Morning Skate: Aftermath

At long last, the Expansion Draft is over, and the Seattle Kraken are here.

(Kraken is here? I never like those, like “the Minnesota Wild is in town.” Teams should be plural. Anyways, this has been Grammar Minute.)

Jeremy Lauzon is headed to Seattle, and the Bruins can now resume their normal off-season tasks: signing free agents and, in short order, preparing for the NHL Draft tomorrow.

Overall, the Kraken had a bit of a curious draft. They made some “okay, that makes sense” picks (Yanni Gourde, Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann) and then made some “huh, alright” picks (Carson Twarynski, Tyler Pitlick, Kole Lind).

That’s not to say that those last three guys are bad players, just that they’re kind of under-the-radar picks.

What’s interesting is that there really weren’t many side deals this time around (that we know of, I guess). Back when Vegas picked its team, there was plenty of wheeling and dealing (looking at you, Florida).

It also seems like Vegas loaded up on a lot more “big name” guys, whereas Seattle seems to have gone with youth and guys on decent contracts.

One theory: Seattle is acquiring assets that it’ll turn into more pieces, and is also setting itself up to be a player in free agency.

Or the Kraken are just going for a different approach. Who knows? I guess that’s the fun of it.

Today’s discussion topic

Any picks by Seattle stand out to you as being particularly good or particularly bad?