The Seattle Kraken fell 2-1 in a shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday night. Seattle carried the play most of the game, outshooting Calgary 36-21. The Kraken outshot the Flames in every period, including overtime, but eventually lost in the fourth round of the shootout, when Matvei Gridin scored the winner.
Flames goaltender and Calder Trophy finalist Dustin Wolf stole the show with a .972 save percentage. Seattle generated 3.8 expected goals for, which usually leads to a win. If this had been the regular season, the Kraken at least would have earned a point. It’s not the result they wanted, but the important thing is it’s still preseason, and none of it matters.
Takeaway #1: Berkly Catton scores his first Kraken goal
The 2024 No. 8 pick flashed his offensive skill and led all Kraken skaters with five shots on goal. He buried a rebound in the second period for his first NHL preseason goal and Seattle’s lone tally.
Catton looked more confident with the puck and worked well cycling with linemates. He also led Kraken forwards with three blocked shots. His night wasn’t flawless, but it stood out as his best preseason performance yet.
Takeaway #2: Hopefully Dunn is not done
Vince Dunn has a history with Calgary’s Martin Pospisil, who was suspended in 2023-24 for a dangerous hit on Dunn. For a preseason contest, this game turned physical, with scrums closing both the first and second periods.
In the second, Pospisil caught Dunn with a high stick. Dunn exchanged words while heading to the box and was assessed a minor for roughing. Pospisil received two minors for high-sticking and roughing. Tempers were rising, and it looked like more was coming, but before his penalty expired, Dunn headed to the dressing room and did not return to the game.
It’s unclear what Dunn’s injury might be. He took the high stick and, just seconds earlier, had blocked a shot that caused him to grimace. After the game, coach Lane Lambert said Dunn was being evaluated.
Seattle already has a growing injury list, and Dunn’s absence would be another significant setback. The Kraken cannot afford to lose him for any significant period.
Takeaway #3: Gruuuuu looked sharp
Philipp Grubauer was tested early when Calgary forward Matt Coronato broke free for a wrist shot on the game’s first chance. The German Gentleman turned it aside and cleared the rebound, preventing Seattle from falling behind early. The Kraken responded with 17 first-period shots.
Goaltenders often say seeing pucks early helps them settle in. Grubauer was sharp from the start and finished with a .952 save percentage. This loss wasn’t on him, and Seattle will hope his strong play carries into the regular season.
Strong performance, but no result
The Kraken played a physical, structured game, and on most nights would have come away with the win. In the NHL, though, all teams can win on any given night.
The forward lines looked steady, with Mason Marchment, Shane Wright, and Eeli Tolvanen standing out as a potential regular-season trio.
Seattle closes the preseason Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers in a matchup expected to feature a roster closer to resembling the Opening Night lineup.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
I think the Catton debate is over. There is no doubt that he improves the offensive capabilities of the line he is on, especially if his linemates have a modicum of offensive talent. It is just best he learns hands on how to be effective in the NHL this season.
Typical Grubauer, He shows up when there is a challenge (playoffs, position is threatened, playing internationally). I would not trust him to keep it up through the slog of the season. I think that debate is over as well, you have to send him down and not take the chance on losing MM.
Nyman did not seem so effective to me last night, so if/when McCann returns, think a line of Catton-Beniers-McCann is a better idea. Drop Nyman to 2L with Wright to see how those two do together along with Eberle. That is a serviceable top 6 for now, will show a lot about how the future goes.
What is leftover for the other two lines will really show Lambert’s chops. Maybe Marchment-Stephenson-Schwartz as an experienced 3L?
And a 4L of Gaudreau, Tolvanen, and maybe Kartye?
Maybe Nyman drops to 3L and Schwartz moves to 2L.
Hope there are no more injuries in the immediate future.
Why would you put one of your few 20-goal scorers (Tolvanen) onto the fourth line? Admittedly the pickings were slim last night but the fact they rolled him out on the PP and OT last night indicates to me the team rightfully thinks differently. He was also really strong at worlds and played himself into the conversation for Finland’s Olympic team.
Nyman took his last shift about halfway through the third last night…has anyone heard why?
Who would you demote to 4L of Beniers, Catton, McCann, Schwartz, Wright, Eberle, Nyman, Stephenson, and Marchment? And that is before Kakko returns and makes the problem harder.
So, you’re saying it’s a problem when you can’t figure out how to make a crappy “4th line”? That’s an actual problem these days, is it? Not, “wow, we actually managed to get a bunch of decent players and we’re still under the cap.”
What an inane comment. Too much caffeine this morning?
The lines are what they are but the 4L typically sees less ice time and serves a slightly different role than the top-9. Until Kakko returns (and maybe McCann and Stephenson), it will likely be populated by tweeners who get less ice.
If you are so strong in believing 4L is equal to the other lines, do you put it out on power plays? Do you play Nyman or Catton on the 4L?
Maybe, if no players are injured and matchups are clicking, the four lines can get more equal time. Then there would be an expectation of somewhat equal goal production. Are you calling for that to occur?
What were you saying about humility?
Coach Lambert said in the postgame presser he felt the line wasn’t generating enough net-front presence, so he moved Winterton into that spot.
I wouldn’t read too much into it, there was only 2 shifts after the switch was made and neither player played in overtime. It effectively moved Nyman to the 4th line and Stephens and Mølgaard did not play a shift either.
Thank you for the update! That game was so physical that I was worried he had been added to the body count.
Not a fan of the shoot out. Maybe because the Kraken have never been that good at winning them.
Rather see the OT be extended a couple minutes. If no team scores both teams get a single point.
Please join my crusade to replace the shootout with Backup Goalie Sumo. It’s essentially the inflatable suit sumo they do with fans at intermission, but with the backup goalies wearing their goalie gear (yes on gloves and blockers, no on sticks, and curling shoes instead of skates). First one to push/bump the other out of the circle at center ice wins!
Gaudreau was easily the best Kraken last night. He was a sharp pass distributor, won faceoffs, was very vocal on the ice, went to the net with and without the puck. It will be unfortunate if they insist on making him play a “4C” role with marginal talent like Hayden and Kartye.
On that note, you have to throw out the silly concept of lines 1-4 (where 1 is your “stars” and 4 is basically a lame filler line with 3 underpaid players). If Kakko were healthy and Catton and Nyman made the team, the “4th line” would probably be Marchment, Gaudreau, and Tolvanen. A bunch of people would whine about how our 4th line is “too expensive!” Just get over it and accept a hockey team that can roll four decent lines! With injuries, maybe we find ourselves with a bubble 4th line that may or may not be NHL caliber, which is unfortunate.
Other takeaways.
Tolvanen has looked very average in the preseason, at best. Hopefully he elevates his game.
As expected, Catton can easily play on the wing with Matty. Can already see the potential chemistry.
Gru always needs to earn his role…every night. This has been the biggest folly from Season 1, when Driedger was basically benched all season for no reason.
Ryker did not play well last night. He looked like he took two steps back.
Its hard to speculate without knowing more details, but one would hope that Stephenson’s injury might keep him in a more limited role to start as the 4C allowing Gaudreau to play the 3C. If things start that way and are going well….. maybe the coaching staff decides to keep things that way.
One can hope.
Not sure why would be hoping the worst of the two centers is further up the lineup.
I know “it’s only preseason blah blah blah”, but when I look at the TOI numbers, so far I’m seeing a distribution of playing times that is much more even through the lines a la season 2 vs last years more traditional tapering down of playing time by line. I think from a conventional strategy/matchup perspective there are some specific characteristics of different lines that are difficult to make a total departure from the 1-4 model. For example, they needed that super physical “third” line last night to match up against Posposil and his goons or Anaheim’s Gudas line, Washington’s Wilson line etc.
However, with the personnel Seattle has, I think there still better built for the 2 second lines + 2 third lines that they kind of had in season 2 (though I think they’re looking more like 4 third lines right now which is probably not a recipe for success).
I’ve also seen much much better management of player deployment coming out of the PP and PK. Last season, they’d send a guy out onto special teams and it would take multiple shifts to get that line back together if they ever did. Or 2 guys from a line would go out on special teams and the third guy would end up sitting for extended periods of time. So far, lines seem to go back together within a shift and the odd man out players are being used more effectively to fill in the holes while the special teams group recovers.
I feel like a few of those boys need practice on their SO attempts. Geez… Yay for Gaudreau! Super fun watching him dance around. I’d really like to see Murray play, I guess I’ve missed his preseason showing. I’m excited for this season. It seems like the guys that are down due to injury can be creatively covered by the roster. Maybe I’m just an optimist. Go Kraken!
My thought regarding last night’s game is how typically “Krakenesque” it was. They work hard, carry the play, and create a bunch of decent (but not high danger) scoring opportunities. Their efforts finally pay off with Catton’s goal. Minutes later Josh Mahura has full view of Gridin but inexplicably lets Gridin behind him for a breakaway goal. How often did we see defensive brain farts like this last year? LL built his reputation as a defensive coach; if he can eliminate most of these lapses that alone could be worth a few points in the standings.
Fourth line? Anything possible, but I can’t see ET in that role. If he plays a top six role I see him as the team’s X-factor. To that point the KHN crew highlighted ET’s production last season and suggested he could be a 30-goal scorer IF he had more PP opportunities (only two of his goals last season were on the PP). I agree. We need an ET “mini” breakout and continued improvement by SW and MB. If this happens the Kraken have an outside chance at a playoff spot.
I don’t get the Jani hype. I made a point to follow him away from the play. During O >D transitions in offensive end, he’d lean too far forward trying to keep his edges while executing a tight turn and slipped as he attempted a strong first/second step to get back in the play defensively (the “beer league stumble”). He’s a poor skater, which will lead to a lot of odd man rushes in situations like this. He doesn’t seem to engage in physical play – which means teams will inevitably go after him. Right now, he’s still a one-trick pony – a John Daly off the first tee kind-of-guy. Let’s hope he improves and starts out fast, but if he struggles, I could see him back at CV working on his game (once the forward group is full strength).
Given the promising group of prospects currently at CV, I see a FlowTV subscription in my future. I was intrigued by the brief cameos from Jugnauth, OFM, Jacob Melanson, and Ville Ottavainen. I want to see Rehkopf and Ty Nelson play live for the first time. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this franchise.
Neat trick for Mahura to do since he was a scratch last night. Pretty sure it was Fleury that lost him. 🙂 But I agree with the comment.
Stand corrected yes it was Fleury (ugh).
I’m in on the Nyman hype. I don’t disagree with your observations – the skating has always been the issue – but the one trick is a big one. While I wouldn’t argue that he doesn’t engage in physical play it’s been my observation he’s hard to knock off the puck. His ability to score goals has been well established and while it’s a whole other game at the NHL level, he has already been playing – and scoring – against men for more than three years. Given the game he’s going to be asked to play, I think that’s significant.
The main reason I’m in on the hype though is because I think his addition is more than just singular to him. So far this team has only really ever had McCann as a shooter and teams could just sit on him, especially on the power play. I think he can translate to more of a threat at five-on-five as well. I wish he was a better skater, but I think he could be along the lines of Patrik Laine only without the attitude. That’s a player I’d be excited about.
But I could also see him back in Coachella.
Your’re right. He (currently) has one trick – but its a helluva of trick :). And he is HUGE and difficult to knock off the puck.
As you’ve pointed out above Patrik Laine would be a good comp to shoot for. Jani himself has said that he patterns his game after Mikko Rantanen. Initially the knock on MR (if I recall correctly) was his skating wasn’t great. MR’s one season in the AHL was eerily similiar to Jani’s, his rookie year in Colorado was soled (38 points in 75 games) and after that he exploded. Pretty aggressive trajectory to replicate, but if JN really works on his weaknesses there’s no reason he can’t become a quintissential power forward – just might take a couple of years.
Rantanen was exactly the guy I was thinking of with that same knock on him… but I didn’t want to sound like I was saying he’s the next Rantanen… but yeah, poor skating isn’t a death sentence. Hopefully he can work on it without it cutting into his scoring.
Given Jessica’s skating coaching ability he may even be better placed to progress with the Kraken than back in CV. A solid season under her should help a heap
Generally not a big proponent of goons but can we get someone to play Shorey’s set the tone speech in the locker room before the next time we play the Flames. Even my kid was asking if someone was gonna make #76 fight.
What you probably didn’t see on tv was that the officials were putting in a ton of concerted effort to keep Posposil away from the Kraken players during breaks in play. Even before the fight with Dunn.
When he was on the ice at the same time as Hayden in particular, when play stopped there was at least one and oftentimes 2 officials shadowing Hayden and putting themselves between him and the Flames players.
There were also multiple conversations happening between the officials and the coaches and players on the bench after shifts when those lines were out.
Martin Pospisil.
Victimized Vince Dunn in March of 2024. Elbow to head on Josh Morrissey of Jets a month later in April. Elbowed both Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar the head in December 2024 (same game). Does same thing to Taylor Hall in the next game vs. Blackhawks 3 weeks later (January 2025). He still routinely hands out the elbows to the head. His only suspension so far was for the Dunn hit. Not exactly the repentant sort. And on and on. (Sidenote: In 2019 while playing in USHL he pushed a referee and had to be restrained from going after a fan in the stands).
It’s one thing for the NHL to have created the asinine “instigator penalty”, which effectively gives assholes like MP carte blanche to target and injure star players without consequence, but the DoPS compounds the problem by refusing to hand out lengthy suspensions. If the DoPS was serious about preventing these injuries (while keeping the instigator penalty) the best way to accomplish this is suspending the offending player until the injured player returns. MP basically ended Vince Dunn’s season, so suspend MP for the season. At least then punishment would fit the crime.
I wish Gary Bettman and his confederacy of dunces would recognize this. If they really want to understand why the instigator penalty is counterproductive, they should watch the documentary “Ice Guardians.” Then maybe they’d understand why the “enforcer” is needed.
…and the guy has had multiple concussions from the fights his cheap shots initiated so now he refuses to fight… but continues to throw cheap shots.
That guy’s a total ass-hat.