Hawks Gameday: I Miss The Comfort Of Being Sad

Setting you up for tonight's late start against the Kraken.

Sector 1901 - Hawks Gameday: I Miss The Comfort Of Being Sad

Seattle Kraken Lineup

McCann - Beniers - Eberle

Schwartz - Stephenson - Bjorkstrand

Tolvanen - Wright - Burakovsky

Kartye - Gourde - Tanev

Oleksiak - Montour

Evans - Larsson

Mahura - Borgen

Daccord/Grubauer

What You Need To Know: Have we stricken the Kraken's playoff appearance two years ago from the record? We probably should. No one knows how it happened, other than they just kind of shot the lights out for a full season. Because here we are, a season and a quarter later, and this team looks as blah as possible. It might even be more blah than the Wild, who at least have Kaprizov and Faber and Boldy. The Kraken have...two scoreboards.

Jared McCann scored 40 goals in that playoff year, another thing that might be stricken from the record. He shot 19 percent that season, and he's doing that again and leads the team with eight goals. But he doesn't really get to the scoring areas or generate his own shot at any sort of level that's worth giving a shit about. That might be due to his center, Matt Beniers (who's an adult now hence we won't call him "Matty"), perhaps not being all that good. But we'll get to that. Somehow, Jordan Eberle is still creating chances for his linemates at age 86 or whatever.

Perhaps another reason the Kraken are just kind of there in the corner of the party while the rest of the guests try and figure out whom they know and how they got in is that they might have biffed their first round pick after Beniers. That would be Shane Wright. There was a lot of ink spilled on the odyssey Wright has been on, and because he lit it up for the Canadian junior team once which always gets a player undue attention. Seriously Canada, get it to-fucking-gether.

Wright was unlucky in that he missed out on an entire junior season thanks to the pandemic, which certainly didn't help. But he's been to Seattle, to Coachella, back to the OHL, back to Coachella, and now Seattle full-time. Except he doesn't really do anything.

The saving grace for Wright is that the 2022 draft might go down as a truly stinky one. Taken right behind Wright (cute) was Cutter Gauthier, David Jiricek, Korch, and Marco Kasper. So yeah, big bag of whatever.

If there's a kind-of diamond to watch out for, it's Tye Kartye on the fourth line. Not only does he allow everyone to make a bunch of Caddyshack jokes, but he's the only Kraken forward getting chances at a noticeable rate and making things happen on the forecheck. It's easy to fly under the radar when Brandon Tanev spends the game posing for the camera like Chris Jericho.

On the blue line, Brandon Montour has been worth every penny the Kraken tossed at him after the Panthers' parade, and it was a lot of pennies (7 years/$50 million). Montour is the only Kraken d-man who gets them going and is clean out of his own zone, though he only makes passes to break Seattle out instead of using his feet. So the Hawks need to pressure him to rob him of time to pick those passes.

The rest of this blue line crew is just more a school of whosits and whatsits. Jamie Oleksiak has always sucked but no one wants to admit this because he has stretch-four size. Adam Larsson is the guy the cops pay to fill out a lineup. "Mahura" is the sound the players made in NHL '94 when they got hit real hard.

In goal, it's hard to remember or believe that Philipp Grubauer was ever good, and he certainly isn't now. Joey Daccord has been really good and usurped the top job, with 6.5 goals saved above expected in 10 starts. He's had to be, as this isn't a great defensive team (bottom-10 in xGA/60. A Dan Bylsma team being defensively wonky? Whoever heard of such a thing!

This feels like a good spot for Connor Bedard to break out. The Kraken are one of the more defensively passive teams around, and Bedard should have ya-ha time carrying the puck into the zone against this lot. Which should give him a lot of opportunities to create and fire away.

The Kraken can't really generate much on the forecheck, so the Hawks would be wise to step up at their line, make them dump the puck in, and consistently just cycle it out. There is no neutral-zone dynamo here, so they can be more aggressive than they've been. If the Hawks can't turn up the volume on this lot, even on the road, then...well, it'll be the same it's been, I guess.

Player To Watch - Matt Beniers

It can't be easy being the cornerstone on an expansion team, but that's what Matt Beniers is. Their first ever draft pick, #2 overall, and clearly meant to be the guy the team would be built around and the face of the franchise while trying to carve out a spot in a city new to NHL hockey. Even though the NHL has boosted their expansion teams to try and be competitive from the jump, it's still different than joining an established team. Beniers not only had to learn the league but try and help the team get rooted in a new market.

Two season ago, it looked like it was moving along properly. 57 points in his first full season, #1 center on a playoff team that upset the defending Cup champs in the first round. Big things looked like they were coming over the horizon.

And that's where it kind of stopped. Beniers only put up 37 points last year, when Jared McCann stopped being Earthworm Jim and their line got more big boy shifts instead of just being used on the offensive half of the ice. Beniers's scoring chances for himself cratered, being cut by a third at even-strength. His line created less as well last year, and that hasn't changed much this seaosn.

Checking out all of the measures on Beniers, there isn't anything he does that jumps out. He doesn't create all that much than normal, nor does he get too many chances and shots for himself. He's actually below average this season in scoring chance assists. He's creating nothing off the cycle and barely much off the rush. He's getting buried possession-wise.

So where do the Kraken go? The charm of being the new boys in town is going to wear off soon, and will probably disappear completely as soon as the NBA grants the city the Sonics again. The Kraken will need to become a playoff team quite soon and a Western Conference power not too long after that. Is Beniers the #1 center to take them there? This is a division with McDavid, J.T. Miller, Kopitar, Carlsson, and eventually Celebrini in it.

The Kraken aren't bad enough to get near the top of a draft again to maybe shift Beniers down to the second line, where he might belong. Those types of players don't get to free agency. Beniers had better flash a whole lot more than the nine points in 16 games he has so far this season.

As the Bears slog through the biggest disaster of a week since...well, January, I find myself thinking about a question I get a lot. It mostly comes from my Cubs fan friends, and it is a legit one. How could I fire the Cubs as my baseball team, and yet continue to be a Bears fan?

On the surface, I know it seems idiotic. Most things I do are. The Bears are certainly a more fucked-up organization than just about any other. If I jettisoned the Cubs for being a team I didn't think was worth my time, then how could I think the Bears are one? They're worth no one's time!

I don't have a good answer, because the answer is just stupid vs. greedy/indifferent. I still believe, and I think most would agree, the McCaskeys want to win, they just have no idea how. They're incompetent and weird, but at the base of it all, their heart is probably in the right place? Even if it comes out of a wood-paneled station wagon. That doesn't mean they won't drive me nuts until the day I die (YARRRR).

The Ricketts, on the other hand, don't care. They're indifferent, and merely exist to take in money. They don't want to be embarrassed, I guess, if that's even possible for them. They'll do just enough to not be embarrassed. They're fail-children just like the McCaskeys of course, but there's something much more sinister about it. They're taking advantage of something.

Both teams could be so much more than they are. But one is simply choosing not to be that, while the other would very much like to be but can't read the map. I guess the latter is pretty relatable to me. Because I find myself in that spot a lot.

I didn't say it made sense.

Please share around, we welcome everyone. It's still free for a while.