The Seattle Kraken returned to action over the weekend following the 4 Nations Face-Off break, splitting a pair of games against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
On Saturday night, the Kraken edged out the Panthers in a tight 2-1 win. Captain Jordan Eberle made his return to the lineup after a lengthy absence due to a pelvic injury back in November. Despite the extended break for the team, the Kraken looked sharp, with Joey Daccord delivering a strong performance in net. Shane Wright recorded assists on both Kraken goals, scored by Kaapo Kakko and Jared McCann.
Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t go as well, with the Kraken falling 4-1. While the Kraken didn’t generate many quality scoring chances, they also didn’t concede many. Seattle is now 0-9-0 in the second game of back-to-backs, making them the only NHL team without a point in that situation this season.
Return of the captain
Eberle looked solid in his return, especially considering the long layoff and the challenge of coming back from such a unique injury. He logged 14 minutes of ice time on Saturday, primarily in a fourth-line role, with 57 seconds on the power play in the first period. He registered two shots on goal and, more importantly, helped stabilize the fourth line, giving the other three lines more rest between shifts.
In the previous 10 games, Tye Kartye and Mitchell Stephens averaged less than nine minutes of ice time per game, while Brandon Tanev, the other fourth-liner, averaged under 13 minutes. With Eberle back, Coach Dan Bylsma was able to rely more on the Tanev-Eberle wing pairing, occasionally double-shifting Shane Wright to center the fourth line. This provided a more dynamic fourth-line threat compared to a Tanev-Stephens-Kartye combination. While it’s hard to measure the direct impact, in a close 2-1 win, even small advantages can make a big difference.
Eberle played just under 12 minutes on Sunday and had two notable turnovers. While his timing might take a few more games to fully return, the early signs are promising.
4 Nations Face-Off: Quick thoughts
The 4 Nations Face-Off was a hit, not only among die-hard hockey fans but also with casual viewers. I heard from several non-hockey-fan friends and coworkers who tuned in and loved the USA-Canada games. The gold-medal game between the USA and Canada drew 9.25 million viewers in the US—the largest audience for an NHL-sanctioned game. For context, last year’s Stanley Cup Final Game 7 between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers had 7.66 million viewers.
The tournament also introduced some creative elements worth considering for the NHL:
- Three-Point System: The 4 Nations used a system where regulation wins earned three points, overtime or shootout wins earned two, and overtime or shootout losses earned one. This setup could encourage teams to take more risks late in regulation to secure a full three points, especially in tight playoff races.
- 10-Minute 3-on-3 Overtime: While extending overtime might reduce shootouts, research suggests the current system may not need much tweaking.
- New Camera Angles: The tournament featured fresh perspectives, including cameramen on the ice after goals, new in-game angles, and a referee cam. While still needing refinement, these innovations show promise.
the on-ice camera for goal celebrations is such a nice addition to 4Nations… hope to see this in the postseason pic.twitter.com/4POY7hGcwY
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) February 21, 2025
Other musings
- Brandon Tanev played 16:19 against Florida on Saturday—his highest ice time since Dec. 10—including 2:26 in the final five minutes.
- The Kraken are now 5-2-1 all-time against Florida but 1-6-1 all-time against Tampa Bay.
- Joey Daccord’s win on Saturday was his 20th of the season, marking a career high.
- Jani Nyman continues to impress, leading all AHL rookies with 23 goals. I expect we’ll see him with the Kraken later this season.
- Prospect Berkly Catton reached 100 points in the WHL over the weekend. While he’d benefit from a more competitive setting next season, the NHL-CHL development agreement limits his options to either the NHL or the WHL. There’s a chance he could make the Kraken roster, which would make this a non-issue.
- For context on Catton playing in the NHL next season, only six players from the 2023 NHL Draft have played more than nine games in the NHL this season.
- The Kraken won two coach’s challenges over the weekend: goalie interference on Saturday against Florida and an offside call on Sunday against Tampa Bay.
Goal of the week
SECOND OF THE NIGHT FOR REHKOPF🚨2⃣@SeattleKraken prospect Carson Rehkopf sniped another one top shelf to extend the @OHLSteelheads lead!🐟#OHL | @CHLHockey | #SeaKraken
🎥: @BringerOfRaine pic.twitter.com/ONUPzGejli— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 22, 2025
Player performances
Berkly Catton (SPO/SEA): The top Kraken prospect is riding a 12-game multi-point streak, with eight points over three games this weekend.
Nathan Villeneuve (SBY/SEA): The 2024 second-round pick had five points in his last three games. Despite flying under the radar, he’s a physical forward with 55 points in 47 games for the Sudbury Wolves.
Shane Wright (SEA): Wright tallied three points over the weekend and has 12 points in his last 10 games.
The week ahead
The Kraken play just two games this week, both against Western Conference teams vying for a wild-card spot. They’ll wrap up their road trip against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday before hosting the Vancouver Canucks at home on Saturday.
St. Louis has struggled lately, going 3-5-2 in its last 10 games, while Vancouver is clinging to the final wild-card spot but dropped two regulation games over the weekend. Though the Kraken are out of playoff contention, they have a prime opportunity to play spoiler.
Trade deadline looming
As much as the focus should be on the ice this week, the NHL Trade Deadline is just 13 days away, and speculation is heating up. Under GM Ron Francis, the Kraken have historically made moves close to the deadline, so big changes may not happen until next week.
Darren Brown put together a solid primer on the Kraken’s trade deadline approach. I’ve mentioned it before, but I still think an extension for Yanni Gourde could be in the cards. The Kraken need a fourth-line center next season, and if the two sides can find common ground, it would be a smart move to keep him in Seattle.
If you have thoughts or reactions to anything in this post or anything Kraken-related, let me know in the comments section below!
Count me as one vote for the NHL switching to three points for a regulation win.
Thoughts on Tanev to the Red Wings for Berggren? I think it works for both teams.
I really hope they don’t trade McCann. Not only would they be selling way too low, he’s also one of their only actual scoring threats and is a total steal at $5M for two more years when the cap is going up like $9M per year. I have a hard time believing they could get good enough value for someone like that who isn’t just another Rehkopf or Nyman, players who have scoring promise but who knows if they’ll be any good in the NHL.
In the same vein, I have a huge amount of respect for the Vegas approach, which is to take advantage of teams’ overfetishization of prospects and draft picks to acquire proven NHL talent. I was listening to old SOH podcasts (stick taps to Andy) and y’all were talking about how the other shoe will drop on this strategy, how they’ll be stuck with aging, expensive players, and it STILL hasn’t happened three years later, plus they got a Cup. They’ll be old and expensive in a few years, but it’ll matter less and less with the cap going way up. Good for them for having a GM with smarts and cojones.
I’ve been burned on my cyclical prediction about the ultimate demise of the Golden Knights for years now. With the steep cap increase coming, I don’t even know if they will look old in a couple years.
RE McCann. I don’t know how much smoke is around there. We heard about it from one tweet and outside of aggregators, we’ve heard nothing since. That said, everyone has a price.
I do like an improved point system. More importantly (to me) is to increase that 3:3 for OT. Maybe to 8 minutes? I hate the shoot out.
I thought the Kraken looked remarkably different in the past two games. It seemed like they had come to play and were pretty quick through out. It’s a bummer those few mistakes were exposed yesterday and those Bolts really pounced on it.
Stez looked, okay. What do others think? And what do y’all think is going to happen in the goalie department? Will Kraken try and pick up a backup? Is Stez good enough (i guess we don’t know.)
I see that they have just recalled Nikke Kokko. Should be fun! I hope he gets to play.
Really?? That’s wild
I think it’s a great idea to bring him up. Gue can hold down the fort in the valley and that experience he can gain from a few NHL games is much more valuable than getting a smaller work load in the valley with Gru down there eating up minutes. Stezla has no chance of making the NHL I feel, might as well develop our youth.
I wonder if calling up Kokko is mostly about maintaining Stezka’s waiver exemption status? Kokko doesn’t need to clear but Stezka is just burning up his 30 days sitting on the bench. Both Seattle and Coachella only have four starts between now and the trade deadline and the Kraken’s next back to back isn’t for almost two weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Stezka or Grubauer back for that set.
I thought Stezla looked ok. Gave up a couple soft goals, but it’s his first NHL game, and everyone is so much bigger and faster that I’m sure it’s a huge adjustment.
It seemed to me that in the two games back, all the Kraken players have been more aggressive about getting sticks into passing lanes. Is that just me? It seems like it has made things more disruptive for the other team, and caused a few more turnover (and fewer clean zone entries).
yeah I think he played ok as well. he looked a bit shaking early when he didn’t cleanly stop the first couple shots. The team played structurally really well in front of him so I am still not sure what we have there in a goalie. Specifically, if he could be a #2 or #3 for next season (they would need to re-sign/extend him).
off topic; I believe SOH posted about the WHL AHL differences, rules, etc. I cannot seem to find it despite multiple searches. Can you or someone else point me to it please? TIA!