Kraken Lock Up One Of Their Most Physical Young Forwards With New Contract
The Seattle Kraken are betting on Jacob Melanson's physicality and upside, signing the 23-year-old forward to a three-year contract extension after an impressive first NHL season.
Video Transcript
Mike, what do you think of Francis' tenure with the Kraken overall?
How long do you think it'll take for this team to be considered true contenders?
Because they're a team that we've talked about a lot, that it's kind of like, we don't really know what they're doing here.
In a way, I think the worst thing that happened with Seattle was making the playoffs in their second year and beating Colorado, because I think they thought they could sort of fast track the, you know, the situation like Vegas did.
I mean, Vegas made the Stanley Cup final in their, in their first year and have been successful ever since.
I think Seattle tried to rush in and sign a lot of free agents and, and, make that move and not properly develop.
I mean, they've had high picks.
They've had Matty Beniers, who was a Calder Trophy winner.
They've had Shane Wright.
But really the young players that they've drafted really haven't taken hold.
And the free agents that they've added have not had a major impact.
I mean, Chandler Stevenson's a good player and they, you know, Brandon Montour, who they added from Florida is a good defenseman, but they really haven't been impact players.
And they, they've been in on every scoring forward, like Artemi Panarin, in terms of, players that possibly could be in the trade market because they can't really score enough.
So it's sort of a mixed bag, for Francis.
He was there for seven years.
I think in general, he did an okay job, but not up to the expectations of Seattle ownership.
And now I wonder whether he resigning from Seattle means he's going to try to, make a stab at another organization like Nashville or New Jersey or Toronto who are looking for GMs or president of hockey ops.
