There was a lot to like from the Seattle Kraken’s 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in their preseason finale at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday—but also some reason for concern. While players like Shane Wright, Brandon Montour, and Philipp Grubauer indicated they were ready for the regular season, Jared McCann was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury, replaced in the lineup by John Hayden.
After Seattle jumped out to a two-goal lead by the 8:00 mark of the second period, things started to go sideways when Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play at 11:15, and Travis Dermott was left alone in the slot at 13:06 to make it 2-2. But the Kraken put the wheels back on with a Montour missile off a rush and a Wright snipe from the top of the circle.
“They had a few power plays and a 5-on-3 as well,” Wright said. “They scored one, and then they got the second one as well, but we stuck with it, didn’t let it bother us. And it was nice to… obviously, Monty’s goal was great… there was a little momentum, and then to be able to get a little insurance there myself is always nice too.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from Seattle’s 6-2 win over the Oilers to close the preseason.
Takeaway #1: McCann’s injury cause for (some) concern
Walking into the arena Wednesday, I was just hoping for good health for both teams. There has been a rash of nasty preseason injuries to key players around the league in the last week, and both Edmonton and Seattle had close to their full regular-season lineups going. The last thing I wanted to see was anybody getting hurt and missing real games because of something that happens in a meaningless one.
Technically, every player who started the game for the Kraken also finished it, though Jordan Eberle and Brandon Tanev each picked up bruises from pucks finding unprotected areas around their ankles and legs. But McCann, who was slated to participate, disappeared from warmups before line rushes and did not play.
All Dan Bylsma said after the game was, “Just a lower-body injury, as reported before the game, and it’s day-to-day at this point.”
That doesn’t sound too bad, and we don’t get the sense that the injury is particularly serious, but this is the first time we’ve heard Bylsma say anything other than “maintenance” in reference to a player missing time. So, it’s at least worth monitoring when the Kraken return to practice on Saturday.
Takeaway #2: Shane Wright is ready for the NHL
I also wrote about Wright’s performance in Three Takeaways after Seattle’s 4-3 overtime loss to Calgary on Monday. I thought he was one of Seattle’s better players that night, but he one-upped himself on Wednesday against Edmonton.
For his efforts against the Oilers, Wright was rewarded with two pretty-looking goals. The first came after Montour broke up a play at the defensive-zone blue line and sent Oliver Bjorkstrand on a footrace. Bjorkstrand won the race, and Wright created some spin-o-rama magic.
“Borky made a great play, just made kind of a chip to the area, and then I was able to find a little spot in the middle,” Wright said. “I just kind of tried to spin around and get it on net, and was able to go five-hole.”
Wright wasn’t done there, following up Montour’s rocket of a shot that made it 3-2 at 18:34 of the second period with a snipe of his own from the top of the right circle.
“It was great patience from Rig [Jamie Oleksiak] in the neutral zone, and a good spot from Tolvy to find me in the middle,” Wright said. “Tolvy did a great job taking the D, and I had a lot of space to walk in and was able to finish it off.”
After seeing how Wright has performed in these last couple of games, especially now that the competition has ramped up to NHL-caliber, Kraken fans should be excited about what the youngster might bring this season.
“I like his game,” Montour said of Wright. “He’s a solid boy. Obviously, he’s growing still, but he skates like the wind and gets to the hard areas. You saw that today. He had a nice one in front and a nice shot as well. So he has it all, and for a young guy coming in with confidence after a good camp, that’s going to be good for us moving forward.”
And it’s not just the goals. I’ve watched Wright closely and have seen him making little dangles and passes through defenders’ legs and under their sticks—moves a player only pulls off if he’s feeling confident. Wright is exuding confidence right now.
Bylsma has been careful to remind us that Wright is still just 20 years old, but he too is encouraged by what he’s seeing. “I just think it speaks to the maturity of his game,” Bylsma said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt or question about his skill, skating ability, or shot. But he’s gaining the confidence to show and use it more often.”
Takeaway #3: An important night for Philipp Grubauer
Speaking from experience, it’s really important for a goaltender to get a game under the belt where your performance feels solid. You’re tracking pucks well, making some saves you perhaps shouldn’t, and helping your team to a victory.
While both goalies have shown flashes of strong play at times during the preseason, neither Joey Daccord nor Philipp Grubauer had been stellar coming into Wednesday’s contest. But Grubauer showed he’s ready for the regular season, stopping 28 of 30 Oilers shots, including plenty of dangerous looks from Edmonton’s lethal power play, which had five opportunities on the night.
Grubauer said he was happy to see plenty of action in this one as he continues building toward the regular season. “The more chances they have, the better it is for us goalies to get into the game,” Grubauer said. “They have a couple of boys back there who can make plays and find some seams, and I think today was a really realistic game.”
Bylsma called it “very important” for Grubauer to have this game to close out the preseason. “I thought he was outstanding throughout the game,” Bylsma said. “The PK there at 5-on-3, and then a couple of big stops in the third. He was real solid back there for us, and it was great to see.”
Bonus Takeaway: Montour continues to impress
I promise I won’t write about Montour after every game… Unless he’s impressive in every game, which he was again on Wednesday. His goal was a thing of beauty, flying into the offensive zone and leaning into a slap shot that overpowered Olivier Rodrigue. Montour does everything well—from skating to decision-making to shooting—and he is so fun to watch.
Montour closed out the game with a goal and an assist and led all players with 23:31 of ice time.
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The Kraken have the next two days off and will go on a bonding trip during that time. They will return to practice Saturday morning.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Let’s talk about Kraken centers. It is clear that Stephenson was brought in to take the heat away from the two young guys. Same could said for Gourde.
Wright has really stepped it up and who could not be happy for him. If he keeps this up, will he be 3C all year?
Beniers certainly gets the minutes, he just needs to starting scoring again. 1 shot in 21 shifts. Wright had 5 shots in 17 shifts. This season may rise and fall on whether we get Matty season 1 or Matty season 2.
I completely agree on Stephenson. A couple weeks ago the guys on the pod were all in agreement that the measure of the Stephenson signing would be on whether or not the Kraken make the playoffs. I think just as importantly – and maybe even more so – is what happens with Wright and Beniers.
With both those guys still developing, they need someone who, like you said, can take the heat away from them. I don’t think Wennberg, for all his strengths, was that guy. It’s also clear McCann can play center, but that actually downgrades his value. Plugging in another PEB wasn’t going to help in the least, and starting the season with three guys down the middle all under 22 with a combined two seasons of NHL experience… that really sounds like a bad idea.
Also… this preseason.
Shane Wright – 4 games, 70 minutes, 3 goals on 13 shots.
Logan Cooley and Juraj Slafkovsky combined – 4 games, 77 minutes, 0 goals (0 points) on 5 shots.
I guess they’re working on their defense.
Go Kraken!!!
Nice to see Gru play a good game let’s hope he shows some consistency in that direction.
I think it’s important to understand that it’s much easier for a talented third line player to produce the your first line who is getting the top defensive matchups for the most part. Very happy to see Wright looking like he’s ready but I’d guess he wouldn’t preform as well with harder matchups at this point in his career.
Yes, I agree Nino… and that’s exactly the point I was making. Because of Stephenson he doesn’t have to be going against “top six” matchups. And while it’s only preseason, for a twenty year old with only a handful of NHL games, his play with the puck, his shot, going to the net… as Darren said, “Kraken fans should be excited about what the youngster might bring this season.”
I think everyone understands he’s not ready to be a top line center. He’s also not going to score 60 goals – his preseason pace. He is, however, making the most of the good situation Seattle has put him in. He can develop against those lesser matchups AND outscore them at the same time.
Yeah sorry I was replying more to Chuck, agreed though.
I don’t think the Wright-Beniers comparison is fair. “Preventing a goal is the same as scoring one,” as Jon Cooper is known to say. Sure, us simple folks only look at points, but hockey is more complicated. Matty (and I think Shane, by the way) is a very strong two-way player, and he’s doing a lot out there even if he’s not putting the puck in the net. He’s disrupting plays, battling along the boards, drawing opposing players to his area of the ice, etc. The scoring will come, too.
With Stephenson, it sure is nice to be able to feel good about the team’s chances of winning a key defensive zone face-off after Grubauer freezes the puck. How many goals did they give up last year off of those? At one point there was a graphic on the TV broadcast that showed him winning seventy-something percent of his face-offs against his opponent. That is obviously not sustainable, but can anyone recall ever seeing a Kraken center putting up outlier numbers like that?
As for Wright, boy, I am trying really hard to not get unrealistically excited over the preseason performance of a rookie. He looks like a highlight reel on offense. He had a couple pass attempts get broken up in the offensive zone that led to rushes the other way, but hopefully that does not in any way discourage his creativity. And he is aggressive on the puck in the defensive zone. I remember folks saying that when he was in juniors he spent too much time developing his defensive game instead of his scoring, but I can certainly see the plan coming together.
Yeah, my optimistic self can see Wright holding down 3C for the whole year, but what will constitute a third line this year? How ice time gets distributed may just come down to who is hot at the time–Shane, Matty, Chandler, or Yanni. Coach Bylsma ran forward lines that way in Coachella Valley. That should work especially well for a team that has no clear first line like the Oilers have.
I know John has capitulated to Alison on the faceoff debate… but I’m not convinced. I liked Wennberg, but I have to think 54% versus 46% makes some difference.
Defense looked really good last night. Great to finally see all the expected pairings playing with each other in the same game and the chemistry was there.
I think the word I’d have to use for the offense would be gritty. That was a really fast-paced game and things were far from perfect but they definitely kept with it despite a bit of a patchwork lineup.
I thought Montour gave a very captain-like speech after getting the game puck. Just saying…