And with a whimper, the Seattle Kraken were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
We knew this day was coming for a loooooong time, and the conversations around the Kraken shifted to a “we know we’re out of it” sentiment well before the NHL Trade Deadline. But on Saturday, the final stake was driven into what has been a highly disappointing season for Seattle fans, who continue to show up despite their team’s poor performance this year.
Coincidentally, the Dallas Stars—a true Stanley Cup contender—clinched their fourth consecutive playoff berth with the win.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-1 Kraken loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: Two franchises in very different places
I opted to go to the visitor dressing room after the game Saturday, where the Stars were quietly celebrating their playoff qualification. “We work all year for [making the playoffs], so now we’re focused on winning the division,” said Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who made 35 saves.
Then, Pete DeBoer addressed the media outside the Dallas dressing room and reminded folks that Mikko Rantanen—who was acquired and signed to an eight-year contract worth $12 million per season at the deadline—was the team’s best player on this night, finishing with an empty-net goal and two assists.
When DeBoer finished speaking, it so happened that Kraken coach Dan Bylsma was just beginning his post-game presser, so I popped in and listened. Bylsma broke down what went wrong in the game, citing the penalties Seattle took and the team’s lack of success on the power play as key issues.
He also noted that the team has shifted its mindset since the deadline while recognizing the significance of being officially eliminated. “We’ve been focused on playing our best hockey, proving to each other, proving to the fans what kind of team we are. And today, we’re mathematically eliminated, but the rest of the way doesn’t change for us. That’s our goal.”
What struck me is that we are still less than two years removed from Seattle coming up one goal short of knocking off the Stars in Game 7 of the second round of the 2022-23 Stanley Cup Playoffs. And yet here we sit, with the Kraken selling at the deadline and a wide swath of the fanbase rooting for more losses to improve the team’s draft lottery odds, while Dallas is adding even more top-end talent to an already deep roster and loading up for a Cup run.
I relish the day when the Kraken, too, are loading up for a Cup run instead of coming up with ways to be relatively competitive in meaningless games while they play out the string.
One day, the Kraken will be perennial contenders—I truly believe that. But right now, they don’t feel particularly close to achieving that status. And to add insult to injury, they got an up-close look Saturday at a club that has reached that level.
Takeaway #2: Fast start, then a slow unraveling
The Kraken looked sharp in the early minutes of this game, even getting a goal from Eeli Tolvanen just 1:27 in after Jared McCann made an outstanding play to burn around Thomas Harley and create a rebound opportunity. They continued to have the better of the play for the first 10 minutes, but little by little, things unraveled, and Dallas began to show its class.
EELI GOAL-VANEN! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 30, 2025
Jared McCann torches Thomas Harley, and Tolvanen bats in the bouncing rebound.
1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/SpEwKvd4cA
For a staunch defensive team, the Stars have a wealth of offensive weapons, and several of them found the back of the net on Saturday. Jason Robertson got his 33rd goal of the season on an easy tap-in to make it 1-1 at 11:50 of the first, then Roope Hintz notched his 27th of the season on the power play at 18:24.
Things remained fairly stagnant in the second, but once Mason Marchment added another power-play goal 28 seconds into the third period, it was all downhill for Seattle.
Takeaway #3: A poor special teams night
Those two Dallas power-play goals were killers for Seattle in this game, but what made them sting even more was the Kraken’s abysmal performance with the man advantage.
“It’s uncharacteristic of our group to take a lot of penalties,” Bylsma said. “[Special teams are] a huge part of the game. Against good power plays, the best way to keep them off the scoresheet is by not giving them an opportunity.”
In the first period, Seattle had two power-play opportunities but struggled to even get set up in the offensive zone. Dallas—which currently ranks second in the NHL in penalty kill percentage, just a hair behind Carolina at 84.5 percent—used an aggressive PK style that forced Seattle’s players to make quick decisions. Every time the Kraken gained the offensive blue line, they quickly coughed up the puck and watched it get cleared the length of the ice.
After those two poor showings from the Kraken power play in the first, the Stars got their first opportunity of the night and wasted no time converting, with Hintz one-timing a cheeky little saucer pass from Jason Robertson over Joey Daccord’s shoulder.
Roope Hintz makes it 2-1 with a power-play goal.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 30, 2025
Stars are 1-for-1 on the PP, #SeaKraken are 0-for-2. pic.twitter.com/fAADIdwbr3
On a night when we were reminded of how far apart these two teams are right now, the special teams battle—in which Dallas went 2-for-5 on the power play while Seattle went 0-for-4—was a microcosm of the disparity between the franchises.
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.
We definitely need a better power play coach next season, huge mistake to bring in a under qualified coach. Our power play has looked terrible all season. Honestly if you subtract Grubauers poor starts and give us a league average power play were a playoff team.
I understand the critiscsm, but our power play has been garbage during our entire existence. Bringing in a new coach might incrementally improve it, but the main issue is lack of offensive talent.
We just struggle to score, in all situations. And imo our offensive rank within the league is exaggerated due to the fact that long droughts are mixed in with the occasional rout.
We need more offensive talent, period.
Criticism 😀
It does seem odd to have Bob Woods owning defense and power play. I wonder if Bylsma lasts another year and Bob is the sacrificial lamb this year. Offense has been stronger this year especially from the dmen, but our d-zone work has slipped a lot with lots of really sloppy play.
One thing positive is that the coaches seem to really be developing the young guys.
It’s not woods running the PP, it’s actually the same person the ran a mediocre power play in the valley……. How that person was promoted with little experience and mediocre performance in the AHL is puzzling. Woods runs the PK and I also don’t think he’s done a great job with it. Very passive zone system that has holes ready to be exploited as we’ve seen.
It seems to me the worst thing about the power play is also something they’ve struggled with across the board… entries.
At the beginning of the season it was announced Woods was in charge of defense and the powerplay. I haven’t heard otherwise since. I assume that because you see Campbell drawing up plays for the PP you think she’s in charge of it… I really don’t know myself. I do think singling out the power play coach (no matter who it is) in the same breath as Grubauer is laughable. The struggles and performance of the powerplay are consistent with the overall performance of this team this season.
It is Campbell and I’m not sure where you heard it was Woods? It’s been Campbell all season long. Our power play is an absolute disaster, they repeatedly try the same things over and over without success. Only connection to Grubauer is that those are two spots that were glaring horrible this season Grubauer & the power play, please enlighten me with what is so laughable about that.
It’s laughable because the PP ranked 23rd in the league is consistent with the overall results of the team. Grubauer has been – almost without debate – the absolute worst goalie in the entire league this season. He belongs in his own “if only” category.
“Woods’ primary focus will be on the team’s defense while also running the power play with assistance from Campbell.”
That’s from the Seattle Kraken press release on July 3rd announcing the hires.
Please provide a link to that because every I have heard was Campbell was the PP coach.
With the Kraken, Campbell’s role will be similar to her position in Coachella — working with the forwards and on the power play, this time with assistant coach Bob Woods.
This needs clarification…. If it is woods then he needs to go, whoever is running the PP needs to be removed.
They actually interviewed Woods about the PP between periods last night. That seems to confirm he owns it.
There’s a thing called Google… try “bob woods powerplay” and the second entry will be the press release in question.
Seriously, try harder. If your take is “the problem is the powerplay”… whatever.
https://www.nhl.com/kraken/news/kraken-hire-bob-woods-jessica-campbell-as-assistant-coaches
I don’t know if it’s changed over the course of the year, but the plan was for Woods and Campbell to run the PP and Lowry to run the PK.
“ One thing positive is that the coaches seem to really be developing the young guys.”
No idea how you’re defining “developing”. Beniers is having another mediocre season and continuing to show that he’s at best a 2C. Everyone complains about Stephenson’s salary but Beniers makes $900k more.
Evans seems to still be struggling with an injury, but continues to be leaky at the blue line and keeps letting pucks out of the offensive zone.
Kartye’s season has been a disaster. The solution has been extremely limited playing time. Not sure how a player develops as a healthy scratch or 7 minutes a game on the fourth line.
Wright started slow, picked things up in the second half but
has had his time on ice inexplicably limited. Unlike Beniers who has been engraved into the 1C position in the lineup card, regardless of performance, Wright has
been bounced all over the lineup and not given an opportunity to settle in with a consistent pair of wingers.
So far, it’s the CV coaching staff who deserves the credit for Nyman. He hasn’t been up long enough for the Seattle staff to develop or destroy.
How the score stayed close as long as it did was a miracle. Unbelievably sloppy play. Ugly game capped off with a shitshow of a trip home on the light rail thanks to the Mariner game ending around the same time.
Overlapping Ms and Kraken = nightmare