This will be a first pass at predicting the lines for the 2024-25 season. The picture will become a little clearer after training camp and preseason games, as we will see who is practicing together and if there is any chemistry between individual players. Obviously, to come up with line combinations, we have to make some assumptions on who will make the roster.
For purposes of this exercise, we will assume the following:
- Matty Beniers is signed (more on this and why there is no need to worry).
- Ryker Evans and Shane Wright will be full-time Kraken players throughout the season.
This article was inspired by one of our Patreon Mailbags, where subscriber Katie had a question on what the special teams lines might be for the 2024-25 season. Thank you, Katie, for the question. (**Editor’s note: If you aren’t already a Patreon subscriber, you can become one today!) While we will mainly focus on special teams, we will also expand a bit on the original question and preview what Seattle could do for even-strength lines.
Remember, there was a handful of additions and departures that will alter the look of the upcoming season’s roster.
Departures
- Alex Wennberg – Traded
- Kailer Yamamoto – Free Agent
- Tomas Tatar – Free Agent
- Brian Dumoulin – Traded
- Justin Schultz – Free Agent
Additions
- Chandler Stephenson – Free Agent Signing
- Brandon Montour – Free Agent Signing
- Shane Wright – promoted from AHL
- Ryker Evans – promoted from AHL
- Josh Mahura – Free Agent Signing
All of the departures contributed to special teams at some point during the 2023-24 season, so there are open positions to fill. Factor in changes to the coaching staff as well, with Dan Bylsma, Bob Woods, and Jessica Campbell being brought in, we would expect special teams to change a lot from last season.
Power play lines
The power play looked different before and after the 2024 trade deadline, with the trade of Alex Wennberg and injuries to Andre Burakovsky and Vince Dunn. Here is how the Seattle Kraken power play lines looked at the end of the 2023-24 season:
Ryker Evans is expected to be on the roster full time and has had success on the power play in the AHL, but with the addition of Montour, he is at the bottom of the depth chart and will not be on the power play to start the year.
First power play line
Seattle’s two big free agent signings, Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson, will make an immediate impact on the top power play unit. Stephenson won 52.6 percent of his face-offs last season, which is better than all Seattle Kraken centermen. In fact, no Kraken center was above 48 percent in the face-off dot.
Montour played on the top power play line for the Florida Panthers, who were sixth in the NHL with 63 goals. Montour averaged 3:54 of power play time per game, over a minute more than the Kraken’s top power play quarterback, Vince Dunn, who averaged 2:49 per game.
Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jared McCann were the top-scoring power play players with 25 and 23 points respectively. They have earned their spots on the top unit and will likely continue playing there into next season. Andre Burakovsky had the worst season of his career and is poised for a bounce back. He also has skills as a puck carrier and will be called upon to carry the puck into the offensive zone. If Burakovsky does not produce quickly, he could be dropped to the second unit.
Second power play unit
We would expect Seattle’s second unit to feature Beniers, who struggled to score consistently during a sophomore slump. Jordan Eberle will be the puck carrier into the offensive zone. Dunn will start out as the quarterback on the second unit and figures to again be productive. Even though Montour had more time on his team’s power play, he only had one more point than Dunn at 17. Montour is only a year removed, though, from getting 33 points on the power play, which is why we think Dunn will start the year on the second unit. Dunn could certainly jump back to the first unit if Montour’s doesn’t click with the top group.
Shane Wright and Ryker Evans will likely not make the power play to start the season but will be ready to step in if an injury arises or if a player is not meeting expectations. With head coach Dan Bylsma and assistant coach Jessica Campbell both coming from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, they have seen firsthand both Wright and Evans succeeding on the power play and will be ready to insert them onto one of the units as the opportunity arises. Wright will definitely increase the competition for a power play role, which will only make the Kraken better.
Patreon member Katie also asked about the possibility of seeing two defensemen on a power play unit. With the depth the Kraken have at the forward position, I see them using four forwards on most nights. They do have Evans, though, so a game situation could come up where they would deploy him, but typically you will see one defenseman on the power play.
Penalty kill lines
Here’s how the penalty kill units looked at the end of last season.
As with the power play, the penalty kill unit had some departures. Wennberg and Brian Dumoulin were traded, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was not re-signed. Stephenson is used to playing in all situations and will replace Wennberg. The Montour signing and expectations that Evans will make the team led to Dumoulin getting traded. McCann filled the the vacancy created by Wennberg’s departure after the deadline and could stay on the penalty killing unit. That leaves two vacancies to fill in the PK units.
With penalty killing, teams want to make sure someone is on the ice that can win a face-off. Of the forwards, only Brandon Tanev lacks in that department. We think Yanni Gourde and Tanev will be on the top penalty killing line, as they will often be more rested due to limited playing time in other situations. Their high energy approach was effective last year and should disrupt opposing power play units. Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak formed the top penalty kill defense pairing last year, and that will remain going into 2024-25.
The second unit will feature the two Kraken forwards that will play in all situations, Stephenson and McCann. Will Borgen has experience on the penalty kill and will take Evans under his wing. Do not expect there to be a true first and second line in terms of ice time, as they will most likely be deployed equally.
Even strength lines
Forward lines
There will be a few changes this year that might raise some eyebrows, but change is part of hockey, and it’s part of the Kraken striving to get better. Forward lines will change a lot during the course of the season, but here’s a combination we could see Bylsma trying at some point.
Beniers on the second line? The truth is Beniers scored only 37 points last year, which is not great for a first-line center. At the moment, Stephenson is the best center on the roster, and until Beniers or Wright develops past him, he will be on the first line.
With Wright making the team this year, he needs to play some sheltered minutes and be put in a position to score with wingers that can help contribute. A third-line role is perfect for this, and Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen have good shots and solid forechecking skills that can contribute to Wright succeeding. Tye Kartye, Brandon Tanev, and Yanni Gourde are players people love to watch because of their hustle and grinding style of play. They will do well as a change-of-pace line that can put the other team on its heels.
Defensive pairings
The defense pairs are easier to work out as there are fewer lines and players. Larsson and Dunn have played well together during the first three years of Kraken hockey, and there is little reason to break them up. We foresee Montour sliding into a second pairing with Oleksiak. Will Borgen, who led the Kraken defense in hits last year will play a stay-at-home defensive role and allow Evans to continue to develop his puck moving skills.
Wrap up
Line combinations will be fluid as chemistries are found and the new Kraken coaching staff experiments with what works and what doesn’t. Without a doubt, the forward lines are all improved for the upcoming season. The question is if the Kraken as a whole have improved enough to sneak into a playoff spot.
If you have any thoughts on the Kraken lines, please share them below in the comments. You can follow me on the X at @blaizg.
For me the most interesting thing to see is how the Dunn/Montour question works itself out on the first PP unit. Dunn has been great there for the Kraken, and Montour got major results for Florida. I guess it falls under the heading of a good problem.
Yes definitely, I could see them running two D on the first unit, even though it’s not typically done in the NHL currently. Evans looks capable of running the second unit. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something they at least experiment with.
Yeah, Katie’s idea is really intrigueing, especially, I imagine, to folks who remember 80s hockey. Teams’ penalty kills these days all practice to counter the 1-3-1, so going old school by icing two defensemen may present a unique challenge to them. Have we ever before been able to say that the Kraken power play poses a unique challenge?
On that note, another factor that makes a two-defensemen power play appealing is how much better the Kraken have always been playing 5-on-5 hockey than they have been playing 5-on-4. They often seemed less likely to score with the advantage than they did on even terms. I could see how playing a classic-style power play that is not so very different from how a team plays 5-on-5 might benefit their particular personnel. Just imagine power plays not being two-minute wet blankets that snuff out all the momentum that the team has established.
Given the proposed PK lines, I wonder if the Kraken would go with a rested Dunn/Montour pairing coming out of a successful kill?
I thought Tolvanen-Beniers-Bjorkstrand had some good chemisty at the tail end of last season. It will definitely be interesting to see what Bylsma puts together. I have imagined the even strength forward lines as
McCann – Stephenson – Burakovsky
Tolvanen – Beniers – Bjorkstrand
Schwartz – Wright – Eberle
Kartye – Gourde – Tanev
Some armchair GM’s start associating bottom 6 players with lower salaries, and say things like “you can’t pay a 3rd or 4th liner $5m,” but that doesn’t make any sense if you are trying to roll four lines that are difficult to match up against, as I think the Kraken are. The top three lines are all probably pretty even, assuming there is good chemistry, and the Gourde line makes it a challenge for the opposing team just to get the puck out of their end.
@Seattle G. I really like what you are saying here.
Shortly after Seattle sorted out free agency I was listening to a Kraken podcast (not SOH) and they were saying with Hakstol gone they expected Bylsma would be going with a more traditional “four line” deployment… and I just don’t see that.
When I looked at how teams divided up five-on-five minutes last season, a few things stood out to me.
First off, the teams with legit “superstars” exemplified a “four-line” model. Edmonton, Colorado and Toronto all had a trio of forwards averaging more than 14 5v5 minutes a night, with the Oilers top line all at 15:25+.
Second, even teams with “star” players didn’t necessarily go with “traditional” usage. Carter Verhaeghe led the Stanley Cup Champion forwards at 13:36, but Matthew Tkachuk was at just 12:56, and Alexander Barkov – fifth on the team – was at 12:43. Besides Verhaeghe, only Sam Bennett averaged over 13 minutes (13:02). The next six forwards were all in the 12 minute range.
In Dallas, it’s a similar story. Jason Robertson is icing “superstar” minutes at 14:28, but the next seven forwards are all in the twelve-and-a-half to thirteen-and-a-half range. Evgenii Dadonov clocks in ninth at 12:03. Just ahead of him, at eighth, is “top line” center Roope Hintz at 12:28… which brings me to…
Third, the power play. Both the Panthers and the Stars have legit No.1 NHL centers in Barkov and Hintz respectively, but neither of those skaters are logging the most 5v5 center minutes on their team. They are, however, both on PP1 and logging the most center minutes on the advantage.
Given Seattle’s personnel, I can’t see them icing a “top line” that is putting up 14+ minutes a night. Stars coach Pete DeBoer singled out the “second season” Kraken’s deployment as something to be emulated and I think that shows up in the way he uses the Dallas forwards. I also think Seattle will go with a very similar model.
With all of that in mind… how the “lines” sort out will be interesting to follow. Given Chandler Stephenson’s style of play and prowess on the dot, I fully expect he’ll be on PP1, but I don’t necessarily think he’ll log “first line” minutes at 5v5. I also think Matty Beniers will actually get more of those minutes.
I know “lines” are not just about minutes, they are also about matchups, but I think it’s like you said Seattle G, “The top three lines are all probably pretty even, assuming there is good chemistry, and the Gourde line makes it a challenge for the opposing team just to get the puck out of their end.”
Go Kraken!!!