Given what just happened to the Kraken last night, I don’t blame the team whatsoever for this decision. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.
The Kraken announced today that, on the eve of their final road trip of the season, that they have sent just about all the kids they called up; Logan Morrison, Ryan Winterton, and yes…Shane Wright, right back to Coachella Valley.
In that time, Logan Morrison scored his first goal, Shane Wright had four goals in five games while also being a playmaking/possession fiend, and Ryan Winterton was a solid hand who was hunting for his first goal.
On the one hand; I get it. The kids did what they were supposed to; they sold hope, they made watching the team in Seattle a much easier prospect than it was about a month ago, and are now needed for the team in the organization that’s actually poised to go to the postseason and maybe avenge their Calder Cup Playoff Finals loss. They will get infinitely better reps as top and middle six players in Coachella than they ever will having their minutes tightly controlled playing Dallas, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Winnipeg…and possibly sewering their confidence in the process, making the entire experiment a failure.
Do I agree with it on the other hand? No. No I don’t.
If we can agree to be fair with each other; the rest of the schedule is a slog. All of them central division contests, two of which are against REAL tough opponents gearing up to go to turbowar in the first round. Even if you’ve had issues with each players’ form of rookie jitters (please stop passing to nowhere, Shane); the fact is these guys have made it abundantly clear they’re ready for the show and making the team marginally better. Maybe not perfect, but better.
I think the team would appreciate their presence through this last week of games a lot more than waiting for next year. But that’s just my opinion.
So for now, we wish Ryan, Shane, and Logan all the luck in the world as they make their way down to Coachella. Bring home that trophy, Baby Squids.