Seattle Kraken Urged to Stage Full Rebuild

There's some serious competition for the sports fans' dollars in Seattle these days. Between the Seahawks, the Mariners, and the 'coming soon' rebirth of the SuperSonics, the Seattle Kraken are quickly losing relevance. 

The team will miss the playoffs for the third straight season. Major changes are needed. In fact, a complete overhaul, writes Matt Calkin in the Seattle Times. 

The fervor surrounding this franchise has dwindled down to a flicker over the past three years. ..

The Kraken do not have a star. The Kraken do not score goals. And in their spiral, they have ceded any potential attention to a Super Bowl-winning NFL team, a division-winning MLB team, and — perhaps most pertinent — a yet-to-return NBA team...

But the honest truth is this: A rebuild is likely the only way forward. A part-time stay at the bottom beats a 30-year mortgage in the middle. 

The Kraken have gone 7-15-2 since the Olympic Break to squander their playoff hopes, which seemed reasonable earlier in the season. 

But once again, the team sits near the bottom of the NHL in offense, in 27th in goals per game. And while playing a solid defensive style has been useful for them the past couple of years, it does not bring much excitement to Climate Pledge Arena or put butts in the seats.

Kraken's playoff run of 2023 is in the distant past

That Cinderella playoff run of 2023 is long-forgotten now in the Pacific NorthWest, and the Kraken need to reinvent themselves as an exciting sporting spectacle, or they'll be buried in the Seattle sporting scene. 

"I’m not pretending to know what’s in the minds of Kraken executives," writes Calkin. "But I know it’s hard to start over when you’re overseeing a fledgling franchise that sold out its inaugural season tickets in 12 minutes. Fans are as reluctant to accept the word 'rebuild' as the brass is to utter it. It just looks like it’s time. 

"Will it mean fading away as the rest of Seattle sports revels in the spotlight? Probably. Is there any other choice at this point? Probably not."