We are now just days away from the Seattle Kraken’s regular-season opener. The Kraken are currently 1-3 this preseason, with two games remaining. I view preseason games as intense practices; everyone is still figuring things out and learning new systems. If you’re worried about preseason results, keep in mind that the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche are a combined 0-7-0 this preseason.
Curious case of Eduard Sale
It was nice to see the Kraken’s first-round selection from the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Eduard Sale, score on Saturday night. Sure, it’s just a preseason game, but Sale’s transition to North American hockey has been challenging, so any bright spots are great to see. I think he has looked more comfortable this preseason than some of the other Kraken prospects from his draft year, but you always want your first-round picks to stand out more than Sale has shown to date.
Last season, Sale began playing for the Barrie Colts of the OHL. It was his first time playing for a team outside his home country, so you can understand the challenges an 18-year-old faces when playing in a foreign environment for the first time. He is the lone remaining rostered prospect who could be sent back to juniors, but the Kraken have some options for where they could send him. We covered this extensively last year with Shane Wright, but normally, 19-year-old CHL players must either play in the NHL or be sent back to their CHL teams.
Because Sale was drafted while playing in the Czech Extraliga, that clause in the NHL-CHL development agreement doesn’t apply. With Sale, the Kraken have the option to send him to the AHL this coming season, a possibility that looks more and more likely. It worked for Wright last season, so it could work for Sale this season.
Roster spot and cap space
The Kraken remain very close to the salary cap, with less than $5,000 of cap space if they were to fill 21 of the 23 maximum roster spots. They simply cannot add a 22nd or 23rd player. This seems like a risky position to be in at the start of the season. I’ve speculated that a trade was imminent, but trades are rare this close to the season, so carrying just one extra player might be the plan.
Coming into camp, I felt that the final roster spot would come down to Josh Mahura, Ben Meyers, or John Hayden. All three have played well enough to justify their spots, but there can be only one, and it’s possible that all three could be put on waivers to be assigned to Coachella and accrue some cap space for the start of the season. There’s also a scenario where Ryan Winterton makes the team to start the season, but unless there’s an injury, he’s unlikely to crack the starting lineup, so it might make more sense for him to play in the AHL. He also does not require waivers to get to Coachella Valley.
Checking in on Karson Kuhlman
Karson Kuhlman only played 39 games for the Kraken over two half-seasons. I always had a soft spot for Kuhlman. He was a waiver claim during the inaugural season and even came on our podcast for a fun interview. He worked hard on the ice, and, in my opinion, scored one of the most important regular-season goals in season two. During the Kraken’s impressive 2022-23 season, they had a 1-2-2 record heading into their sixth game of the campaign, facing the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche.
The season was starting to feel like a repeat of Season 1. The scrappy Kraken were up 2-1 in the third when they allowed a shorthanded goal seven minutes into the period. Kuhlman scored six minutes later, and the Kraken held on to win. The Kraken would go 6-3-1 over their next 10 games. That was Kuhlman’s only goal with the Kraken that season. He was eventually put on waivers and claimed when Seattle needed to make room for Eeli Tolvanen, a waiver claim of their own.
Kuhlman played the rest of the season for the Winnipeg Jets and the entire 2023-24 season with the Bridgeport Islanders in the AHL. This season, he took his talents to Finland, signing with Lukko in Liiga. He’s off to a great start with two goals and four assists in his first seven games.
Other musings
- We got our first look at Brandon Montour last week, and he’s coming in as advertised. His willingness to activate offensively should open some doors for other Kraken players. He had 16 shot attempts in his two preseason games—the most of any Kraken player.
- He’s unlikely to make the opening-day roster, but Jacob Melanson has impressed me this preseason. Melanson flies a bit under the radar but appears closer to the NHL than I expected. He’s the type of player who can step into a fourth-line role without sacrificing his development. He had a goal in the game against Edmonton on Saturday, but go back and check his board play here to set up the Meyers goal.
- We didn’t get to see much of Jani Nyman, but he did show off his powerful shot in his lone preseason game on Friday against the Vancouver Canucks. Nyman was assigned to the Firebirds on Saturday. He’ll be a fun one to watch in Coachella Valley this season.
- Another player assigned to Coachella Valley was Lleyton Roed. Roed caught our attention as early as last spring when he played in the Calder Cup Finals with Coachella. If you haven’t checked out this profile piece on him, do it!
- In case you missed it, the LA Kings will be without their top defenseman to start the season. Drew Doughty fractured his ankle in a preseason game last week. Doughty was second in the league in time on ice per game and led the Kings in power-play time last season. I’ve speculated that the Kings might take a step back and miss the playoffs this season, and this injury won’t help their chances.
- The NHL regular season actually starts Friday, when the New Jersey Devils play the Buffalo Sabres in the first of two games in Czechia as part of the NHL Global Series. They play at 10 a.m. Pacific on Friday and 7 a.m. on Saturday. Sounds like a great way to start the weekend.
- Also coming up this weekend is Faceoff: Inside the NHL, the docuseries on Prime Video. This six-part series is produced by the same company behind F1: Drive to Survive. If you’re looking for something to watch this weekend, put this at the top of your list—should be some great hockey content!
- Micah Blake McCurdy just released his point projections for the 2024-25 season. It’s not a straightforward binary projection, but McCurdy’s mean projection puts the Kraken fourth in the Pacific Division.
- I’m probably in the minority, but I love the 1:30 p.m. start time for next Tuesday’s opening day. There’s nothing I’d rather take a half-day off work for than hockey.
- Did anyone see that reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck, allowed eight goals on 29 shots in Winnipeg’s preseason game against Minnesota on Friday? Just thought I’d point that out if anyone’s worried about a goalie’s preseason performance.
Goal of the week
Despite being sent back to his junior team, we are still keeping an eye on Andrei Loshko.
Player performances
Porter Martone – A consensus top-five draft pick for the 2025 NHL Draft, Martone recorded one goal and five assists in his first two games of the season for the Brampton Steelheads of the OHL.
Michael Misa – Another high-end prospect for the 2025 NHL Draft, Misa tallied seven goals and one assist in his first three games with the Saginaw Spirit.
Matvei Michkov – The highly regarded Russian prospect, selected seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, has three goals and three assists in three preseason games for the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers visit Seattle on Oct. 17. He should be exciting to watch.
The week ahead
The Kraken have two final preseason games this week. With most junior players sent back to their respective teams and several others assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, expect the Kraken to field a roster that will resemble their starting lineup next Tuesday. If there’s one thing I’d like to see in these last two preseason games, it’s some production from Shane Wright, Matty Beniers, and Jared McCann. All three have looked fine but have yet to make it onto the score sheet. Also, keep an eye out for Andre Burakovsky to return to the lineup and Vince Dunn to make his preseason debut. Both players will be key to the Kraken’s success this season.
With less than eight days to go, who’s ready for some regular-season hockey?
Just one more Monday before Opening “Day”.
I think there still must be a move coming. I just have a hard time seeing this GM going with a 21 man roster. I also think this team needs to be accumulating cap for the trade deadline. Waiting for the “right deal” sounds like Francis, running short-handed and with no cap doesn’t. Almost two weeks until the first road game – plenty of time to make a move.
I see Columbus is still almost $2m under the floor with a full roster and Toronto is $1m over… maybe those three teams work something out. Maybe Tanev ends up playing with Tanev in Toronto? Just a thought.
Also was wondering John… as well as several of the prospects have been playing, do you think any of them could be looped into a trade, and if so who?
Thanks again for Monday Musings,
Go Kraken!!!
I agree with you that a trade feels necessary, but I looked back at the last two seasons and trades right around the regular season start seem rare so now I don’t know what to think. I think any of the second rounders of the 2022 or 2023 could be in play. I would probably rank them from most to least valuable as Rehkopf, Firkus, Dragicevic, Goyette. I doubt Molgaard or Kokko would be in play, hence not ranked. So once you apply the value to those players, it will come down to the retention $ and return. i.e. I would assume the Kraken would need to give an asset for a team to take 100% of Tanev assuming something else is coming in return (i.e. Nick Robertson).
I hope they don’t trade any of those prospects just to dump Tanev. That would seem to defeat the point of getting lots of draft picks and all those players are potential NHLers.
Just wait, one of the made-of-glass forwards (Schwartz, Burakovsky) will get injured within the first give games and go on LTIR. Salary cap problem solved.
Maybe I missed it but what exactly is the reason that Dunn has not played in any games so far? Something lingering from last season?
By the way… thought I might’ve heard something about this but it sounds like the Columbus cap is going to be discussed at the BOG meeting… they may get a waiver.
CBJ was granted a cap floor exemption, but reports claim they are still looking to bring in a veteran forward via trade or waiver claim.
I feel like there might still be a deal there….
I could be wrong, but it feels like the Kraken might find it difficult to give up anyone on this roster. Yanni and Turbo seem like big character guys, and I wonder what that would do to the locker room. Despite the opinions of everyone else around the league, the Kraken sound like a team wanting to be in a Stanley Cup final. They are really taking last year’s result personally, sort of like when Tampa lost in four straight to Columbus, and when Florida got smoked two years ago in the final against Vegas.
I think there’s a real chance we start with 6 D and 13 forwards. If I’m not mistaken, I think Tampa even started one season with 5 D.
Yanni and Turbo are also big fan favorites, and it would seem counterintuitive to trade one of them when the team is making all these efforts to improve access to the game and get fans excited (KHN, etc)
Fan favorites come and go, winning games ultimately is what gets fans excited. The team has added Stephenson and Montour, and Shane Wright is making the leap. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say all of those players are more exciting to fans this year and are more likely to impact winning. I like both Yanni and Tanev, but they’re both on the last year of their deal. At most one of them may re-sign, but one (and maybe both) will leave after this season.
You can’t put your team in a financial bind like that just because a player is liked. Likewise the locker room understands the business side of things, and wants to win. Adding more talent and keeping your talent sometimes means someone has to go.
Totally agree. I like Tanev too, but he turned into such a liability with the puck last year that I’m ready to see him go. His stick is made of rubber, and he couldn’t score a breakaway to save his life. I’d much rather see Winterton or another kid in his place. They’re cheaper and there’s a good chance they’ll be better too.
Who is available to add who can take the place of Yanni or Tanev? Are those teams who have those players willing to give them up, and are they still fitting in the cap? Lots of questions.
Yanni makes too much money for his position in out lineup, obviously we can’t fill his shoes easily but we can find someone from the valley that can come up making around 900k that would be perfectly fine as a 4th liner as well as being a young player that can continue to develop. Francis made the choice to upgrade the top of our squad this obviously will have an effect as to how much money we have to spend on our 4th line, think of it as chandler that’s replacing Yanni and we just have a 4th liner that needs to be found.
IF Seattle goes with only 21 players on the roster, I’d say player 21 would need to be a D-man. Particularly given Dunn’s questionable readiness and Evans’ pre-season play.
Great update! The summary style format is appreciated. Definitely stuff in here I wasn’t aware of or wasn’t really thinking about.
Thanks for the content!
Very curious what they do to open space, to me it looks like we have good internal options and I would not be completely surprised if a player was just released on waivers if no trade is available.
Looking forward to getting the season started and hopefully we don’t play the first 20 games as an extended pre season as we did last season.
“Did anyone see that reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck, allowed eight goals on 29 shots in Winnipeg’s preseason game against Minnesota on Friday? Just thought I’d point that out if anyone’s worried about a goalie’s preseason performance.”
John if Gru was playing like Hellebuyck the last three seasons nobody would be worried about a lousy start to the preseason… after all it is just the preseason. Problem is it’s looking like the same thing over and over and that has to be a little concerning. Like it or not Gru will be under the microscope this season and rightfully so. Is Hellebuyck under the microscope…. No not even remotely comparable situation good try but I’m calling that one a fail.
As far as I know you can’t just waive a player and release him to clear cap. Another team has to claim him or you have to terminate his contract, either because of a breach (no indication that one has occurred) or by mutual agreement (no reason for anyone on this roster to agree). If none of those things happens you send him to the minors, which gets you at most 1.15m in cap space and an extra roster spot to fill.
Yes someone would have to claim them…. It probably won’t come to that I’m sure a trade will develop.
I need a final resolution on the pronunciation of Eduard Sale’s name: Is it “SHALA” or “SHALAY”? I have heard both a number of times, from a number of folks:-) Thanks in advance.
I went on Elite Prospects, and their pronunciation was “SHALEH” not SHALAY or SHALEE. I guess I’m satisfied:-)
I accessed Elite Prospects, and their pronunciation was “SHALEH” and not SHALAY or SHALEE. I guess I’m okay with that:-)