Inside the NHL
Around this time, a year ago, one of the silliest media slogans surrounding the Kraken was about how GM Ron Francis was positioned to “build up” his cap space.
Every hockey writer west of Newfoundland, it seemed, was tossing the expression back and forth when describing the enormous salary-cap leverage Francis had received that he could use to pressure opposing teams for lopsided deals. The embarrassing cliché didn’t age particularly well, and not simply because it was a sports metaphor that borrowed the lethal threat of real guns.
No, he aged quickly because the predicted Francis power play never happened. At least not until fridaywhen Francis finally deployed his cap leverage to pull out a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets for winger Oliver Bjorkstrand that anguish certainly inflicted over rival GM Jarmo Kekalainen.
Francis acquired a player whose 28 goals and 57 points last season were more than anyone had ever achieved in a Kraken uniform. And he effectively got Bjorkstrand for nothing: a third- and fourth-round draft pick and agreed to take on a four-year, $21.6 million salary from a non-salary-cap Columbus team.
That is the leverage that everyone previously anticipated. Francis exploited the Blue Jackets, who had missed the salary cap, to give up a potential 30-goal man for the equivalent of Calle Jarnkrok and Mason Appleton, somewhat forgettable Kraken forwards whose March trades netted those draft picks.
One of the reasons the Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights had such huge advantages over previous NHL expansion teams wasn’t simply because of a better pool of players to choose from. No, it was also because those usually awful expansion teams didn’t play in a salary-cap era and started building rosters from zero balance.
The Kraken simply needed to meet the NHL’s minimum payroll requirements against a cap of $81.5 million last season. They emerged from the July 2021 expansion draft with a whopping $29 million in cap space left over and plenty more for the years to come.
But where Francis was justifiably criticized was for not taking more of that massive slot by agreeing before the expansion draft to select the most expensive contracts of most proven players for future entry draft picks from other teams. Some suggested that his asking price was too high.
By forgetting those side deals, Francis simply could have risked drafting those players outright without compensation, hoping for at least short-term production before trading them if necessary.
But Francis was loathe to risk cap space even on that, lest he be stuck with multi-year contracts that no one wanted to buy later.
The result was far from perfect, as it deprived the Kraken of immediate top players and a much-needed buffer against injuries and plans gone astray. Instead, they spent their debut season building the trade value of a third of the roster before trading those players for the entry-level future draft picks Francis was unable to acquire in side deals the previous summer.
So while Francis is now taking advantage of the held-up cap space, the cost was a very “expansion-like” opening season despite Kraken’s huge advantages over most first-year predecessors. And he explains the pressure on Francis to get it right this summer to make up for a first impression flop that negatively affected the Kraken’s relevance within a crowded local sports market.
In fact, Francis has made up for a lot, having some luck on this month’s entry draft. when Shane Wright fell to him at No. 4 overall. He then used both short-term and long-term salary-cap space in the signing of free agent winger Andre Burakovsky from the Colorado avalanche and now, most importantly, a Bjorkstrand interchange that significantly moves the needle in the near term.
Suddenly, the Kraken can’t just bring out a supposedly “NHL-ready” Wright and last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Matty Beniers, this fall. But they also appear poised to do more with the upcoming season than just use it as a training ground for prospects.
This Bjorkstrand-infused Kraken roster now looks built to play .500 hockey all season long and might surprise people if luck kicks in.
Bjorkstrand might actually be the best player on that list. He has put pucks behind goalies at the same frequent pace for four straight seasons, regardless of whether the Blue Jackets were a contender or a struggling team. The same can’t be said for Burakovsky, who has more streaks, signed by the defending Avalanche Cup champion to a five-year, $27.5 million deal.
Sure, Burakovsky has put up nearly as impressive numbers the past three seasons mostly in 5-on-5 action and not unduly inflated by power-play opportunities.
But Joonas Donskoi a year ago was coming off a 17-goal-in-51 season with the Avs, just two goals fewer than Burakovsky in that pandemic-shortened campaign. Donskoi then scored just twice in 75 games for the Kraken.
Therefore, there is always a risk of abandonment when moving from elite teams to inferior teams.
But now, the Bjorkstrand trade increases the odds that Kraken will make a quick profit from Burakovsky. By adding more good players to the same team, the pressure to produce is spread and an environment is created to improve results.
Burakovsky alone could have been enough for significant offensive impact. But adding Bjorkstrand pretty much ensures that.
Two weeks ago, the Kraken had Jared McCann as their biggest scoring threat. Now they have three of those players. Combined with Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde, they can field two main lines in which five of the six forwards scored at least 21 goals last season.
Only 10 teams last season had five players with at least 21 goals. Six playoff teams didn’t have that many.
Not bad for a Kraken team initially built around defense and goalkeeping. Additionally, Bjorkstrand, Burakovsky and McCann, all 27 or younger, are signed for at least four seasons each. So they will be around when Beniers and Wright mature.
As for this season, Jaden Schwartz could suddenly be a third-tier guy. Brandon Tanev, a fourth line. Ryan Donato, a 16-goal man a season ago, might have a hard time figuring out this lineup if he returns.
It is one thing to build for the future. It is quite another to do so while remaining immediately relevant. Francis by now appears to have threaded the proverbial needle on both of them.
Not fast enough to avoid last season’s debacle. But maybe just in time to help people forget about that by focusing on a future that should get much better starting in October.