Skating Speed
I've been thinking about the direction that GM JB wants to bring the organization, in particular on the forward units, and how much draft capital we invested in the Mackie Samoskevich. I think we're going to see a slightly faster team next year with McMann and Samoskevich eating up minutes, particularly considering upgrades in speed burst.
If we compare the Kraken overall to other teams using the Edge DB one NHL.com, it's pretty clear the Kraken have been lacking in foot speed. With Eberle, Kakko, and Tolvanen on the right side, last year we may have fielded one of the slowest top three RW bunch in the league. If you look at the Kraken's 20-22 mph bursts, we're consistently about half or even less than half of the top contenders in that category. This helps defenses take more risks, and pack in our D zone without feeling threatened by a breakout. This was a massive issue last year for the team keeping defenses honest and not tilting ice time as much.
Consider the comparisons of Mackie Samoskevich versus Eeli Tolvanen for RW comparisons, and Bobby McMann versus Jared McCann for LW comparisons. The speed upgrades in the 20-22 mph burst categories are approximately 4x-7x greater for Mackie and Bobby, respectively. I'm anticipating that these speed upgrades on both wings, will make the Kraken marginally (tempering expectations here) more competitive in preventing D from pinching up into the zone. Not to mention more minutes for Winterton and Catton, who also have the potential to rank high in this category next year.