The Seattle Kraken practiced at Kraken Community Iceplex on Tuesday for the first time since embarking on a four-game road trip in which they went 2-1-1, but fumbled a golden opportunity to sweep a back-to-back, losing 1-0 in a shootout to the Islanders to close out the trip on Sunday.
Lots of meaty topics in this Kraken Notebook, including a conversation with Joey Daccord about how he and Philipp Grubauer have been playing lately, some feelings of gratitude from Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, an encouraging update on Jared McCann, and more.
Enjoy!
Joey Daccord feeling good about his game
It’s a rare thing for a goalie to earn a 34-save shutout and still come away with a loss.
“The only other one I can remember [like that in my career] is the Calder Cup Finals against Hershey,” Joey Daccord said, referencing a 30-save performance that he had for the Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2023. “We lost 1-0 in overtime, so it technically was a shutout, but we ended up losing. So, it doesn’t really count, but that’s the only one I can think of that was 0-0 that we lost.”
Daccord was red-hot in the contest against the Islanders but came up a shootout goal short of victory in the goalie duel against David Rittich, closing out a week of solid goaltending between himself and batterymate (and birthday boy) Philipp Grubauer.
“Some nights the puck bounces your way, and some nights it doesn’t,” Daccord said. “And that was one of the nights where it was about halfway through the game, and I was like, ‘I think the puck’s bouncing both goalies’ way tonight.’ And I was like, ‘I think it’s going to be hard to score a goal tonight.’”
Daccord also spoke glowingly of the performances Grubauer has had in his last two outings, winning 4-1 against San Jose in relief of an injured Matt Murray on Nov. 15, and then 3-2 in overtime on Saturday against the Penguins.
“He was unreal against Pittsburgh. It was so fun to watch,” Daccord said. “I mean, even that overtime, he had three or four monster saves. And then we go down and get one shot and score. I was like, ‘That’s hockey!’ He definitely stole us two points that night.
“And that San Jose game, where he came in in relief of Murr, it’s tough to go in and be that sharp. Me and Murr were watching on TV for that one, underneath in the locker room. And all we were saying was, when you come in like that, you just want to get a couple shots right away, a couple D-zone shifts, so you can just get into the game. He made a couple of monster stops right away. That first shift, they got hemmed in for like, two minutes, and he made a few saves. And we were like, ‘Alright, he’s good.’”
Indeed, even with Murray on the shelf, Kraken goaltending is in a pretty nice groove right now.
It’s funny how this three-goalie system has worked out so far. People thought the Kraken were crazy when they didn’t buy out Grubauer and also added Murray, but Murray and Grubauer got Seattle through an injury to Daccord, and now the Daccord/Grubauer combo has been lights out with Murray on the shelf. Maybe there’s something to this three-goalie system after all…
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard enjoying the ride
It was great catching up with Fisker Mølgaard, who was called up last week and has played two games for the Kraken. The 20-year-old Danish forward is as nice as they come in the sport, and you can tell he’s really enjoying the opportunity to spend some time in the NHL.
“It’s almost hard to explain,” Mølgaard said. “It’s a dream come true, and just being a part of this every day and learning from all the other guys… It’s a great experience. So, I’m happy to be here.”
Fisker Mølgaard said the first person he called when he got the news that he was heading to the show was his dad, who was on his way home from work in Denmark when he received the call.
“I know he was super proud,” Fisker Mølgaard said. “He said he almost shed a tear, and that doesn’t happen that often. So it was a special moment for all of us.”
How long Fisker Mølgaard sticks around remains to be seen. There’s a chance he goes back to Coachella Valley as soon as Wednesday, depending on what happens with Jared McCann (more on that in a bit).
Offensive struggles persisting
The Kraken were never expected to be an offensive juggernaut this season, but if they were going to be a playoff contender—as they appear to be—then it would have been reasonable to anticipate middle-of-the-league scoring. Instead, they’ve found success in spite of an inept offense that ranks among the worst teams in the league with 57 goals for (30th in the NHL) and 2.59 goals per game (29th).
The players recognize that the lack of offensive production is a problem, and so does the coaching staff. Lane Lambert largely attributes the struggles to passing up shots, but he and the team know it’s more nuanced than that.
“I mean, definitely one part of it is passing up on shots,” Matty Beniers said. “If you’ve got an opportunity to shoot, and that’s the best play there is, you’ve got to shoot the puck, and you’ve got to get it on net.”
Lambert sees a team that is consistently looking for “something better” but believes there’s value in getting pucks to the goalie, even if it isn’t a Grade A chance.
“There’s also the philosophy that shots create shots in terms of rebounds,” Lambert said. “There’s A chances, B chances, and C chances, and C chances or C shots can create an A chance off a rebound.”
Beniers agreed with this line of thinking.
“It’s not just shot attempts, but also getting them through and on net, sort of for rebounds or chaos or backdoor plays,” Beniers said.
From the backend, Ryker Evans sees an opportunity for the defense to help drive more offense and create more opportunities for the forwards too, but says there’s also a need for more movement in the offensive zone.
“Shooting-wise, in a sense, it’s just being a bit more selfish and shooting the puck instead of trying to pass it into the net,” Evans said. “Offensive-wise, I mean, it’s there. At times, we’ve got good net-front presence, so as a D, you’ve just got to get the puck to the net. And I think just doing a little bit more motion from other guys, and maybe get a high F3 and just— I think the biggest thing is just finding the lanes and getting the puck to the net.”
Jared McCann should help
The players and the coach seem to be on the same page in terms of their strategy for getting out of this offensive rut, but there’s also the question of personnel. The Kraken do not have many goal scorers on their roster, and their most reliable shooter—Jared McCann—has missed 17 games with a lower-body injury.
There’s good news on that front, though: it looks like he could be in the lineup for the game Wednesday against the Dallas Stars. Lambert wouldn’t confirm this to be the case, and McCann is still listed on injured reserve.
But he was on a regular line Tuesday with Berkly Catton and Shane Wright, and he also manned the right half wall on the power play. When a player is included in the power play at practice, he typically plays the next game, so this is a very encouraging sign.
“He’s a goal scorer, and, I mean, he’s a big part of this team, so having him back in the lineup would be huge,” Evans said. “And he’s just going to do what he does and put pucks in the net.”
Added Beniers: “That’s always a boost [to get McCann back]. I mean, the guy shoots the puck from everywhere. That’ll help for sure; he’s obviously a shooter, he’s one of our main shooters, so he’ll help a lot.”
Here’s how the Kraken lined up at practice:
Mason Marchment // Jordan Eberle // Matty Beniers
Jaden Schwartz // Chandler Stephenson // Eeli Tolvanen
Jared McCann // Berkly Catton // Shane Wright
Tye Kartye // Freddy Gaudreau // Ryan Winterton
Jani Nyman // Oscar Fisker Mølgaard
Vince Dunn // Adam Larsson
Ryan Lindgren // Brandon Montour
Ryker Evans // Jamie Oleksiak
Cale Fleury // Josh Mahura
If McCann is activated from IR, Seattle will have to make a roster move to make space for him. That likely means one of Nyman, Fisker Mølgaard, or Cale Fleury goes to Coachella Valley.
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.
Grade A reporting, Darren!
Funny how everyone is just dancing around the real reason why we aren’t getting shots. Darren have you or any of the other reporters directly asked LL what influence his system has on our low shot rates? I mean just shooting the puck isn’t the answer, it’s really about creating opportunities where we should be shooting the puck. When you play that defensive you just aren’t going to get that many chances, it’s really very simple but you guys just seem to be avoiding the difficult questions.
Oddly feisty. That’s not a difficult question, there’s just not much of a point in asking a defense-first coach why his team is playing defense so much. The questions have been shaped to understand how they can create offense within that system. The defensive style is working, but they also need to score. Thanks for reading, I guess.
Sorry didn’t mean to be feisty, I was just curious if that road has been taken. We all know why we’re not getting shots but we keep pretending that it’s the players fault. It should be recognized for what it is.
They have been winning games so the system is working to a certain level although I don’t feel it’s sustainable if our goaltending cools off but it’s working so far. Only time will tell regarding that.
One thing I can say about LL is that he has been getting more consistent play out of our players. Oleksiak has looked much better, Chandler looks like a different player, Evans has taken a big step, karts has become a key player in a key role. He hasn’t gotten offensive production out of players but the 200 foot game is improved throughout many of our players. I’d obviously like to see him let the players be a little more more offensive.
What exactly is the scheme that is being criticized here? Every team, when in the offensive zone deploys a high defenseman whose job is to stay above the highest opposing forward. Because teams that rely on transition to drive their offensive production have gotten really clever lately about both disguising which forward is the transition threat and by sending two at once, Lambert’s what we call “defensive scheme” is to have the second defenseman stay high as well, only pinching when opposing forwards are occupied low, usually in an attempt to win a board battle with numbers. As we have seen, this plays hell with teams that run a so-called modern offense that relies on transition. Looking at you Vegas. So what then is the actual difference between Lane Lambert’s system in the offensive zone and, say, Bruce Cassidy’s? The difference is that Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, and Ryker Evans will stick close to the blue line when the puck is low and only occasionally step up to either help a forward win a board battle or provide an outlet passing opportunity, and then only after ensuring that no opposing forward is trying to break high. Note that a forward may take the place of a defenseman along the blue line when that defenseman jumps in.
Okay, that is the “defensive scheme.” What does that do to stymie shot totals? Most obviously, it would make board battles harder to win. With the forwards essentially on islands against defending players, they have to play the hero to get the puck out of there and into a dangerous area. Stop right there. What is the team win rate on board battles. Are they getting the puck into the offensive zone only to turn it right back over? I don’t have any numbers, but it does not look like it. Instead, it looks like forwards are winning puck battles in spite of the lack of support from defensemen. That is one of those impressive things about this team that folks often miss.
Offensive zone possession time has been good, but that may point to another scheme issue, namely that the puck may get stuck for extended periods along the boards. If there is a valid criticism of the scheme relating to shot totals, this is it. If the puck is on the wall, then it isn’t going to the net, but it also is not going anywhere else. It stays right there until someone pops it out and either gets the play restarted or turns it back the other way. In effect, the inordinate amount of time spent in board battles is reducing shot totals both ways simultaneously. The only way that it would be reducing relative shot volume (costing more Kraken shots than opposing shots) would be if Kraken forwards were winning board battle at a significantly higher rate than their opponents, a tough thing to do without a pinching defenseman.
So, unless there is some other aspect to the scheme that I have not considered, if the scheme does limit Kraken shots, then it limits opposing shots in equal measure. Why, then, are the Kraken not shooting more? Maybe the coach is right. Let us not forget that we have data and games we have watched from previous seasons which predate Lambert’s arrival. I think it is safe to say that we have identified players’ tendencies when handling the puck, and there has always been a reluctance among several players to shoot when a passing option is perceived. God, I remember folks laying into Alex Wennberg over that. It certainly would follow that guys’ tendencies have not changed much in the past couple years. I can imagine that having frustrated Hakstol and Bylsma as much as it does Lambert. It is a lot easier to believe than the notion that the dearth of shots is a scheme issue when we know what the scheme is.
Lambert is looking for very safe plays in the O zone. You’re correct that the system relies heavily on the boards and winning battles in safe areas.
Our offensive zone entry is most often a one on one battle to get into the zone unless there is significant space and opportunity to send three players. Usually having F2 hanging back and F3 basically acting as a 3rd defender.
This in its self lowers our offense not even taking into account how our system inside the o zone plays out.
Inside the zone as you said the boards are being heavily used and our offensive is very safe. We are giving the defensive a lot of time to get set up in their defensive positions.
Every team in the NHL wants to play solid defense but you rarely see teams go to the extent of the LL system and there is a good reason for it, it makes for very boring games and fans get frustrated very quickly when you aren’t winning. We are winning enough so far but it’s mostly of of above average tending.
Have you listened to or watched any of Lambert’s press videos for the past several weeks? He’s been saying ad naseum that he wants the team to shoot more.
Yesterday’s post-practice video had someone ask specifically about the “a bad shot is nothing but a turnover” philosophy and Lambert did not agree – he wants to see what opportunities are going to be created from those shots, even when they’re not perfect.
That said, in the Islanders game in particular, I didn’t see Seattle getting many shooting opportunities, good, bad or otherwise – the time they spent in the offensive zone had a lot of pressure and a lot of time on the wall. There really weren’t a lot of chances to establish control long enough to get a shot in.
(Finally, fairly off topic but somewhat related to the pressers – I love whomever on the equipment staff has taken the numbered off-ice gear – hats, sweatshirts, etc – and used what appears to be an upside-down pair of 1’s for LL on Lambert’s stuff in place of the player numbers.
He has an old outdated coaching philosophy if he thinks we just need to shoot more, Eddie O and LL should go get drinks.
It’s been well established that quality over quantity is the needed to score in today’s NHL. The goalies have gotten so good scoring isn’t as easy as it once was. If you have net front pressing or a good screen then it’s a quality opportunity. Just shooting the puck with no screen etc isn’t going to improve anything other than possibly your shots on goal stat but even that’s debatable because it probably eliminated a potential better chance that could have developed.
Now, I will say that zone entries appear to be successful far more often this year than they were in years past, and I am not sure how zone entries would affect shot volume–shot quality certainly. In effect, the zone entry scheme would seem to trade shots off the rush for a better chance at controlled entry. That is a fine trade to make when you do not have an Evgeny Malkin and a Sidney Crosby who are especially dangerous on the rush, but you do have a Jaden Schwartz and a Jordan Eberle who like to hack and whack at rebounds. The rush chances are more dangerous, except for when play in front of the net turns into the hockey equivalent of a tip drill. They just need some rebounds and deflections to make it work. But, again, that has more to do with shot quality than shot quantity.
I would note an unrelated advantage to having the F3 high: it absolutely kills an opponent’s transition game and half the time turns their transition right back the other way. Take for example Mason Marchment’s comical goal. He coughed the puck up at the blue line, but the guy who stole it had nowhere to go with it immediately afterward which allowed Marchment to yoink it right back like it ain’t no thang.
This season, the old school Barry Trotz-inspired system is slaying the transition driven scheme that currently dominates the league, and the Kraken are not the only team doing it now. The guys who are playing a similar scheme to them are the ones who give the Kraken fits. The big test will be Colorado who still “have Cale Makar.” The Current Era system only really works against the old scheme when a team has a defenseman who can be that superman who jumps up at the right times and is good enough to recover when a turnover happens reliably. Given the resurgence of the old school this year, I don’t think that it is a coincidence that the Aves look so dominant, since they were really the team that ushered this era in in the first place.
In hockey schemes are cyclical. There is nothing new on the ice; it’s just old ideas coming back around as the hot new thing over and over. Everything that was shall be again in it’s time. The only difference is the players themselves. I think, philosophically, that is why it important to always tailor scheme to the players rather than trying to get the right players to run a scheme. They are that real-world base upon which ideas must stand.
Thank you, Darren. Great update.
Speaking of Joey’s shutout loss, we need to start with a change where after 3 on 3, if the game is still tied, both teams just get a point. It’s a tie. It’s ridiculous to end a great game on a stupid shootout. It dilutes the game.
Then it should eventually shift to 1 point for each team after a regulation tie.
People call it a “loser point”. It’s actually not a loser point. It’s a point for a tie, and the other team gets this weird extra point that shouldn’t exist. Why does the total amount of available points for the game change from 2 to 3? There should always be the same number of points available for every game. It also makes it practically impossible for teams behind by a certain number of points to catch up late in the season, when other teams are getting this extra point for an overtime outside of regulation win. I’m not sure it makes much sense.
If you want to keep the 3 on 3, someone should do an analysis of what happens if available points change to 3 for a regulation win, 2 for a 3 on 3 OT winner and 1 for the 3 on 3 loser. Always the same available points for a game.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nhl-playoff-push-would-the-picture-change-in-a-3-2-1-system/
Thanks for digging up this story!
I guess there’s no easy solution to this.
Still I don’t mind the 3 on 3 just hate the shootout.
You’re telling me there’s a chance…
A Kraken win and a regulation loss by the Ducks tonight and Seattle would be No.1 in the Pacific on Thanksgiving Day!
Go Kraken!!!
Oh, you got me scoreboard watching now. Let’s go!
My random question I would like to ask players is, when they have to watch the game on the TV rather than play, do they watch with the game commentary on or off? Of course if they are in a situation where they can control the volume.
I watch it with it on, it’s hard to see exactly who’s on the ice etc. commentary helps the TV game a lot, and it can be entertaining. When your playing or watching a live game you can see the whole ice and the plays developing and it’s a much different experience.
McCann is back for tonight’s game!
Go Kraken!!!