Hockey fans – especially Seattle Kraken fans– anticipated Wednesday night’s NHL Expansion Draft. The anticipation and build-up as to who general manager Ron Francis would select to be the inaugural roster of the NHL’s shiniest new toy was palpable. But as we found out throughout the day and into the night, the event was kinda… meh. Let’s take a look at the reasons why it did.
Reason #1: The Leaks on Social Media
Thanks @frank_seravalli for ruining my evening, but keep the leaks coming.
— RT (@toorzy19) July 21, 2021
As I mentioned in the intro, the anticipation for the NHL expansion draft has been building. It was part of a frenetic and frantic month in the NHL that started with the Stanley Cup Final and will end with free agency. But earlier this week, the leaks started to happen. Hockey insiders like Frank Seravalli – who I’m shocked that Gary Bettman isn’t currently holding him in a cell underneath the offices of the NHL– started to leak the picks. By Wednesday afternoon, I had checked out of social media because I couldn’t take the leaks. I wanted to be surprised. Thanks to those insiders, the fan experience of watching the NHL expansion draft was like your Christmas presents on Thanksgiving: the anticipation was gone. I think #HockeyTwitter’s united hatred of Seravalli is as strong as the “No Force Awakens Spoilers” campaign back in 2016.
Reason #2: ESPN’s Rough Start of NHL Coverage
There was a lot of excitement among hockey fans here in the United States when ESPN announced they had secured NHL broadcast rights. The prestige of having the Worldwide Leader in Sports showcasing your product would be a lift for the novice fan. But from the get-go, the NHL Expansion Draft coverage just seemed… boring. Rather than bringing in hockey experts and enthusiasts like John Buccigross and Barry Melrose, the draft was covered by… Chris Fowler? Even the least knowledgeable sports fan could tell that this was pre-recorded instead of live. To their credit, ESPN and Seattle ownership brought out the most recognizable of the city’s sports stars. However, even they couldn’t escape some ridicule.
Like when Fowler called the Carolina Hurricanes the Carolina Panthers (more on that a little later):
Chris Fowler calling the Carolina Hurricanes the Carolina Panthers. ?
— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) July 22, 2021
And Marshawn Lynch going less-than-beast mode in trying to pronounce Calle Jarnkrok’s last name:
In my absolute wildest dreams, I never imagined I’d be watching Marshawn Lynch directly address Calle Jarnkrok on ESPN.
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) July 22, 2021
Wild stuff. pic.twitter.com/Qw7XS3ZatX
Then, there was Shawn Kemp’s “muscle shirt:”
Poor Sean Kemp couldn’t get a #seakraken T-shirt larger than a XS #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/UAVHKRn4Yz
— Slapshot Sweethearts (@SSweetheartsPod) July 22, 2021
Reason #3: The Kraken’s Lack of Name Recognition
Let’s face it: we were SPOILED by the NHL when the Vegas Golden Knights held their expansion draft back in 2017. Vegas was adept in drafting players that many hockey fans already knew such as Marc-Andre Fleury, Jonathan Marchessault, and David Perron. This expansion draft didn’t seem to have the same attention-grabbing names (well, unless you’re a Calgary Flames fan). Perhaps some of it is two-fold, the first being the aforementioned leak. But is the other reason that they purposely left lots of cap room to make a splash in free agency? We’ll see when free agency starts next week.
League update after yesterdays #SeaKraken expansion draft:#TBL are now under the salary cap#SeaKraken have less cap space than 7 teams (but more NHL roster players than all 7)#SeaKraken are $7.7M under the salary floorhttps://t.co/3B8UOBLIyt pic.twitter.com/h9t42wLmTK
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 22, 2021
It Wasn’t All Bad Though
I can’t be all poopy-pants when it comes to this version of the NHL Expansion Draft, though. The evening did have its bright spots and share of humor. The biggest bright spot was seeing the Kraken jersey (sweater to my Canadian friends) up close and personal. Several of the predetermined selections made it to Seattle to make their feelings known about their selection. The home (dark) jersey is nice, but their away (white) jersey is downright stunning.
Seattle Kraken’s jerseys this is the tweet #NHLExpansionDraft #NHLnaESPN #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/3OyrbsE1NQ
— xoxo, pedrissimo ?? (@pedrowphoto) July 22, 2021
And let’s give some props to the Carolina Hurricanes: aka the NHL’s Heel Twitter account. After Chris Fowler’s blunder in calling the Hurricanes the Carolina Panthers, the Hurricanes went to work right away with the snark.
#NewProfilePic @espn pic.twitter.com/GaEKvfKiye
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 22, 2021
The Panthers responded in kind on their Twitter account.
#NewProfilePic @Canes pic.twitter.com/HB9Efwxhin
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) July 22, 2021
This made my night. Onto the Draft and Free Agency.
