Commentary: With Kraken results still falling short, is another change on the horizon?
SEATTLE - It’s still early January, so it’s appropriate to remind all our local teams about expectations – because while fans might hold their favorite teams to different standards, I’d argue the bare minimum standard for all our teams is making the playoffs.
And remarkably, this is not just another veiled shot at the Mariners.
According to MoneyPuck.com, heading into the day, the Seattle Kraken had just a 2.2% chance of making the playoffs – the fourth-worst chance in the entire league. They’re nine points out of the final playoff spot in the West with four other teams ahead of them, fighting for that last spot. Oh, and they suffered an embarrassing 6-2 loss today, the second time in three games on this roadtrip they’ve lost by four goals.
The Kraken have lost ten of their last 13 games, and one of those wins was a three-goal comeback in the final five minutes of regulation. Simply put, this team is nowhere good enough — and it’s approaching, if not already — the point of unacceptable.
Which is likely the reason team CEO Tod Leiweke reportedly showed up in Buffalo this weekend, something Leiweke has not been known to do on roadtrips, outside of making cameos when things were going well in the playoffs two seasons ago. The team’s performance, and its pending status as a lame duck non-playoff team for the rest of this year likely has the head man frustrated. And he’s not the only one.
It certainly begs the question about the future of general manager Ron Francis, who was given a two-year runway before their first season and now four seasons to build this team more organically than the Vegas Golden Knights – you know, the team that’s WON a Stanley Cup and made the playoffs six of seven years and is once again in first place this season?
For as much as I like Francis as a person, he’s on the verge of missing the playoffs seven out of the eight seasons he’s been a GM in the NHL. Four playoff-less years in Carolina and not enough progress in the two seasons following Seattle’s magical playoff run. If this is a results-oriented business, Francis is approaching a decade of personnel decisions that haven’t produced expected results.
After all, Francis told the Athletic in November: "We’ve got an obligation to our season-ticket holders, to our ownership, to put a team on the ice that will compete for a playoff spot."
Those obligations are not being upheld. And while home games are still entertaining, the novelty has worn out. I’m sure Leiweke and company realize it too. It’s hard to generate buzz when you have more home losses than wins, and contending for a title is seen as a pipe dream before Jan. 1.
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