The Seattle Kraken went right back to work Wednesday at Kraken Community Iceplex, roughly 14 hours after their 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. But things looked quite different for Seattle at the skate, where coach Dan Bylsma had shuffled his forward lines and defense pairings. With this lineup jumble, Bylsma was seeking a bigger offensive punch for when the Kraken return to game action Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets, the NHL’s last remaining undefeated team.
“I think it’s still a search,” Bylsma said. “We don’t want to take away from how we played in the first period [Tuesday], but I think there are still things we can do better from both a team and individual standpoint.”
Here’s how the Kraken lines looked Wednesday:
Jared McCann // Matty Beniers // Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz // Chandler Stephenson // Brandon Tanev
Eeli Tolvanen // Yanni Gourde // Oliver Bjorkstrand
Andre Burakovsky // Shane Wright // Tye Kartye
Meanwhile, the defense pairs were also tweaked, with Ryker Evans moving back up to play with Adam Larsson and Josh Mahura back down to skate with Will Borgen.
What I found interesting about the new Kraken forward lines is that they don’t clearly signal second, third, and fourth lines. McCann, Beniers, and Eberle are somewhat obviously the team’s top line, but you could argue that any of the other lines could be Seattle’s second or third.
Do Burakovsky and Wright belong on the fourth line? No, but that’s the makeup of this Kraken roster. Somebody has to play there, and Gourde, Tanev, and Kartye proved during the first seven games that even the fourth line can impact games and still play relatively big minutes.
“I don’t really decipher one through four,” Bylsma said. (Interestingly, this was something we heard Dave Hakstol say last year as well.) “If you’ve paid attention to that, you might question why I’m starting Gourde and Tanev and Karts for the start of the game. But they’ve been the line that—in the beginning of the game—was getting us good shifts, good offensive-zone shifts, playing with a lot of speed and pace. So I don’t really look at them as a fourth line.”
Although Gourde was technically still the fourth-line center on Tuesday, he played more than 17 minutes, while Tanev and Kartye had more typical fourth-line ice time at 12:51 and 9:59, respectively.
By the way, Bylsma has mentioned before that his line construction is based more on pairs of players rather than trios. He looks for two players that have good chemistry together, then rotates the third player. Based on the previous lineup and what Seattle appears to be deploying now, it’s safe to say that the “pairs” are McCann and Eberle, Schwartz and Stephenson, and Tolvanen and Bjorkstrand. None of the new “fourth” line of Burakovsky, Wright, and Kartye played together in the previous iteration of Kraken lines.
Line shuffling is nothing new
Line shuffling is a normal part of hockey. If a head coach doesn’t like an aspect of the team’s game, a new lineup at the next practice is never a surprise. Players are used to it as well.
“It’s typical throughout the season that you’re not going to stay with the same line every game,” Jaden Schwartz said. “We’ve had a couple tweaks so far already, and maybe we get a little bit more offense or different looks. Every situation is different, whether it’s matchups or trying to get a couple guys more looks on net or shake things up.”
The goal of this particular lineup change seems to be creating more offense and improving play across all Kraken lines. A set of tweaks like this can sometimes create an offensive spark, but as Schwartz notes, it doesn’t always go according to plan.
“It doesn’t always work out that way,” Schwartz said. “I mean, that’s your goal, right? But we have guys who can play in different spots—left wing, right wing, different situations. And some guys have played with each other more through the last few years, so they might have more chemistry.”
Getting the band(s) back together
Two of these Kraken lines look especially familiar, with Beniers rejoining McCann and Eberle, and Gourde reuniting with Tolvanen and Bjorkstrand. The Gourde line has seen periods of tremendous success together over the past couple of seasons.
“I think, two seasons ago, they were one of the best third lines in the game, if you want to label them one, two, three, four,” Bylsma said with a smirk, acknowledging he had labeled them as the third line moments after saying he didn’t think of lines that way. “I thought about playing the song for them today.”
To be clear, Bylsma was referencing the 1978 hit “Reunited” by Peaches and Herb.
Kraken players had a spooky gathering
Over the past couple of days, we’ve had some good laughs with the players discussing the team’s Halloween party, which Schwartz hosted at his house on Sunday night. Although there haven’t been too many publicly shared photos of the players’ costumes, we’ve heard that several had solid outfits, from Schwartz as Harry Potter and Tanev as Professor Snape to Josh Mahura as Alfalfa and the “young bucks” going as the Flint Tropics from Semi-Pro.
Jared McCann and his wife Val went as Jack Skellington and Sally at the #SeaKraken Halloween party. Jared said she did his makeup. Pretty good! 🎃 pic.twitter.com/Uv45BjcLOl
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 21, 2024
“It was good to get everyone together,” Schwartz said. “We did it a little early because it was our only time to really do it, but it was fun to see everyone dressed up and having fun together. You don’t get too many chances throughout the year to have a big team gathering, so it’s always fun when we can get one.”
Of course, the highlight of the week was when Burakovsky addressed the media on Monday with some lingering face and neck tattoos. “I tried to get it off, but it’s pretty sticky there,” Burakovsky said.
Burakovsky said he tried to get the temporary tattoos off, but “They were a little sticky.” 😂
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 21, 2024
His favorite costume was Brandon Tanev, who went as Professor Snape. “They have the same haircut.” #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/9SVh1cylI9
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.
I believe Wright and Kartye had some games together during preseason right? If I recall I thought they played well together but I could be mistaken.
It’s interesting that Wright is moving to the “4th” line, he’s played well. I feel very sorry them having to play with Burakovsky…. That could be tough for them in both zones, he’s not very good defensively and doesn’t seem to play very well offensively with anyone. I kinda feel this lineup shake up has a lot to do with Burky. Dan seems to be hunting hard for a home that works, hasn’t he played with just about everyone already this season and every line he touches has problems? What’s his cap hit, I wonder if they can’t get him clicking with someone he becomes the trade target to get us under the cap. Yes I know we’re under with Dunn on LTIR but I’m assuming he returns as soon as possible and we’re in trouble again. Fingers crossed 🤞
I have a question Darren l, I know you had earlier been targeting Tanev as the best trade option, do you still feel that way after we’re seeing him with another coach? If not who would you pick as the best option to get the cap space in line? I previously had Yanni as the best option but have changed my mind so far after the early games. The whole 4th line seems like players you want on your team… not referring to the “new lines” in practice.
I’m curious how this works out for Matty I could see it working out well and he has a good game tomorrow.
Stephenson and Tanev will be an interesting combination, not sure how that will work out but I’m sure Tanev will be finding pucks and getting it to Stephenson or Schwartz a lot.
Overall it looks like Dan is trying to encourage lines 2 through 4 to get a little more of an aggressive forecheck and try to get Matty going with a little more skill on his line. Curious how it works.
Speaking of lines… I was reminded of the trade deadline today when I read that Justin Schultz signed a contract… in Switzerland. I seem to recall some folks knocking Francis for not moving him. I think this is a pretty good indication of what the actual market probably was.
I would also add that so far – and it’s only six games – resigning Eberle was probably the right move.
Lastly… for a retained cost of ~$425k, Wennberg was turned into second round selection Nathan Villeneuve and a fourth next draft. Not bad considering he wasn’t going to resign here anyway… and thank goodness. After casting about, the 29 year old center signed with San Jose for the same two years 34 year old winger Eberle inked… and while the AAV is $250k more than the captain is getting… after taxes it’s less. After seven games he’s without a point and minus seven. Yes, I know it’s the Sharks… but still.
All and all… I’d say the GM deserves a little credit.
I should have mentioned… I believe Curtis would have preferred the Wennberg contract over the Stephenson contract… but he didn’t want to sign here. I guess the players actually have to want to be here.
Go Kraken!!!
I would have greatly preferred Wennberg’s contract too, buuuut… I am feeling pretty good about Stephenson’s performance on the ice. He is a noticeable and significant upgrade. It is sad to see Schultz have to move across the Atlantic. His defensive game was better than folks give him credit for, but, yeah, there isn’t much tread left on those tires.
People talking of buying out Gru. I would buy out Burakovsky. He turns the puck over a lot. I have no use for him and sorry Wright is stuck with him.
😂 why does everything we touch from Colorado turn to coal?
I would like to believe he would be tradable or at least someone would pick him up on the wire but I could be wrong?
It’s so funny he was mentioned as a MVP candidate by one of the earlier articles this season 😂
Because Colorado has a better player evaluation system.
It seems to me… and this is just talk… but it seems to me Burakovski is hanging on to the puck a little to long. He’s very skilled and an excellent puckhandler, but I get the impression he’s trying to do too much… but like most things – right now I’m not to worried about anything in particular. It’s seven games and they’re over .500 (for real). I’m gonna give everyone some time… and that includes the PK.
I can’t agree with you more about Burky. He holds on to the puck too long, and then the play is gone or it’s taken away from him. He just doesn’t seem to have that game sense to know where his teammates will be and getting the puck to them. I imagine him a puck hog as a youngster when he could just hold on to it, get around everyone and score. That doesn’t work when you’re playing in the NHL.
On the one hand, hooray, the Gourde/Tolvanen/Bjorkstrand line is back together! On the other hand, no, the Gourde/Tanev/Kartye line is broken up! I wonder if Coach wanted to get Kartye and Wright playing together on the same line, since they were teammates in Coachella Valley. He has to be feeling pretty tempted to call up Winterton and put him back at Wright’s side. But, no, as much as he could help the big club now, Winterton needs to be getting ice time with a top line for the sake of his development, because the kid has top-six upside.
Folks have been writing here that Wright has looked good so far, but I have seen several rookie mistakes in the last few games. He will sometimes get caught out of position or not recognize when he should get off the ice or toss the puck back to nobody. I am rather surprised to see Coach take Eberle away from him for that reason. But, hey, playing with Eberle and McCann worked well for Beniers in his first year, so maybe they can help Matty get that spark back.
Putting Schwartz and Tanev on the same line is an odd match. When you have so few dudes who are fearless and relentless as Schwartz and Tanev are, it would seem like a good idea to keep them on different lines so that they can spread that net-crashing abandon around. Maybe Coach is thinking that, with Stephenson being a good distributor, he will be able to regularly find either Will Borgen or Brandon Montour on the blue line for some heavy slappers into the screens created by Schwartz and Tanev. That could work.
I’m on an extend Brandon Tanev kick. Don’t trade him. He skates like the wind, is a crisp and accurate passer and hustles for breakaways. He’s a terrific checker and a clear fan favorite. No one seems to exceed his effort and energy. I don’t know how much more you could ask of a player.
I hope Turbo and ownership can come to terms on a two or three-year extension.
Did you watch last season, like, at all? He’s had a good start to this season but he still has 2 points in 7 games. He has lost a step or two, is the complete opposite of a crisp passer, can’t stick handle at all, and though he can get a few breakaways, he hasn’t actually scored on one since 2022.
my fears of the Kraken slipping back into a non scoring team are starting to materialize as it had last year. Every time we play a good two way team, we can’t score. It does not matter if we change coaches, add 2 new players, or mix line mates, the rest of the team cannot score on a regular basis. We have too many non scorers. Now that injuries are being a factor, this issue will increase.. Especially with with Grub Hub in net. I mean Mr. I can’t stop a over the right shoulder shot, Grub.
Man this is a grumpy bunch of comments.
Few points
Kraken currently have a winning record, 4-3, for strongest start to a season.
This team is scoring at 3.42 goals a game. Have they been stymied by 2 of the best teams in the league, yes. Is scoring non-existent, no.
Sure the team isn’t firing on all cylinders yet, and some players are struggling to find a role and a fit, but some periods we look dynamic and deadly. Just needs a bit more time to make that consistent.
And I’d agree that the eye test suggests Burky is struggling, but he’s tied 3rd on the team with 5 points, a 60point pace, so he’s still having an impact even thru this ‘rough’ patch.
Think everyone needs to step back and take a breath. We aren’t contenders with multiple superstars. We’re a bubble team. And we knew that before puck drop on the season. There’s more positives than negatives at the moment, do try to enjoy them, else what’s even the point in following the team!
Yes! Exactly!
Thank you! … this place has been turning into some gawd-awful message board from the Athletic… only without the meanness.
Go Kraken!!!
Eberle/Beniers/McCann
Bjorkstrand/Wright/Tolvanen
Tanev/Gourde/Kartye
Schwartz/Stephenson/Burokovsky