With the calendar year winding down, it felt like the perfect moment for a quick midseason check‑in on the 2025–26 Seattle Kraken. It’s been a wild couple of months with streaks, swings, and surprises, yet the Kraken somehow find themselves hovering right on the edge of the wild‑card race, depending on how you choose to sort the standings. So we gathered the Sound Of Hockey crew for another Kraken Roundtable to take stock of where things stand and where this season might be headed next.

What’s your overall perspective on how the team has performed so far this season?

John: It’s been okay. If you had told me before the season that they’d be floating around a wild‑card spot at this point, I would have taken that. The reason I say it’s only “okay,” though, is that they started the year relatively strong and raised expectations early.

Coming into the season, I just wanted to see competitive hockey, and they’ve delivered on that. They lead the league in one‑goal games and, with only a few exceptions, have had a legitimate shot at points almost every night. They’ve picked up wins against Vegas, Edmonton, Anaheim, and Los Angeles. One of their best performances of the year might have actually come in a loss to the league’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche.

And by the way, they’ve done all of this despite a glut of injuries to some of their top players. I’d really like to see how this team stacks up with a fully healthy roster.

Blaiz: Overall, I have been impressed with how the team has performed. When head coach Lane Lambert came in emphasizing improved defense, I wondered if it would turn into more of the same. From a standings perspective, the 1-9-1 stretch was rough, but many of those losses were competitive games where the Kraken came up short.

More recently, the Kraken have gone 4-0-1 and picked up nine of a possible 10 points. Even so, I thought they played stronger, more complete hockey during parts of Losing Streak Darren than in some of those wins. That gives me confidence the process is trending in the right direction, even when the results have not always followed.

Darren: I’d like to clarify that it was two separate named losing streaks, named by the National Losing Streak Service as Camille and Cynthia respectively. Never has the NLSS considered using “Darren.”

As for the Kraken, I too am in the “okay” territory, but man, if only they could have gotten a few more wins during that miserable stretch. Even if they had gone, say, 4-6-1 in those 11 games, they would be 19-11-7, good for 45 points and still second place in the Pacific Division.

That said, I’ve generally been very impressed with Lane Lambert and think he’s an excellent coach who tells it like it is. I am hopeful that the adversity of the losing stretch builds some character for the team and that the injury woes that have made things so much more difficult will be put to rest when Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour eventually return in January.

Curtis: I think the coaching staff has done a solid job implementing a system and instilling a play style that should keep the team competitive most nights—even as the team searches for consistent goal scoring. The staff has also shown a willingness and ability to adapt when the results haven’t been there, as exemplified by the changes to the penalty kill scheme.

On the player side, I’d say the goaltending has been better than I would have expected, the offseason skater additions have missed expectations as a group, the team’s young skaters have not yet taken a leap, and the veteran, incumbent skaters have been a little too injured to pick up all the slack. Night to night and week to week, the win-loss results have been a bit, let’s say, chaotic. On balance, though, the team is competitive around the mid-tier of a relatively weak Western Conference, which is about where I thought they would be.

From a team standpoint, what has been the biggest surprise positively or negatively of the season to this point?

Darren: I never expected the Kraken to score the lights out, but if I imagined them as a playoff contender coming into the season, it would have been with a few more goals going in. It’s bonkers how bad this team is at scoring–ranking 30th in the NHL at 2.57 goals for per game–and yet it still has a winning record and a pretty solid chance at clawing back into the postseason.

They’ve had a few guys get a little hotter lately, with Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen, and Chandler Stephenson all contributing. Hopefully Jared McCann can stay in the lineup as well, which should help on this front.

John: I’m really hoping, and fully expecting, that this will age poorly, but the penalty kill has been particularly ineffective so far this season. With the additions of Ryan Lindgren and Frederick Gaudreau, plus the defensive‑minded approach of Lane Lambert, we expected the PK to be one of the team’s strengths. That has not been the case. The Kraken currently rank 31st in penalty‑kill percentage at 71.4 percent.

There was an especially rough stretch in which they allowed seven power‑play goals on eight shorthanded opportunities across three games. That slump landed right in the middle of their first major tailspin of the season, a six‑game losing streak.

However… since that three‑game disaster, the penalty kill has actually been quite good. From that point forward, the Kraken have killed 85.7 percent of their shorthanded situations, the sixth‑best mark in the league since Dec. 7. Here is a look at how the penalty kill has performed over the season by looking at a five-game moving average.

Blaiz: Goaltending. It has not mattered who is in net, as the team in front of them is playing the same system. That consistency has allowed Philipp Grubauer to excel and arguably helped him post one of his strongest stretches in a Kraken uniform, posting a 6-3-1 record with a .917 save percentage.

Curtis: I agree that goaltending has been the biggest positive surprise, followed closely by solid success on the power play. The Kraken are 10th in the league in man-advantage conversion rate (20.7 percent). Improved tactics designed to pull defenses out of position and chemistry amongst the players has elevated an underskilled unit that has struggled to produce in the past.

What’s one area where you’d most like to see the Kraken improve?

John: Can I say health? I understand injuries are part of the game and every team has to deal with them, but the Kraken have been hit especially hard this season, and they just don’t have the depth to absorb those losses the way some other teams can. I’m dying to see how this group looks with a healthy lineup that includes Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz, Kaapo Kakko, Vince Dunn, and Brandon Montour.

Darren: That’s it. Health.

Blaiz: I’ll take the low-hanging fruit and agree with Darren’s “surprise” from the previous question, goal scoring. It is hard to win games if you do not get on the board. Since the 9-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 4, the Kraken have played 12 games and gone 5-6-1. In that span, every game has been decided by a single goal when excluding empty-net goals.

Scoring first has also mattered. Seattle scored first in eight of those 12 games and went 5-2-1. They are 0-4 when they fail to open the scoring. The games have been competitive, but a little more offense would go a long way toward turning close losses into wins.

Curtis: There is no easy answer to this one, but one area I’d be most pleased to see a second-half step would be offensive production from the team’s young trio of Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, and Berkly Catton. Between them they have only 10 goals in 98 games this season. Wright and Catton in particular seem to be fighting it when they have the puck in shooting positions.

Which player has surprised you the most this season — for better or for worse?

John: Unfortunately, Shane Wright hasn’t quite looked like the player we saw in the back half of last season. He was one of the guys I really expected to take a step this year, but he has just six goals through 37 games. Lately, he hasn’t looked like much of a threat.

Over the last two games, he’s been centering Berkly Catton and Jared McCann, a combination I like, but it will probably take some time for that line to build real chemistry.

Blaiz: ​​Eeli Tolvanen. He is tied for the team lead with 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) alongside Jordan Eberle. Some of that production has come as a result of injuries elsewhere in the lineup, but Tolvanen has made the most of the increased opportunity.

Over his first 10 games, Tolvanen averaged just under 15 minutes of ice time and produced 0.5 points per game. Over his most recent 10 games, his ice time has jumped to more than 19 minutes per game, and his production has climbed to 1.2 points per game. If that usage continues, he is on pace for a career-high 55 points.

Darren: Philipp Grubauer. I was fully on the buyout train over the summer and was shocked the team kept him around. Yet, I’ve eaten my words, because he’s been a massive part of the success the team has had this year and is putting up stellar numbers. He looks so confident and sharp every night, and we haven’t seen the questionable goals that plagued his first four seasons in Seattle.

Curtis: I’m with Darren on this one: Grubauer has been the biggest surprise for me. Pick whatever metric you want, the German netminder has completely re-written his story this season.

His .917 save percentage is, in some sense, a return to form. From the 2014-15 season through the 2020-21 season—his last before joining Seattle—Grubauer had a .916 save percentage or better every year. This is difficult to square with the player who never topped .900 in four seasons with Seattle. If Grubauer can keep this up, he’ll be a modest asset for the Kraken—whether on the ice or in a deal down the road.

Given how the Kraken are playing right now, how do you think they should approach the trade deadline: buy, sell, or stand pat? And why?

John: Stand pat. I’m not suggesting the team shouldn’t listen to any and all offers, but I do think there’s value in giving this group a real opportunity to make the playoffs. If they’re sitting right on the bubble at the deadline, they should hold steady.
However, if an opportunity arises to add a player like Jordan Kyrou, someone who fills a clear need and has meaningful term left on his contract, the Kraken should absolutely jump at it.

Blaiz: The Kraken are only two points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand. They are firmly in the hunt, but I do not think this is a team that should be buying rental players at the deadline or trading away it’s future. There is still a need to build and develop, and short-term moves do not align with that path.

I agree with John that if the right opportunity presents itself, they should explore it. For now, the best approach is to stand pat. Selling would signal giving up on a team that has a legitimate chance to make the playoffs, and I have never been a fan of tanking. If this group has a chance to get in, they should be given that chance.

Darren: I’m not a full-fledged buyer, but I also need the team to get better moving forward. So, I’m looking for hockey trades that bring back good offensive players with term on their contracts. If those deals don’t present themselves, then I agree to stand pat. Give them a chance to make a run if they’re still in the playoff mix, but there’s no reason to trade away prospects if a playoff appearance looks unlikely.

Curtis: For me, it’s a mixed approach. I agree with all that they should be looking for a “hockey trade” to bring in a player packing offensive punch who could be with the team for a while. If, as John posited, the Blues get motivated to deal Kyrou, I would want the Kraken to be in on that conversation.

On the other hand, I don’t think the team will be bringing back all of its expiring veterans (Jamie Oleksiak, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, and Eeli Tolvanen). I’d expect the team to engage with these players to see if relatively modest contract extensions are possible. If not, I think seller trades should be on the table even if the team remains competitive through the Olympics break.