WaFd Bank Weekly Warmup: Aug. 23

It is weeks now rather than months until the Kraken takes to the ice for preseason and regular season games.
Let's drop the
WaFd Bank
Weekly Warmup puck for a final Monday column before going on hiatus until mid-September.

The news was not unexpected, especially since the draft's first overall pick and Benier's Michigan teammate, defenseman Owen Power (selected by Buffalo), made it known Friday morning he was staying put in Ann Arbor for a national championship bid himself.
The Michigan athletic department tweeted the news, revealing the fifth overall pick in the draft, forward Kent Johnson (Columbus), was returning too. If that's not NCAA powerhouse enough, the draft's No. 4 pick, defenseman Luke Hughes, is enrolled at Michigan this fall for his freshman season.

The NHL draft started in 1963 (what happened before that is a story for another day). Since then, 185 NCAA players have been selected, representing 28 Division I schools and five conferences.
Michigan is tops with 30 players drafted, followed by the University of Minnesota (22), Boston College (21), Boston University (21), North Dakota (20) and Wisconsin (17) rounding out a top six as the only schools with draftees in double digits.
As for Beniers choosing Michigan over Kraken training camp, there are factors for fans to consider:
- Beniers needed to enroll for his fall semester beginning Aug. 30 to be NCAA-eligible. - Only a handful of first-round NHL draft choices at most make the NHL roster in a first try. Most players require three to four seasons of development. - Top choices like Beniers can sometimes be added to their NHL teams after a dominant NCAA season to play late-season and potential playoff games. Two recent examples are rising stars Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes (Luke's older brother and former Michigan man himself) and Colorado D-man Cale Makar (who scored a goal in his first NHL game-a playoff contest-after starring for University of Massachusetts). - Beniers was clear about hoping to join his Michigan teammates for a run at the NCAA title when talking with media on draft night. He discussed it at length with Kraken GM Ron Francis and assistant GM Jason Botterill (former NHL player and yet another one of those 30 Michigan draftees). - The Kraken brass and Beniers all agree the top prospect would benefit from getting bigger without compromising his elite skating speed. That task is better suited for an NCAA hockey program rather than juniors. NCAA programs play mostly on weekends only and players have access to top-of-the-line strength and conditioning coaches and facilities while juniors play more frequently, leaving less time for working out and muscle recovery.

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Lundqvist Announces Retirement

In another Friday move not totally surprising, veteran New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist held a press conference in his native Sweden to officially stand down from the NHL.

Lundqvist played his entire 15-season career in the NYR nets. He signed with the Washington Captials as a free agent for the 2020-21 season but a heart condition required surgery and derailed his plans.
"Obviously there are a lot of emotions right now," Lundqvist said Friday during press conference at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden. "For me, it started here in Scandinavium when I was 5 years old I saw my first hockey game here."
Lundqvist helped lead Sweden to win a men's hockey gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics and more gold at the 2017 World Championship (beating Canada when he made saves on all four shootout attempts).
Lundqvist had resumed workouts this summer with plans to resume his NHL career. But he told the New York Post he experienced "setbacks" during those workouts, causing some chest pain.
"I was hoping I would be 100 percent by this time," Lundqvist said. "But I was told that inflammation takes a long time to correct and with medication I might be out of the woods, but it could be another full year before I would be 100 percent."

The always fashionable and eloquent Swede finished his NHL career with a record of 459-310-96, a 2.43 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and 64 shutouts in 15 seasons with the New York Rangers. He went 61-67 with a 2.30 GAA, .921 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 130 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Lundqvist is sixth in NHL history in wins, seventh in saves (23,509), eighth in games played (887), ninth in starts (871) and 17th in shutouts.

Shout Out to WaFd Bank

This column launched in 2019. WaFd Bank, a founding partner and the exclusive bank of the Kraken, joined as the sponsor in 2020.
This is the final entry for WaFd Bank Weekly Warmup. I am grateful for the support and virtual companionship as we endeavored to keep Kraken fans up to date on NHL news and the sport so many Seattleites will be falling deeper in love with this fall and beyond.
WaFd Bank will be engaged with fans in many ways to come. It's been my privilege to drop the WaFd Bank Weekly warmup puck the last couple years. See you at the faceoff circle soon.