We’re still in preseason, but with so many thoughts and ideas bouncing around in my head, it felt like the perfect time to fire up the first edition of Monday Musings for the 2025-26 season. If you’re new around here, Monday Musings is where I pull together and share a handful of topics and themes from the past week across the Seattle Kraken world, and sometimes a little beyond.
First big round of cuts
Last Monday we saw a small round of cuts, but Saturday brought the first real round of assignments. Apart from Nathan Villeneuve, every player was sent to Coachella Valley, and because none of them required waivers, the process was straightforward. Still, any time you see that many names move off the board, it feels like camp is starting to tighten up. Here’s the full list of cuts/assignments:
One name that stood out before the cut: Tyson Jugnauth. We talked about him on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast this week, but he really made the most of his opportunity. It wasn’t his first training camp, but it was his first one under contract, and you could tell he wanted to make an impression. He even got into his first preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers, an eye-opening experience for the 21-year-old defenseman.
"You might be wondering how I got here."
– Tyson Jugnauth (probably), facing TWO STRAIGHT 2-on-1's against Connor McDavid. #SeaKraken
Also, look at the THREE Kraken players running into each other to create the second opportunity. 😳 pic.twitter.com/OOnmrzy6FO
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) September 25, 2025
Jugnauth was never really in the mix to make the Kraken out of camp, but he definitely climbed the organizational depth chart as he heads into his first pro season. On top of that, he’s got a great personality. If you missed his media scrum the day after the Edmonton game, it’s worth a watch.
Bubble players that remain
With the first big cuts done, the Kraken’s camp roster is now down to 30 players. They’ll need to trim that to 23 by Oct. 6. By my count, that leaves about 10 “bubble players” fighting for the final spots:
Forwards: Berkly Catton, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, John Hayden, Tye Kartye, Ben Meyers, Jani Nyman, Mitchell Stephens, Ryan Winterton
Defensemen: Ville Ottavainen, Cale Fleury
All signs point to Seattle starting the season with three goalies, and with Kaapo Kakko’s injury news (he’s expected to miss six weeks with a broken thumb) this weekend, that leaves room for at most four of these 10 bubble guys. Given that seven defensemen are already locks, those four spots will come from the forward group.
So, who has the inside track? Nyman’s stock has skyrocketed thanks to four goals in three preseason games. Catton also feels destined for the Opening Night roster—the only question is whether he sticks past his nine-game limit or heads back to junior at some point. That leaves two more spots in the game of musical chairs, with Hayden, Kartye, and Winterton all in the running. Each has a legitimate case, but it’s worth noting that both Hayden and Kartye would need to clear waivers if they’re sent down to the AHL.
Other musings
- As I mentioned earlier, all signs point to the Kraken rolling into the season with three goalies. It’s not ideal, but when you’ve got a stretch in October with seven games in 12 days, the extra insurance makes sense.
- The Kakko injury stings, but it could be worse. Shoulder, knee, and groin injuries always make me nervous—they have a way of nagging all year.
- I was a little surprised to see Jacob Melanson sent down. He looked good enough in camp that I thought he might sneak into the conversation for a fourth-line role. Head coach Lane Lambert talked about him Sunday and said his rookie camp performance was “just ok,” then his training camp showing was better.
- The Kraken spent a healthy chunk of their Sunday practice working on the power play.
Two #SeaKraken power play groups:
Dunn
Catton / Beniers / Nyman
EberleEvans
Tolvanen / Marchment / Wright
Schwartz pic.twitter.com/3va0JTtl8P— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) September 28, 2025
- Some other news from Sunday: Jared McCann and Brandon Montour were back on the ice, skating separately from the main group. After practice, Lambert hinted to the media that both players are expected to be ready for opening night.
- If I had to guess, McCann probably slides into Catton’s spot, while Chandler Stephenson takes over for Tolvanen.
- I actually love preseason hockey. No stress, no stakes—just a chance to watch prospects test themselves against real NHL talent.
- The national media is down on the Kraken this year, and I get the reasoning. But without local insight into what went down last season, their projections miss the bigger picture. I’m not saying Seattle is a playoff favorite, but 76 points? Nah, that’s too conservative.
Goal of the week
Sicker then your average 🤢🤯#OHL #BFD #mnwild pic.twitter.com/7csj4N7jX4
— Brantford Bulldogs (@BulldogsOHL) September 28, 2025
Player performances
- Julius Miettinen (EVT/SEA) – The Kraken prospect, who missed all of training camp, wasted no time making an impact with Everett. He posted two goals and two assists in his first two games of the season over the weekend.
- Kim Saarinen (HPK/SEA) – One of Seattle’s top-rated goalie prospects is off to a strong start in Liiga, going 3-0-2 with a .919 save percentage. Saarinen is still likely a few seasons away from North America, but the early signs are encouraging.
- Mathis Preston (SPO) – A projected top-10 pick for the 2026 NHL Draft, Preston is already producing in the WHL. He has three goals and four assists through Spokane’s first three games of the season.
Chart of the week
Excluding empty-net goals, goal differential is a key sign of a team’s potential in the standings. By that measure, the Kraken weren’t too far off last season.
The week ahead
The Kraken have two preseason games left before things start to count for real. With the roster trimmed down, here are a few things I’ll be watching for:
- Battle for the final roster spots – I’ll be keying in on the play of Hayden, Kartye, and Winterton. All three have a legitimate case to make the team, but at most, only two spots are realistically open.
- The goalies – Matt Murray went the distance in Vancouver, so it will be interesting to see if Lambert gives Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord a full game each in the final two. There’s even a scenario where Grubauer gets sent down to Coachella Valley if he can’t deliver the level of play the team needs this year.
- Kraken special teams – Sunday’s practice gave us our first real look at how the coaching staff is approaching the power play. While the personnel is easy to focus on, I’ll be watching closely for strategy: zone entries, puck movement, player rotations. This week could offer the first hints of their plan to start the season.
Closing thoughts
With the first big round of cuts behind us and just two preseason games left, the Kraken are starting to take shape—but there are still plenty of questions. Who will earn the final roster spots? How will the rookies perform under the bright lights? And how will the coaching staff’s system tweaks and special teams strategy translate once the games actually matter? Preseason is always a mix of promise and uncertainty, and that’s exactly what makes this time of year so fun to watch. As we inch closer to opening night, I’ll be keeping an eye on how these storylines develop, and you can be sure we’ll revisit them in the next edition of Monday Musings.
I’ve never heard of carrying 3 goalies at once. I can’t understand the logic. What are the chances they’d need 2 goalie changes in a single game? Or that they need a goalie from CV due to both goalies being down but he can’t get to Seattle in time? Am I missing something? It just reduces roster flexibility to a huge degree for seemingly no benefit.
I don’t see how carrying three goalies is sustainable, but the first three weeks are pretty packed, and I’ve heard plenty of people talk about how dense the schedule is because of the Olympic break. There have been a few teams that have carried three goalies before but that was only a portion of the season and usually due to them being worried about losing one of the goalies via waivers. That isn’t the case here. The Kraken usually carried 22 players on the roster last season so I am not sure this really limits the roster flexibility until they get some non-IR injuries pop up.
Wasn’t that mainly due to cap issues last year, which they no longer have now? Plus with a couple forwards who would have to pass through waivers to go down to CV, it makes even less sense to carry 3 waiver-proof goalies.
not directly related to cap space but a benefit was that they were able to accrue cap space by not using the full 23. I believe they have been doing that for a couple seasons now.
My bold prediction. Gru goes down to CV. Murray has looked strong and is at much greater risk of being claimed. There is zero risk of Gru being claimed and going to CV gives him a more games to prove himself. That lets them keep Catton for a few weeks to see if he is NHL ready, but I am skeptical he sticks beyond 9 games barring injuries or a sudden spike in production.
That buys them 3-4 starts of Murray and Gru down in CV to see who is looking stronger. With no cap pressure this year they could always bring Gru up and do the 3 goalie rotation.
In all do respect, I don’t think that is very bold. Almost probable after October.
I hope it is not bold – but for the past few seasons it was maddening to see Gru keep getting rolled out there no matter how bad his performance was and what it was doing to the overall team success. So I will remain skeptical of leadership’s approach because this has been their biggest and most constant failure for multiple seasons now. I hate to think this way because by all reports and observations he is a gem of a human who we all should be rooting for and at one point he was great.
Maybe we get lucky and all three play well giving us a ton of depth and security for inevitable injuries or just to split up condensed games because of the Olympics.
Factually until Joey proved himself last season, Gru was the best goalie on the team. Leadership also doesn’t have a say in which goalie is in net. That’s a coaching decision and no coach is making decisions that actively hurt their ability to win. You seem real angry and it seems mostly due to your ignorance
Seattle fans have so much to learn.
Ummm Joey was good 2 season ago too. And any goalie in the league was better than Grubauer was last year.
Yes Boist… you’re absolutely right. December 9th 2023 Gru went out with an injury an Joey has been outstanding ever since… but “Klamato” has been coming on here under different names and talking crap about “how much Seattle fans need to learn”. At first it was all about how bad Joey was and always out of position and it was the team in front of Grubauer that was the problem. When that was proven to be a bunch of nonsense… he kinda disappeared… but every now and then he comes back. I thought for a while it was Grubauer himself, but now I just think it’s a Gru fanboy. It’s kind of embarrassing… for everyone.
The approach was different last year because the team didn’t have someone like Murray sitting in CV. They got caught short on goaltenders ready to play in the NHL last season. Murray provides a lot more options and allows them to actually change the backup spot if Gru continues to struggle (which he probably will but, who knows, maybe this years will be better).
The approach was different because you had a coach that didn’t know how to manage goalies or play defense
If they finish with 85 points because they’re gaining points after the New Year against teams that pulled the parachute to pursue McKenna draft slots; end up with the 8th draft pick again; run out essentially the same core for the 4th straight season with more 33 year olds than ELC’s ; and don’t get decent value for the expiring contract players (or worse yet, resign more than 1 of them (Tolvanen)), then they haven’t had a “better” season.
It will be considered a disaster, maybe not locally but certainly nationally. Sets the team back 2 years
PS: 3 goalies when you have a certain #1 is ridiculous
I am not an RF defender by any stretch, but one thing he has done has been an active seller at the deadline when its clear they werent gonna make the post season. I think Oleksiak, Schwartz, and Marchment would all get strong returns based on their positions and style of play. I am hoping they extend Eeli this fall. He strikes me as being an underappreciated player maybe because of how chill/quiet he always seems to be. He is the perfect 3rd liner – still young and healthy, plays a pretty responsible D game, hits, blocks, and is able to slide up and down the lineup pretty well, while getting a decent number of goals/points.
With a CV roster loaded with prospects now, if we are out and sell I also hope we lean into the youth on callups unlike years past. Like Jugnauth/Nelson over Fleury, Molgaard over Stephens/Meyers, Melanson over Hayden.
I agree with your take on the disaster nationally… but the team you’re describing sounds a lot like the Ducks of last season and folks seem to be pretty excited about them. They were 13th in the Conference on New Year’s day behind the Kraken, but managed 46 points in 46 games from there to leapfrog Seattle and finish with 80 points. They traded away only Dumoulin for a second at the deadline even though they have more 33 year olds than ELCs… and during the off-season they added a couple more 33+ year olds.
I’m not sure if Seattle could catch Chicago or San Jose in a tank this next season as long as they have Joey in net, so that would be chasing an 11.5% chance at No.3 for McKenna.
I do agree though… 85 would be disappointing. I’m not interested in tanking, but I’d hate to see them pass on moving guys out for assets at the deadline because they think they can make the playoffs… and then they miss.
Anaheim had 5 players on ELCs last year, mostly starters supported by the vets. The opposite of how Seattle operated. As a team they have surpassed the Kraken mostly because they’ve emphasized their youth. Hopefully Seattle bounces ahead by next year
…and they now have eight skaters 31 or older. They ended up four points ahead of Seattle but had a -42 goal differential as opposed to -18. Their youth led a team that was 30th in the league in scoring and no team gave up more shot attempts against. It seems to me it was Dostal (.903) and Gibson (.912) that carried that team.
It’s fascinating watching the discourse here. We haven’t had the same lineup the last four years. Not even at the top. Most of those players you’re whining about at also expiring this season. Who gives a shit what national media thinks? They don’t pay any attention to this team and are honestly less informed than half the people on Reddit game day threads.
Doesn’t set them back at all.
Multiple veteran contracts come off the books after this season (with the cap sharply rising the next two seasons). A Gru buyout is even easier next offseason (even though I woulda pulled the trigger last summer), and the prospects inch another year closer to being NHL ready (including the goaltending depth, which is starting to look pretty nice). It’s not a disaster.
Definitely watching the bottom 6 forwards this week.
I continue to be unimpressed with Winterton. Hasn’t generated enough scoring to belong in the top 6, not physical enough or strong enough defensively for the bottom 6. On the other hand, he hasn’t drawn dumbass penalties.
Hayden just can’t seem to find that line between physical and stupid. Standing up for a teammate and drawing 2 minutes for roughing is one thing. Spending essentially an entire period in the box is another.
Kartye had gotten good minutes so far, including special teams minutes, but he’s also played in the “b-squad games” so that time may have been due to the lack of depth in those games. I’d say he’s also the most risky to try to push through waivers – the others (Hayden, Meyers, Stephens) all went through the up/down cycle multiple times last season, but the team going down the conditioning route last season indicates that they may have been concerned about another team picking him up off waivers.
I’m also concerned about if McCann is really going to be ready to start the season or if it’s going to be similar to last season with Vince Dunn, who was very clearly not in playing form during camp and very quickly ended up IR.
Adding in the McCann factor, I’d lean towards Grubauer or Murray starting down in CV, Catton, Nyman, Kartye and Hayden making the roster, then making a longer-term decision on the goalie count after Catton gets his 9 games in…with an outside chance of Grubauer or Murray staying down in CV and taking advantage of Kokko being exempt from waivers and using him as a taxi-style #3.
Lambert actually praised Hayden’s penalty. I am not one to support senseless runs at people, but Hayden’s was justified and him spending all that time in the box is meaningless. It only meaningfully affected the team for 4 minutes.
I’d like Kokko to stay in CV and have Murray or Gru actually provide solid backup. They’re both capable of it especially with an actual defense structure in front of them.
I have posted these 10 thoughts a few days ago on a different thread before the cuts and yesterday’s game.
1. Murray should be the NHL backup while Grubauer is Kokko’s backup in CV. Signing Murray could be the best of the summer moves.
2. Nyman can score in many ways, belying the PR he was just a heavy shot.
3. Jugnauth continues his recent trend of over-performing expectations. I wonder if he sees any NHL time this season.
4. Still adamant that Catton needs to be in Seattle, not Spokane, this season, learning and adapting.
5. Firkus is a difficult guy to get a read on whether he has NHL sticking potential.
6. Fleury is definitively an AHL D.
7. Evans seems up and down night to night.
8. Melanson and Hayden take too many stupid penalties.
9. Like to see Dragicevic, Hammell, Price, and OFM in the next two games.
10. Are Meyers, Stephens, Morrison, and Winterton full-time NHLers?
Will update a bit. First, have to say that RB and TotemforLife seem to be the most consistently insightful posters on this site, as I usually find myself nodding when reading what they write. Foist, Boist and Nino too and Daryl when he is humble. 😉
Yes, Grubauer must go down but you do not want him eating into Kokko’s starts, so Laxdal will have a situation there. If Murray holds up injury wise this season, the PG buyout has to happen next summer.
With the injuries to Stephenson, Kakko, and McCann, last night’s Fs will likely be the opening night roster (unless Stephens for Meyers) plus Schwartz and Eberle. That is 14 Fs. When McCann and Stephenson return, maybe Winterton/OFM and Stephens/Meyers go down. That puts OFM/Winterton and Hayden on the NHL roster until Kakko returns. Don’t think the bottom two lines look particularly attractive at this time.
With the injuries to Montour and now Dunn, there are only 7 healthy D (Evans, Oleksiak, Mahura, Lindgren, Larsson, Fleury, Ottavainen). Like to see Ottavainen tomorrow instead of Fleury. Assume both of those two go down when Montour and Dunn are fully healthy. D will look OK then.
The idea that McCann displaces Catton, I don’t know. Catton was the most dynamic Kraken F last night and maybe he is a key to unlocking Beniers. Burying him on 3L wing seems like a waste. I would rather they moved Nyman down to 3L and have McCann switch wings to RW.
Hoping Wright starts to turn it up a notch when he gets Schwartz and Eberle back as his wingers. If he does not break out this year, forget the season. So much of the Kraken future is tied up in him becoming a top-two C.
I have to say I am surprised, given the injuries and the lack of dynamic talent on this roster, that the Kraken have not gone after any of the NHL waiver cuts yet. Have no one particularly in mind but there has to be at least one name out there who could bring more offense.