For as bad as this road trip felt, the Kraken were just one lucky goal away against one of the best goalies and teams in the NHL from coming home with a 3-2-0 record. Instead, as they were holding on for dear life to push the game to overtime, Seattle got a bad bounce off a stanchion, and the game turned south with just 27 seconds left.
So, the Kraken limped home with four standings points. When you consider how badly two of the games on the trip went, four points isn’t terrible. But also considering their current spot in the standings, they pretty much need to win every game to even get back into the conversation, and two out of five isn’t going to cut it.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 2-1 Kraken loss to the Jets.
Takeaway #1: Best performance of the road trip?
On a trip where Seattle secured two wins (including a lopsided 6-2 win in Buffalo), it’s odd to point to a 2-1 loss as the team’s best game, but there’s a case to be made that this was their strongest top-to-bottom outing. The start was infinitely better than anything we’ve seen from this group lately, and they got rewarded with a 1-0 lead on a beautiful play by the Jaden Schwartz / Matty Beniers / Kaapo Kakko line.
MATTY MAGIC! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 17, 2025
Schwartz goes over the top to Kakko, who sets up Beniers. Beautiful goal.
1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/SiRzlw7KI2
Coming through the neutral zone, Schwartz used his lob wedge to drop a perfectly weighted high flip onto the tape of Kakko in stride. Kakko, showing his impressive hands and vision, backhanded a saucer pass over the outstretched stick of Josh Morrissey. Beniers finished the sequence by chipping it over Hellebuyck.
It was a great first period, but things started to turn in the second when Jamie Oleksiak and Mitchell Stephens each got called for questionable penalties. The interference call on Oleksiak was hot garbage, and while the high-sticking call on Stephens was legit, it coincided with an obvious missed hooking call on Winnipeg.
Mark Scheifele converted on the first power play to tie it 1-1, and Winnipeg racked up a massive 19-5 shot advantage in the second, putting the Kraken firmly on their heels.
Takeaway #2: Tough break on the winner
Once the Jets gained momentum in the second period, they didn’t relinquish it. However, the way Seattle battled in this one was refreshing. They played well in their own end for the most part, and when things broke down—which they did on several occasions—Joey Daccord was excellent again, stopping 34 shots in total.
As the Kraken were desperately trying to hold on and get to an extra frame, they caught a terrible bounce at the worst possible time. Adam Larsson attempted to clear the puck with a chip off the glass deep in Seattle’s zone, but the puck hit a stanchion, took a left turn, and landed on the stick of Nikolaj Ehlers.
Ehlers quickly found Dylan DeMelo in the slot, and his shot through traffic deflected off Vince Dunn’s pants and perfectly into the top corner.
#SeaKraken lose in brrrrrutal fashion.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 17, 2025
Dylan Demelo scored through traffic with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Kraken were playing with fire for a while, but it looked like they were going to make it to OT. pic.twitter.com/diF4UDdPuZ
There’s not much you can do when bad bounces like that happen. But if the opposition has you on your heels for long enough—and they’re one of the best teams in the league while you’re one of the worst—they will eventually break through. It’s just extra painful when that happens with 27 seconds left in the game.
Takeaway #3: When do we start rooting for losses?
Seattle still sits eight points out of the last playoff spot with five teams to leap over in 36 games. In today’s NHL, that is extremely unlikely, if not impossible. At some point, the hope for this team will shift to remaining competitive in games but losing to improve their draft position.
Have we reached that point? It feels like we might have.
If so, this was an ideal game for the Kraken, who played well despite minimal offensive production. It was a fun one to watch, and in the end, they didn’t hurt their chances of landing a high draft pick.
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.
Great to see the gritty play right up to the end, however strange for Larsson to attempt icing in that situation, knowing the puck would just be coming back and there’s 30 seconds left (?)
Joey was fantastic. We need to get him a Vezina.
This was the best start I’ve seen since the late fall. The “living on the edge” playing style in period 2 was stressful and if not for Daccord, they would have been battling from behind in period 3. It was a valiant effort and I am excited to see if they can build on it for the homestand. IMO Kakko and Montour were outstanding.
“When do we start rooting for losses? Have we reached that point? It feels like we might have.”
Both Buffalo and Nashville are playing better, so the Kraken should try to make it into the top three draft position with SJ and Chicago. Why not? Start trading vets, get more picks, and draft away.
As Schaefer likely goes no. 1, that gives us a choice of all but one of Hagens, Misa, Eklund Martone, Frondell, and McQueen. Hopefully a franchise pick is in there.
I’m rooting for competitive performances that help our draft position 😉😎
Missing out on that OT point after a strong effort felt like a win-win.
For all those many doubters who rained on my Yanni Gourde auction fetches a 1R pick, I introduce you to Frank Seravalli: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/dont-be-surprised-yanni-gourde-fetches-seattle-kraken-first-round-pick-trade-deadline
No response from skeptics Turbo and Daryl W??? I guess I will post again until they respond.
I read that article Chuck. I also listened to his podcast where he made the same case. That started off by him pointing out that following the article he was immediately getting folks asking “what are you smoking”?
To me, the Adam Henrique comp is rather suspect. It’s not completely the player performance – though that’s not insignificant. It’s the fact that the first Edmonton gave up was for TWO players. Henrique AND Sam Carrick… both centers.
Carrick is not a hallmark player, but he’s not some throw away late round pick either. His numbers alone approach what Gourde gives you nevermind Henrique… but it’s the intangibles… right? The grit, he’s clutch, he’s got the rings. Yanni Gourde is exactly the kind of player teams want in the playoffs… I get it.
As I said before, maybe Seattle does get a first for Yanni – a very late first. Maybe the market stays thin and – as Seravalli pointed out – this year’s draft doesn’t seem to be considered particularly deep… but I still think it’s a stretch. Do I think there’s some “auction” that’s going to turn Gourde into a lottery pick? No, that take remains one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read on here. I’m am confident, however, no matter what happens, you will be convinced Ron Francis should have gotten more.
Seravalli is an insider and to me seems to be in on the players side. By that I mean I think a lot of what he comes by is from agents rather than front offices. I love that he’s talking up Gourde… it’s good for the Kraken. But using Henrique/Carrick as a comp is a joke. If it were Gourde/Tanev then I’d say you were crazy to take anything less than a first.
Notes from the game:
– Ryker started the year off pretty solid, but seems to have fallen off as the year has progressed. He commits at least a couple of costly D zone turnovers per game. I love his skating and I see the potential, but he really has to clean that up if he wants to be anything more than a flashy but very flawed 3rd pair guy.
– The Stephenson line looks lost. Burakovsky looked awful again, skating around in circles and turning the puck over repeatedly. He did have a breakaway, which of course he didn’t convert.
– Indeed, Joey was fantastic. If he were just average this year, we’d be looking at the top pick in the entire draft, which is totally insane to me considering this is absolutely not an overtly tanking or rebuilding club. That’s how badly this team is playing!
– Gourde being out hurts, big time. The 4th line is now a classic, gritty, low-skill line which this overall below average talent team cannot afford.
– This team seems to only be good for 1 period per game, and around 20 SOG total. That is not a recipe for success. 8 SOG total in periods 2 and 3 will not get the job done.
– I’m with you, Darren. If they’re going to lose, they should just get it over with in regulation. At least they kept this game close and competitive, which made it more enjoyable to watch.
Re: Ryker Evans, he did the same thing last last year. Looked dynamic earlier in the season, and got worse later. Although last year there was that stretch in between when the team was inexplicably scratching him yet not sending him down to Coachella so he could play, so maybe you could blame that.
Well, the last two games Ryker has been elevated to second pair with Montour so he’s playing more, tougher minutes and is probably going to take some lumps as he adjusts. The fact that they trust him there is an encouraging sign (and certainly not a ringing endorsement of Oleksiak by coaching staff).
Ray Ferraro – who I regard higher than anyone in the hockey media – was raving about Evans on the latest Ray & Dregs
Not to be a buzzkill, but given the non-playoff teams are assigned draft position by lottery, it’s possible the Kraken (regardless of record) could end up drafting significantly lower (or a little higher) than their season record would indicate (in the interest of torturing myself, I’ve possible outcomes in Tankathon about a million times). 🙂
Gary Bettman?
If they finish 3rd to last, they draft somewhere in top 5, 4th to last somewhere in top 6, etc. They still get a prime prospect.
We don’t root for losses you dummy!
Tension in the SOH writers’ community?
Joey was excellent again!
Given he’s a numbers guy, I cannot understand how Curtis can say “Joey’s just been pretty good this year and gotten them a few victories they didn’t deserve… and Philip Grubauer hasn’t been a ‘positive’ in that way.” But he’s been fine… it’s the defense.
Joey – .915 2.45 14.21 in 28 GP
and
Gru – .870 3.76 -14.21 in 20 GP
Now, either Joey has been something much much more than “pretty good”, or he has lottery winner luck, or Grubauer has not been “fine”. I can’t think of a fourth alternative.
I think maybe it could be exactly what Darren was talking about and they’re playing differently in front of Grubauer… but if that’s the case, are you going to “fix” all the guys who are surrendering just 2.45 goals a game in front of Joey… a number that – as a team – would be around 5th in the league? Or are you going to do something about the guy whose surrendering 3.76 a game which – as a team – would be dead last in the league.
If Gru is fine and it’s the defense…
the gulf between the numbers is something much more than the gap between “fine” and “just pretty good”.
I think it looks like it’s the defense because of something else Darren was talking about… too many mistakes end up in the back of the net when Gru is on the ice.
There’s no sugarcoating it, Gru has been the biggest problem. Not the only problem, mind you. They have a bottom-third PP, and a bottom-half offense, but his starts are killing them. He’s dead last in the NHL in goals allowed over expected, per MoneyPuck. They have 11 points in his 20 starts. That’s a 45-point pace over 82 games. Last year’s worst team (San Jose) had 47. Guh.
PP is twelfth since December 1st I believe.
It’s not worth it. Kraken announcers and most of SOH are incredibly hesitant to speak the truth about Grubauer. The only person who seems to finally be coming around is Darren. The others think he hasn’t been good, but they also can’t admit that he’s been absolutely atrocious and one of the worst goalies in the league. It’s always “he was hung out to dry” and “the team played poorly,” with nary a mention of his overall basic or advanced stats. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other bad teams who play poorly, but zero of them have a goalie as bad as Grubauer.
The post game from the November 29th embarrassment against the Sharks is a real highlight of exactly what you’re talking about. After Grubauer surrenders eight in what is unquestionably a horrible outing by him, the panel starts right in with the excuses. Only Linda Cohn was willing to call it like it is.
– Listen, I played the position at a really low level, and it was tough to watch. I felt like Philip Grubauer was fighting the puck. Ya know, I just, I didn’t like any of the body language. He makes himself look small, not big, and he’s a large man. –
I would absolutely fall out of my chair with disbelief if I heard any of the regulars say something even as mildly critical as that. I know it’s their job is to support the team and maintain a positive outlook, but sometimes I wonder if folks have be parading out the excuses for so long they’ve actually convinced themselves of something that is so obviously a fiction.
The Kraken played a good game that afternoon with the team scoring five goals. The panel praised the effort and avoiding pretending it was defense that was to blame… because it wasn’t. When Francis talks about this teams “confidence”, I think you can point right at this “kick-in-the-balls” of a game and understand exactly where the problem lies.
I went back and rewatched that November 29th game after revisiting the post-game…
Oh my word!
I remembered it being bad, but I forgot just how bad. The oft silly but still fun MoneyPuck Deserve To Win O’Meter had the Kraken at 81.5% in an 8-5 loss. The skaters were excellent in that game.
Coincidentally, the Kraken had played 23 games ahead of that disaster. Including that game, they’ve played 23 since. Before that game they were at .500 standings points and just two points out of a wild card spot. Since then they’ve gotten to where they are now.
I thought the splits between Joey and Gru were bad over the whole season… they’re even worse in the second half. The rates were bad in the first half, but Gru wasn’t getting the volume. With Joey out and him getting the starts, the rates got even worse.
I think it’s getting harder and harder to escape what Darren has been saying, they’re different in front of Grubauer… and after that train wreck on November 29th, can you blame them?
I stared rooting for loses last year at this time because I knew we did not have the talent and with 2 over priced signings also knew we were doomed until we got more help that has not come to no ones fault. Watching players with no production bothers me and waiting for changes was even harder.