In last week’s Monday Musings, I mentioned that getting three out of a possible six points in the week would be fine, and that is exactly what the Seattle Kraken did. Could it have been better? Of course, but the Kraken are playing well enough to be a borderline playoff team right now, which is a significant improvement from where they were a few weeks back.
The team will certainly need to get to another level, but for now, they have 11 points over the last 10 games, which is better than Anaheim, Vancouver, and Vegas. The team just feels more stable than before and no longer has me freaking out from any individual loss.
The Vancouver game that the Kraken lost 5-1 was, in my opinion, much closer than the scoreboard showed. I probably lowered my expectations heading into that game since I figured Vancouver was still ornery about the Kraken win in Vancouver just a week earlier and would come out blazing. It was not the Kraken’s best effort, but they were in a one-goal game until Sam Lafferty tipped one past Joey Daccord with about 10 minutes left in the game. That appeared to be the moment the wheels came off the tracks a bit for the Kraken.
Physicality and enforcement
There is a noticeable number of fans requesting the services of an enforcer to deal with the physicality teams are imposing on the Kraken right now. I personally don’t see the need for it, though I know plenty of you will tell me I am wrong. This year’s team is roughly built the same way as last season’s team, and I don’t think Seattle has the luxury of placing an anchor in the lineup just so the team can have a more physical presence.
If the team feels this is something it needs to address, the most likely scenario would be to call up John Hayden from the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In a scenario where Hayden draws into the lineup, who would you take out? Pierre-Edouard Bellemare leads the centers in face-off percentage and penalty-kill time. Kailer Yamamoto has three goals and has the second-most power play time of the forward group. Tye Kartye has three goals and plays with a more physical style already.
I thought maybe Hayden could be called up to slot in for Brandon Tanev, though Andrew Poturalski actually got the callup. Tanev took a clean, hard hit from Nils Hoglander on Friday night, which is coincidently one of the hits a lot of fans are upset about. I took more exception to the Tyler Meyers high hit on Oliver Bjorkstrand in the third period, though.
Side note, did you know the Kraken are tied for fourth in the league with seven games with a fighting major?
Let’s get quizzical. Name the seven players for the Kraken with fighting majors this season (answer at the bottom of the post).
Other Kraken musings:
- With the 7-1 victory on Wednesday night against San Jose, the Kraken logged their sixth victory against the Sharks. That is the most against any opponent in the team’s two-plus seasons of existence. The Kraken have beaten the Predators the second most out of any opponent with five wins, and then there are seven other teams they have beaten four times in their existence.
- It was crazy to see the Canucks win 5-1 at Climate Pledge on Friday then lose in regulation to the San Jose Sharks a day later. Those were the same San Jose Sharks that were dominated by the Kraken last Wednesday.
- The Kraken goal differential is a -15 right now. Teams that are a zero goal differential or better have a good chance at making the playoffs.
- The Kraken’s overtime loss to the Calgary Flames last Monday was the sixth Kraken loss in overtime or shootout this season. They only had six overtime or shootout losses over the entire 2021-22 season and eight all last season. I have no idea if that is good or bad. It is just an observation.
- Tucker Robertson, a fourth-round pick of the Seattle Kraken in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, scored his first career AHL goal on Saturday in a 4-2 win for the Coachella Valley Firebirds over the Bakersfield Condors.
- There’s an expression I use in my life, “Don’t make a decision until you have to,” but I am starting to wonder who comes out of the lineup when Andre Burakovsky is cleared to play. He has been skating with the team in a red non-contact jersey lately. Could Kartye be the odd man out, or will there be a new roster scenario the team needs to deal with by then? How long might Tanev be out?
- It is incredible how lean the Kraken keep their roster, with the only healthy scratch on Friday night being Jaycob Megna. This has to be a strategic decision to accrue salary cap space. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Player performance
David Goyette (SBY/SEA) – The center selected in the second round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft has three goals and four assists over his last four games playing for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL.
Lukas Dragicevic (TCA/SEA) – A defenseman picked in the second round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft might have started the season a bit cold, but he is really starting to heat up. Dragicevic has seven assists over his last four games for the Tri-City Americans including this dandy of a sequence:
Alex Lyon (DET) – The Detroit goaltender got two starts and two wins for the Red Wings this past week. Lyon was the third-string goalie in Detroit and did not get into a regular-season game until Nov. 17. If his name sounds familiar, Lyon helped propel the Florida Panthers into the playoffs last season with a great stretch run.
Chart of the week
After starting ice cold, the Seattle Kraken shooting percentage has rebounded and is on the right track.
Goal of the week
Andrei Svechnikov scores the game-winning goal in Carolina after taking a puck off the ear.
Kraken themes for the week ahead
The Kraken hit the road for four games over the next eight days with a stop in Chicago on Tuesday, then on to play the Eastern Canadian teams for the final three games. This should be a good test. Four points should be the minimum and five points should be the realistic target. Like last season, this team has a better road record than home record.
Chicago has a record of 3-7-0 over their last 10 games and is averaging just 2.6 goals on the season. They are now without the services of Corey Perry and Taylor Hall.
Seattle will face Toronto on Thursday, who is never an easy out, so I anticipate that game to be the biggest challenge of the four games. The Kraken will close out the trip with games against Ottawa and Montreal on Saturday and Monday respectively.
One area I am focused on over this road trip is the power play. It has been one of the bright spots of the season for the Kraken, but it has cooled off or is looking like it could cool off.
Answer to let’s get quizzical: The Seattle Kraken players with fighting majors are Tanev, Jamie Oleksiak, Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Tye Kartye, Vince Dunn, and Yanni Gourde.
If you have any questions, comments, or areas you would like me to explore, let me know in the comments section.
How does Dave Hakstol or coaches in general determine starting goalies?
Every coach has a different goalie strategy. Travis Green in Vancouver ran with a hot goalie until he burnt him out. John Tortorella of the Flyers has changed his philosophy over the years. He used to be Captain hook but as he became more established, he said he now used Analytics and chose the teams he thought his backup could beat. Most coaches coach in between those philosophies with the back up getting about 1/3 of the starts. I believe there even might be a couple of gut feeling coaches, as well. They watch practice sessions, doctors and trainers feedback the odd time. There is not a definitive answer. But I do know this, that a coach like Travis Green was not popular with his back up goalies. Every Goalie wants to play every night and every goalie believes he can win every game so never ask a goalie if he is ready to play.
Monday Musings are the best!
I don’t think I can agree with your take on the Canucks game. On the contrary, I think it was at least as bad as the score.
First: The physicality. I agree the Kraken don’t need an enforcer, but it’s clear teams are playing Seattle a lot rougher this season and this was on display again in the Vancouver game. Normally, I would say the power-play is where you even this up, but going -1 in the first six minutes on the PP didn’t do anything to dissuade… as we later saw.
Second: More this season, but this game in particular, the Kraken seem to be loading up on low-percentage shots from outside the dots that just become turnovers – a season one signature. Given the lack of lateral play ahead of their 24 shots on goal, I think two expected goals is generous… and it’s not like even two xGF is gonna cut it against Demko.
Third: Two shots on goal in the third, and those came way too late. The third has been absolutely dreadful this season. Repeatedly giving up leads is one thing, but in all situations the Kraken’s finishing ability has been a real (and discussed) problem. This game reaffirmed the chronic nature of this problem.
After Seattle hung seven on Carolina, they followed up with the infamous “lights out” game. Since then, there seems to be a lot of improvement, so I’m gonna say they had another seven goal hangover… but there were a few recurring trends in this game that worry me a bit.
Go Kraken!!!
I know I said we need a goon, but I should have said bigger bodies. Lat year we were lucky. WWe should have never beaten Colorado but they had their top players injured. Teams have figured out the Kraken and they will continue to beat us on the boards and force us to take penalties and then we can have out top players do the fighting. We need someone to replace Wenneburg. Yea he is pesky and put points up but he is useless on the boards. If we stop taking penalties, I see him as dispensable. Far too many giveaways in both zones and he only makes a difference if he is in the middle of the ice and then his passing is suspect. I want to mention that when the Kraken played their last game, it was their 22. At the time it was more than any team by 2 games and couple that with the longer distances they travel, the schedule makers did not do them any favors. That was one tired team that Played the Canucks. By the way, most of my ex-players, coaches and friends in Vancouver all say that Seattle is too small.
Wennberg led the league in takeaway/giveaway differential last season at +58… only 26 giveaways all last season… 84 takeaways.
those numbers are open ice numbers, not 50/50 on the boards. The reason we got him in the Supplemental draft was that this was the take on him in Winnepeg was the same, even then. Also, those takeaways also included Penalty Kill takeaways, which he is very good at but muscle on muscle, no. By the way, Hayden is not the answer either.
Wennberg has never played in Winnipeg.
Wennberg is awesome on the boards…and he was also not taken in the “supplemental draft”.
I was going to point out the last “Supplement Draft” was in ’94… but then I thought… whatever.
John, come on with Bellemare. Sure he has a lot of power play *time*, but that does not mean he has been *good* in that time. And especially at 5×5 (which the 4th line does need to play sometimes), he cannot keep up. He is just way too slow. The Kraken thrived last year with speedy offense from their entire forward group, 1 through 12, and swapping out Geekie (or Donato) for Bellemare helped kill that. And I know you know this and have discussed it on the podcast, but you are too obsessed with face-off percentages. Of course, the next center in the depth chart is Shane Wright, and I don’t know if it’s worth starting the clock on his service time and potentially rushing him development-wise in a desperate attempt to save this season when this is probably not a playoff team anyway, and certainly not a serious contender. He already played a few games and was not a difference-maker. So I guess they are stuck. They have been outscored by 16 goals on the season. And that is counting their 7-1 drubbing of a historically bad Sharks team. They have only won 6 games in regulation and have been blown out in several of their losses. During year one, they were actually playing well for the first few months and got sunk by historically bad goaltending (and then did hit a true rough patch in the middle of the season when they were out of it anyway). That is not the case this year. This year, they are just bad, top to bottom. I attend a little less than half the home games, and I have attended more dismal blowout losses this year (4) than I attended in the first 2 season combined (3), so that may be coloring my perception, but I also think that these blowouts are telling.
Also, I don’t know how you can say the Canucks game was better than the score. If anything, it was worse. They were only skating hard and completing passes for about 10 minutes in the whole game. The way they came out in the 3rd period was just humiliating (and the humiliation was exacerbated by the fact that the place was overrun with obnoxious Canucks fans).
Has there been an update on Tanev’s injury. The one I saw seemed a bit confused.
Whenever a question about a Kraken injury starts with “has there been an update,” the answer is always “no”. They are absurdly secretive about injuries, even by NHL standards.
So much content this week! Thanks as always. To clarify the my thoughts, I don’t think we need an enforcer but we do need to show some sort of pushback when we get checked. Yes scoring goals may be the “right” way to react but we aren’t scoring enough and we need to let teams know that we aren’t pushovers.
This