Tye Kartye Signs: What It Means for the Seattle Kraken’s Future 🏒

12 Comments

1. 

   @stewbee486 6 months ago

   Hooray

2. 

   @johnnyevansiii6300 6 months ago

   I think the team is trying to recreate the team that got to the second round.

3. 

   @nep401 6 months ago

   More Partye for us😎😎

4. 

   @thoast1543 6 months ago

   All this time talking back to a comment sounded to me very unprofessional. A comment can be mean and condescending and or whatever, but you have a much higher standard as the creator and as a part of "locked on(group/podcast/whatever).

5. 

   @stewbee486 6 months ago

   I can't wait to watch next season. I appreciate you taking the time to create these videos and you have way more insight into the game than this couch potato 😊

6. 

   @edgeskier 6 months ago

   Kakko is coming back. Arbitration is binding so if a deal isn’t worked out before then the arbitrator decides and both sides sign up for the outcome.

   Also Ryker is not arbitration eligible yet.

7. 

   @striatic 6 months ago

   Thanks for leaving in your rant. Obviously some people need a recap of the things this channel has been discussing for quite some time.

8. 

   @randyg.1836 6 months ago

   Francis blew it big time after the second season. I haven't followed the political front office but i have watched the games. I have often wondered why the big personnel changes occurred when they had a good foundation, along with suspect goal-tending. I agree that push back is sometimes necessary but a whole freaking segment? Maybe that's why I follow other Kraken podcasts more frequently.

9. 

   @George_C_Kraken 6 months ago

   Go Off, Erica 🔥

10. 

    @alexthebasilisk 6 months ago

    My take on the Lindgren deal: it is “possible” he meets the expectations based on the compensation and generally aging out would not be a consideration here with aging curves. However, there is some concern based on the last few years that he’s not the same player he used to be based on the tread on those tires

11. 

    @tjtower 6 months ago

    I love Kartye – and I hope he does a great job, but I would have preferred Eyssimont, and listening to Botterill talk about it, it really does sound like they chose Karts over Eyss. I think Mikey is already what you’re hoping Kartye can turn into and he was only 250k AAV more a season.

    I’m not too worried about the Kakko arb situation – this really is just a negotiating tool that agents use to put some pressure to get a deal done. It’s standard business and happens every year. I keep hearing people say that it could signal that there’s some friction between the two camps, but that’s usually not the case unless they actually go to arbitration. Otherwise it’s just a pretty standard thing agents will recommend to keep the ball rolling. It’s a tool they can use and they have a deadline to use it, so they almost always do.

    As for Kakko as a player – I’m the one who left the comment you’re referring to about whether he should/shouldn’t be on Matty’s line. I want to clarify that I absolutely love Kakko and think he’s a great young building block – I even bought his 4 nations Finland jersey. My position is more that if you look at the data, that line combination was not Matty’s top line.

    Just looking at xGF%, Matty’s best line was with Gourde and Schwartz (small sample pre-Gourde injury), followed by Ebbs/Canner, and then Kakko/Schwartz was a very distant 3rd. In fact, if we allow lines with even lower ice time, the Kakko/Beniers/Schwartz combo wasn’t even one of Matty’s top 4 combinations. It was also the only combination where Matty’s line had a lower than 50% xGF% besides the small sample at the end of the season where Tolvanen replaced Schwartz on that line. That means they weren’t generating as many quality offensive chances as they were giving up to their opponents when they were on the ice together.

    And that takes me into another stat – Kakko had an xGA/60 of 2.76, which was 5th worse amongst full-time forwards on the Kraken. Matty led all full time players (not just forwards) on the Kraken with a 2.49. Part if the issue with that line combination is that Matty was having to do the majority of the defensive heavy lifting to keep the line above water. Schwartz was also 4th worse with a 2.78, but I’ll touch more on him in a second. Conversely, Gourde (when he was here) led the team with a 2.26. That’s partially why he worked so well with Matty (and Schwartz), he took some of the defensive pressure off him and allowed him to play more free. Matty also led the team in +/- with a +10 at one point last season, but finished the year with a total +/- of 0, highlighting some of the defensive issues that the Kakko/Beniers/Schwartz combination had when they were on the ice together in the second half. (Their line had an xGA/60 of 2.71, which was the 3rd worst combo among forward lines that played at least 100 minutes – the Ebbs/Beniers/McCann line was 4th best with a 2.37)

    The next piece is offensive generation. For that I want to look at xGF/60. Kakko ranked only above Chandler Stephenson when looking at full-time forwards. This is, at least in part, because he has become more of a pass-first player (which was one of the main complaints about him in NY). The problem with being more of a pass-first player on Matty’s line is that Matty is already more of a pass-first player. We saw that change as the season went on, but it’s built into his DNA. On the opposite end, Schwartz led all of our full-time forwards in xGF/60 – so circling back to Schwartz’s defensive problems, you’re a little more OK with with having one player be below average defensively because he generated so much offense, but two hurts the line too much.

    The final piece I wanted to look at is skating. We know Matty has some issues he’s working out with his skating, specifically his acceleration mechanics. Matty, however, maintains the 2nd fastest average skate speed on the team behind Shane. (I know that’s hard to believe, but he was top 15 in the NHL last season, and was 71st this season) I think this is mostly because of his effort – he’s always moving – but the issues with acceleration are still prominent. Kakko on the other hand, is in the bottom 4th percentile in all of the NHL in skating stats by pretty much every metric. (Lowest acceleration and the second lowest top speed on the Kraken) He’s slow, but is able to use his IQ and size to position himself well/bring the puck into the zone by boxing players out. So what’s the issue? Well – it’s tough to have two players with skating issues on the same line, especially going up against opposing top lines that feature some of the best skaters in hockey. (Kakko and Matty ranked #1 and #2 for quality of competition on the Kraken)

    So with all that said.. I hope I’ve made my position a little more understandable. It feels like with Kakko on Matty’s line you get a slower, pass first player, who is a bit of a liability (for now) on defense. I think with Matty’s play style it just isn’t as good a fit as someone who is a better skater, defender, or goal scorer. This is why a player like Yanni Gourde or Jordan Eberle fit with him a little better. And it’s also backed-up by the lower xGF% that line combo had compared to others Matty played with throughout the season.

    I think a better combination for Kakko’s play style would be someone like Shane Wright, who is a bit better skater with a bit better scoring touch. I also think a better RW for Matty would be Shane Wright for the same reasons, but I doubt they move Shane off center any time soon. Overall, I think there are players on this team that fit each of them (Matty and Kakko) a little better than they fit one another.

    I also think everything I said could be completely irrelevant because we’re changing schemes this season – and last season everyone (except Matty) was bad defensively, and we won’t know how any of them play in Lambert’s system.

    *As an aside- I just wanted to circle back to my first paragraph and shout-out Mikey Eyssimont a little more. He led the team in basically very single meaningful advanced stat per 60 minutes and I feel like we’re absolutely going to miss him.

12. 

    @WillieHockey10 6 months ago

    Appreciate the clapback but I think Lindgren is a good fill in until Fiddler and Nelson are ready. A bit much? Maybe gave too much but then they did for Stephenson also.