Kraken play-by-play voice John Forslund has both the ability and admirable willingness to provide tough love, when necessary, in evaluating the team that signs his paychecks.
Regarding the Kraken basing optimism for next year on their late-season play… as they say in the Carolinas, where John spends his summers, that dog won’t hunt.
KHN Screengrab
“I heard a lot about the last 19 games of the season,” Forslund said in a KIRO-AM interview. “The team coming together after the trade deadline and all these things. That doesn’t matter. Even if you take the last 19 games and work the numbers, they still don’t come up to speed. It’s below the (playoff) bar.”
Regarding Ron Francis moving to president of hockey ops and his lieutenant Jason Botterill filling the GM chair, “The days of the general manager being the complete ‘czar’ have gone away.”
Forslund is less sold on the shuffle paying dividends. “I’m not sure what they’re trying to do. I’m a little shocked it’s going down this road.”
Forslund also suspects the current Kraken have something of an identity crisis. “They were on to their identity, I thought, after the first season. When you listened to what other teams said about the Kraken, they said, ‘That’s a hard-working group over there.’ Over time, over the four seasons, they’ve become pretty generic – exceptionally generic last year, in terms of what other teams were saying about how the Kraken played.”
Time Flies – Not In A Good Way – For NHL Coaches
Fruit flies, the really lucky ones, live 40 to 50 days. At the rate things are progressing, that might be an equivalent lifespan to the average NHL coach.
Dan Bylsma didn’t last 11 months between the time he was hired and fired by the Seattle Kraken. Sadly, that’s not much of an outlier. From an ESPN article ($): “According to hockey data analyst Shayna Goldman, the average tenure of an NHL coach through this season’s changes is 2.3 years. That’s well shorter than in the MLB (4.3), NBA (4.1) and NFL (4.0).”
Daccord Shows Off Team USA Mask
One person who doesn’t think Joey Daccord was overused by the Seattle Kraken this season apparently is Joey Daccord.
The netminder has signed on to play more hockey before summer, named as one of the netminders for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships in Sweden and Denmark starting May 9. He’ll be joined on the USA squad by Seattle teammate Matty Beniers.
Daccord on social media showed off the equipment he’ll wear, including the two shots of his mask in the above image. Note the Seattle skyline, including the Space Needle, in the chin area of the mask.
Speaking of Kraken goalies…
Best Kraken Prospect You’ve Never Seen: Semyon Vyazovoi
Seattle Kraken goalie prospect Semyon Vyazovoi is having a breakout season.
Semyon Vyaz-who? Seattle picked the Russian netminder in the 6th round of the 2021 draft. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, getting information out of the country has become problematic. The Kraken’s own website doesn’t provide a photo of him.
The website of the KHL, Russia’s top league, lists the goaltender as 22 year old, 6-2, 169 pounds. It also reveals that Vyazovoi’s contract is set to expire on May 31.
@11rus-ZaSalavat screengrab
Semyon plays in his hometown of Ufa for Salavat Yulaev. At left is a screenshot from the team’s YouTube account.
According to Wikipedia, “Ufa is the capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers.” Well, that wasn’t particularly helpful. We do know Ufa has a population of 1.1 million, making it Russia’s 10th largest city. It lies 833 miles due east of Moscow.
Judging by the numbers, Vyazovoi’s been terrific,14-7-1 in 28 games. He posted a 1.80 GAA and 938 save %. In their 2nd round KHL playoff series, Ufa switched to Vyazovoi in net when they fell behind Spartak Moscow two games to one.
“Vyazovoi appeared in four games, winning three,” according to TheHockeyWriters.com, “while posting a .927 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average. In Game 6, he was outstanding, stopping 40 shots in a 2-1 overtime victory. He followed that up with 36 saves in the decisive Game 7, helping Ufa clinch the series.” THW says for his efforts, the KHL named him “Best Rookie in a playoff series.”
Ufa advanced to a KHL semifinal series against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. We’ll keep you posted.