Original Seattle Kraken coach Dave Hakstol has too much integrity to take pleasure in the 2024-25 struggles of his former team.
So let’s instead call it vindication. Hakstol was dismissed last May after an 81-point season that fell far short of a playoff berth. This year, under the tutelage of new coach Dan Bylsma, the Kraken record stands at 23-27-3, on pace for 76 points and, once again, April tee times.
Let’s be crystal clear: this is in no way an indictment of Bylsma and his staff. As a long, long ago Boston columnist once wrote, “You can’t make an apple pie from a barrel of lemons.” Harsh as that sounds, we’re also not indicting the expansion roster assembled by general manager Ron Francis. Despite the talent and pedigree of players selected in 2021, each and every one was available because their previous teams decided – for age reasons, for salary cap reasons, for production reasons – that they could get along without them.
4th NHL Season Isn’t Often The Charm

What the Kraken are suffering through isn’t unique. Ten other expansion franchises have joined the NHL since 1991. Take a look at how each fared in its fourth season, the place the Kraken are now.
(For purposes of this list, we’re omitting the outlier of the 4th year 2020-21 Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas management shrewdly outfoxed league GMs and took advantage of unique salary-cap opportunities to bypass the growing pains of expansion. We’re also omitting the 1995 San Jose Sharks, who made the playoffs in a lockout-shortened season despite a .438 winning percentage.)
- Minnesota Wild, 2003-04: 83 points, missed playoffs
- Columbus Blue Jackets, 2003-04: 62 points, missed playoffs
- Atlanta Thrashers, 2002-03: 74 points, missed playoffs
- Nashville Predators 2001-02: 69 points, missed playoffs
- Anaheim Ducks 1996-97: 85 points, won one playoff round
- Florida Panthers 1996-97: 89 points, lost in first playoff round
- Tampa Bay Lightning 1995-96: 88 points, lost in first playoff round
- Ottawa Senators 1995-96: 41 points, missed playoffs
Just three of those eight 4th-year clubs made the playoffs; the entire list includes a grand total of one playoff series win.
Kraken Doing Their Best; That May Be The Problem

None of the comparisons makes the pain of Kraken losses much easier. Recent postgame comments coming from the Seattle dressing room indicate the players are grasping for answers, and not finding them. That’s because the answer might be one no pro athlete allows himself to consider: as a group, they’re just not good enough.
It doesn’t help that free agents like Philipp Grubauer and Andre Burakovsky have performed well below expectations borne from hefty, lengthy contracts. Reason for concern exists that Chandler Stephenson may age into that same category. Mid-season Band-Aids like Tomas Tatar and Daniel Sprong haven’t moved the needle. Wise additions of Brandon Montour and 1st-rounder reclamation projects Eeli Tolvanen and Kaapo Kakko have helped, but not enough, not yet.
Long-Term Solution Might Rest In Long-Ago Phrase

Enough about the problems. The fix, painful as it sounds, can be found in the words of 1960s activist Jack Weinberg: “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30.”
This means pulling the trade-deadline ripcord not only on expected candidates Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev (both age 33), but some of the other fan favorites who are on the back nine of their careers. For instance, legacy defensemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak (both age 32). The Kraken have already indicated a willingness to move on from goalie Grubauer (33). Will captain Jordan Eberle be able to return to early-season form after a lengthy convalescence at age 34? 32-year old Jaden Schwartz and his team-high 18 goals would bring a significant return from a contender.
Sound radical? Even delusional? Maybe so. Heart-wrenching for the fan base? Absolutely. Unfortunately, this veteran core has proven – both last season and this one – unable to get the Kraken where they want to be. Here’s what I suggested on a Kraken podcast way back in March of 2024, when Year 3 was headed for oblivion.
“This is a tough thing to say, but Year 4 isn’t going to be the year for the Kraken, either. Trading a Jared McCann, for instance, who would be very valuable to a team which feels it’s one player away, could get you prospects, younger players.”
My recommendation wasn’t because McCann was faltering; quite the contrary, McCann was headed to a 29-goal 2023-24, on the heels of a 40-goal campaign the season before. His stock was as high as it would ever be. That’s precisely the time to swallow hard and admit the future could be brighter, quicker, by sacrificing a present that wasn’t headed anywhere anyway.
Since that wasn’t done last trade deadline, it needs to be done now, in a big way. Or at latest, at the final horn of game 82. (The risk of inaction? Excluding empty-netters, McCann has scored three goals in his last 35 games, which would tend to dampen one’s trade value.)
A veteran exodus wouldn’t, by the way, be a panic move – more of a course correction. If there was panic, it came last summer with the firing of Hakstol and a risky $100 million splash into the free agent pool. Suspicion is that ownership nudged, or maybe shoved, GM Francis into moves which he admitted at the time went against his MO.

My prescription for ownership: a return to patience. (1) No more firings, if the purpose is primarily to show the appearance of action. (2) Let their hockey people do what hockey people do, until a highly promising crop of prospects are ready to join Kakko, Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Ryker Evans, and Joey Daccord in bringing years of true contending hockey to Climate Pledge Arena.
Oh, and an apology to Dave Hakstol would be a nice touch.