]

For Vegas there were 66. This year there are 52. So that would probably drive the age/GP levels available up as it's usually guys off ELC's with NMC clauses. It would also probably improve the player pool slightly. Not make it worse. I guess it depends greatly on who those contracts belong to. Certainly can't see it rising to the level of making that much of a difference at all - and particularly not driving your head coach hiring decision.

I feel like the NMC now are more worthy of a protection status compared to VGK? I don't really want to dig into it, but I remember multiple teams having issues with "you gotta protect player xxxx over this young player".

As in TBL had to protect Callahan (NMC) after a yr he produced 4pts in 18games. They had to give up Gusev to protect someone like Gourde, or Pacquette. I don't know how many of these situations are out there compared to 2017 offseason.

Questionable guys with NMC this yr:
Kessel, Coyle, Skinner, Lucic, J.Staal(?), Keith, E.Johnson, Bishop(?), Parise, R.Suter, Vlasic, Karlsson. But even then, I think maybe Bishop and J.Staal prevent someone from being kept that deserves it. Guys like Lucic and Skinner wouldn't be picked likely by Seattle to begin with. But Lucic said he'd waive his NMC anyways.

It's more guy feeling, and just running through the capfriendly expansion draft tool a few weeks ago, this yrs protection list is much more fluid because teams don't have the same amount of NMC on their rosters. I could be wrong though and just remembering it all wrong

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Does this help Toronto at all? Hakstol ran that PP right? So is there potential here for a different look and perhaps even a loaded #1 unit?

Manny Maholtra ran the PP.

[skinnypete88]

I feel like the NMC now are more worthy of a protection status compared to VGK? I don't really want to dig into it, but I remember multiple teams having issues with "you gotta protect player xxxx over this young player".

As in TBL had to protect Callahan (NMC) after a yr he produced 4pts in 18games. They had to give up Gusev to protect someone like Gourde, or Pacquette. I don't know how many of these situations are out there compared to 2017 offseason.

Questionable guys with NMC this yr:
Kessel, Coyle, Skinner, Lucic, J.Staal(?), Keith, E.Johnson, Bishop(?), Parise, R.Suter, Vlasic, Karlsson. But even then, I think maybe Bishop and J.Staal prevent someone from being kept that deserves it. Guys like Lucic and Skinner wouldn't be picked likely by Seattle to begin with. But Lucic said he'd waive his NMC anyways.

It's more guy feeling, and just running through the capfriendly expansion draft tool a few weeks ago, this yrs protection list is much more fluid because teams don't have the same amount of NMC on their rosters. I could be wrong though and just remembering it all wrong

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Manny Maholtra ran the PP.

Ah that's right! Darn.

[Locke]

FWIW, the Athletic put out a few mock expansion drafts and ran those teams through a simulator that had the Kraken as a borderline playoff team. Very similar numbers to what the algorithm produced for the Knights. Should the algorithm be updated because of that? Who knows. But it does suggest that the quality of players available is fairly similar on the whole.

My own view is that one of the most important advantages expansion teams have is no anchor contracts, and weaponizing cap space in a flat cap world is incredibly effective as we've seen.

[tweetdrivr]

I agree it's a little different feel on the NMCs this time around. What I'm saying is there seems to be some consensus forming here that Hakstol was hired as a developmental/stop gap coach and will not have a good roster to work with for whatever reason - be it youth or some NHL collective lesson learning since Vegas. I disagree completely. We have no idea how this is going to go and I find it silly to think that Francis would hire a guy based on punting his first few seasons for "development". Francis has hired the guy he thinks will give his team the best chance to win games and be the best team they can.

[2014olympicgold]

I agree it's a little different feel on the NMCs this time around. What I'm saying is there seems to be some consensus forming here that Hakstol was hired as a developmental/stop gap coach and will not have a good roster to work with for whatever reason - be it youth or some NHL collective lesson learning since Vegas. I disagree completely. We have no idea how this is going to go and I find it silly to think that Francis would hire a guy based on punting his first few seasons for "development". Francis has hired the guy he thinks will give his team the best chance to win games and be the best team they can.

My thought on Hakstol was developing a young team, maybe bringing together a group together under a short time, and Seattle isn't punting the yr. So same same.

To be fair, VGK have moved one from their 1st head coach lol. Which (splitting hairs) I don't think management thought a Stanley Cup Finals birth in their first yr was possible, but now after acquiring Pietrangelo, Stone, Pax, and others they've pushed the chips to the middle and are considering themselves SC contestants with a new coach lol. Man the VGK are a weird team lol, 2 coaches and 4 out 4 playoffs appearances lol.

Having a coach to set the tone of your franchise is prolly the biggest point. You get a coach and a GM on the same page from building a team to translating the GMs vision to the ice can set your Franchises tone for yrs. If Francis thinks Hakstol is that guy to deploy Francis's vision, so be it.

[Invictus]

Man the VGK are a weird team lol, 2 coaches and 4 out 4 playoffs appearances lol.

Not only that but 3/4 semifinal appearances.

Hard to think that Seattle will be able to replicate such success so fast.

[Feenom]

I wont lie, I really thought this job was Tocchet's to lose.

Yes, thought it was all nicely wrapped for Tocchet, especially the Penguin connection. Did not even have Hak on the radar. Nothing against him, I think he is a very good coach but wonder what happened. Wish him luck with the Kracken.

[lucafen4]

I think the lesson's learned were
A. less NMC and
B. it's not worth the Vegas type deals to protect a player

Although, I do wonder if Florida is once again in a position to add a significant asset to move a contract - Yandle.
And there are teams that would add picks/assets to move a horrid contract - Vancouver & Eriksson

That said, if teams are less willing to make trades. Then there could be better players available for the Kraken to draft.
So it could play out the other side just as much.

[2014olympicgold]

Outside the box thought.

Buffalo trades Skinner+#1 overall to Seattle for #2 lol. I don't think that's enough for Seattle to take Skinner though lol.

[Dr.Brad]

Outside the box thought.

Buffalo trades Skinner+#1 overall to Seattle for #2 lol. I don't think that's enough for Seattle to take Skinner though lol.

This would require the Sabres to make a trade in which they actually WIN the trade! When has that happened in recent history? They’re more likely to trade Eichel for Filip Chytil.

[Pengwin7]

Outside the box thought.

Buffalo trades Skinner+#1 overall to Seattle for #2 lol. I don't think that's enough for Seattle to take Skinner though lol.

^You know... that's a pretty interesting trade idea.
A major issue for a team like Buffalo is that they gave Skinner so much money. (Same as they did with Okposo).
As soon as a team establishes that benchmark of payment... it trickles to all the players.
I mean... Reinhart >> Skinner... so now they have to deal with that.
If BUF gets Skinner off their payroll, they can actually start really, truly, building up this team.
Conversely, part of what makes TB such a strong team is getting the star players to manageable cap hits... it trickles down to negotiations with other players.

Power should be solid, but I don't think he'll reshape the Sabres.

Meanwhile, Seattle could take on Skinner, knowing where their CAP situation will be.
And they could add Power - a rock #1 D man... which is SUPER hard to come by.


Skinner's contract IS atrocious though.
I can't honestly speak to the magnitude of a GM entertaining taking that on!

I mean... Eichel+Skinner... what does that fetch Buffalo? Probably not much!!!