The Seattle Kraken scored five goals in each of their last two games and allowed just one goal against in two convincing wins over the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks. These games don’t mean much in the standings, but they might help set the tone for the offseason and provide a new baseline of expectations for the players heading into next season.
I’ve been saying it a lot lately, but this team isn’t as bad as their record suggests. Their goal differential, excluding empty-net goals for and against, is minus four, which ranks 15th in the league. Yet, they sit 27th in the standings. They’ve picked up wins against Carolina, Florida, Los Angeles, and Vegas. I’ve said it all season: this team competes. Despite the record, I still enjoy watching them play.
The two blowout wins this week were a blast, but both the 5-0 win over Vancouver and the 5-1 win over San Jose were closer than the final scores suggest. The Kraken started slow in both games, going without a shot on goal in the first five minutes each time. Still, they scored first in both games, improving their record to 20-10-4 when striking first this season. Once they built a two-goal lead, the games felt under control, even though they were outshot in both games.
Joey Daccord fatigue?
Another key storyline from the last two games has been the stellar play of Joey Daccord. I was all set to dig into his workload this season to see if he might be getting overworked. In March, Joey posted a save percentage below .900 in eight of his 11 starts. I know save percentage isn’t everything, but he just didn’t look like himself over the past several weeks. The working theory was fatigue. And then he goes out and stops 47 of 48 shots over a two-game span.
Joey has definitely been logging a heavy workload in the second half of the season, but there are still plenty of NHL goalies who have played more games than he has this year. He’s already hit a career high with 53 NHL games this season, but if you go back to 2022-23, he played 64 games when you include his 26 Calder Cup playoff games with Coachella Valley.
Other musings
Expect a PWHL announcement this week.My odds of Seattle landing a PWHL team have only gone up over the past week. Should be a fun week of news. (update: new intel. Sounds like this is still a few weeks out but it is coming.)- Through 77 games this season, the Kraken have gone to overtime 12 times. At this point last season, that number was 19. If they’d managed to get to overtime and lost in those additional seven games, that’s seven extra points in the standings. Not enough to get them into the playoff picture, but one of a few micro-trends that really hurt this team.
- Another one of those trends: their record in the second game of back-to-backs. The Kraken are 0-11-0 in those situations—the only team in the league without a single point in back-to-backs. The league average is 0.9 points per back-to-back game. If the Kraken had just played to league average in those games, they’d have 10 more points.
- Good news? The Kraken have a back-to-back on Tuesday when they visit Salt Lake City for the first time in franchise history.
- Shane Wright did not score on Saturday night against the Sharks, but what stood out more to me was his shot selection. He has a real knack for getting inside, and he generated several quality looks from high-danger areas.
- As noted by the Kraken Audio Network broadcast team, Jared McCann and André Burakovsky are playing their best hockey of the year, with 13 and 12 points respectively since the trade deadline.
- As we’ve been predicting for a while, Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard has been assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds and suited up for both games against the Henderson Silver Knights.
- Now that their OHL teams have been eliminated from the playoffs, I’d expect Carson Rehkopf and Nathan Villeneuve to get some time with the Firebirds down the stretch and into the postseason. Rehkopf is expected to make the jump to Coachella Valley full-time next season, while Villeneuve has one more year of CHL eligibility before he’s AHL-bound.
- Here’s a look at how Kraken prospects performed in the first round of the CHL playoffs:
- I believe the Kraken still have one non-emergency AHL call-up remaining, and I expect them to use it sometime this week.
Goal of the week
Seattle Kraken prospect Lukas Dragicevic is having himself a series. He scored this clutch goal in the final minute to force a Game 7.
🚨 LUKAS DRA-GOAL-CEVIC 🚨
The @PARaidersHockey take the late lead in Game 6!@SeattleKraken | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/aPVPRzdIqR
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 7, 2025
Player performances
Jared McCann – McCann has six points over his last two games and is just two points shy of hitting 60 on the season. It was a secondary assist, but I loved the steal and the effort he put in to get the play started.
2-0 #SeaKraken set up the cycle. McCann with the takeaway below the goal line drops the puck to Larsson who sets up Burakovsky in the low slot.
2-point game already for 19 and 95 pic.twitter.com/vbENFqwZHx
— Alison (@AlisonL) April 6, 2025
Berkly Catton – The Kraken’s first-round pick from the 2024 draft is having a monster postseason, including a two-goal, five-assist night in Spokane’s 9–4 series-clinching win.
Tyson Jugnauth – “Juggy” has racked up seven points in his last four playoff games for the Portland Winterhawks and will be suiting up for a decisive Game 7 on Monday night.
The week ahead
The Kraken have five games left in the regular season and face the second-toughest remaining strength of schedule. This week features a three-game road trip through LA, Utah, and Vegas, before they return to Climate Pledge Arena to host the St. Louis Blues, who, at this point, may never lose again.
As I’ve said before, I’m always rooting for the Kraken to win. That doesn’t stop me from keeping an eye on the bigger picture, too. If we peek over at the current NHL Draft Lottery odds on tankathon.com, the Kraken are hovering somewhere between 4th (Boston) and 8th (Buffalo) in the standings.
Where the Kraken ultimately land in the draft lottery odds will likely come down to the wire. Here’s a look at the remaining schedules for the teams clustered around them in the standings.
It’s nearly impossible to predict how these final games will shake out. I expect a few teams that are locked into their playoff or draft positions will start resting key players, so some of these stronger teams down the stretch might not be at full strength. In the meantime, I’ll be rooting for all the teams near the Kraken in the standings—hopefully they can pick up a few wins and help Seattle improve their draft position.
Things I’d like to see down the stretch
Outside of rooting for wins, there are a few other things I’m hoping for as the boys wrap up the season:
- Matty Beniers and Shane Wright each get two more goals to hit the 20-goal mark. At the start of the year, I had Matty projected for 25 and Shane around 12. Let’s split the difference and get them both to 20.
- Josh Mahura scores a goal. He’s been a quiet contributor since joining the team, and he just seems like a genuinely great human. Let’s get him on the board.
- A win on Saturday night against the Blues. That would push the Kraken above .500 at home on Saturdays. Winning at home is always good for morale.
- One more goal for Brandon Montour. He’s currently sitting on 16, which ties his career high for a single season. Would love to see him set a new personal best.
- A look at one more prospect at home. Ty Nelson? Jagger Firkus? Honestly, I don’t care who, just give us one more glimpse of the future before the season ends.
The end is nigh
No matter how tough this season has been, I still feel a little sad that it’s almost over. The team has shown a ton of compete over the last month, which is all I could ask for down the stretch. There’s plenty of work to be done this offseason, but the way they’re battling already has me excited for what’s ahead.