1st season overview
Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 7:32 am
It was a complete debacle. No, they weren't going to do what Vegas did, but they barely even did HALF what Vegas did. Further, three other recent expansion teams, all with a lot less to choose from in the expansion draft than the Kraken did, finished with better records than the Kraken did. You can't twist this, they totally blew it.
When it was announced that Ron Francis was hired as GM it seemed like a good hire even though the Hurricanes fired him. But when it was announced that Dave Hakstol was hired as coach all the Flyer fans took to social media and said we'd be sorry. They were right. And when the expansion draft choices were announced virtually everyone on social media said we'd be sorry. They were right.
Francis drafted a losing team, and worse, a BORING team. It didn't take long for the fans to lose interest. If you want to suck, suck like the 90s Mariners teams. Don't suck like the 2022 Mariners.
They signed three free agents: Philip Grubauer, Alex Weinberg, and Jadon Schwartz. Pretty much their version of Robbie Ray, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez. Especially Gru, it's staggering how bad he was. Going from a 1.95 GAA to 3.16 is like going from a 1.95 ERA to 6.16.
So now we have a ton of draft picks who won't contribute for quite a while and a team of scrubs. Francis HAS to land a couple big-time free agents. He can't send another 27-win team out there.
Our leading scorer had only 50 points. Virtually every other team in the league had leading scorers with 80-120. They gave first line minutes to non-first line players and shockingly didn't get first line performance.
On the bright side, Matty Beniers. That kid is the real deal. 19 and he's out there skating circles around veteran players. They really need to get him on a line with other talent. Jordan Eberle and Brian McCann ain't gonna cut it. If this team pulls its head out of his ass Beniers will be huge in that town.
When it was announced that Ron Francis was hired as GM it seemed like a good hire even though the Hurricanes fired him. But when it was announced that Dave Hakstol was hired as coach all the Flyer fans took to social media and said we'd be sorry. They were right. And when the expansion draft choices were announced virtually everyone on social media said we'd be sorry. They were right.
Francis drafted a losing team, and worse, a BORING team. It didn't take long for the fans to lose interest. If you want to suck, suck like the 90s Mariners teams. Don't suck like the 2022 Mariners.
They signed three free agents: Philip Grubauer, Alex Weinberg, and Jadon Schwartz. Pretty much their version of Robbie Ray, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez. Especially Gru, it's staggering how bad he was. Going from a 1.95 GAA to 3.16 is like going from a 1.95 ERA to 6.16.
So now we have a ton of draft picks who won't contribute for quite a while and a team of scrubs. Francis HAS to land a couple big-time free agents. He can't send another 27-win team out there.
Our leading scorer had only 50 points. Virtually every other team in the league had leading scorers with 80-120. They gave first line minutes to non-first line players and shockingly didn't get first line performance.
On the bright side, Matty Beniers. That kid is the real deal. 19 and he's out there skating circles around veteran players. They really need to get him on a line with other talent. Jordan Eberle and Brian McCann ain't gonna cut it. If this team pulls its head out of his ass Beniers will be huge in that town.