Kraken Show of Record w/ Everett Fitzhugh

Everett Fitzhugh, voice of the Seattle Kraken drops by and talks about all things Kraken. Everett shares what he'd do w/ the 8th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, what does a successful draft look like for the Kraken, and much more. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And now our man, the voiceof the Kraken, Everett Fitsu, joins
us in the Beacon Plumbing Hotline topreview what he thinks may happen. Not
only did the draft this weekend,but again the end NHL free agency begins
on Monday and with the crack andthey figure to be a big player in
that, especially on offense with thesalary cap space we have. We'll get
to that, but first, Everett, I want to say publicly congratulations yet

(00:22):
again for the winning the Washington StateBroadcaster of the Year award. I know
you're you're on your way to NorthCarolina, and kudos to you again publicly
for a well earned honor. Well, hey, thanks, Greg, I
appreciate it. Man. It's itwas definitely unexpected, not to those of
us who listened to you, sir, well, thank you very much.

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I will say, seeing seeing thelist of the people who are going to
be, you know, at theawards ceremony of the National Sportscasters of the
Year, the National Writers of theYear, Guys like Kevin Harlan and Jeff
Passon and Andrew Kramer, people thatI've looked up to and I've been watching
and reading ever since I was,you know, in fifth grade, in

(01:03):
middle school, in elementary school.It's it's very very cool, so,
you know, my first time weddingobviously, so it's gonna be it's gonna
be a lot of fun. I'malso looking forward to meeting a lot of
my counterparts in other sports. There'sa bunch of people that I've either listened
to or I've heard of, butI've never had the chance to meet.
So I'm kind of like a kidin a broadcasting candy store this weekend.

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It's gonna be a lot of fun. It is fantastic and National Sports Media
Association puts it on every year inthe Winston Salem Greensboro, North Carolina area,
and you said, you mentioned you'reone of only three national winners of
from hockey and quite an honor foryou as well, and it is.
I've been honored enough to be theretwice and they put on such a fantastic

(01:47):
event. And you're right, thenetworking with other people in the industry around
the country and other sports is partof the value too, So again,
hats off to you, sir.The matter at hand, of course,
today for Cracking fans is the draft. The eighth overall pick to Seattle today
and then they have eight picks overthe seven rounds. We all know that
Krack and need to score more.Dan Bousman has said it. Ron Francis

(02:08):
has said it. You said it, Mike Ben said anyone who's seen the
crack and play said. Yet they'rebeing linked to offensive defenseman quite a And
is that because of how rare thatskill now is or what's the reasoning for
that? You think? You know, I think it is because of how
rare it is. There the twomost rare positions, the two most coveted

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positions in the NHL are a topline center and a right shot defenseman.
So if you can find a defensemanwho's got an offensive upside, that person
that player potentially could could lead yourback end for years to come. So
it doesn't it makes perfect sense tome. Doesn't surprise me one bit that

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the Kraken are looking at going theoffensive defenseman route based on the reports that
are out there. But it's theinteresting thing about the NHL draft is unlike
the NFL or the NBA, whereyou're expecting these players to come in and
have an immediate impact outside of thosetop two players in the draft, Top
one, Top two, some yearstop three. You're looking at a minimum

(03:17):
two to three years before these playersare having an impact on your lineup.
You know, you look at himatt e Veniers. He came out the
year after Shane Wright played some gamesthe following year. Outside of those top
crop, cream of the crop draftpicks, most of these players aren't going
to play for a couple of years. So a lot of times in the

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NHL, once you get past thatfifth overall pick, you're looking basically for
best available because you don't know whatthis This ninety point player out of juniors
this year who was six, whowas seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old,
still needs to gain twenty pounds,still needs to learn how to play
at the game at a pro level. You don't know what they're going to

(03:58):
be, how they're going to bein the next few years. So a
lot of times you'll see players,you'll see gms, You'll see the pundits
talk about, well, who's bestavailable, And I think best available means
a lot more in the NHL asopposed to maybe the NFL of the NBA.
And I think maybe the one caveatwould be if you're an organization.

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When you get into the later roundsand you want goaltending depth, maybe you're
going to say, hey, yes, this is going to be a four
or five year project with goalies.But like Pete Carroll wanted to take a
quarterback in every draft, there aresome gms who want to take a goalie
in every draft because you never knowwhat that's going to look like. You

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never know what your goaltending depth isgoing to be, how they're going to
pan out, if they're going topan out. So goaltending could be the
one area where we get in theday two, third, fourth, fifth
round. Ron Francis might say,hey, let me look at a goalie
potentially, but for the most part, when you're in that first round,
you're look at it best available.Once you get out of the top five.

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Everett Union, and I'm pronouncing hisname correctly, I think zbm is
out of the University of Denver whoplayed in the National Championship for hockey in
March. And then you have twojunior guys linked to the crack and offensive
defense. But Sam Dickinson, ofcourse he played for London and the juniors,

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and then Zane Perek. Perek hasbeen in he won the OHL Championship
with Saginaw. In Major League Baseball, we often hear of organizational philosophies between
college players versus high school players.In the NHL, is there an organization
do some team side for the collegeplayer or do some side for the junior

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player right out of juniors? Isthere a philosophy that Seattle leans to,
You know, I don't think we'vehad enough draft to kind of get that,
uh, to see where Ron doesand doesn't side side. I do
think the biggest differences between those juniorplayers and those college players. And I
used to work in the USAHL,which is the US equivalent of the Canadian

(06:12):
Hockey League. So our philosophy basicallywas, if you were a top offensive
player, you're a Shane Wright,you're a Connor Bdard, you're a Connor
McDavid, you're one of those guyswho you know you're going to have success
at the NHL level. You're atop two draft pick, then you know
what, that's the place to be. I think the CHL has a lot

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more skill, a lot more ofthat top end skill, but when you're
looking at the NCAA, there tendsto be a little bit more NHL ready
depth out of college simply because whenyou go to college at eighteen years old,
nineteen years old, you're playing upagainst twenty one, twenty two,

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twenty three year old men. Atthis point much players are oftentimes a lot
bigger, they're a lot more physical. It's a different game. So that's
why when a guy like Matty Benierscomes out of the University of Michigan after
a couple of years, he's alittle bit more ready for that NHL game
as opposed to a seventeen eighteen,nineteen year old coming out of junior college

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or junior hockey rather, who needsa little bit more seasoning in the minors
in the American Hockey League to getthat experience. When you look at Bio
him out of Denver, a lotof people feel that he could be in
the NHL at the end of thisseason. He's projected to potentially make his
NHL debut at the end of thetwenty four to twenty five n Cuba season

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after fifty points last year and anational championship. So that's where I think
maybe the Kraken might look at goingthe NCUBA route if they feel he's potentially
more NHL ready, maybe they'll gothat route. But again you look at
the other two players that you weretalking about. Zane Perrek, I mean
he had one of the best drafteligible seasons in college are in junior hockey

(08:11):
rather, and then of course AmDickinson. I mean that's going to be
your prototypical defense and a lot ofpeople are very high on him. I
think he's ranked eighth or ninth,but there's some folks who say he potentially
could go a little bit higher thanthat. So the options on the blue
line for Seattle are are definitely abundantfor in terms of their options and their

(08:31):
choices. I think in the topten, I want to say six of
them, five or six half,just over half of the top ten prospects
that should be going tonight in thefirst round are going to be on the
blue line. Zamee PreK had ninetysix points in sixty six games with sek
and when they won Memorial Cup inthe oh Oo. And yeah, Sam
Diggins in six three two oh three, native of Toronto, that's the voice

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of Ever Fitzhu, the voice ofthe Seattle Krack, and he's going to
be having our NHL Draft show fromthe third two bar and Grill with Mike
Benton from three to seven today.Everrett, what does a successful draft look
like for the Krack and what aresome things that you are saying. If
they hit on these things, thiswould be a good draft for the Cracking
and looks good for them for thefuture. Yeah. No, that's a

(09:16):
really good question. I think forme, you're addressing potential future needs.
When you look at the organization,all the players that you've drafted, where
are you lacking. I think ifthe Kracking can come away with a solid
goaltender in the later rounds, Ithink if the Kracking can finde some skill
a centerman up front potentially who canslot into that top two center role,

(09:41):
Maddie and Shane can play with them. If you can find maybe a winger
of the future for them in thenext couple of years, I think that
would be a huge hit for theKracking. But again, like I said,
you're not expecting these players to haveany type of impact on your roster
for minimum two years, but morethan likely three to four years down the
road. But I think for me, with all the drafts capital of the

(10:05):
Crack and half nine picks in theseven rounds, this season with the immediate
needs that they have. I think, for me, a successful draft,
and hopefully you know I don't getin trouble for saying this, but a
successful draft is not coming home withnine players. If you can, if
you can package some of those picksin the second, in the third rounds,

(10:30):
if you can package some of thosepicks and get an NHL ready player
today or get an NHL player today. You're gonna have to maybe get toss
a roster player in there as well. But if you can parlay a few
of the of the nine picks thatyou have into a live body that can
help you out this year, Ithink that to me will mean a successful

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draft for the Cracking in addition toin addition to bringing back I mean,
you're not gonna get rid of allnine, obviously, but you identify in
your top three rounds, first,second, third round, who are these
players that could help us in oursystem down the road. You look at
Ryan Winterton was drafted in the secondround. You look at jagar Fercus as

(11:11):
a second round draft pick. Anumber of players who are in the system
right now, those second those thirdround picks, Ty Nelson, who you
think Kim Jacob Milanson, who canhave impacts for you down the road.
But if you see an area wherehey, Team X is willing to take
a middle round pick, a third, fourth, fifth round pick for this

(11:35):
player, I think Ron Francis hasto look at that, and I think
he's been very public and very openand honest about saying, we have the
draft capital for a reason. Wehave the ability to trade some of these
picks. We have the ability andin a lot of cases, we have
the desire to trade some of thesepicks for four players, for live bodies

(11:56):
that can help us now. SoI know that Ron is thinking that Oliver
york Strand a couple of years agowas acquired for a third and to fifth
round pick, and he's one ofthe cornerstone pieces of your team right now.
So it's been done before. Ithink in order to move this team
forward, it's gonna have to bedone again this year. But I think
that's my philosophy. If I wasRon, go think, which I clearly

(12:18):
am not, But if I wasRon, that would be my philosophy going
it to today and tomorrow. Well, if you were Ron, I'm gonna
give you an opportunity right now.So if you are Ron, and you
got the eighth pick overall. Whoare you taking? Is it gonna be?
Go ahead? I just let youtake it. Go ahead? Who
you got? I'll say, ifI'm Ron Francis, I'm gonna set the
eighth overall pick to Edmonton for ConnorMcDavid one for one. Uh and then

(12:41):
we're gonna then I'm gonna take homethe GM of the Year or one.
Of course, I'm kidding, that'snot gonna happen. Everett, There'll be
a parade down First Avenue in themiddle of July if trade for Connor McDavid,
Yeah, one for one, numbereight overall pick for mcday won the
one? Uh No, So II've got I've got three players who I

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would like to see fall to numbereight. I love Caden Linstrom out of
Medicine hat, who is a verydynamic, offensive, skilled player. A
lot of people see him as aconsistent seventy eighty point scorer in the NHL.
He's currently ranked fourth or fifth,depending on which draft mock you want

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your read, so he might noteven fall that far. But I if
the players in that eighth spot,so we're talking prospect six to ten depending
on where they fall. I thinkZane Perrek, I think ze b two
offensively skilled defenseman. Think Vince Donne. You know, Vince Dunn's got that

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contract that runs for another few seasons, three seasons, so hopefully you can
keep Vince Dunne. But let's sayVince Dunn, for whatever reason, wants
to explore other options win that contractis up. Now you're looking potentially at
one of these guys sliding in totake that place in the next three to
four seasons. But everything I've heard, Vincetunn loves it here. He wants

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to stay here and and win here. So hopefully that's not gonna be an
issue. But I will say thatI do things Zane Perrek or ze view
him are going to be where thekra can go. Everyone loves Sam Dickinson.
I think there's another player that listen. If he's there, it's gonna
be tough for Ron Francis not topick him simply because of what he offers.

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But again, two other players thatwe don't talk a whole lot about
is Tzaginla, who's the son ofJerome Againla, and Berkeley Caton, who
plays for Spokane out West out EastDrivers. So I'm thinking Ron's gonna probably
go that offensive defensive route, thoughthat's the familiar voice, of course of
Everett fits you with us. Onthe Beacon Plumbing Hotline on the day of
the first round of the NHL Draft, you mentioned an intriguing prospect the draft

(15:01):
capital that they have to trade Everett. They have three two second round picks,
two third round picks, five picksin the top eighty eight. To
your point that Ron Francis has talkedabout, you have those for a reason.
Would you say it's more likely thetrade scenario for a score a veteran
NHL score, or Seattle gets theirveterans score their top line score they may

(15:24):
need in free agency, which wouldbe more likely to you, Well,
I mean, I was actually readinga couple of things this morning. A
couple of the top free agent picks, Sam Bennett being or Sam Reinhart rather
being than the mainland of Florida they'retalking about re signing. Apparently there's an
eight year, nine million dollar dealon the table in Florida for Ryan Hart

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to stay. I mean, justcoming off of a cup, so,
I mean, listen, that's probablythat was the top offensive free agent going
into the summer. This free agentclass isn't the best. I mean,
we've seen better free agent class,and there still is plenty of talent out
there. But I mean to answeryour your initial question, if if the

(16:08):
option is out there to trade acouple of those prospects for an offensive player,
if I'm ron, I have tolook at it, because listen,
you may be able to save afew bucks. Because if you get a
guy right now who's on a threepoint five four to five million dollars deal,
I can swallow five million dollars fortwo years potentially on the deal,

(16:33):
and then we'll go from there oncethe cap shoots up. I think the
cap is supposed to go up toabout ninety two million and a few years,
so hopefully by then you're looking atbeing able to sign a couple of
more of those high, high end, high priced guys. But if you
can trade for a three five tofive million dollar player and only give up,
you know, a couple of thirdround picks or a third and a

(16:55):
fifth like you saw with York,stand I mean that that is a no
brainer move to me. And thenthat allows you in free agency, which
starts on Monday, to take afew extra dollars to still shore up your
cupboards up front. So that meansto me, rather than spending all of
your money on Monday in free agency, taking a few of those picks,

(17:18):
getting a big draft day trade,and then going out and signing someone.
I think that's the purpose scenario forSeattle and someone they sign. Are we
talking like an Elias Linnholm? Arewe talking Jake Debrusk? Are we talking
Steven Stamkos? Are those even maybetoo expensive? If once you get done
with Veneer's and once you'd make manymoves before the free agency starts. Well

(17:38):
that's the million dollar question with Veneer'sand with Toulbn and I think the Kraken
are going to have about twenty twotwenty three ish million dollars to play with.
And I was reading a couple ofarticles over the weekend that a lot
of folks, after those contracts getsigned for what they think the Kraken should

(17:59):
have about eleven to twelve million toplay with in a perfect world, eleven
to twelve to play with. Somaybe you're looking at you know, four
and four, five and five,so that gives you ten uh, and
then you're gonna have to get somelower end depth players. You know you're
looking at a guy, you know, Pierre Edward Dolmar, who is a
UFA, but he was at sevenseventy five, eight hundred thousand dollars.

(18:23):
You know, guys on that fourthline you can fill in with the remaining
cap space that you have. ButRon Francis is a master of cap space.
He knows how to He knows whereall the cracks are. Ricky Olchek
as well the business side GM forthe crack and I mean, they know
how to make magic happen. ButI listen, Lynnholm Debrusque, I think

(18:47):
those are all on the table.I think for Stankos, I know you
mentioned his name, obviously he wouldlove to stay in Tampa. He has
an existing relationship with Steve Eiserman,who's not the GM in Detroit. So
everything that I've been reading says thatif he were to leave Tampa, Detroit
probably would be where he would go. I don't know if he would he
would want to come all the wayout far you know this west. But

(19:08):
listen, I was reading article thismorning that had Arthur Calliv of La Tie
to the Kraken. So tis theseason where every single name that's a free
agent is going to be tied toevery single team. So that's why I
mean July first. I love thisday because starting at five o'clock in the

(19:29):
morning, my phone is buzzing withESPN alerts and NHL alerts of of all
the players who have signed, whoare thinking of signing. And you know,
this is where all the pundits maketheir money. But it's going to
be exciting. I think Dan Filsmerwas just a tip of the iceberg for
the big summer that hopefully will beahead for Seattle. All right, Everett,

(19:52):
your eyes are closed? Where doesthe How does the season end for
the Kracking? Oh? Yeah,absolutely? Or should I say what is
a successful season? I'll just saywhat's a successful season for Everett when it's
all said and done for next year? I mean, I mean a successful
season to me is getting back tothe playoffs. And I think the way

(20:14):
the Cracking are constructed right now,you go, you find more offense.
The West is going to be alittle bit weaker next season. The Pacific
Division. I think it's going tobe a little bit weaker next season as
well. I think the Kraken shouldnot don't have any excuse to not at
least be a playoff team. I'mnot saying they gotta finish first. I'm

(20:37):
not saying they gotta, you know, win a division or win the President's
Trophy. You can be eight,but I think you have to get into
the playoffs. You know, Iwas just down at Coachella Valley with the
Firebirds the last couple of weeks andbeing around Dan Bilsman, being around Ryan
Winterton and Shane Wright, Logan Morrison, Ryker Evans. They are very excited

(20:59):
for next season, for what nextyear has to bring. And you could
really tell that that now. Owendo they want to win for Coachella,
but they wanted to set a foundationnow for what could be next season.
Dan's very very excited. He's notgonna give you a whole lot, but
you can you can read between thelines with Dan a little bit more than

(21:21):
you could with Backing. You cantell it he's he's very, very excited
for what he's about to step intohere in Seattle. And and you know,
the joy and the looseness and thefun that his team played with at
Coachella. He's going to bring thatstyle here to Seattle. It's gonna be
a lot more open. It's gonnabe a lot more loose. He wants

(21:42):
to score. I mean, II remember thinking to myself, Man,
this Firebirds team is fast. Ihave not seen a team play this fast.
Everything they do is with speed,and that's gonna I think parlay well
for the Seattle Crackett. So asuccessful season to me is getting back into
the playoffs. And as we sawlast year, you beat the defending Cup

(22:04):
champions, you get to within tenseconds of overtime in Game seven of the
second round. There's no reason forme to believe that this team cannot get
back to that to get back tominimally the playoffs next year. Everet Fit
you you, sir, need toget to work. You are on your
way to the NHL Draft show forus today from three to seven at thirty

(22:26):
two Bar and Gril. Then you'reon your way to Greensboro, North Carolina,
to be rightly honored as the WashingtonBroadcaster of the Year. And a
great weekend there with the National SportsMedia Association. And thank you for taking
the time out with us before doingall of that. We look forward to
your show today. Hey Greg Kid, thanks for the time. Fellows always
a pleasure,