Commentary: Kraken better hope to find relevance before potential Sonics return

The Kraken can sell tickets. We saw that right away. Ten thousand of them went off the board 12 minutes after they were available in 2018.

The Kraken can sell players. We saw this at the trade deadline. Center Yanni Gourde and wingers Oliver Bjorkstrand and Brandon Tanev were all shipped out last week for draft picks.

But can the Kraken sell their fan base on becoming a contender anytime soon? Because it still feels like they are at least a couple of years away.

The shine of that second-round playoff run in 2023 – the organization’s second season in existence – has vanished entirely. The Kraken (27-33-4) will almost certainly miss the playoffs for the second straight season, and don’t have a particularly awe-inspiring core coming back. Perhaps general manager Ron Francis will score a 10/10 offseason free agency-wise. The past couple of years, however, suggest that is unlikely.

Hefty contracts for underperforming players such as Philipp Grubauer and Andre Burakovsky have left the Kraken somewhat hamstrung. And the fact that Seattle seems so far away from a Stanley Cup run may turn off some prospective players.

Draft capital? The Kraken have it. Young talent? That’s there, too. A title-contending NHL product? Boy … it’s hard to envision at the moment. And if they are to fight for fans with the potential return of the Sonics – who will share the late fall, winter and early spring with the Kraken – the team’s current situation feels particularly daunting.

Hey, it’s not easy to go from expansion to excellence in a matter of four years. Yes, the Vegas Golden Knights did it, but general managers learned from their mistakes in 2017 and were more on guard when it came to the Kraken obtaining players via side deals in 2021. This was always going to be a more trying ascent, and that run in 2023 may have fooled some fans into thinking they were matching the pace the Golden Knights established a few years earlier.

A couple factors were at play here, though.

First, the Kraken had an off-the-charts shooting percentage of 11.6 that year – second in the league. It dipped to 29th in the league the next season.

Second, Grubauer, who had been average at best in his first two seasons, was majestic in the playoffs – helping Seattle upset the defending Stanley Cup-champion Avalanche in the first round.

That year’s team was the ultimate win-by-committee, with 13 players scoring at least 13 goals and six scoring at least 20. But there was never a star. There still isn’t a star. Will there ever be a star? Because you need a couple of those to win in the NHL.

Credit the Kraken for unloading players such as Gourde, Bjorkstrand and Tanev. They freed a good chunk of salary-cap space and now have five first-round picks and four second-round picks over the next three drafts. That’s a lot of ammunition to build a formidable team. They also have a burgeoning talent in Shane Wright, 21, and according to thehockeywriters.com, the 10th-best farm system in the NHL.

But what they don’t have is any track record of luring top-tier talent. Their most productive offensive player over the past three seasons has been Jared McCann, who is 92nd in points this year, was 82nd last year and 59th the season before that. That won’t do it, regardless of how much depth you have.

The man who’s not looking too shabby right now is former Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, who was fired after last season when the Kraken finished 34-35-13 and missed the wild card by 17 points. Considering Seattle is on pace to finish with fewer points this season, it doesn’t seem like the issue was coaching.

I’ve written some form of the following sentence more than once: It’s a hell of a lot easier to criticize a front office than it is to run one. You can look at the Kraken’s drafting of center Matty Beniers with the No. 2 overall pick three years ago and say he hasn’t materialized, but he was the obvious choice at that slot. He just hasn’t developed. Still, this will be a crucial offseason for Francis, who has yet to make that signature acquisition that wows the fan base and frightens opponents.

I don’t know how much competition there will be between the Kraken and Sonics for fans if the latter returns, but I imagine it will be significant. The Kraken captivated the city in the spring of 2023, but have done little to retain its interest.

It wouldn’t be a grand surprise if they used these draft picks to build a mainstay atop the standings two or three years down the road. But next year? It doesn’t look too inspiring. I’d love to be wrong about that.