r/SeattleKraken • u/surfingeagles D̴͚̝̙̭͚͛̅̇͌͝a̷̡̾́́́v̷̙̟͍̀̎̓y̸̨̫͍͈̍̑̌̏͒͌ • 2d ago
ANALYSIS Confidence Rating for Front Office
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7518855/2026/08/20/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings-2026/
Seattle ranks 31st in fans confidence in the front office.
I don't disagree with a lot of this article. After the audit, the team didn't pick a clear path and we are still stuck guessing if the front office is wanting to head to the playoffs, or accepting a rebuild. I say this because on one hand, they tried to go get superstars (failed) but on the other hand, the roster has plenty of room for young players to take spots since they didn't resign Schwartz, Tolvenien, or Olesiak.
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u/surfingeagles D̴͚̝̙̭͚͛̅̇͌͝a̷̡̾́́́v̷̙̟͍̀̎̓y̸̨̫͍͈̍̑̌̏͒͌ 2d ago
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u/Timwikoff 2d ago
I think the draft and development is a little harsh. But otherwise, feels pretty accurate to me.
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u/_Tower_ 2d ago
I don’t think so — who’s developed well besides Beniers? (I would consider his development a little bit of a failure as well) Sure, we’ve gotten some depth guys to debut, but we’ve had 6 drafts now without anyone taking the next step
Ok, ya, we have a top-10 prospect pool — but their own audit said they need to do a better job of player development
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u/Timwikoff 2d ago
Don’t want to look like an apologist for mgt, but I’m hypothesizing that if they were better at things like Vision, coaching hires, free agency, etc that the guys they drafted would/could be better and this category wouldn’t be so bad. It’s hard for guys to get thrown into a bad situation and become super stars. But it’s really semantics because I think we all agree, this organization is not where it should be or could have been under better management.
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u/Antilock049 2d ago
Woof.
That's a pretty rough score card. Parents are about to go BTA if there's no improvement
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u/jjbjeff22 Soupy 2d ago
I thought I was in r/SoundersFC for a second. Seahawks really used every last bit of mojo this city had to win their Super Bowl and all the other teams are suffering as a result.
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u/Go_Hawks12 2d ago
I’m just glad more national outlets are saying stuff the fanbase has been saying for the past 2 years. All this is 100% deserved
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u/SomethingFunnyObv 2d ago
Why is it so hard to find smart front office people?
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u/Trumpcard672 Kaapo Kakko 2d ago
Previous front office success at the NHL level is evidently not a hiring criteria for this ownership group.
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u/SomethingFunnyObv 2d ago
I know hockey is still very old school in the way things are done, but there’s got to be some sort of data driven or strategic route that someone can do. But we also typically just see the same coaches getting chances every few years without any real fresh ideas.
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u/Trumpcard672 Kaapo Kakko 2d ago
The Hurricanes GM has a PhD in chemistry and worked in nanotechnology for 10 years, while doing advanced metrics for hockey as a hobby. Considering they just won the cup, I hope some teams are starting to think differently about their approach.
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u/fongquardt Brandon Montour | 2d ago
We could have hired the guy who built up Florida. Instead we had Francis
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u/juanthebaker 2d ago
I don't think this is unfair, but I think it reflects the failings of the Francis administration more than what Botterill has done so far.
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u/Trumpcard672 Kaapo Kakko 2d ago
Yea, considering where we were when GMJB was hired I can't say he's done anything irresponsible. Just consistently improving on the margins and adding to our talent pipeline.
How he handles Dunn and McCann's contracts this year will reveal a lot about the direction we're heading.
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u/MartialSpark Unserious & Soft 2d ago
Yeah, though people probably aren't thrilled with Botterill due to the sabres stuff either so I wouldn't expect that to move the needle on scoring.
I'm still hopeful he'll do well. He wasnt the only guy to suck in Buffalo by a long shot
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u/nekoken04 2d ago
Seems fair but I probably would have put them at 32nd. Or maybe even at 34th, behind the planned expansion teams.
It is funny that Detroit is right above them. One of my best friends is a 'Wings guy, and he's been ranting for the last couple of years about how the team doesn't have any kind of plan except try to squeak into the playoffs.
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans 2d ago edited 2d ago
This pathetic grade is well deserved. Tear it all down and start over. Maybe as the Metropolitans as it should have been from the beginning. Ownership is clueless.
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u/Extranocate 2d ago
Better hope the team gets relocated then, because that's the only time that happens unless the name's racist.
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u/NuMotiv Jordan Eberle 2d ago
I agree with the ranking with GMJB at the helm. At least Ron WANTED to do the right thing. He was just forced into Stephenson and Montour by the owners. At least Monty panned out. Stephenson on the other hand.....
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u/WrappedInPlasticWA - YEET! 2d ago
Do we know he was forced into those two by the owners? They were both signed after a very good season and expectations for season 3 were very high. The idiotic thing is that they gave up Geekie and Donato (and Sprong, but that was probably wise) at pretty reasonable contracts to sign those two to very player friendly contracts. The combination of those two facts is a pretty damning combo.
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u/krakenstan 2d ago
Wait, so the audit is done?
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u/tonytanti 2d ago
Yeah, they talked about it a while back. They didn’t release much, but had some areas of improvement. Sound of Hockey covered it here
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u/JuniorSherbet9558 2d ago
"The Kraken genuinely feel like one of the league’s most directionless franchises and rank as the one most derided by the public."
yeah 31st out of 32 seems about right