The Kraken just played their best four games of the season. They’re sitting third in the Pacific Division and only three points back of the division‑leading Vegas Golden Knights.
I mentioned last week that they should target three out of a possible six points to stay in the mix. Well, they got all six, and the last game served as a bit of an exclamation point with a 3–2 regulation win over Vegas. Head coach Lane Lambert often talks about “playing the right way,” and they did it in spades this week. It was the most consistent stretch of full 60‑minute efforts we’ve seen in any three‑game span this season. They started strong and had complete buy‑in up and down the lineup.
The games against the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday and Thursday were stress‑free wins. They held two‑goal leads for long stretches, and neither opponent could muster much offense. The Kraken caught both teams at particularly vulnerable times, as they’ve been sliding down the standings, but it was still nice to see Seattle take care of business, something that hasn’t always been guaranteed in the past.
The 2025–26 Kraken have put together a longer winning streak this season, but these last four games are the best they’ve looked. They’re scoring at a respectable rate while also playing their suffocating defensive structure, paired with the steady goaltending they’ve had all year. You can chalk the Capitals and Maple Leafs games up to weakened opponents (both teams looked bad), but you can’t deny how good the Kraken looked against Vegas.
The Kraken are scoring. What?!?
After the first two months of the season, I expected the only way this team would win was by grinding out low‑event hockey games. We knew Lambert was defensive‑minded, and if that was the path to winning, I could live with it. On top of that, the Kraken dealt with several injuries in the first half, including multiple IR stints for Jared McCann, their leading scorer in three of the last four seasons.
McCann’s return was the shot in the arm they needed. He has 11 goals in 19 games since coming off IR in late December, tied for sixth in the league over that span. Matty Beniers is also on a heater with 10 goals in January, a number McCann matched one game later. Beyond those two, Berkly Catton chipped in five goals, and Jordan Eberle added five of his own during the month.
The ageless wonder of Jordan Eberle
Speaking of scoring, you could make a case that Jordan Eberle has been the team’s most valuable player this season. He’s been a steady contributor while others have missed time, and he’s on pace for one of his best goal‑producing seasons since 2015–16. That’s not bad for a 35‑year‑old winger coming off a brutal injury last season.
It will be interesting to see if the Kraken try to sign him to an extension before the trade deadline or take their chances on him re-signing before free agency. From everything I gather, he and his family enjoy Seattle, but you have to imagine he wants a real shot at a Stanley Cup before he retires.
Strength of schedule remaining
Several people sent me The Athletic’s “strength of schedule remaining,” which shows the Kraken with the hardest schedule in the league. I understand how the calculation works, but it feels a little flawed and not very translatable in layman’s terms. The metric hinges on a “Projected Net Rating” based on a bottom‑up model of individual player contributions.
I’m not saying the model is bad or that the Kraken don’t have a tough road ahead, but I will point out that Dom’s current model projects the Kraken to finish with 80.8 points — which would require a .354 points percentage the rest of the way. Models are inherently wrong; the question is simply how wrong they end up being.
As an alternative, I offer my own “Strength of Remaining Opponents,” which simply averages each opponent’s points percentage. Averages can be weak when outliers skew the numbers, so I added categories to illustrate the distribution of the strength of the opponents:
- Top: > .600
- High‑mid: .600–.550
- Mid‑low: .550–.500
- Low: < .500
By this measure, the Kraken have a relatively manageable schedule remaining, but compared to their Pacific Division counterparts, theirs is still tougher. It’s not a perfect method, and I’m not sure one exists, but we’ll revisit it as the season progresses.
Other musings
- Regardless of what happens in the final two games before the break, Kraken fans should be thrilled with where the team sits. Last season, on Feb. 2, 2025, they were 10 points back of the last wild‑card spot.
- Among Pacific Division teams, the Kraken have the second‑best record within the division and have wins against every divisional opponent.
- Jared McCann scored his 200th career NHL goal on Saturday against Vegas. Given how good he’s been since joining Seattle, 200 feels low, but that’s because he’s essentially doubled his career goal total in roughly the same number of games he played elsewhere.
- If there’s one area of concern right now, it’s the penalty kill. The Kraken have allowed at least one power‑play goal in seven straight games. Their PK sits at 73.1 percent over that stretch, which is near the bottom of the league.
- Tuesday’s win over Toronto was the Kraken’s first ever against the Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena.
- Across the entire 2025–26 season, the Kraken have led by two or more goals for 310 minutes. 76 of those minutes came in the last three games; the other 234 came in the previous 51.
- The Kraken are second in points percentage in games against Pacific Division opponents and have two more divisional games before the break.
- The Seattle Torrent’s Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter have been named captain and alternate captain, respectively, for the USA Olympic team.
Goal of the week
I love this goal so much…
Player performance
Joey Daccord (SEA) – Posted a .933 save percentage in two of the Kraken wins this week.
Jared McCann (SEA) – Four goals and three assists in three games and named the NHL’s First Star of the Week.
Semyon Vyazovoi (YUL/SEA) – The Kraken’s sixth-round selection from the 2021 NHL Draft had three wins and a .943 save percentage for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL.
The week ahead
Only two games remain before the Olympic break, and both are massive. On Tuesday, the Kraken face the Anaheim Ducks, who are tied with them in points. On Wednesday, they play the Los Angeles Kings, who sit one point back. These aren’t must‑win games, but getting at least two points would be ideal — three (or four) would be huge and would lock Seattle solidly into a playoff spot heading into the break.
It wasn’t long ago that the Kraken were embarrassed by the Ducks for two periods in Seattle. I’m eager to see what kind of response we get, especially considering how well they’ve started games lately and how much more control they’ve shown. The Ducks have won eight of their last 10 and have figured out how to defend.
Meanwhile, the Kings return home after a 4‑1‑1 road trip. Hopefully they’re already mentally on break, but that might be wishful thinking.
And finally…
I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: fans should be happy with where the Kraken are right now. The early‑season winning might have been a bit of smoke and mirrors while they dealt with injuries, but the play in January might be who this team really is — and that should be enough to get them into the playoffs. Regardless of what happens before the break, I’m feeling pretty good about this group. Of course, two wins would make the next three weeks a whole lot more enjoyable.
This team is arriving where things were heading all along. The plan has always been to first establish a system playing “the right way” defensively. While the pundits and even some Seattle fans were bemoaning “boring hockey”, the guys were getting points and gaining the trust in each other and confidence to get more aggressive offensively. Additionally, injuries were keeping the team from achieving the full offensive potential and the right line chemistries, but the team hung in there playing their “boring” brand of hockey. In fact, when they slipped a bit from the boring hockey in an attempt to get more offense, they started losing games, and had to re-establish the defensive focus. Now the team is well positioned to play meaningful games after the Olympics and down the stretch, finally with the players, lines and depth intended from the beginning. In addition, we’re finally getting the level of goaltending we expected since Season One and never got.
The only real hiccup in all of this was signing Marchment and insisting on playing him despite a series of horrible performances and frankly, completely disrupting potentially better line combinations. Once that mistake was recognized and fixed, this team got right back on track.
Go Kraken!
This year there are so many story lines to be optimistic about and some things that give hope for the future. It is great to see McCann/Matty/Eberle forming a potent 1st line that is producing points like you hope for with a true top line. Especially with Matty and McCann both being point per game players right now. They also continue to be sharp and responsible in the d-zone when matched up against other teams best lines. Their play also is carrying over to the PP which for the first time ever is looking dangerous with crisp puck movement and getting multiple good looks almost every time we are up a man.
With Joey bouncing back after a little mid-season struggle they once again have one of the best goal tending tandems in the league, which is amazing to think about considering almost everyone was begging for Gru to be bought out over the summer. Considering his reputation as a person and teammate he was a guy we all were rooting for, so it is awesome that he has become the player we thought we had signed.
I think having Kartye and Melanson out there the next few games (I would be shocked if Catton comes back before the Olympic break) will be great to set a physical tone and bring some life into the team as they play human wrecking balls out there on the forecheck. Especially against the Ducks who we played so flat footed against last game.
“I’m not saying the model is bad…”
I’ll say it, the model is bad. Dom doesn’t know how to quantify defense – which isn’t just a him problem – and he doesn’t account for situationallity.
The defense and usage problem is something Luszczyszyn is familiar with because his model had Moritz Seider with the absolute worst defensive rating in the NHL a couple seasons ago. Detroit fans – the folks who actually watch the games – excoriated him for this. So much so that he actually dug into his model and realized it wasn’t properly accounting for his usage. Folks familiar with the Chandler Stephenson debate might recognize some of Dom’s sentiments here.
As for the situationallity. According to Hockey Reference the Kraken are 19-10-5 when they get outshot and 6-8-2 when they outshoot the opposition. Not only do they get outshot a lot, they win more when they do. Score effect is the most obvious explanation, but for Dom’s model – which is obviously heavily reliant on xGF/xGF% – this means even when they win, they lose.
There’s a ton of SOS rankings out there. PowerRankingGuru does a composite ranking by “aggregating computer rankings from around the web”. They have Seattle with the 14th most difficult remaining schedule. Tankathon calculates the combined points percentage of a teams remaining opponents. They have Seattle with the 23rd most difficult remaining schedule. Dom bases his off of his model. None of these is “bulletproof”, but if you had to say which one is broken? I think it’s pretty obvious.
It really is ok to say Dom’s model is shit.
Dom’s model is shit.
such shit…
I’d like to make a nomination for the dumbest posting of the week. This from Nick Kypreos’ Trade Board 3.0 at Sportsnet.
“While trade conversations with the Kraken might start with Wright, they could turn to Beniers as well if Seattle can get its much-needed scoring upgrade that way. But a team would need to pay for his upside, which has not yet fully surfaced. It would be tough to move him and Beniers isn’t the most likely player to be traded off this roster. He’s on this list because if the return is a franchise-changing blockbuster for the Kraken, they’ll consider it. I’m not sure if GM Jason Botterill is ready for that, but teams will try.”
I think this demonstrates a profound ignorance of the organization, unfortunately, that seldom stands in the way of this sort of “pot stirring” nonsense.
Yes, Seattle should be listening on every player. No, Beniers should not be on anyone’s trade board.
Special thanks to Daryl W for defending the Kraken here, as well as on The Athletic. We see you Daryl!!!
Also, anyone posting here going to the STH Watch party tomorrow at KCI?
Fake news