Kraken Overall Rebuild Grade: D
Core: C
Overall Roster: B-
Prospect Pool: C
Head Coach & General Manager: C
If The Kraken Are Building, They’re Doing An Awful Job of It
In fairness, this is still a “build” rather than a rebuild. Some folks anticipated the Seattle Kraken becoming the next Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion franchise that would be competitive from day one. They weren’t. The Kraken are entering their fifth season in the NHL, and they’ve only made the playoffs once while looking like a team without direction.
Even when it was clear they needed to play the long game and build up a great team, the Kraken have tried pushing to be competitive, and it’s only backfired. Fortunately, Ron Francis isn’t the GM anymore and is running the organization. Instead, he’s president, and Jason Botteril was hired as GM while Lane Lambert became the third head coach in as many years for the Kraken this offseason.
The Kraken have had the same issues since the inaugural season. They don’t have the star power, scoring, and depth good enough to make up for it. To be fair, Shane Wright and Matty Beniers, their top two prospects, are starting to make an impact at the NHL level, and Joey Daccord is a reliable starter. Also, it’s worth noting, Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann, and Chandler Stephenson are veterans who are reliable contributors to the middle six. The problem is that’s about where it ends when it comes to talent for the foreseeable future.
Outsider’s Perspective
As a team stuck in no-man’s land, they aren’t a team many think of as rebuilding. However, considering how their roster looks, they should be. The ceiling for this team, one that’s built on depth but doesn’t have enough of it to make up for the lack of elite talent, is the playoffs and not much further. It’s why they should be looking towards the draft and building from there.
“Seems like they don’t have much direction, but they should be all in on the (Gavin) McKenna sweepstakes and not trying for the 8th seed in the West.”
So, like many rebuilding teams, many a terrible 2025-26 won’t be the worst of things. When their upside is a playoff berth at best, searching for star players who are capable of leading a team to the Cup isn’t a bad idea.
The Bottom Line
The Kraken were given a long leash since they are an expansion franchise and weren’t expected to compete from day one. Their first offseason embodies the disconnect that they haven’t recovered from since. The Philipp Grubauer signing was a flop, and so was selecting Mark Giordano in the expansion draft, naming him the captain, then trading him at the deadline (my personal favorite, when they could have selected many other players from the Calgary Flames who would have been regulars on the current roster). With Francis out of the picture, at least when it comes to roster moves, there’s hope that the next leadership group can turn things around. However, there’s a good chance they end up with the worst record in their division and are fighting for a high lottery position.
