MARCH 8
2:25 pm PT
Sometimes the “best trades are the ones you don’t make” is a well-traveled axiom for a reason. Friday’s reason is the Kraken decided to extend veteran forward Jordan Eberle’s for two more seasons and through 2025-26. If Francis and Eberle’s agent hadn’t come to terms Friday morning, no doubt the original Kraken would have been traveling to an NHL club jockeying for playoff position.
“He's been with us from day one and a big part of our locker room,” said Kraken GM Ron Francis, who literally designed locker rooms at both Climate Pledge Arena and Kraken Community Iceplex to physically encourage both comforts and intimacy/accountability. “He’s a character guy, not only a good player on the ice who has a tendency to play well in the big games.”
Francis mentioned Eberle and his wife, Lauren Rodych-Eberle, have made strong efforts to be part of the Seattle and Pacific Northwest Community. His remarks say something about the Eberles, yes, but also Francis and the Kraken organizational culture.
Note the pronoun: “It was important to keep them on board as we try and build this [franchise] in the right way.”
Friday was quiet on the NHL trade wire for Francis and his staff (one of whom said they “didn’t do anything stupid today,” said Francis, laughing with the media scrum, referring to not trading first- or second-round draft choices for a rental player). But let’s not overlook Wednesday’s trade of Alex Wennberg to the New York Rangers, getting a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick, or the Dec. 15 move of acquiring Tomas Tatar from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick.
Let’s start with the Tatar. He slotted right into first-line minutes for Seattle, notching four points (two goals, two assists) in his first four games. He has seven goals total in 31 games, two of which were game-winners and one of which is going to make the Kraken end-of-season highlight reel even if that reel was just a handful of goals scored. In Tuesday’s big win at Winnipeg, he scored the tying goal in the third period to set up Andre Burakovsky’s game-winning goal late in regulation.
Tatar hadn’t scored in 10 games but was playing fewer minutes on the fourth line. The Wennberg deal frees up the Slovakia-born Tatar (nickname is “Tuna” of course in a perfect Seattle fit) to be back on the first line with the aforementioned Eberle and Matty Beniers (who assisted on the Tatar’s Winnipeg goal). Tatar is a steady presence in the locker room and gushing about the “camaraderie in our locker room” post-game Tuesday. Plus, Tatar is a career-streaky goal scorer, which all Kraken fans will no doubt appreciate during the playoff push that heightens Tuesday when Vegas comes to Climate Pledge Arena.
As for the Wennberg trade, Francis was clear Friday that Wennberg’s representation and the Kraken could not reach terms on a new contract despite Francis’ positive opinion of Wennberg’s contributions (which include heavy minutes on both penalty kills and power plays). Francis, always a straight-shooter, made it clear to Wennberg that if no deal was in place to stay wearing the “S,” then Seattle would look for a trade partner. New York’s offer of a second-rounder in this summer’s draft was enticing since the Kraken hockey brain trust sees this draft to be deep with many solid prospects available later second round (NYR is highly likely to qualify for the postseason).
It is important to acknowledge that the Kraken have zoomed into league-wide regard as having a strong, top-10-type prospect pool in just three years of drafting. In the hands of Francis and Kraken hockey operations group (including scouts and the analytics group), an additional second-round pick is decidedly valuable. Just a quick proof case: 2021 second-rounder David Goyette leads the Ontario Hockey League in scoring while fellow 2021 second-round pick Ryker Evans played 18-plus minutes and notched the primary assist on the aforementioned Burakovsky’s winning goal Tuesday night in Winnipeg.
There’s more second-round Grade-A potential: 2022 draft choice Jagger Firkus leads the Western Hockey League in goals and overall points while 2023 second-rounder Carson Rehkopf leads the OHL in scoring. Both Firkus and Rehkopf hit the magic number of 50 goals over the weekend, an achievement only a handful of players hit each season in the WHL and OHL combined.
Francis held Wennberg out the two big road wins at Calgary and Winnipeg this week, making sure an injury wouldn’t derail the trade. The GM likes what he saw in leading scorer Jared McCann’s move from wing back to center, a position he played in the Kraken’s inaugural season and also earlier in his career with Vancouver, Florida, and Pittsburgh.
“Jared stepped into the middle and even earlier in the season when we had injuries [January with Matty Beniers out for a bit],” said Francis. “He’s played extremely well in the middle [Dave Hakstol has concurred in remarks this week too]. Obviously, you miss a guy like Wenny but it's another opportunity for other guys to step up. So far guys have done that.”
The Kraken GM indicated the team’s recent plays, going 7-2-1 in the last 10 games, was a pivotal factor in this week’s decision-making. His re-signing of Eberle and no larger-scale movement of Seattle players with contracts that expire this summer is effectively an enthusiastic vote of confidence is the current roster.
“You factor [the record] in, you factor in what your schedule looks like, who you have to catch and what their schedule looks like and whether you play them or not, whether you have games in hand,” said Francis. “On the outside [media and especially playoff probability formulas that recalibrate daily] they’re not giving us much of a possibility. But there’s a belief in that locker room. I think you saw that the last couple of games. It’s been a group that's been resilient [with major players going down with injuries for longer stretches]. I expect them to keep the same run.“
