Seattle Fires Bylsma

[Reggie Dunlop]

Wasn't Mitch Love supposed to the best coach not in the NHL?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Jetfire

Was Botterill a horrible GM in Buffalo? Or was he a Pegula puppet?

I thought he was pretty good there given the constraints, and he also played a huge part of the Penguins' repeat championships.

[Jetfire]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I thought he was pretty good there given the constraints, and he also played a huge part of the Penguins' repeat championships.

I guess I always think of the Eichel saga with Botterill. That one couldn't have been anything but Pegula being a turd though.

[dissentowner]

Tough to do much with that roster. wonder who lands there?

[bluejays]

Francis expansion drafted terribly that year. He left so much on the table, that it was a real head scratcher. Hard to believe he's the best guy to even run the business operations to promote him upstairs. Seattle is a desirable city on the whole, so you'd think there would be some really good people interested in going there. It's a cop out to promote him.

[Harry Lime]

Seattle isn't as bad as people imagine. They are missing a big make you pay bottom pairing defensmen, a backup goalie and a penalty killing 4C. They also need to figure out what their plan is for Berkley Catton, after signing Chandler Stephenson long term.

Nothing there is insurmountable.

Although Grabhour was horrible last year, to the point of replacement, as is signed long term. Make that need for a backup, a need for a 1A.

[1qqaaz]

Huska and Conroy are quickly becoming grizzled vets in their current positions relative to the rest of the league

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Seattle isn't as bad as people imagine. They are missing a big make you pay bottom pairing defensmen, a backup goalie and a penalty killing 4C. They also need to figure out what their plan is for Berkley Catton, after signing Chandler Stephenson long term.

Nothing there is insurmountable.

Although Grabhour was horrible last year, to the point of replacement, as is signed long term. Make that need for a backup, a need for a 1A.

Those top two lines maybe have one player who is a top 2 line player on other teams. They don't have high end skill at all, forwards or back end.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Seattle isn't as bad as people imagine. They are missing a big make you pay bottom pairing defensmen, a backup goalie and a penalty killing 4C. They also need to figure out what their plan is for Berkley Catton, after signing Chandler Stephenson long term.

Nothing there is insurmountable.

Although Grabhour was horrible last year, to the point of replacement, as is signed long term. Make that need for a backup, a need for a 1A.

What? That team doesn't have elite talent needed to win a Cup. That talent comes from the bottom of the draft, for the most part. But they were gifted a great start and are now "competing to the point where they won't get those high end draft picks.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Bylsma did have Seattle playing hard it seemed. They were rather vanilla, but the one thing that they did was play fast and hard. I am not a fan of Bylsma, however. I just found it strange that they team played hard under him.


It is nice to see an expansion team suffer a little though, isn't it?

[brocoli]

As a fan of the Kraken, they finished where I expected them to this year. Bylsma used what he had, but this starts with Francis and all that he's done as GM. They need top end talent as their options right now are still quite young and learning the game. Need deeper D to shut down attacks and as people have said a competant backup to help give Joey a break.

Outside of one season where they teams didn't know what they had, this has been as I've expected since the draft. Stephenson with a Nurse style contract and not too much money coming off the books this season doesn't help. This is a team stuck in limbo for the next few years and I fully expect them not to make the playoffs without sweeping changes

[Erick Estrada]

The Knights are not the norm as they took advantage of NHL GM's who were much wiser for the Kraken's expansion draft. The 100 point season was probably fun but organization would have been better served with another 60 point season in the draft lottery mix for Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, etc. Now they are kind of in that mushy middle area that's probably the absolute worst place to be for an organization.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Francis expansion drafted terribly that year. He left so much on the table, that it was a real head scratcher. Hard to believe he's the best guy to even run the business operations to promote him upstairs. Seattle is a desirable city on the whole, so you'd think there would be some really good people interested in going there. It's a cop out to promote him.

There didn't seem to be that many steals in that expansion draft if i recall. There were some good players left unprotected, but on expiring contracts.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

There didn't seem to be that many steals in that expansion draft if i recall. There were some good players left unprotected, but on expiring contracts.

Probably could have gotten better assets trading those contracts.

But his other moves have been pretty bad as well, the goalie tandem and signing them to extensions. Chandler Stephenson.

2 terrible coaching hires.

[Ped]

The goaltending moves were bad in hindsight, but Grubauer had been pretty good in both Washington and Colorado, and was looked upon as a real coup. Driedger had been good in Florida, albeit in less time.

[Toonage]

Right? No one would have guessed Daccord would be the gem there

[FBI]

Seattle needs a 4C penalty killer? Can I interest you in one Roondog?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Seattle isn't as bad as people imagine. They are missing a big make you pay bottom pairing defensmen, a backup goalie and a penalty killing 4C. They also need to figure out what their plan is for Berkley Catton, after signing Chandler Stephenson long term.

Nothing there is insurmountable.

Although Grabhour was horrible last year, to the point of replacement, as is signed long term. Make that need for a backup, a need for a 1A.

That's an awfully short list of needs, when they don't currently have a real 1C aside from a prospect who hasn't played yet, a 1G who can play consistently, any scoring wingers, etc.

[Ped]

That's true. But Shane Wright took some pretty big strides last year and he's only 21.

[Lewis_D]

Boudreau --> Rangers
Campbell --> Kraken
Gallant --> Ducks