While there were some highly memorable moments from Opening Day at Climate Pledge Arena, the outcome was more of the same for the Kraken, who still have yet to win a season-opening game in four tries (0-3-1).
The tone from new head coach Dan Bylsma and his players was markedly positive after the game, as the Kraken recognized they easily could have won against the St. Louis Blues.
“There was a lot of good. Maybe a slow start, tentative start, but just in the first period, there was a lot of good,” Bylsma said. “I think that really continued in the second period. The way to losing the game is solvable moments in the game and periods in the game.”
Indeed, there was a two-minute section of the second period when the game turned on its ear, and the Kraken went from up 2-0 to down 3-2. There was some pushback from Seattle, but not enough shot generation in the third period meant the Kraken started another season with a loss.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken loss to the Blues on Opening Day.
Takeaway #1: A few bad minutes
This game was a scenario where the analytics matched what the eyeball test showed: the Kraken should have won. The “Deserve to Win O’Meter” on MoneyPuck.com gave Seattle a 66-percent chance of winning, and per NaturalStatTrick, the Kraken also had 66 percent of the shot quality in all situations.
It remains to be seen what kind of team the Blues will become this season, but if the Kraken play like that every night, they should win more often than they lose.
“There’s a lot of good tonight,” Vince Dunn, who scored Seattle’s first goal, said. “It’s hard for me even saying that after losing 3-2 when you’re up by two, but the first one’s out of the way. We’ve got 81 more opportunities to play well, and there’s no doubt in my mind we will bounce back from this one.”
Things started to go sideways after a scrum resulted in a Blues power play. After a zone entry, Jordan Kyrou got a step on Jamie Oleksiak, burned around the corner, and slipped it through Philipp Grubauer’s wickets.
Philip Broberg—playing his first game for the Blues after signing an offer sheet with St. Louis this summer—got vengeance for a monster Will Borgen hit by shooting from the top of the left circle through a screen, beating Grubauer.
Kyrou struck again at 15:37 of the second after an offensive-zone turnover by Oleksiak led to a Kyrou breakaway.
In all, the three goals came in a span of just 1:55 and cooked the Kraken’s goose for the night.
Takeaway #2: A generally good first performance
I generally liked what I saw from the Kraken on this night, except for that little letdown that led to Seattle’s first “L”. Bylsma told the media on Monday that it’s hard to feel confident after training camp that the team has accomplished what it needs to be ready for the regular season.
Bylsma and his players should feel good about the way they played in this game and hopefully use it as a confidence builder rather than a blocker.
“If we can manage— be able to have more maturity in our game and be able to sustain that pace for 60 minutes, we’re going to be successful this year,” Yanni Gourde said. “And I think playing fast, playing together, playing in our spots, playing predictable… When we did that during this game, I thought we did a great job at controlling the pace.”
Takeaway #3: Memorable milestones
Sure, the result was disappointing, but there were some big milestones reached in this game. First, Jess Campbell became the first woman to ever coach a regular-season NHL game. The cheer she received from the home crowd was one of those that raised the hairs on my arms—a truly special moment.
Right after Campbell was announced, Bylsma was introduced for his first game behind the Kraken bench and also got a big cheer, though perhaps not quite as loud as Campbell’s.
“I was waiting to see if the reaction to me would be as loud,” Bylsma joked when asked what he was thinking when Campbell received the huge ovation. “It wasn’t.”
Finally, there was the announcement of Eberle as captain. The 34-year-old forward earned this opportunity, and seeing him announced to the home fans as part of the pre-game festivities was a classy touch by the organization.
“I’m obviously pretty honored,” Eberle said. “To be a captain in this League is special. I like to think that with our group, we’ve got a lot of guys who’ve got Cups, guys with playoff experience, and being part of this group has been special. My family and I love this city, love the culture here, and that was part of why we wanted to be here.”
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.
The author has delivered a fine piece of writing that delivers an accurate assessment of the game
Binnington was outstanding.
The Blues were lifeless and decided to throw the Kraken some bait and the Kraken took it! Roughing and getting under their skin, disruptive! Just shows you that they can change the momentum really quickly.
I too thought Stephenson was not great today, and when is Burakovsky going to produce something? I thought Matty looked the same (like an octopus on skates) and was slow. He also seemed to be having a tough time keeping a pass.
There were some good things happening too. I supposed I need to adjust my expectations.
Grubauer gave up a backbreaking stinker to tie the game. Very predictable. Free Joey!
The Stephenson line was by far the worst. Especially in the d zone. Stephenson looked lazy and confused on defense. Only 7 more years minus 1 game! Burakovsky looked slow. Will we ever see the Burky ftom the 1st half od 2022-23? Schwartz was trying hard but got little help. That line was at 46% xgf for the game. The others were at least 69%.
Love Montour on the other hand.
Beniers had some bursts of speed that I feel like we haven’t seen from him before. He deserved a goal or two. Really good game from Wright too. Kartye and Bjorkstrand were awesome.
I liked Shane, and Matty looked great today. Bjorkstrand, Schwartz, and the whole 4th line looked pretty scrappy and were effective.
On the other hand, the big rig was horrible today — he was almost solely responsible for goals 1 and 3 against. People talk about how great it is to be big and physical in the NHL, how the Kraken need more “toughness”, but the flipside is that big and physical players are usually slow af, and Oleksiak was the prime example of that today.
So I can’t really blame goals 1 and 3 on Gru, he got beat by a good player and his own terrible D, but goal #2 was all on him. You say that was through a screen, but if you watch the replay, the screen was well past him by the time the shot came through, and the shot was from a pretty sharp angle beyond the circle. The commentator remarked “that’s one Grubauer would want back.” Man, I am so, so sick of hearing that. This has become his MO — he’ll give up a stinker, and won’t be able to consistently bail out his mediocre defense. But it’s ok, we only have 3 more years of having to pretend he’s a #1 goalie! Officially more than halfway there baby!!
Boist…. The physical you want and need in the league is the kartye type of player not the Rig. Players that can skate and hit. Think Mathew T. The play is so fast now your can’t afford slow defenders. I actually thought he played relatively well last season, I think he needs to be sat down and blatantly explained that he doesn’t have the foot speed to play a two way game….. he’s got Monty on his line he doesn’t have to. Be the safe stay at home D and completely forgot about offense other than releasing point shots that have absolutely NO chance of being blocked. Sit back play D and hit people.
Alright this is no longer training camp and it showed.
The kraken were by far the better team but we had Grubauer in net and they had Binnington…. The tale of two cities. Gru fans would argue that there were a number of great saves that he made but he also gave up a few head scratchers and was the second best goalie in the game. Very typical save percentage and I’d say a Grubauer game in a nutshell. Was on his back many times when you wondered why, had a lot of crazy rebounds into the slot, made a few great saves and in the end finished with a sub par save percentage even though he looked good at times often because he’s making out of position saves). Had we had Binnington in net and they had Grubauer this game would have been a kraken blow out and NOBODY not even the biggest of gue homers could argue that.
Yes the Burky line was not good and I think the biggest reason was Burky, I was really hopefully that they might bump number 12 (why is he not 52 anymore) up to the third line in the final period because he was clearly on his game and driving play and Burky was Burky.
I was very confused with our last minute of play. Why was our best face off player in the bumper position and Wright taking our final draw in a one goal game!!! If we lose that draw were done why not have him take that face off… he was on the ice!!!!!! I’m so confused.
I thought like the team did… that we had a good game overall, I thought Evans was good (he took a lot of training camp heat…. Training camp BTW) our top line looked great (same said for them…) Oleksiak looked horrible was slow and often out of position, our worst D in the game. Our “4th line” was very good much better then a few lines above them. I thought the best player on that line was Kartye (definitely looking like he will be an important piece for us) Monty looked great but Dunn was right there with him and that was nice to see. Wright looked like he was playing in the regular season (no longer preseason BTW) he still has some developing to do and is in the perfect position playing third line C. I would not be utilizing him in important situations like he was tonight until he has shown for a good minute that that’s the player we want in those situations.
One thing that I really liked is that there was a very strong effort to get shots in danger situations and not play the shoot the puck from anywhere (yes talking about you H) game. All in all it will pay off to make that pass for a better shot and that’s why we had better odds to win this one. They had the better goalie tonight but play that game 20 times and we win most (depending on who’s in net of course). I’d give the coaching staff a 50/50 grade overall though, we started great they made adjustments and we were a little slow at matching. A few WT moments… eg wright taking our last face off in the O zone. But that being said it was truly a goaltending loss end of story.
Looking forward to seeing what adjustments we make next game, if needed. I’m sure we see Daccord if nothing else.
Oleksiak is not only big and slow but he is also one the least physical big men in the league.!! he needs to go1
The third goal was classic Oleksiak. A beautiful pass…directly onto an opposing player’s stick blade. We could blame Oleksiak for the first goal, too, but we need to give some due credit to a very good Jordan Kyrou and an awesome breakout feed. Rig was just a pylon on that play. Not even good pylon, at that!
I agree Burky needs to start making a difference. His tenure has been extremely disappointing.
Not sure why some are down on Stephenson. I thought he looked fine for his first game with a new team plus having to play with Burky. If anything, I expect to see more from Canner. We need him shooting the puck.
Agree with you on Stephenson. I thought he flowed well within the offense and made some really nice passes to create opportunities; if one or two of those are converted we’re probably having a different conversation about him. Most important, when the Kraken needed a win in the faceoff dot, he stepped up and won possession more often than not. In short, to me he looked like he belonged.
Next time a team scores two goals that quick against the team I hope a TO. Is called.
I hated the Stephenson contract for how much it will hinder the team 3+ years down the line. Now I am concerned about sooner. He looked like just another guy out there and is getting paid to be great.
Interesting people still feel this way about Stephenson. He’s exactly the type of player Seattle needs. He actually looks very good…not like “just another guy out there.” He’s winning faceoffs, playing multiple roles and gives us 4 lines (and specialty teams) that will make the Kraken difficult to matchup against. His contract isn’t even that ridiculous. Not sure if people are just new to hockey or being unfair out of some other strange motivation. I will ask these people…again…”where are these unlimited numbers of elite players you think are waiting by the phone for Seattle to sign them?”
Lots of criticism of Stephenson, but one thing that cannot be argued is that he was the only Kraken center who was actually effective in the face-off circle.
I liked the aggressiveness in the first period getting forwards in front of the net. The second half of the game, Seattle seemed to revert back to their 2023-24 “pass it around the perimeter” play. I don’t know if this was St. Louis becoming more assertive, or Seattle backing off, but it was certainly frustrating to watch.
Finally (and I’m totally biased here because he’s my favorite player), RELEASE THE KARTYE! He plays the perimeter pest well, but he’s also tenacious in the net-front scrum. Either pair him up with Beniers or McCann to draw some pressure off of them, or let him and Wright go crazy up close and wear down the goalie. He also did well on the PK at the end of last season…it’s hard to rely on Gourde there if he’s the one actually sitting in the box.
My criticism wasn’t fair since it was only one game. I just hated the signing SO SO much I couldn’t help myself. He will be OK but not move the needle. The only real impact I see him having is the team wishing they had that cap space when it could actually compete for the trophy.
That move made me not like Francis.
I just notice Darren wrote the Broberg goal was through a screen. It absolutely was not. As the announcer said, he beat him clean, from past the faceoff dot.
The Good: first half of the game the breakouts were fast and the passes were crisp and on the tape. It was great to see how quickly they got out of their own zone. Face offs were better for a while but I think Wright is going to continue to improve. Evans might have been the most consistent defenseman.
The Bad: Oleksiak, woof. Looked like he had concrete in his skates. The inability to get consistent offensive pressure when they needed it in the third period. They looked like a completely different team in the second half of the game. Don’t give up 2 breakaways to the opposing team’s best player in less than 2 minutes! I barely even noticed McCann yesterday. I love how everyone immediately jumps on Grubauer for being the reason they lost. Even if he stops one of those, nothing about what the Kraken showed on offense after the second gave me any hope they could score another. Anxiously awaiting the day that people complain Grubi couldn’t notch a shutout so we can win games 1-0.
It’s a new coaching staff, new system with new players and line combinations, and it’s only one game.
Nothing that I read was completely jumping on Gru, you might want to go back a read things again?
The quality of goaltending was not equal on both sides of the ice, the kraken would have and should have won that game if it was….. yes other issues as well no argument on that.
Should have clarified the comments, not the article itself. Defense in general was a tale of two periods and a half. We looked so good early and so mediocre later.
Yes agree and I was referring to the comments as well. Like it not Grubauer is going to take more heat for sub par performances because of his track history. He has yet to prove that he’s a quality starter in going on 4 years. He’s got a lot to prove in a short amount of time and he’s put himself in this position. Is Daccord going to have games like this… absolutely, will he have even worse games… again absolutely. Daccord is in the opposite position he’s got to prove to us that he’s not able to play consistently well as his only track history is playing a good season. Tough pill to swallow sorry.
Set Jamie as healthy scratch and let Mahura have a go.
Aah, as I noted somewhere previously, another season of PG’s backbreaking softies. How this guy has any defenders on this forum is beyond me.
BTW, I saw that Chris Dreidger was just on waivers. Think it was another G mistake of Francis to let him go. I would take every NHL mistake CD makes at $0.8 million AAV versus the same for PG at $5.9 million AAV.
I thought on the second Kraken goal, was that not a draw by Shane Wright back to the point that started it all? Maybe that is why he was out there at the end taking draws.
Based on the predictions from analysts and the first game result, the 7 things I am now looking forward to this season are: Francis being fired, Tanev, Gourde, and Borgen being traded in the last year of their contracts, and NHL games for first year draft picks Winterton, Melanson, and Ottavainen.
I’d much prefer that thy sign Borgen and trade the Rig.
Also I’m seeing on PuckPetia that Daccord has a 5 year 5m contract!!!! Is that wrong or did we just resign him?
I see the same thing!
Wow!
Copied from the hockey news….
Handing out a five year extension shows the organization has faith in Daccord and that they are strong believers that last season was not a fluke and that he can be a starting goaltender in the NHL. Daccord was going to be a UFA at the end of the season after he signed a two-year $1.2M with the Kraken.
Starting next season the Kraken will be paying Daccord $5M and Grubauer $5.9M. Grubauer’s contract isn’t set to expire until 2027.
Ok this is huge and I would say suggests that the Kraken might be done with the Grubauer experiment. No was we pay 11M in goaltending next season.
Yeah, but what do they do with him? He now has a modified NMC, can he be sent to CV to save cap space? Or he probably has right of refusal with how long he’s been in the league? No idea how that works.
Rather than trade him with some draft pick and prospect sweeteners, my guess is they buy him out after this season. It’ll be more reasonable at that point, plus maybe a cheap Kokko/any random available goalie will be ready to be backup.
He has a 10 team no-trade.
Yes, he can be sent to Coachella. Only a no-move would prevent that.
What I don’t get is if they were willing to bet on Daccord based on one great season, why didn’t they buy out Grubauer already this past summer? They would not be in this cap crunch right now. Darren made the case that this was a trial season where they figure out whether Joey repeats his success and is the man going forward, and/or if Grubauer finally turns it around, and then figure out which way to go after this year. That made some sense, but apparently that’s not the strategy. So how in the heck is Grubauer still on the team and starting opening night no less?
Grubauer can only be bought out during a narrow window that is between the end of the playoffs and before free agency. In addition to a buyout being overly onerous ahead of this season, I also think there is plenty of justification to keep him around this season rather than cutting him loose and crossing your fingers.
I do think – and I’ve been saying this for a while – a buyout becomes a reasonable option for the last two seasons of his contract. I would assume the Daccord signing is going to make that a topic of conversation all season.
Yes I’m totally with you. Love that they signed him but kind of makes no sense. What if Daccord has a bad year and we’re stuck with two goalies that we can’t move. I don’t think that is going to happen but the possibility exists. I feel there’s a lot of gambling going on. The only thing that makes sense is that they have a possible trade this season to move out Gru to get under cap but wanted to be sure Daccord was under contract before moving him? Only trade I could see working would be to send him off with a decent prospect to sweeten the deal? It’s the only thing that makes sense and would make a lot of cap space even enough for a deadline upgrade if things are looking good?
Right, but I’m not sure if there are other stipulations for players with a certain amount of experience (as in MLB), or if his contract also restricts being demoted in addition to 10 team no-trade.
The contract stipulation would be the “no movement clause” and there are no age limitations I’m aware of.
I believe a player on IR cannot be sent to the AHL. Considering his history it’s just a matter of time… but I cannot see the Kraken going that route anyway. Edmonton went that way with Jack Campbell on a very similar contract. Regardless of your views, Grubauer and Seattle are not Campbell and Edmonton.
First Kraken game I’ve watched in a bit, the thing that stuck out to me was how different the offensive philosophy was. Instead of dumping the puck up the ice and forechecking, there was a concerted effort to possess the puck all the way up the ice. The Kraken also made multiple passes each time in the offensive zone to get a good shot instead of just throwing it on net the first chance they got. This style of play was not only more aesthetically pleasing but tilted the ice in their favor as well, and it’s nice to see all the things the coaching staff and front office were talking about this offseason put into practice. Things kind of fell apart once St. Louis started getting more chippy and aggressive with the forecheck later in the game, so seeing how the Kraken deal with that in the future something to keep an eye on. All in all, I liked the new play style and think it’ll pay dividends sooner rather than later.