Interview with defender Jamie Oleksiak | The hard learning of the Seattle Kraken

Not a day goes by, among the teams at the bottom of the ranking, without there being any question of reconstruction. Should we rebuild? How? For how long ? Should we even use this word?

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

What is little talked about, for the obvious reason that expansions are rare in professional leagues, is construction. This laborious process to which the Kraken of Seattle currently lends itself.

The first half of the Undersea Monster season wasn’t prolific, but no one was surprised. However, since the halfway point, the Kraken has been downright the worst team in the NHL: 4 wins in 19 games and a harvest of just over a quarter (26.3%) of the points available. With the result that the representatives of the city of grunge are very close to the cellar, barely three points ahead of the Canadian, who has however played three games less.

In this context, “you have to take all the positive possible”, reminds defender Jamie Oleksiak during an interview with The Press.

It is certainly necessary to seek a little, but rays of sun, there are some. Seattle has created a real craze with supporters: the Climate Pledge Arena is one of the busiest amphitheaters in the league, in particular because of local health rules which have never limited its attendance this season.

In the locker room, within this group of players from the four corners of the league, chemistry is established. We talk about “growth”, “future”.

On the ice, we almost jump to see the defensive statistics of the club. “It’s the defensive teams that win championships,” said forward Yanni Gourde during the Habs’ visit to the west coast last October.

Obviously, it’s a success. According to the Natural Stat Trick website, the Kraken rank third in the entire NHL in 5-on-5 shots allowed per 60 minutes of play, fourth in expected goals and seventh in quality scoring chances conceded. the opponent.

From the expansion draft, general manager Ron Francis showed his colors. He was building his team the good old back to front model – with a big asterisk, we’ll get to that.

The Kraken signed Oleksiak and Adam Larsson, who chose to commit to the new team rather than test their worth in the free agent market. We got our hands on Mark Giordano, left unprotected by the Calgary Flames, as well as Carson Soucy, Vince Dunn and Jérémy Lauzon, all established guards that their respective teams had not withdrawn from the draft.

Weaknesses

Jamie Oleksiak will certainly not throw his teammates under the bus of good taste. But there are good reasons why the Kraken languishes 20,000 leagues under the sea.

Let’s mention the not very threatening attack, led by Yanni Gourde and Jared McCann, who played on third lines in their former team.

But it gets worse: In goal, from just about every angle possible, Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger are one of the most ineffective duos in the NHL. The men in front of them protect them rather well, but the goals still come in aplenty.

Far from being formalized by his fate, without trivializing the defeats that accumulate – 11 in the last 12 games -, Oleksiak prefers to emphasize the “adversity” that his team has faced since the start of the season. Like all players, his goal, year after year, remains to reach the playoffs and, ultimately, win the Stanley Cup. He almost touched his dream, in 2020, when he reached the grand final with the Dallas Stars, who however lost in six games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Last summer, before the gigantic defender signed a contract binding him to his new team for five years, Ron Francis and head coach Dave Hakstol explained to him their vision for the organization and how they foresee his future. “It would have been difficult to say no,” he admits.

It is by remembering this starting point that he maintains his confidence. “I take it as an incredible experience,” he said. There are ups and downs, but we have to make sure we grow through it. It’s a good test for a lot of guys. »

Even if the Kraken represent one of the oldest teams in the league — logically, a single draft did not give them the opportunity to form a real pool of young players — Oleksiak recalls that there is no age to “learn”, including mistakes made.

We have put in place a strong “identity”, that of a group of hard workers who will give nothing to their adversaries. The trade deadline theoretically isn’t expected to drastically change the face of the on-ice roster, with Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok the likeliest candidates for a trade.

We therefore want to conclude the last quarter of the calendar “as strong as possible”. What would start awfully well with a victory in Montreal, the last stop of a painful journey in the east of the continent – ​​four defeats in as many games.

We may “not look too much ahead”, going home with two rare points would undoubtedly make the return flight more pleasant.