32 Teams In 32 Days: Seattle Kraken

What is a reasonable time frame for an expansion team to become a contender?

• In Today’s 32 Team look across the league we focus on the Seattle Kraken, and what is a reasonable time frame for an expansion team to contend.

• Be sure to check out yesterday’s look at the Vegas Golden Knights and how operating your team without a plan and like a video game does not always work.

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When the Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL as an expansion team five years ago they were an immediate success. They reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first year and became an instant contender every year after that (even if, as we discussed yesterday, they have been mostly directionless from a front office perspective).

That instant success no doubt created some sky-high expectations for the NHL’s next expansion team, the Seattle Kraken.

Unfortunately for the Kraken, they were unable to repeat that initial expansion success.

They were unable to manipulate teams in the expansion draft process the way Vegas did, they passed on some potential impact players that were available (Vladimir Tarasenko was right there!), and then watched as their goalies, the apparent strength of the roster going into the season, completely self-destructed. It turned out to be a miserable season, and more in line of what we expect from an expansion team.

But what is a reasonable timeline for Seattle — or any normal expansion team — to become a playoff team and a contender?