The Seattle Kraken’s offseason is in full swing, and while attention has (rightfully) been on the draft, trades, and free agency, I always look forward to the release of the NHL regular-season schedule. And as I do every year, I also like to dig into the numbers behind the calendar to see how the Kraken’s path through the season stacks up against the rest of the league.
Let’s dive into a few key metrics.
Travel distance by NHL team
As expected, teams based out west tend to rack up more airline miles over the course of the season. The Kraken have consistently been among the top 10 teams in this category, and the 2025-26 season is no exception.
In total, the Kraken will travel 43,361 miles this season—that’s down just over 5,000 miles from last year. That’s still a hefty chunk of sky time, but it’s hardly unexpected.
Here’s a breakdown by division:
As usual, the Pacific Division continues to dominate the “Most Frequent Flyer Miles” standings.
Number of road trips
One benefit of being geographically isolated from the eastern clusters: fewer, but longer, road trips. The Kraken are set to take just 14 road trips this season, one more than last year.
Longer trips usually mean tougher stretches, but fewer turnarounds and less overall bouncing around. It’s a tradeoff, but one the Kraken are used to navigating by now.
The Olympic break effect
This year’s schedule has a unique wrinkle, a February break for the Winter Olympics, with no NHL games from Feb. 6 to Feb. 24. That gap creates a compressed schedule, especially in January.
The Kraken will play 17 games in January, which will be the most the team has ever played in a single month.
Excluding February, here is the average days between games by month for all teams.
Back-to-back games
Seattle will play 13 back-to-backs this season, up one from last year and right around the league average of 13.4.
I hate to bring it up, but the Kraken were 0-12-0 on the second night of back-to-backs last season. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse… mathematically, it actually could. They were the only team in the league to fail to earn even a single standings point in those games. Let’s hope that improves dramatically this year.
Odds and ends of the 2025-26 Kraken schedule
- For only the second time in franchise history, the Kraken will open the season at home—against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, Oct. 9.
- The opening stretch is going to be tough. After just three games, the team heads out on a six-game road trip. Eight of Seattle’s first 10 games are against playoff teams from last season. Oof.
- Thankfully, November looks a bit softer, with two games each against the rebuilding Blackhawks and Sharks. But let’s not forget what happened last season…
- The Kraken have 10 Saturday home games this year, the most common day of the week for home games. Thursdays are next. They have just one Friday night home game, Jan. 23 vs. Anaheim.
- Mark your calendars: Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde return to Climate Pledge Arena with the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 17. It will be their first game back since they were moved at the NHL Trade Deadline this past season.
- Looking for a road trip? That Montreal–Ottawa–Toronto swing in the second week of the season could be a great one: three arenas, and weather shouldn’t be an issue yet.
- You could also knock off both Southern California teams with two separate back-to-back sets in December and February—Anaheim and L.A. in one go.
- And if you’re staying local for Thanksgiving, you’re in luck; Seattle will host the Stars the night before Turkey Day and then face the Oilers in a Saturday matinee.
- Bonus scheduling fun: There appears to be just one Sunday when both the Seahawks and Kraken are at home. On Dec. 14, the Seahawks host the Colts at 1:25 p.m., and the Kraken drop the puck against the Sabres at 5 p.m. Three of Seattle’s four Sunday home games will be 5 p.m. starts.
- Along with the Kraken, Thunderbirds, and Silvertips, the Pacific Northwest hockey calendar will be even more packed this season with the arrival of PWHL Seattle. If the PWHL follows a similar cadence as past years, their regular season will start in late November and run through early May—plus, they’ll have the Olympic break to navigate, too.
Final thoughts
The Kraken schedule always comes with its share of challenges, and 2025-26 is no exception. With Olympic-induced calendar compression and those ever-brutal long-haul trips, the team will need to manage its energy and depth carefully throughout the season and somehow get up for those second games of a back-to-back.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. Are there any home games you’re already targeting? Have your eye on a specific road trip? Let me know in the comments.
Just a little extra context: the Kraken were not merely the only team in the NHL not to get a single point in a back-to-back last season, but were only the second team in NHL History to accomplish such a feat of futility.
The Blue Line slate looks a little easier this year, maybe my winning% will go above .350! A man can dream.
amazing. Is there somewhere public that indicates blue versus red?
It was really extreme during the 2nd season, so much so that there was an article in the Seattle Times about it. Other than that season, it’s more of a Boist problem than a Blue Line problem. Foist has a .500 record, and I have somewhere around .333 despite us sharing a blue line package (and btw I count OT losses as regular losses in my book — I don’t go home happy that we got a loser point). But hey, maybe this is the year I don’t see twice as many losses as wins! LGK!
Didn’t the Blue line package go 13-7-1, or .643 last year?
I went 4-6-1. If your record is accurate, that means they went 9-1-0 in Blue Line games I didn’t go to. Wow.
I think it was 12-8-1, but still a huge difference from the year before which was 6-13-1
Is it unusual that the Kraken have 4 back to backs in a row around the New Year? Seems like a lot but maybe I just never noticed before…
Is 4 straight back to backs (from Dec 22 – Jan 6) as wild as my initial thought made it out to be?
Thanks for the heads up with the Hawks game – that new 5pm start time means the light rail garages are still going to be full of football cars when it’s time to head to CPA…
I’m also planning to check for overlaps with the Mariners. Last season was brutal since with those games ending at the same time.
Does anyone else’s Blue Line tickets have the wrong time for half the games, such as 6pm instead of 7pm?
Unrelated to the topic of this article is the following quote from an article today by a well-known hockey writer that evaluated the Stanley Cup windows of all the Pacific division’s teams. Under the category “Window Smashed,” the article in part said about the Kraken:
“With Jason Botterill replacing Francis as GM, the hope was that we’d see a philosophical shift in thinking, but the Kraken have instead doubled and tripled down on being Mid. They’ve added 30-year-old Mason Marchment and 32-year-old Frederick Gaudreau up front. They handed a four-year deal to declining asset Ryan Lindgren. Somehow, the NHL’s newest franchise is the 11th-oldest team in the league, with an average age of 29, despite making the playoffs once in its existence. Can anyone explain what the plan is here?”
I am sure some will believe professional hockey writers know nothing and their opinions have no value. Choose for yourself what to believe.
I’ll say it again… you can disagree with the plan – and I know where you stand on this Chuckles – you can criticize the plan, you can even go so far as to say it’s a stupid plan… but when you say “Can anyone say what the plan is here?”, you lack credibility. This has become a bunch of folks just parroting one another. ‘I don’t follow the Kraken, but they’re not tanking and they’re not a contender and I heard Joe McStooge say he doesn’t understand what they’re doing – so I’ll go with that’.
I’m sure some will say the statements and actions of the organization have no value because they are all idiots and liars who should be fired. Choose for yourself what to believe.
The Debbie Downers are never satisfied.
Looking forward to the upcoming season.
Go Kraken!!!
We’re supposed to be happy that the kraken seem to be only interested in trying to get into a wild card spot? 😂 clearly there are long term sacrifices being made for short term minimal gains.
Three cheers for RF and co!!!
Is that better Bean?
Well this will be year 5 of the Kraken existence. How about a little patience? We could be our neighbors to our North or a team like Buffalo. How many Stanley Cups have they won?
Sure the Canucks have been to the Finals 3 times in their 55 years.
I say there is a fair chance the Kraken eventually win it all before they even do..
Just give the Kraken a little more time is all I’m saying…
By the way Ron Francis drafted and helped build the Hurricanes to where they are today. He just happened to get fired just prior to those players full development.
I guess we can all agree to disagree…
Sure year 5… let’s pick a direction and have some bslls.
Speaking of the Hurricanes there’s a reason he was fired and it resembles the Kraken. It took another GM to actually make the team good, he acquired some good pieces but lacked the ability to put together a good roster much like the Kraken. I know you’re probably going to say we have a new GM but I’m not sure it isn’t a paper move.
I would be completely fine with the team losing if it felt like a plan to be more than a mediocre team existed.
We just seem to spend to the cap picking up old vets and over paying them. That never going to help long term. You see the numbers, it’s been shown that we over paying the most in the nhl for our aging vets… you honestly tell me is that a sign of a good GM?
Is there a preference GM out there? I don’t know.
All teams at some point make questionable unpopular decisions. Stevenson happens here to be the most questionable. I think he is a good player other than the 7 year old length of the contract.
I believe we have some good veterans to help groom our younger players reach their potentials. Tanking in hopes of getting McKenna is nonsense! With the lottery system the chances are slim to none that it would ever happen. Look, stranger things can happen. This team may surprise everyone like they did in year two. In the meantime I am going to stay optimistic and root for the Kraken no matter what.
I enjoy reading the different discussions on here by all whether we agree or disagree.
Go Kraken!!!
Who are the “top of the draft” stars that the Hurricanes have built their team around? Svechnikov? He’s a “Celebrini” or a “Bedard”? How is it Carolina has been to the playoffs and won at least a round seven years in a row and the only player on their team who they drafted in the top ten is Svechnikov… a guy who has scored 30 goals just once in his career?
Over the past 10 years No.1 overall picks have been part of winning eight playoff series total. Four of those belong to savior of the New York Rangers Alexis Lafreniere. Two are the single series No.1s Jack Hughes and Nico Hischer combined on for the Devils and the other two belong to Auston Matthews of the playoffs powerhouse Toronto Maple Leafs. The only other No.1 of the past ten years to even appear in a playoff game was Juraj Slafkovsky whose Canadiens… a team who this past season allowed the exact same number of goals as the Kraken but scored two less.
Is tanking really the answer?
I sure you didn’t read the article, but here’s a quote from Matt Larkin that summarizes his views:
“And the veteran-laden roster keeps Seattle in hockey purgatory, not good enough to make the playoffs, never quite bad enough to bottom out and get the top NHL Draft Lottery odds, to the point this team still doesn’t have a true superstar prospect. Shane Wright continues to improve, and the likes of Berkly Catton and Jake O’Brien have major upside, sure, but there’s no Connor Bedard or Celebrini or Matthew Schaefer on this team.”
That is not saying “I don’t get what they’re trying to do” and it doesn’t take reading between the lines to figure it out. He’s simply saying “The Kraken are not a good team and don’t have any elite prospects that could truly change their fortunes.” You may not agree with that, but it’s a defensible argument.
With respect to the source. I really don’t give a shit that he works for DailyFO – he also wrote for TheHockeyNews for almost ten years. He knows more than you or I will ever know. I get my hockey info from many sources with diverse opinions.
With respect to your point “those writers don’t know and don’t cover the Kraken” – that’s an easy way trivialize writers whose views don’t conform to yours. How exactly do you KNOW that? Either provide something tangible (with respect to individual writers) or just stop talking about it. It’s tiresome…
I did read that article when it came out a while ago. I also get my info from many sources with a variety of opinions. The “I don’t understand” line I have specifically heard separately from Seravalli and Yaremchuk at DFO and Granger and McIndoe at the Athletic. Saying “I don’t understand” isn’t saying anything and those guys are trivializing themselves.
Larkin does at least lay out the groundwork for what the team has as far as a development plan goes and then justifiably questions the lack of “top end” talent. Bravo! I disagree on the “tank” approach, but I appreciate the viewpoint. The “well known hockey writer” that Chuckles was referring to could only arrive at, “Can anyone explain what the plan is here”… that’s weak. Even Luszczyszyn in a recent article that has the Kraken as tied for fouth as his most improved teams actually got to a point beyond confusion. He lauded the offseason moves but then questioned if that’s what they should be doing given the quality of next years draft. Again, I disagree with the tank, but at least it’s an actual point of view.
I don’t know if you listened to Elliot Friedman’s season wrap on all 32 teams, but there he actually addressed some of what the Kraken are trying to do. He even addressed a take by someone who “didn’t understand” why the Kraken took another center. It’s worth a listen.
Sorry meant to reply sooner. Thanks for your clarification regarding “hockey journalists” – I’ll have my antenna up when I come across the names you mentioned above. I read the Luszczyszyn article – very interesting – not sure what his methodology is, but there is some logic behind it. And he’s going against the mainstream a little bit and I like people like that.
I also hate the “tank approach”. It’s basically telling your fanbase “we’re terrible, we have no hope, let’s hit the craps table!” Not great messaging (especially for the poor schmuck who spends $30k+ for 4 season tickets). I didn’t catch EF’s EOS update – I will look for it – and especially for the logic of taking O’Brien.
Speaking of “hockey info from many sources with diverse opinions”, if you haven’t listened to it already, today’s Hockey PDOcast is not to be missed. Filipovich has Drance on all week and they’re interviewing all sorts of different league folks. For my money, outside of Seattle, nobody in the media knows the Kraken better than Drance.
The guest is Rick Tocchet – yes, the guy that stupid Ron Francis didn’t hire. Lots of great insights, but they specifically talk about changes in the game, changes that I think are relevant to what has transpired with the Kraken over the past two seasons. He also goes into what HE did wrong in Vancouver coming off their Pacific Division Championship. To me it resonated quite a bit because I’ve long suspected the mistake he made is the same one Hakstol made coming off the Kraken’s 100 point season and I think both of the above tie into what went wrong for Bylsma. I don’t know the first thing about coaching – or anything else really for that matter – but the way they discuss it… it seems to make sense to me.
Tocchet also finishes up with a bit of commentary on some members of the hockey media. I’m gonna say he’s in a position to know what he’s talking about.
Forgive me for interjecting here but above you say #1 overall picks were on the teams of just 8 playoff wins of the past 10 years… Conner McDavid alone would count for 6 in the past 2, Ekblad for 8, they aren’t even on your list. I don’t have a stake in this discussion at all, just pointing out. Maybe I didn’t understand what you were saying?
For @Zach: the numbers are for the past 10 years of #1’s – McDavid and Ekblad fall outside that 10-year window.
Most of the media guys don’t understand Seattle because they don’t watch the west coast games. Friedman has admitted he hasn’t paid much attention to what has been going on out here. Drance is one of the few who actually seems to watch any pacific time zone games.
I don’t know how much effort the team puts into cultivating relationships with the larger media outlets. It does feel like the team plays things very close to the vest. Whether that’s a specific strategy or just a lack of media interest, it’s hard for me to say. I’m not saying they should go full Vancouver, but maybe an “inside source” or two might get something out there that generates at least a little conversation/attention that isn’t total rampant speculation.
In that same article that “well known hockey writer” has Anaheim as a team with the “Window Opening”.
“They’ve added veterans to help level up in the present: Mikael Granlund, Chris Kreider.” says the author. Consequently, the Ducks forward group now includes:
Granlund 33 ($7m)
Vatrano 31 ($4.57m)
Kreider 34 ($6.5m)
Killorn 35 ($6.25m)
Strome 32 ($5m)
All those guys are signed for two more years with the first two signed for three. At the end of next season the only forwards over 30 currently signed to Seattle will be:
Stephenson 31 ($6.25m)
Gaudreau 32 ($2.1m)
While Anaheim did finish four points ahead of Seattle in the standings, their -42 differential was 24 goals worse.
They’ve been tanking and finished 6th or worse in the Pacific for seven seasons so the plan is obvious and their window must be opening… right?
Granlund (One of those impossible to find centers” three year contract.
Vatrano, three years
Kreider, two years left on his contract.
Killorn 4 years (I question this one but it’s not 7 years…..)
Strome, (another impossible to find center….) three years left.
Kraken signed Stephenson to a SEVEN YEAR CONTRACT!!!! We obviously had no choice as mid level centers are just so hard to find…. Please just stop defending this deal.
You do realize those contracts just reinforce the point that teams have to overpay for centers. Yes, teams can find centers… if they overpay.
Last season Stephenson’s $6.25m AAV was tied for 121st in the league. His 51 points was also, coincidentally, tied for 121st… but it’s about the term, right?
It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that already the cap “explosion” is inflating away lots of folks concerns about dollars and term. The cap is not a concern for the Kraken due to Stephenson and it doesn’t appear there’s a worry on the horizon. The champs – the guys that “survived” the Yandle contract – just signed 37 year old Brad Marchand to 6 x $5.25!
I don’t expect anyone to change their mind on the Stephenson deal. For myself, so far I’ve yet to see the performance disappointment or the cap handicap that seems to have so many wringing their hands. I expect the on ice numbers and the cap impact will likely decline with one another at a fairly consistent rate over the life of the contract… so as I see it, if you hate him right now, you’re gonna hate him forever, regardless.
It’s not so much about defending the deal as it is questioning the complaints… there’s a subtle difference. When I see something actually realized out of these concerns, I’ll rethink my opinion. There’s certainly a likelihood that may happen, I just haven’t found that to be the case so far.
To be continued…
Yeah I’m just pointing out that those centers are not that hard to find and seven years sucks.