The Vegas Golden Knights impossibly raised the bar for future expansion teams by winning the Pacific Division title and reaching the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural 2017-18 season.
But the Seattle Kraken reinstated the belief that expansion teams would struggle in their first season when they finished last season at the bottom of the Pacific League with 60 points.
One year later, the Kraken has 96 points and is heading into the postseason after clinching a playoff game Thursday night with a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
So how did Kraken manage to turn it around in one season?
GM Ron Francis took advantage of the cap space
Vegas thrived because then-General Manager George McVeigh made several side deals to bring in players with better potential. Ron Francis of Seattle didn’t have that luxury because rival GM had sobered up. He ended up dealing with several veterans before the 2022 trade deadline.
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