Last Saturday, the Seattle Kraken came back from a two-goal deficit against the Minnesota Wild to win the game, something they never did last season. Fast forward to this past Saturday, when the Kraken won a Saturday night home game for the first time since April 8, 2023. It’s still early, just six games into the season, but this team continues to feel very different from last year.
The return of depth scoring?
One of the keys to the Kraken’s success in the 2022-23 season was their depth scoring, with a lineup that essentially featured three second lines and a third line. That season, the Kraken had 19 games where five unique players scored goals. In contrast, they managed only seven such games during the 2023-24 season. However, this season, two out of their first six games have already featured five or more unique goal scorers.
In 2022-23, the Kraken got significant production from the so-called fourth line of Morgan Geekie, Daniel Sprong, and Ryan Donato. While this season’s fourth line of Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, and Tye Kartye hasn’t matched that production yet, they’ve been effective at driving zone time and generating shot attempts. They’ve also added two timely goals this season: Kartye scored a crucial third-period goal to tie the game against Minnesota, and Tanev netted a go-ahead goal against Nashville, just three minutes after the Predators erased a 2-0 lead.
It’s too soon to say if the Kraken will see the same kind of depth scoring they had in 2022-23, but through Sunday’s games, they are tied with Vegas and New Jersey for the most unique goal scorers.
Areas for improvement check-in
Last week, I highlighted three key areas where the Kraken needed to improve: penalty killing, the power play, and reducing unchallenged shots from the slot. Both the penalty kill and power play have shown moderate improvement. The penalty kill improved from 71.4 percent in the first week to 77.8 percent in the second week. The power play saw a slight uptick, moving from 14.3 percent to 15.4 percent. Though still ranked 25th in the league in power play percentage, I’m encouraged by the increased zone possession and the variety of options we’re seeing.
Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of power play time allocated to players, along with some of the individual stats they’ve generated while on the man advantage.
It’s fascinating to see that Montour doesn’t have a registered shot on goal during the power play this season, despite leading the team with 25 total shots on net through the first six games. I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—keep doing what you’re doing, Monty!
Another area of opportunity I mentioned last week was reducing shots against from the slot. Based on the eye test, it feels like those chances have been more limited since the Minnesota game, where the issue was particularly noticeable. Below is a visual comparison of goals against the Kraken in Week 1 versus Week 2.
There’s probably a better way to measure this, but it’s clear that the number of goals coming from the slot has decreased over the last three games, which confirms what I’ve been seeing. On the flip side, the goals Seattle has conceded are now coming from less dangerous areas, which might point to a different issue. We’ll keep an eye on this moving forward.
Kraken face-offs
Ah, face-offs—one of my favorite topics! In last week’s Monday Musings, I mentioned that the Kraken had only won 31 percent of their face-offs on the power play. When the opposing team gains possession, it allows them to clear the puck and limit the Kraken’s scoring chances while the team regroups and attempts to re-enter the zone. This was likely a major factor hindering the power play during the first three games of the season.
I’m happy to report that the Kraken have won 75 percent of their power-play face-offs over the last three games.
Chandler Stephenson leads the team with a 53.6 percent face-off win rate in all situations, and an impressive 81.3 percent on the power play. This is one of the many underrated contributions Stephenson brings to the team. He played a key role in the Kraken’s overtime winner against the Flames on Saturday. He won the opening face-off, and although the Kraken briefly lost possession, the Flames never really established control. Jordan Eberle eventually scored the game-winner on that very first shift. Bylsma called out in his post-game presser that getting Stephenson out first in overtime is part of his strategy, because gaining possession first is critical.
Other Musings
- Public Service Announcement: The Kraken’s home game Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche is at 5:30 p.m. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve told about this time change, and they had no idea—despite having tickets! The game is on ESPN that night, which explains the earlier start time.
- Saturday’s home win against the Flames was the Kraken’s first victory over Calgary at Climate Pledge Arena in franchise history. Now, there are only two teams the Kraken have yet to beat at home: Toronto and Tampa Bay (and Utah, if you count them, although Seattle did defeat Arizona at home).
- We still need Matty Beniers and Andre Burakovsky to get going. Burakovsky looks like he’s close, but Matty has seemed a bit off at times and isn’t generating the shots I’d expect from him. He missed an open net Saturday, which would have been a pretty goal. It’s early, so I’m not worried yet.
- Saturday night’s win against the Flames was the Kraken’s second win of the season in a game where they never held the lead. Last season, they only managed that feat once. So far, they’ve only led for 25 percent of their total game time this season.
- Vince Dunn missed his second game of the season on Saturday night. I’m really hoping he draws back in this week as some of the stronger teams in the league visit Seattle.
- It feels like ages ago, but the Nashville game was incredible—seven different goal scorers!
- We’ve got an official name change: Kraken prospect goaltender Niklas Kokko is now going by Nikke Kokko in North America. Nikke earned his first North American professional win on Friday night.
Player performances
Clarke Caswell (SC/SEA) – The Seattle Kraken’s fifth-round pick from the 2024 NHL Draft recorded six points over two games this weekend for the Swift Current Broncos.
Cale Fleury (CVF) – One of the original expansion selections for the Seattle Kraken, Fleury scored a hat trick in the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ 6-5 win over the San Diego Gulls on Saturday night.
Jordan Eberle (SEA) – The newly appointed captain is off to the best start of his career, with five goals in the Kraken’s first six games of the season, including the game-winning goal in overtime on Saturday night.
Goal of the week
What I really liked about this goal was that Yanni was at the tail end of his shift and was heading to the bench for a change, but he spotted the opportunity and stayed on the ice to set up the first pass to Jared McCann. Those are the little things I love seeing in this game.
Chart of the Week
It’s early, but the Kraken are off to their best start in franchise history.
The 2022-23 Kraken team really hit their stride from games nine to 23 but obviously this good start is better than the alternative.
What’s Good?
I am a sucker for things like this:
The week ahead
This will likely be the toughest stretch of games so far this season, with Winnipeg, Carolina, and Colorado coming to town. I was hoping for five points last week, and the team ended up with six, so it feels like we’re playing with a bit of house money right now. This week, the minimum goal should be three points, with four being the target. Obviously, we’re all rooting for more, but keeping pace is perfectly fine at this point in the season. I know Colorado is having a rough start, but I wouldn’t count out any team that has Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen.
How about you? How are we all feeling about the team right now?