May 29, 2025 • 34 mins
In the third hour, Dick Fain and Hugh Millen review what PFF thinks of the 2025 Seattle Seahawks relative to other teams, then talk to Mike Benton about the Kraken hiring a new Head Coach in Toronto Assistant Coach Lane Lambert, then discuss the hire more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jackson. I feel my NFL radar starting to beep, like
the listeners. When I haven't talked about the NFL of
the Seattle Seahawks for two hours, that the radar starts
to go off.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That's what it goes up for you. Beep beep, beep beep.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Oh, you better start talking Seahawks because you got to
play the hits, right, because we're all about playing the hits.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Gotta talk about the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Guys, they were out practicing, but media weren't allowed to
be weird by the way, the first day of OTAs
and nobody was like media was allowed to be out there.
I think it's just next week, right, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday declined.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are we going out there next week?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm gonna leave that up to I believe we are
because their practices are gonna end right as our show begins.
So I think the timing is gonna work out kind
of nicely. Actually, all right, is it gonna be nice
out well? I mean I don't know if you'll be
will be outside, will you be inside?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I don't know. Oh, we're right, we'll probably be inside.
We'll probably be inside, So.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I think you might be out there unless Sophie steps
up and says I'm not doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Let's hope he does.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm not a huge fan of watching to get to
the side whatever or whatever. I'm not a big fan
of huge of watching. I enjoy watching basketball practices. But
that's about it. But here we haven't talked Hawks yet.
And I thought it was interesting. PFF has come out
with their preseason roster rankings, so they accumulate all the
(01:20):
players on it. I think it's all just the starting
players on the thirty two rosters. As we know, PFF
gives all these guys individual grades each and every year,
and they accumulated the rosters and they came up with
a ranking system. And I guess if you take PFF seriously,
which I think a lot of people do, there's probably
(01:41):
good reason to take PF seriously. I'm sure Vegas probably
takes PFF seriously because it may be the reason why
the Seahawks are only seven and a half over under
on the win column. Because if PFF is right and
the Seattle Seahawks have the twenty second rudd roster in football,
(02:03):
then a couple things. One, they're going to have a
hard time getting over that seven and a half win total,
and number two John Schneider should be in very hot
water because John Schneider hasn't had to pay a quarterback
a lot of money in like four years. And if
(02:23):
you can't do better, then build the twenty second best
roster in the NFL after having those draft picks, extra
draft picks that you got for example for Russell Wilson
not changing which you lost on a Jamal trade with
with a payroll that has been very, very manageable. You're
not paying anybody a ton of money and you can
(02:47):
still only build the twenty second best roster. That is problematic. Now.
Having said that, I don't believe they have the twenty
second best roster. You know, I'm bullish on this team.
You know, I think they're gonna win at least ten
games this year. So let's just start with that. When
you read the article, Hugh, did it did? Did the
Seahawks jump out to you as much as they jumped
(03:08):
out to me kind of being mispegged?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Uh No, I don't think they were terribly mispegged. If
they were, I think it would be nominally. So, you know,
I think you think the rosters better, But have you
really studied the rosters of other teams.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
No, that's that's fair. I mean, I just but I do.
What I have done is I have watched those teams.
I have watched those teams numerous times. And nothing tells
me that the Indianapolis Colts are a better roster than
the Seattle Seahawks. Nothing tells me that the Arizona Cardinals
are a better roster than the sel six. Nothing tells
me that the Cincinnati Bengals outside the Big four, Cincinnati Bengals,
(03:50):
I think are a bottom ten roster in the NFL.
They just happened to have maybe the best quarterback, maybe
the best wide receiver, maybe another top ten wide receiver,
and one of the best pass rushers. Outside of that,
the Cincinnati Bengals have a crap roster in my mind.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Well, I would say, first of all, let's talk about
what Pro Football Focus is. They're owned by Chris Collinsworth,
and they have a cadre of scouts that have a
certain methodology on how they scout each and every play,
each and every player. All thirty two teams in the
(04:25):
NFL subscribe to their service, and in fact, from what
I understand, basically all college teams do as well, because
now they scout college players. So in my opinion I've
looked at it, I think that Pro Football Focus certainly
gets more right than they get wrong. They're not, in
my opinion, the Bible. I know they make mistakes. I
(04:48):
can remember John Ross in the opening week catching a
touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks since Cincinnati came to
Seattle in the opener, and I'm remember them them putting
the blame on a corner cornerback who was who was
(05:09):
it Trey Flowers?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think it was Tray Flowers.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
And and I know the coverage just like that's not
the it's not the corners ball, that's the safety's ball,
and they and they put the stats on the corner.
So I know they make mistakes. I'll go back to
the Green Bay game from this past year. The Packers
right now, they are judged to have the thirteenth best roster.
(05:33):
That intrigues me because their GM is Brian Guttenkoust, who
came up the Green Bay system along with John Snyder.
And so when the Seahawks played the Packers in lumen
Field and the Packers pretty much dominated them, I made
(05:54):
some comments on Monday because I was still a little edgy,
and and you know, I didn't play a part in it,
but I know the station was running up promo for
about a month yea about being John Schnyder, Yes, being
And what I'm when I said, is like I'm watching
Jordan Love just back there with all day to throw,
and you know, and it just drives me crazy because
(06:16):
we can't get an offensive line. And I'm looking at
the Packers' offensive line. They had two second rounders, a
third rounder and a fourth rounder, and a seventh rounder
starting on their offensive line, all homegrown. Four of the
five guys were under the age of I think twenty
six or twenty seven, I could looked it up, but
very young. The other one was I think twenty nine.
So they were all relatively young, all Packer draft picks.
(06:39):
And by the way, this PFF I just noticed as
they were ranked thirteenth, I'm reading directly biggest strength in
twenty twenty four colon pass protection, right, And so that
was the worst of the CX. So to me, I'm
sitting in there saying, wait a minute, we took John Snyder. Now,
I don't really believe that we should have taken gutencust.
(07:01):
But I think it twenty twenty four to pause for
a minute and go hang on a sec. John Schneider's
success is front loaded. This is fifteenth year, and in
his first seven years, the Seahawks won nine playoff games.
In his second eight years, they've won one. And so
to sit there and watch the Packers dominate Seattle and
(07:23):
then this, and then at the end of the season
when the Seahawks have only one Pro Bowl player, no
All Pro players, and the offensive line, you know, I think,
I think you're you're you're onto something. You and I
will probably agree in this regard that if you just
break them into units, I think the Seahawks have a
pretty sound football team. But the offensive line is dragging
(07:44):
everybody down year after year. And this guy just can't
get the offensive line fixed. And meanwhile, I'm looking at
his counterpart that he that he cut his teeth in
the in the Green Bay system, just like Schnyder, Gouten
Coast is building this beautiful offensive line. So it ticked
me off then, and it ticks me off as I'm
talking about it right now. So I think that I
(08:04):
don't think it's terribly unfair to call it the twenty
second ran. Obviously, I hope they're wrong, and I love
the coach Hughes, Mike McDonald guy that just so I'm
all in on it. But I think that the evidence
in the data, I don't think that's far off.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's fourteen teams, they're top fourteen teams. I look through
all of them, and you can make a serious argument
that all fourteen of those teams have better roster than
the Seattle Seahawks. That's where a bold line comes to me.
Because the fifteenth ranked team is the Dallas Cowboys. I
wouldn't be surprised that Dallas Cowboys won six games this season.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
After Dallas now they won twelve games three years in
a row. Look, I think they're on the decline as well.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And you know they got they got a quarterback mess
with their salary. But I think, yeah, they've been disappointing
in the playoffs, but three straight years at twelve winsor more.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
The sixteenth ranked teams the Atlanta Falcons. I mean, I
saw the Seattle Seahawks against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta
last year, and I love myself some Michael Vick, and
I think I think I will probably pick the Michael
Pennix and I think I will pick the Atlanta Falcons
to probably win that division. I don't think they have
a better roster than the Seahawks. The Chicago Bears, I mean,
Ben Johnson could do some magic. They fixed that offensive line,
(09:24):
but boy, that is betting on the come right there.
If you're putting the Chicago Bears ahead of the Seattle Seahawks,
the Cincinnati Bengals I already talked about they're a four
player team.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
The Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Consistently, I agree with that are worse than the Seattle Seahawks,
and I think are the worst team in the division.
The Indianapolis Colts. You want to talk about the Packers?
Know the Seahawks offensive line dragging him down. How about
the quarterback position at the Indianapolis Colts dragging that franchise down.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are ahead of the Seahawks. They don't
even have a starting quarterback right now. So I mean,
(09:54):
I just think there's a lot. But when it comes
to John Schneider, I think you and I are in
in hoots. I appreciate everything that he has done, but
it has been what eight years. Yeah, since they've won
a playoff game.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Well, remember now median would be exactly sixteen point five.
So if there's a say, a way of saying that,
if you're worse than this sixteen point five fifth team,
right like everything seventeen and below is, you're in.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
The bottom half of the lease.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yes, right, So so I I could, I could dance
with you on that Seattle at twenty two. That that's
that's that's kind of harsh because when I.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Hear twenty two man six and eleven team, that team stay.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
But if okay, so let's say there were seventeen, they're
still in the bottom half, So move them up five spots.
I'm not gonna dig in to you know. But but
if you wanted to say ten, eleven, twelve in that range,
I'd say, yeah, I think I think seventeen to twenty
(11:00):
two is probably the range that I would have predicted.
So they're at the bottom end of that range. But
I don't think it's egregiously misplaced right now, given the data.
Remember now there's a methodology that they have. They're just looking.
They are looking at an exceedingly granular level, more than
any other entity has in terms of how they grade
(11:23):
every player every play. I'm not saying again that they
don't make mistakes, but it's an exceedingly granular level that
they now for this purposes of this report. Now they
raise the helicopter up to you know, ten thy fifteen,
twenty thousand feet and then they try and give you
that snapshot based on the granularity that they have established.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So you just kind of have to think of the methodology.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
But I think that that I don't think you can
throw the whole methodology out right and just say, well,
that's inconsequential, particularly in light of the fact that thirty
two teams subscribe to them. Now, often it's just for
objective things like okay, what formation are you in? And
and you know, what's your propensity in the red zone.
So some of the service that they provide, you know,
(12:09):
it's not necessarily the value of the subjective part, because
we're talking everything that we're talking about it falls in
the category of the subjective, right, right, that like they're
subjective grading. Now they try and have rubrics and they
they pigeonhole and they say, okay, that performance on that
play constitutes a one point five plus one point five
grade and then yeah, of course they tally it up
(12:30):
and then you get this report.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I will say that I do like how this team
is being built. And I'm gonna hold real quick, Jackson,
You've got some breaking news for us.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We do, sorry, guys.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, this just came down from Elliott Friedman, who is
a writer for the NHL. He is hearing that we
have a new head coach for the Seattle Crack and
Lane Lambert. Lane Lambert is currently an associate coach for
the two Toronto maple Leaves in the NHL, A former
twenty fifth overall draft pick in the nineteen eighty three
(13:05):
NHL Entry Draft. That is from Elliott Friedman. Not confirmed
yet and nope, it literally as I'm saying this right now,
it is confirmed. The Seattle Krack and have just tweeted
it out. Lane Lambert is the new head coach of
the Seattle Kracken.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, there you go, Jackson. Once you call our boy Benton, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Absolutely, and we'll get him on the next segment and
Hugh and I can continue to talk about the Hawks here, Hugh,
I I do like how this team has positioned and
how it has been built. What I mean by that
as critical as we can be of John Schneider. He
is not overpaid players. He has not given good players
great money, and I love that about him. So I
(13:44):
think the Seahawks are better positioned to win over the
next few years than teams like the Bengals, the Cowboys,
the Dolphins. I mean, they're just two completely opposite ways
to build their team. The Seahawks top three paid players
as far as cap hits for this year Leonard Williams,
noahfanse bad signing but or you know, bad contract, and
(14:08):
Sam Darnold. But those three only take up fifteen percent
of the cap. The Cowboys top three without the new
Micadal thirty three percent of the cap, The Bengals without
Trey hendrickson new contract thirty four percent of the cap,
The Ravens at thirty one, the Chargers at thirty one,
the Chiefs at twenty nine, the Bills at twenty five.
(14:28):
Now I'm okay with the Bills and Chiefs at twenty
five and twenty nine because they got Patrick Mahomes and
Josh Allen made.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Taking up that money.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
What I'm not okay with is the Cowboys top three
taking up thirty three percent. I just think it's really
really hard to build a roster when you've got to
pay fifty different guys sixty seven percent of the salary
cap versus the Seahawks plan paying fifty guys eighty five.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Percent of the salary cap.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
To me, it's just get the job done. I mean,
Howie Roseman, you know he's paying a lot of guys
super star money. I'll tell you the team that had,
uh we're swimming in cash and and cap space, the
New England Patriots and and so look, you could if
you just want to point to cap management, you'd say,
oh the Patriots, Wow, this is beautiful. Well, there's nothing
(15:17):
beautiful about what you're watching on the field. Maybe with
Drake May, they've got some potential here, but they you know,
they got a lot of whole a ton of holes
on that roster. So to me, I would just say,
you know, the results are number one, you know how
many games are you winning? And particularly you know, what's
what's your record in the playoffs. That's why I said,
(15:38):
you know, seven years nine playoff wins for Snyder, eight
the next eight years one playoff win. The roster is diminished.
And and however you want to if you want to
dump a bunch of money into one guy.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You know, the.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Bills, uh certainly are doing that. But but you think
that player is worth it, and you can you can
win playoff games and get the championships. Fine, but I think, look,
I don't want to discredit your point. Now, if you're
letting good players go, I pay great players, I pay
(16:15):
great I pay great players.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I don't play very good players great money just because
it's their turn to get the com.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
How about this, acquire the players that compel.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
You there to go to pay them great money because
you like, like nobody was sitting around when when Richard
Sherman was making great money. You said, WHOA, that's a
hell of an acquisition, Cam Chanceller, kJ Wright, Bobby Wagner
was a second rounder, right, you know you got all
these guys in the second, third, and fourth round. Obviously
RUSS the third rounders. So when John Schneider was was
(16:48):
ride and high, we we were having to pay guys
the second contracts because they were great players and they
got great money.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Five twenty one on nighty three point three KJRFM, breaking
news the Krack and have a new head coach. His
name is Lane Lambert, associate head coach the Toronto Maple Leafs,
is heading west here to take over the cracking franchise.
We will talk to our friend Mike Benton, who knows
all about him. Coming up next on ninety three point
three KJRFL prood.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Saftie and Dig powered by Emerald Queen Casino,
the betting capital of the Northwest. On Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJR fam.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Ahs and Breaking Seattle Kraken News.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
They are once again whole.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
They have a head coach, and here to talk about
Lane Lambert, their new head coach, assistant coach from Toronto
Head and West to take over what will be his
second head coaching stint in his career. He was had
a cup of coffee as the head coach of the
New York Islanders a couple of years ago. Joining us
(18:06):
to talk about it, says the only man we would
want right now, and that would be our guy, Mike Benton,
who's been following this story for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Hi, Mike, how are you?
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Just in time for you, Dick. I'm doing good. Hey,
I mean I am in absolutely no opinion. I have
absolutely no opinion. I'm in no place to evaluate whether
or not Lane Lambert is a good choice for the
Seattle Cracken. But I will tell you what is odd
to me. What is odd to me is that this
(18:36):
took a long time. There were a lot of names
out there, much bigger names than Lane Lambert, and yet
they decided to go with a sixty year old career
assistant coach with just a season and a half of
head coaching experience.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Should that be odd to me? The Layman Kraken fan.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Give a look at this here for the timeline. I
think what really sticks out to me is that there
was a deep, intensive look as far as what they
wanted to do on two levels. Number one, it was
to get better defensively, and number two also was to
find the right kind of code who can be the
right kind of steward and the right kind of guidance
(19:17):
for a lot of young prospects who are already here
to take the next level and make the next jump
on this roster. Berkeley Catton comes to mind, Janny Newman
comes to mind. You want to get Maddie Baniers here
next level? Shane Wright was so close to cracking twenty
goals as well in his first full NHL season. So
from there you then take a look at maybe who's available,
(19:38):
and you know, I think, to me, it's not surprising
that it took this long, just for the fact that,
I mean, I've got pretty good authority that they were
kicking the tires on Rick Tocket how deep they went
as a matter of discussion, and he's been weeks long
gone now to the Philadelphia Flyers. But from there you
then start to play things carefully and cautiously with who
(19:59):
might be of they in the playoffs. Mitch Love was
out there, who was put together a fine career as
a head coach WHL levels, AHL level, Everet Silver tip
here previously now Washington Capital assistant coach, and he was
reportedly in the mix here for this. But Laye Lambert
doesn't surprise me because Toronto was just knocked out of
(20:20):
the playoffs a few a few days ago, and it
was right after that where the Kraken then got permission
to talk to him. So I mean, I think, to me,
this was in the works here for a bit, and
they wanted to play their cards as much as play
things as carefully and cautiously as they could to find
the right guy.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Mike been here with us discussing new Kraken head coach
Lane Lambert, and Mike you you said that the objective
was number one defense, number two to stuart the young
players in ways that presumably management didn't think Dan Bosma
could do that. So do you believe you sound like
you believe that this guy can do that? Break that down,
(21:01):
give us some details as to why how did Bilesma
fail in that regard and why is Lane Lambert better
equipped to accomplish those objectives.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Well, when you look at winning teams across the board
here and the upper echelon to elite teams, and we're
talking teams from from Vegas to Dallas. Even Washington's got
some hints of upper echelon defense in their game Winnipeg, Florida,
the Los Angeles Kings. Defense is a foundation for a
winning team. The Seattle Kraken took a step back last
(21:34):
season defensively, and Lane Lambert, who they just hired, is
all about defense. I think for a move like this,
it checks off some pretty important boxes. I mean, first off,
somebody here with experience, somebody who can steer this team
back to a defensive mindset, and the Stanley Company's resume
in Washington where the capitol is about seven years ago
doesn't hurt. They also want someone who can get this
(21:57):
team up and going in tough parts of the scale
and the Kraken last year this year left a ton
of points on the table in the second game of
back to back and we're at a pretty critical juncture
with this and there's no doubt about that with where
they want to go, and like, can't put myself here
in the heads right now. Those who made this decision,
we do know they want to be competitive, they want
(22:19):
to bring the young guys along, and they want to
play better here defensively, while it's still maintaining a sense
of a high octane skating ability. As far as who's
out there, I mean, there was not a lot of competition,
but I think Lane Lambert's got a lot going for
him in those areas. And you're gonna see a coach
come in with a big defensive reputation is pretty clear
with how many years he's spent with Barry Trotz is
(22:41):
a defensive wizard. The penalty kill he ran with the
Islanders with lights out this year with the Leafs lights out.
He's got guys from the Islanders who swore by how
much he held that room accountable. And he goes back
with Jordan Eberley two I mean, and I go back
here to the back to back record. The Kraken went
oh twelve this year in the second game back to
back lane. Lambert coach one full year with the Islanders,
(23:04):
fired the next but as one full season with that team,
they went eight to six and one in the second
game of back to backs and they made the playoffs.
So that's get ended pretty quickly. One season playoffs and
a massive dip two years ago, fire midseason. So coaches
often find a developing curve they hit in their second job,
and for a while he was known as perhaps the
(23:26):
best head coach without NHL experience. So I think, to me,
this is a move the crack and saw coming where
they have a lot to fill with that potential.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
What do we know about his style offensively, Mike, is
this going to be a fun team to watch?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah, you know, I'm really curious about where they go
as far as steering the offense. And again I go
back to this, when you have teams who are very
successful and very productive. That a lot of it comes
from the essence of roster building. Now a coach can
make him better. And Lane Lambert was responsible of the
forwards with the Washington Capitals. I mean, it doesn't get
much better than Alexander Alexandro Vetchkin. He had him there.
(24:06):
There's familiarity to with Chandler Stevenson, Andre Borakowski, but he
also had a couple of aircraft carriers Ovechkin and Nicholas Bastrom, etcetera,
that he could use to their advantage. And they were
a very very good offensive team league leader. Matter of fact,
at one point when he was there, I think the
door has got to stay open with how much Layne
(24:27):
Lambert moves the needle back defensively. Is from this time
with the New York Islanders, and the Islanders were run
by a longtime GM who is as iron fisted as
it gets in Lou Lamarello. And there's one way to
play Lou Lamarello hockey. It is with extreme defensive structure
that takes precedence over anything else as far as offense,
(24:49):
and Lou has the rep of running the show out there.
So I really think here at this point the word
I've talked, A word I've gotten from people around the w
League so far is that Lane Lambert one of the
strengths is that under Berry Trotz he learned how to
adapt this coaching style to the roster that he has.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Meaning if you have.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
The parts offensively, you're not going to hold him back
and put a leash on them. You want to get
them structure, but you want to open the door here
to some creativity where we go. I think that's a
big question. I think I'm looking forward to see answered
here in the next few days when he's formally introduced.
But I think where the team did their homework on
this from those I talked to around the league is
(25:30):
that you get a coach who can have a sense
of structure, but is able here to adapt, just like
Lane Lambert can from what he did under Berry Trotz.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
A minute more with Mike Benton and Mike just to
sum it up, then, for a Kraken fan that we've
certainly seen a restructure of the front office, if you
want to call it impatient.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Three coaches in three years.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
At the very least, we can say that's bold. For
a krack And fan that would say wait a minute,
you went one and done with Dan Bosma for this.
I was kind of expecting a little bit more. Your
response would be, what, Well, I go back.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
To what Ron Francis said, and that you know, when
you have a person in that position with a lot
of conviction, and he was convinced at the very end
of the season that where this team was going it
wasn't to his liking. And he said so as well
at the very end of the year. And that had
a lot to do with structure. And I go here
with this, Dan Bielsman was terrific here to work with,
(26:36):
and you know, he really did a lot with I
think moving the needle with where this team wanted to
feel free and play creative offensively, and that was one
of the reasons why he was brought on. But you know,
we kind of heard this as well from my previous
colleagues or from my colleagues previously, and I think a
great analogy in that, you know, how much do you
have to give to Rob Peter here to pay Paul
(26:57):
meaning you're going from you know, an extreme low down
approach to an extreme offensive approach. And you know, for
how this team was built in the first three years,
that lockdown approach really worked out well for them because
there was not a lot to deal with, you know,
with up and coming prospects, and didn't have much wriggle
room here for trades, and they were playing with an
(27:17):
expansion roster. Defensively, those teams can tend to be more successful,
and they were in their second season. But I think
unfortunately where things really fell apart here for the Dan
Bilesmas side, not just where where this team was headed offensively,
but I really think the points that were left on
the table here in back to back situations at zero
to twelve that became alarming, I think toward the very
(27:38):
end of the year. And I mean, look, if you
make up half of that and you go about five
hundred six get or six wins times two points, that's
twelve points. That's putting it right back into the playoff mix.
And so I go back and think of where maybe
it puts someone like Layelert over the top is his knowledge,
his acumen, and his experience to handle those kind of situations,
(28:01):
especially in the second game of back to backs. Because
we're going to see more than I think this year.
The schedule is unknown, but we're getting hints that there's
going to be a lot more of a crunch back
to back situation when you're put in the Olympics on
top of that. So to find someone who has that
experience to bring young players along like you've done previously
with a national organization, but also find a way to
(28:21):
be a winner in those situations, I think was what
really helps separate him from the pack.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Great stuff as always, Man, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
I appreciate it, guys.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you you bet.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Michael benon joining us. The big news of the day.
We'll talk a little bit more about it in a
few moments. Lane Lambert, assistant coach of the Toronto Maple
leafs Now you're head coach of the Seattle Crack and
the third in franchise history. Much much more to get
to next on ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Testing live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio. Now back to Safie and Dick powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the Betty and Capital of the Northwest
on Sports Radio Night three point three kJ r FM.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Thanks to Mike Benton for shedding some lights on the
new head coach of the Seattle Krack and Lane Lamberts
just digging in, you know, just doing a little research
on Lane Lambert.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I was I was just a little surprised.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I mean, you've got a sixty year old career assistant coach,
Hugh that has just a season and a half of
head coaching experience. There was an article that I read,
It came out about a week ago, said this Seattle
crackener yet to hire a new head coach in the offseason,
and now we know they've missed out on both Rick
(29:41):
Talckett and Mitch Love as they're left scrambling to find
their new bench boss.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
This offseason, We've.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Already seen new head coaches hired in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Vancouver,
and Anaheim. And with the Penguins closing in on Mitch
Love is their newest head coach, it presents a major
problem for us, the Seattle krack And now you know,
Mike seemed to think that that Dane Lambert will be
a good fit, particularly on the on the defensive end.
He kept mentioned defense, defense, defense, But I don't know
(30:08):
if it's anything like basketball, because in basketball, let's face it,
there's been a lot of coaches that no one thought
were close to Hall of Fame level coaches that have
won championships, because it's about the dudes that are bouncing
the ball, and you know, can you can you bring
them together? Yes, they're coaching is involved. I don't know
(30:30):
if it's as important in hockey, is it as basketball
or less important. We know in football it's pretty damn
important who your head coach is. But these numbers stunn me, Hugh,
looking at what the Seattle Kraken have done offensively in
the form of a star and I'm just taking points
(30:51):
goals plus assists. Where the top Seattle Kraken player ranks
in pointints scored per season? Now you would think, correct
me if I'm wrong. Here, they're thirty two teams in
the league. You would think, on average, all things being equal,
everybody should have a player in the first thirty two,
(31:13):
a player in the second thirty two, a player in
the third thirty two. Like you'd think your top player
should be someplace ranked between one and thirty two. Here
is where the top Seattle Kraken has been ranked each
of the years of their existence, twenty four to twenty five.
This past season, Jared McCann seventy.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Ninth in points.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That is your top Seattle cracking score twenty three to
twenty four. Jared McCann eighty second in points twenty two
to twenty three. Guess who Jared McCann fifty ninth in
points and the franchise's first year twenty twenty one twenty
two Jared McCann one hundred and twenty ninth. They have
(31:59):
never had one player he was. That seems statistically impossible, Yeah,
to go four years without having anybody ranked in the
top fifty five.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Points scored indeed, And I feel like that's in some
sense they're kind of floundering because you've got uh, first
of all the four seasons. Their best year was year two,
so there, and and their second to worst year was
(32:30):
this year, right, and so they I was a little
surprised when they whacked Taxtall just a year after that
really good year two, because they whacked him in this
after his third year. And the thought was they need
to get more explosive offensively, because they went from in
year two they had one hundred points and in year
(32:54):
three they had eighty one. So they dropped by twenty
call it twenty percent. And then the first week of
this most recent season, first week or ten days, it's like.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Whoa, you know, you know that this worked.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
We got the you know, the better offense, because remember
that was the the issue that.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Got hacks Call fired.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
And then as it turns out, that was just a
mirage that first week or ten days of the season
and they end up with just seventy six points. So
now we're going three coaches in three years and we're
going back to, well, we need more defense when we
really didn't get the offense that I thought was what
(33:38):
got Hackstall fired in the first place. Now, look, I
don't I don't analyze this with any kind of course
league lights, but that's just my kind of layman perspective,
and it seems like it's a little.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Bit of a flounder.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
And my layman's perspective is you've got to find somebody.
You've got to find somebody that can be a top
fifty point scorer in this league. Whether it's via trade,
whether it's via draft, whether it's via free agency. You
just can't have your best player offensively be seventy ninth,
eighty second, fifty ninth, and one hundred and twenty ninth
(34:18):
in points scored in the NHL for four consecutive years,
Jackson. I feel my NFL radar starting to beep, like
the listeners. When I haven't talked about the NFL of
the Seattle Seahawks for two hours, that the radar starts
to go off.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
That's what it goes up for you. Beep beep, beep beep.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Oh, you better start talking Seahawks because you got to
play the hits, right, because we're all about playing the hits.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Gotta talk about the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Guys, they were out practicing, but media weren't allowed to
be weird by the way, the first day of OTAs
and nobody was like media was allowed to be out there.
I think it's just next week, right, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday declined.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are we going out there next week?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm gonna leave that up to I believe we are
because their practices are gonna end right as our show begins.
So I think the timing is gonna work out kind
of nicely. Actually, all right, is it gonna be nice
out well? I mean I don't know if you'll be
will be outside, will you be inside?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I don't know. Oh, we're right, we'll probably be inside.
We'll probably be inside, So.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I think you might be out there unless Sophie steps
up and says I'm not doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Let's hope he does.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm not a huge fan of watching to get to
the side whatever or whatever. I'm not a big fan
of huge of watching. I enjoy watching basketball practices. But
that's about it. But here we haven't talked Hawks yet.
And I thought it was interesting. PFF has come out
with their preseason roster rankings, so they accumulate all the
(01:20):
players on it. I think it's all just the starting
players on the thirty two rosters. As we know, PFF
gives all these guys individual grades each and every year,
and they accumulated the rosters and they came up with
a ranking system. And I guess if you take PFF seriously,
which I think a lot of people do, there's probably
(01:41):
good reason to take PF seriously. I'm sure Vegas probably
takes PFF seriously because it may be the reason why
the Seahawks are only seven and a half over under
on the win column. Because if PFF is right and
the Seattle Seahawks have the twenty second rudd roster in football,
(02:03):
then a couple things. One, they're going to have a
hard time getting over that seven and a half win total,
and number two John Schneider should be in very hot
water because John Schneider hasn't had to pay a quarterback
a lot of money in like four years. And if
(02:23):
you can't do better, then build the twenty second best
roster in the NFL after having those draft picks, extra
draft picks that you got for example for Russell Wilson
not changing which you lost on a Jamal trade with
with a payroll that has been very, very manageable. You're
not paying anybody a ton of money and you can
(02:47):
still only build the twenty second best roster. That is problematic. Now.
Having said that, I don't believe they have the twenty
second best roster. You know, I'm bullish on this team.
You know, I think they're gonna win at least ten
games this year. So let's just start with that. When
you read the article, Hugh, did it did? Did the
Seahawks jump out to you as much as they jumped
(03:08):
out to me kind of being mispegged?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Uh No, I don't think they were terribly mispegged. If
they were, I think it would be nominally. So, you know,
I think you think the rosters better, But have you
really studied the rosters of other teams.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
No, that's that's fair. I mean, I just but I do.
What I have done is I have watched those teams.
I have watched those teams numerous times. And nothing tells
me that the Indianapolis Colts are a better roster than
the Seattle Seahawks. Nothing tells me that the Arizona Cardinals
are a better roster than the sel six. Nothing tells
me that the Cincinnati Bengals outside the Big four, Cincinnati Bengals,
(03:50):
I think are a bottom ten roster in the NFL.
They just happened to have maybe the best quarterback, maybe
the best wide receiver, maybe another top ten wide receiver,
and one of the best pass rushers. Outside of that,
the Cincinnati Bengals have a crap roster in my mind.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Well, I would say, first of all, let's talk about
what Pro Football Focus is. They're owned by Chris Collinsworth,
and they have a cadre of scouts that have a
certain methodology on how they scout each and every play,
each and every player. All thirty two teams in the
(04:25):
NFL subscribe to their service, and in fact, from what
I understand, basically all college teams do as well, because
now they scout college players. So in my opinion I've
looked at it, I think that Pro Football Focus certainly
gets more right than they get wrong. They're not, in
my opinion, the Bible. I know they make mistakes. I
(04:48):
can remember John Ross in the opening week catching a
touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks since Cincinnati came to
Seattle in the opener, and I'm remember them them putting
the blame on a corner cornerback who was who was
(05:09):
it Trey Flowers?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think it was Tray Flowers.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
And and I know the coverage just like that's not
the it's not the corners ball, that's the safety's ball,
and they and they put the stats on the corner.
So I know they make mistakes. I'll go back to
the Green Bay game from this past year. The Packers
right now, they are judged to have the thirteenth best roster.
(05:33):
That intrigues me because their GM is Brian Guttenkoust, who
came up the Green Bay system along with John Snyder.
And so when the Seahawks played the Packers in lumen
Field and the Packers pretty much dominated them, I made
(05:54):
some comments on Monday because I was still a little edgy,
and and you know, I didn't play a part in it,
but I know the station was running up promo for
about a month yea about being John Schnyder, Yes, being
And what I'm when I said, is like I'm watching
Jordan Love just back there with all day to throw,
and you know, and it just drives me crazy because
(06:16):
we can't get an offensive line. And I'm looking at
the Packers' offensive line. They had two second rounders, a
third rounder and a fourth rounder, and a seventh rounder
starting on their offensive line, all homegrown. Four of the
five guys were under the age of I think twenty
six or twenty seven, I could looked it up, but
very young. The other one was I think twenty nine.
So they were all relatively young, all Packer draft picks.
(06:39):
And by the way, this PFF I just noticed as
they were ranked thirteenth, I'm reading directly biggest strength in
twenty twenty four colon pass protection, right, And so that
was the worst of the CX. So to me, I'm
sitting in there saying, wait a minute, we took John Snyder. Now,
I don't really believe that we should have taken gutencust.
(07:01):
But I think it twenty twenty four to pause for
a minute and go hang on a sec. John Schneider's
success is front loaded. This is fifteenth year, and in
his first seven years, the Seahawks won nine playoff games.
In his second eight years, they've won one. And so
to sit there and watch the Packers dominate Seattle and
(07:23):
then this, and then at the end of the season
when the Seahawks have only one Pro Bowl player, no
All Pro players, and the offensive line, you know, I think,
I think you're you're you're onto something. You and I
will probably agree in this regard that if you just
break them into units, I think the Seahawks have a
pretty sound football team. But the offensive line is dragging
(07:44):
everybody down year after year. And this guy just can't
get the offensive line fixed. And meanwhile, I'm looking at
his counterpart that he that he cut his teeth in
the in the Green Bay system, just like Schnyder, Gouten
Coast is building this beautiful offensive line. So it ticked
me off then, and it ticks me off as I'm
talking about it right now. So I think that I
(08:04):
don't think it's terribly unfair to call it the twenty
second ran. Obviously, I hope they're wrong, and I love
the coach Hughes, Mike McDonald guy that just so I'm
all in on it. But I think that the evidence
in the data, I don't think that's far off.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
There's fourteen teams, they're top fourteen teams. I look through
all of them, and you can make a serious argument
that all fourteen of those teams have better roster than
the Seattle Seahawks. That's where a bold line comes to me.
Because the fifteenth ranked team is the Dallas Cowboys. I
wouldn't be surprised that Dallas Cowboys won six games this season.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
After Dallas now they won twelve games three years in
a row. Look, I think they're on the decline as well.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
And you know they got they got a quarterback mess
with their salary. But I think, yeah, they've been disappointing
in the playoffs, but three straight years at twelve winsor more.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
The sixteenth ranked teams the Atlanta Falcons. I mean, I
saw the Seattle Seahawks against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta
last year, and I love myself some Michael Vick, and
I think I think I will probably pick the Michael
Pennix and I think I will pick the Atlanta Falcons
to probably win that division. I don't think they have
a better roster than the Seahawks. The Chicago Bears, I mean,
Ben Johnson could do some magic. They fixed that offensive line,
(09:24):
but boy, that is betting on the come right there.
If you're putting the Chicago Bears ahead of the Seattle Seahawks,
the Cincinnati Bengals I already talked about they're a four
player team.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
The Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Consistently, I agree with that are worse than the Seattle Seahawks,
and I think are the worst team in the division.
The Indianapolis Colts. You want to talk about the Packers?
Know the Seahawks offensive line dragging him down. How about
the quarterback position at the Indianapolis Colts dragging that franchise down.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are ahead of the Seahawks. They don't
even have a starting quarterback right now. So I mean,
(09:54):
I just think there's a lot. But when it comes
to John Schneider, I think you and I are in
in hoots. I appreciate everything that he has done, but
it has been what eight years. Yeah, since they've won
a playoff game.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Well, remember now median would be exactly sixteen point five.
So if there's a say, a way of saying that,
if you're worse than this sixteen point five fifth team,
right like everything seventeen and below is, you're in.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
The bottom half of the lease.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yes, right, So so I I could, I could dance
with you on that Seattle at twenty two. That that's
that's that's kind of harsh because when I.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Hear twenty two man six and eleven team, that team stay.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
But if okay, so let's say there were seventeen, they're
still in the bottom half, So move them up five spots.
I'm not gonna dig in to you know. But but
if you wanted to say ten, eleven, twelve in that range,
I'd say, yeah, I think I think seventeen to twenty
(11:00):
two is probably the range that I would have predicted.
So they're at the bottom end of that range. But
I don't think it's egregiously misplaced right now, given the data.
Remember now there's a methodology that they have. They're just looking.
They are looking at an exceedingly granular level, more than
any other entity has in terms of how they grade
(11:23):
every player every play. I'm not saying again that they
don't make mistakes, but it's an exceedingly granular level that
they now for this purposes of this report. Now they
raise the helicopter up to you know, ten thy fifteen,
twenty thousand feet and then they try and give you
that snapshot based on the granularity that they have established.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So you just kind of have to think of the methodology.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
But I think that that I don't think you can
throw the whole methodology out right and just say, well,
that's inconsequential, particularly in light of the fact that thirty
two teams subscribe to them. Now, often it's just for
objective things like okay, what formation are you in? And
and you know, what's your propensity in the red zone.
So some of the service that they provide, you know,
(12:09):
it's not necessarily the value of the subjective part, because
we're talking everything that we're talking about it falls in
the category of the subjective, right, right, that like they're
subjective grading. Now they try and have rubrics and they
they pigeonhole and they say, okay, that performance on that
play constitutes a one point five plus one point five
grade and then yeah, of course they tally it up
(12:30):
and then you get this report.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I will say that I do like how this team
is being built. And I'm gonna hold real quick, Jackson,
You've got some breaking news for us.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We do, sorry, guys.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Yeah, this just came down from Elliott Friedman, who is
a writer for the NHL. He is hearing that we
have a new head coach for the Seattle Crack and
Lane Lambert. Lane Lambert is currently an associate coach for
the two Toronto maple Leaves in the NHL, A former
twenty fifth overall draft pick in the nineteen eighty three
(13:05):
NHL Entry Draft. That is from Elliott Friedman. Not confirmed
yet and nope, it literally as I'm saying this right now,
it is confirmed. The Seattle Krack and have just tweeted
it out. Lane Lambert is the new head coach of
the Seattle Kracken.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, there you go, Jackson. Once you call our boy Benton, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Absolutely, and we'll get him on the next segment and
Hugh and I can continue to talk about the Hawks here, Hugh,
I I do like how this team has positioned and
how it has been built. What I mean by that
as critical as we can be of John Schneider. He
is not overpaid players. He has not given good players
great money, and I love that about him. So I
(13:44):
think the Seahawks are better positioned to win over the
next few years than teams like the Bengals, the Cowboys,
the Dolphins. I mean, they're just two completely opposite ways
to build their team. The Seahawks top three paid players
as far as cap hits for this year Leonard Williams,
noahfanse bad signing but or you know, bad contract, and
(14:08):
Sam Darnold. But those three only take up fifteen percent
of the cap. The Cowboys top three without the new
Micadal thirty three percent of the cap, The Bengals without
Trey hendrickson new contract thirty four percent of the cap,
The Ravens at thirty one, the Chargers at thirty one,
the Chiefs at twenty nine, the Bills at twenty five.
(14:28):
Now I'm okay with the Bills and Chiefs at twenty
five and twenty nine because they got Patrick Mahomes and
Josh Allen made.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Taking up that money.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
What I'm not okay with is the Cowboys top three
taking up thirty three percent. I just think it's really
really hard to build a roster when you've got to
pay fifty different guys sixty seven percent of the salary
cap versus the Seahawks plan paying fifty guys eighty five.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Percent of the salary cap.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
To me, it's just get the job done. I mean,
Howie Roseman, you know he's paying a lot of guys
super star money. I'll tell you the team that had,
uh we're swimming in cash and and cap space, the
New England Patriots and and so look, you could if
you just want to point to cap management, you'd say,
oh the Patriots, Wow, this is beautiful. Well, there's nothing
(15:17):
beautiful about what you're watching on the field. Maybe with
Drake May, they've got some potential here, but they you know,
they got a lot of whole a ton of holes
on that roster. So to me, I would just say,
you know, the results are number one, you know how
many games are you winning? And particularly you know, what's
what's your record in the playoffs. That's why I said,
(15:38):
you know, seven years nine playoff wins for Snyder, eight
the next eight years one playoff win. The roster is diminished.
And and however you want to if you want to
dump a bunch of money into one guy.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You know, the.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Bills, uh certainly are doing that. But but you think
that player is worth it, and you can you can
win playoff games and get the championships. Fine, but I think, look,
I don't want to discredit your point. Now, if you're
letting good players go, I pay great players, I pay
(16:15):
great I pay great players.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I don't play very good players great money just because
it's their turn to get the com.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
How about this, acquire the players that compel.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
You there to go to pay them great money because
you like, like nobody was sitting around when when Richard
Sherman was making great money. You said, WHOA, that's a
hell of an acquisition, Cam Chanceller, kJ Wright, Bobby Wagner
was a second rounder, right, you know you got all
these guys in the second, third, and fourth round. Obviously
RUSS the third rounders. So when John Schneider was was
(16:48):
ride and high, we we were having to pay guys
the second contracts because they were great players and they
got great money.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Five twenty one on nighty three point three KJRFM, breaking
news the Krack and have a new head coach. His
name is Lane Lambert, associate head coach the Toronto Maple Leafs,
is heading west here to take over the cracking franchise.
We will talk to our friend Mike Benton, who knows
all about him. Coming up next on ninety three point
three KJRFL prood.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Casting live from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Saftie and Dig powered by Emerald Queen Casino,
the betting capital of the Northwest. On Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJR fam.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Ahs and Breaking Seattle Kraken News.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
They are once again whole.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
They have a head coach, and here to talk about
Lane Lambert, their new head coach, assistant coach from Toronto
Head and West to take over what will be his
second head coaching stint in his career. He was had
a cup of coffee as the head coach of the
New York Islanders a couple of years ago. Joining us
(18:06):
to talk about it, says the only man we would
want right now, and that would be our guy, Mike Benton,
who's been following this story for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Hi, Mike, how are you?
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Just in time for you, Dick. I'm doing good. Hey,
I mean I am in absolutely no opinion. I have
absolutely no opinion. I'm in no place to evaluate whether
or not Lane Lambert is a good choice for the
Seattle Cracken. But I will tell you what is odd
to me. What is odd to me is that this
(18:36):
took a long time. There were a lot of names
out there, much bigger names than Lane Lambert, and yet
they decided to go with a sixty year old career
assistant coach with just a season and a half of
head coaching experience.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Should that be odd to me? The Layman Kraken fan.
Speaker 6 (18:56):
Give a look at this here for the timeline. I
think what really sticks out to me is that there
was a deep, intensive look as far as what they
wanted to do on two levels. Number one, it was
to get better defensively, and number two also was to
find the right kind of code who can be the
right kind of steward and the right kind of guidance
(19:17):
for a lot of young prospects who are already here
to take the next level and make the next jump
on this roster. Berkeley Catton comes to mind, Janny Newman
comes to mind. You want to get Maddie Baniers here
next level? Shane Wright was so close to cracking twenty
goals as well in his first full NHL season. So
from there you then take a look at maybe who's available,
(19:38):
and you know, I think, to me, it's not surprising
that it took this long, just for the fact that,
I mean, I've got pretty good authority that they were
kicking the tires on Rick Tocket how deep they went
as a matter of discussion, and he's been weeks long
gone now to the Philadelphia Flyers. But from there you
then start to play things carefully and cautiously with who
(19:59):
might be of they in the playoffs. Mitch Love was
out there, who was put together a fine career as
a head coach WHL levels, AHL level, Everet Silver tip
here previously now Washington Capital assistant coach, and he was
reportedly in the mix here for this. But Laye Lambert
doesn't surprise me because Toronto was just knocked out of
(20:20):
the playoffs a few a few days ago, and it
was right after that where the Kraken then got permission
to talk to him. So I mean, I think, to me,
this was in the works here for a bit, and
they wanted to play their cards as much as play
things as carefully and cautiously as they could to find
the right guy.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Mike been here with us discussing new Kraken head coach
Lane Lambert, and Mike you you said that the objective
was number one defense, number two to stuart the young
players in ways that presumably management didn't think Dan Bosma
could do that. So do you believe you sound like
you believe that this guy can do that? Break that down,
(21:01):
give us some details as to why how did Bilesma
fail in that regard and why is Lane Lambert better
equipped to accomplish those objectives.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Well, when you look at winning teams across the board
here and the upper echelon to elite teams, and we're
talking teams from from Vegas to Dallas. Even Washington's got
some hints of upper echelon defense in their game Winnipeg, Florida,
the Los Angeles Kings. Defense is a foundation for a
winning team. The Seattle Kraken took a step back last
(21:34):
season defensively, and Lane Lambert, who they just hired, is
all about defense. I think for a move like this,
it checks off some pretty important boxes. I mean, first off,
somebody here with experience, somebody who can steer this team
back to a defensive mindset, and the Stanley Company's resume
in Washington where the capitol is about seven years ago
doesn't hurt. They also want someone who can get this
(21:57):
team up and going in tough parts of the scale
and the Kraken last year this year left a ton
of points on the table in the second game of
back to back and we're at a pretty critical juncture
with this and there's no doubt about that with where
they want to go, and like, can't put myself here
in the heads right now. Those who made this decision,
we do know they want to be competitive, they want
(22:19):
to bring the young guys along, and they want to
play better here defensively, while it's still maintaining a sense
of a high octane skating ability. As far as who's
out there, I mean, there was not a lot of competition,
but I think Lane Lambert's got a lot going for
him in those areas. And you're gonna see a coach
come in with a big defensive reputation is pretty clear
with how many years he's spent with Barry Trotz is
(22:41):
a defensive wizard. The penalty kill he ran with the
Islanders with lights out this year with the Leafs lights out.
He's got guys from the Islanders who swore by how
much he held that room accountable. And he goes back
with Jordan Eberley two I mean, and I go back
here to the back to back record. The Kraken went
oh twelve this year in the second game back to
back lane. Lambert coach one full year with the Islanders,
(23:04):
fired the next but as one full season with that team,
they went eight to six and one in the second
game of back to backs and they made the playoffs.
So that's get ended pretty quickly. One season playoffs and
a massive dip two years ago, fire midseason. So coaches
often find a developing curve they hit in their second job,
and for a while he was known as perhaps the
(23:26):
best head coach without NHL experience. So I think, to me,
this is a move the crack and saw coming where
they have a lot to fill with that potential.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
What do we know about his style offensively, Mike, is
this going to be a fun team to watch?
Speaker 6 (23:43):
Yeah, you know, I'm really curious about where they go
as far as steering the offense. And again I go
back to this, when you have teams who are very
successful and very productive. That a lot of it comes
from the essence of roster building. Now a coach can
make him better. And Lane Lambert was responsible of the
forwards with the Washington Capitals. I mean, it doesn't get
much better than Alexander Alexandro Vetchkin. He had him there.
(24:06):
There's familiarity to with Chandler Stevenson, Andre Borakowski, but he
also had a couple of aircraft carriers Ovechkin and Nicholas Bastrom, etcetera,
that he could use to their advantage. And they were
a very very good offensive team league leader. Matter of fact,
at one point when he was there, I think the
door has got to stay open with how much Layne
(24:27):
Lambert moves the needle back defensively. Is from this time
with the New York Islanders, and the Islanders were run
by a longtime GM who is as iron fisted as
it gets in Lou Lamarello. And there's one way to
play Lou Lamarello hockey. It is with extreme defensive structure
that takes precedence over anything else as far as offense,
(24:49):
and Lou has the rep of running the show out there.
So I really think here at this point the word
I've talked, A word I've gotten from people around the w
League so far is that Lane Lambert one of the
strengths is that under Berry Trotz he learned how to
adapt this coaching style to the roster that he has.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Meaning if you have.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
The parts offensively, you're not going to hold him back
and put a leash on them. You want to get
them structure, but you want to open the door here
to some creativity where we go. I think that's a
big question. I think I'm looking forward to see answered
here in the next few days when he's formally introduced.
But I think where the team did their homework on
this from those I talked to around the league is
(25:30):
that you get a coach who can have a sense
of structure, but is able here to adapt, just like
Lane Lambert can from what he did under Berry Trotz.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
A minute more with Mike Benton and Mike just to
sum it up, then, for a Kraken fan that we've
certainly seen a restructure of the front office, if you
want to call it impatient.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Three coaches in three years.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
At the very least, we can say that's bold. For
a krack And fan that would say wait a minute,
you went one and done with Dan Bosma for this.
I was kind of expecting a little bit more. Your
response would be, what, Well, I go back.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
To what Ron Francis said, and that you know, when
you have a person in that position with a lot
of conviction, and he was convinced at the very end
of the season that where this team was going it
wasn't to his liking. And he said so as well
at the very end of the year. And that had
a lot to do with structure. And I go here
with this, Dan Bielsman was terrific here to work with,
(26:36):
and you know, he really did a lot with I
think moving the needle with where this team wanted to
feel free and play creative offensively, and that was one
of the reasons why he was brought on. But you know,
we kind of heard this as well from my previous
colleagues or from my colleagues previously, and I think a
great analogy in that, you know, how much do you
have to give to Rob Peter here to pay Paul
(26:57):
meaning you're going from you know, an extreme low down
approach to an extreme offensive approach. And you know, for
how this team was built in the first three years,
that lockdown approach really worked out well for them because
there was not a lot to deal with, you know,
with up and coming prospects, and didn't have much wriggle
room here for trades, and they were playing with an
(27:17):
expansion roster. Defensively, those teams can tend to be more successful,
and they were in their second season. But I think
unfortunately where things really fell apart here for the Dan
Bilesmas side, not just where where this team was headed offensively,
but I really think the points that were left on
the table here in back to back situations at zero
to twelve that became alarming, I think toward the very
(27:38):
end of the year. And I mean, look, if you
make up half of that and you go about five
hundred six get or six wins times two points, that's
twelve points. That's putting it right back into the playoff mix.
And so I go back and think of where maybe
it puts someone like Layelert over the top is his knowledge,
his acumen, and his experience to handle those kind of situations,
(28:01):
especially in the second game of back to backs. Because
we're going to see more than I think this year.
The schedule is unknown, but we're getting hints that there's
going to be a lot more of a crunch back
to back situation when you're put in the Olympics on
top of that. So to find someone who has that
experience to bring young players along like you've done previously
with a national organization, but also find a way to
(28:21):
be a winner in those situations, I think was what
really helps separate him from the pack.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Great stuff as always, Man, we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 6 (28:29):
I appreciate it, guys.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Thank you you bet.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Michael benon joining us. The big news of the day.
We'll talk a little bit more about it in a
few moments. Lane Lambert, assistant coach of the Toronto Maple
leafs Now you're head coach of the Seattle Crack and
the third in franchise history. Much much more to get
to next on ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Testing live from the R and R Foundation specialist broad
JAST Studio. Now back to Safie and Dick powered by
Emerald Queen Casino, the Betty and Capital of the Northwest
on Sports Radio Night three point three kJ r FM.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Thanks to Mike Benton for shedding some lights on the
new head coach of the Seattle Krack and Lane Lamberts
just digging in, you know, just doing a little research
on Lane Lambert.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I was I was just a little surprised.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I mean, you've got a sixty year old career assistant coach,
Hugh that has just a season and a half of
head coaching experience. There was an article that I read,
It came out about a week ago, said this Seattle
crackener yet to hire a new head coach in the offseason,
and now we know they've missed out on both Rick
(29:41):
Talckett and Mitch Love as they're left scrambling to find
their new bench boss.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
This offseason, We've.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Already seen new head coaches hired in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Vancouver,
and Anaheim. And with the Penguins closing in on Mitch
Love is their newest head coach, it presents a major
problem for us, the Seattle krack And now you know,
Mike seemed to think that that Dane Lambert will be
a good fit, particularly on the on the defensive end.
He kept mentioned defense, defense, defense, But I don't know
(30:08):
if it's anything like basketball, because in basketball, let's face it,
there's been a lot of coaches that no one thought
were close to Hall of Fame level coaches that have
won championships, because it's about the dudes that are bouncing
the ball, and you know, can you can you bring
them together? Yes, they're coaching is involved. I don't know
(30:30):
if it's as important in hockey, is it as basketball
or less important. We know in football it's pretty damn
important who your head coach is. But these numbers stunn me, Hugh,
looking at what the Seattle Kraken have done offensively in
the form of a star and I'm just taking points
(30:51):
goals plus assists. Where the top Seattle Kraken player ranks
in pointints scored per season? Now you would think, correct
me if I'm wrong. Here, they're thirty two teams in
the league. You would think, on average, all things being equal,
everybody should have a player in the first thirty two,
(31:13):
a player in the second thirty two, a player in
the third thirty two. Like you'd think your top player
should be someplace ranked between one and thirty two. Here
is where the top Seattle Kraken has been ranked each
of the years of their existence, twenty four to twenty five.
This past season, Jared McCann seventy.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Ninth in points.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That is your top Seattle cracking score twenty three to
twenty four. Jared McCann eighty second in points twenty two
to twenty three. Guess who Jared McCann fifty ninth in
points and the franchise's first year twenty twenty one twenty
two Jared McCann one hundred and twenty ninth. They have
(31:59):
never had one player he was. That seems statistically impossible, Yeah,
to go four years without having anybody ranked in the
top fifty five.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Points scored indeed, And I feel like that's in some
sense they're kind of floundering because you've got uh, first
of all the four seasons. Their best year was year two,
so there, and and their second to worst year was
(32:30):
this year, right, and so they I was a little
surprised when they whacked Taxtall just a year after that
really good year two, because they whacked him in this
after his third year. And the thought was they need
to get more explosive offensively, because they went from in
year two they had one hundred points and in year
(32:54):
three they had eighty one. So they dropped by twenty
call it twenty percent. And then the first week of
this most recent season, first week or ten days, it's like.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Whoa, you know, you know that this worked.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
We got the you know, the better offense, because remember
that was the the issue that.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Got hacks Call fired.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
And then as it turns out, that was just a
mirage that first week or ten days of the season
and they end up with just seventy six points. So
now we're going three coaches in three years and we're
going back to, well, we need more defense when we
really didn't get the offense that I thought was what
(33:38):
got Hackstall fired in the first place. Now, look, I
don't I don't analyze this with any kind of course
league lights, but that's just my kind of layman perspective,
and it seems like it's a little.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Bit of a flounder.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
And my layman's perspective is you've got to find somebody.
You've got to find somebody that can be a top
fifty point scorer in this league. Whether it's via trade,
whether it's via draft, whether it's via free agency. You
just can't have your best player offensively be seventy ninth,
eighty second, fifty ninth, and one hundred and twenty ninth
(34:18):
in points scored in the NHL for four consecutive years,
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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