NHL’s Seattle team isn’t concerned with Golden Knights comparisons

By Ben Gotz

Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 years ago

This July 18, 2019, file photo shows Ron Francis talking to reporters, in Seattle after he was ... — This July 18, 2019, file photo shows Ron Francis talking to reporters, in Seattle after he was introduced as the first general manager for Seattle’s yet-to-be-named NHL hockey expansion team. Now that he is a couple months into the job, Francis has gained a little more of an appreciation for the task he signed up for. The easy decision for the 56-year-old and Hockey Hall of Famer would have been to take a consulting or scouting gig, keep his family settled in North Carolina and not taken on the kind of challenge that may eventually define his post-playing career. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

United States’ Cammi Granato (21) celebrates after scoring in the first period against Sweden in Kearns, Utah at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic hockey game Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2002. In background is teammate Katie King. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

Media members look on at a model of the renovated KeyArena as a video about the plan plays behind during a presentation about the arena that will house an NHL hockey team, Thursday, April 18, 2019, at the Seattle Center in Seattle. Seattle will add the NHL’s 32nd team and play is expected to begin at the arena in 2021. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In this Nov. 6, 2010, file photo, Cammi Granato stands on center ice after being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame before an NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres in Toronto. Seattle’s expansion NHL franchise has hired former U.S. Olympic team captain Cammi Granato as a pro scout. Granato is one of a handful of women working on the hockey operations side of an NHL franchise and she is the only female pro scout currently in the league. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

The nameplates at press box seats at T-Mobile Arena and around the NHL make one thing clear.

Seattle is coming.

The league’s 32nd franchise doesn’t begin play until 2021-22, but its front office already has begun preparations for its inaugural season. That means getting out to games, whether that’s in Las Vegas, Chicago or anywhere in North America the NHL is.

The team’s goal is to get as much information as it can now so it can be ready for the 2021 expansion draft, from which the Golden Knights are exempt. It will hard for Seattle to match the remarkable success the Knights achieved there, but the organization isn’t focused on comparisons.

“It was remarkable. Historic, actually, what they accomplished,” assistant general manager Ricky Olczyk said. “The way we’re approaching it, I think inevitably people are going to make the comparison every game probably to the minute detail, but at the end of the day, we’re going to be concerned and focused with Seattle. We’re not going to compare ourselves to Vegas or what they accomplished.”

The Seattle organization doesn’t have a name yet (it’s expected to get one early in 2020), but it has started to build its hockey operations staff since being approved by the NHL Board of Governors on Dec. 4, 2018. There’s general manager Ron Francis, a Hall of Fame player and former Carolina Hurricanes executive; Olczyk; director of hockey administration Alexandra Mandrycky; and five pro scouts.

One of them is Hall of Fame player Cammi Granato, the NHL’s first female pro scout.

“Her resume speaks for itself,” Olczyk said. “She’s got a good eye for talent assessment and evaluation. She understands the game. She brings that insight that we expect our scouts to bring. She’s been a real good addition.”

Those scouts have spread across the U.S. and Canada early this season looking for talent. Olczyk said he was attending games from Tuesday through Sunday this week, including the Knights’ clash with the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.

All to get ready for 2021. Olczyk said he can already feel a “buzz” building up to opening night.

“I’ve always lived by the motto patience is a virtue, but, boy, it’s hard,” Olczyk said. “This is the kid going to bed Christmas Eve waiting for Christmas morning. It’s hard. It’s very difficult to wait for it to be here, but there is a lot of work to do. It’s a daunting task, but it’s exhilarating and exciting all in the same breath as well.”

Avs going by committee

The red-hot Colorado Avalanche (8-1-1 entering Saturday) received bad news when star right wing Mikko Rantanen sustained a lower-body injury Monday. He’s considered week to week.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said the team will have to replace Rantanen’s production “by committee,” something it’s more equipped to do after supplementing its roster this offseason.

“You lose one of your top guys and a guy that plays as big of a role as Mikko does, you can’t fill it with one player,” Bednar said. “We do like the depth of our hockey team here this year, especially in our forward group.”

‘John Norris’

The NHL’s points leader entering Saturday? Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson.

The 29-year-old has 21 points (five goals, 16 assists) through 13 games, and the other Capitals have already began his Norris Trophy campaign. Captain Alexander Ovechkin referred to his teammate as “John Norris” on Thursday.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.