Three Takeaways – “Unacceptable” performance by Kraken in 5-1 loss to Avalanche

If you put this 5-1 Seattle Kraken loss to the Colorado Avalanche in a vacuum, it’s fine. The Avs are the best team in the NHL, and a loss against them is completely understandable. But in the context of it being the Kraken’s fourth straight loss, following defeats in three far more winnable games against the St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, and Nashville Predators, at a time when the players should be desperately fighting for their playoff lives, this one feels like the bottom has fallen out on this organization.

With the loss, Seattle dropped out of a playoff position, falling a point behind the San Jose Sharks for the last wild card spot. The Kraken are now level in points with the Los Angeles Kings and the Predators in some kind of sad pillow fight between a bunch of teams that are refusing to win enough games to take control.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-1 Kraken loss to the Avalanche.

Takeaway 1: Terrible first period and “too much respect”

If Rodney Dangerfield were a hockey team, he would *not* be the Colorado Avalanche. Because it would be so weird for Rodney Dangerfield to say, “They’re giving me too much respect, I tell ya!”

Jokes aside, Lambert was furious with his hockey team after the game, indicating that the poor opening period was related to how good Seattle’s players expected Colorado’s players to perform.

“We’re probably showing them too much respect,” Lambert said. “I don’t necessarily know that it was a thing where, ‘Oh, gee, we’re not completely ready to go.’ We’re showing them too much respect. But they start rolling around in our zone, we have a system and a structure, and we just completely throw it down the drain. And they’re just making plays. It’s ridiculous.”

It really was a painful period to watch. Aside from Ryan Winterton missing the net on a rebound chance that should have been a goal, Seattle didn’t generate much of anything offensively, while Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas ran amok in the Kraken zone. Twice they connected on passes through the seam, and both times it resulted in goals—one for each player.

MacKinnon ended the night with four points (one goal, three assists), and Necas had a goal and an assist.

“It just seemed like every time [MacKinnon] got the puck, he knew where it was going, and he knew where the open man was, and a lot of times that was Marty with speed,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “They had good chemistry tonight.”

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1-0 Avs.

Martin Necas after a nifty pass by MacKinnon, and the home crowd goes wild… Oh wait, those are Avalanche fans. pic.twitter.com/fdtBy831b3

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 13, 2026

Seattle woke up and pushed in the second period, but after Ryker Evans scored a pretty shorthanded goal to get the Kraken within 3-1 at 13:36, you just knew the next goal would be Colorado’s. Indeed, Nazem Kadri scored his first goal since returning to the Avalanche following his trade from the Flames at 17:11, and from then on there was just no chance of the Kraken getting back in the game.

Takeaway 2: Another interesting goalie decision

I was surprised that Lambert turned back to Joey Daccord last game after he gave up seven goals against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, and I was even more surprised he tagged him again for this game instead of giving it to Grubauer to face his former team.

But Lambert also had a shorter hook in this one, smartly switching the netminders at the first intermission after Daccord had allowed three goals on 15 shots in that godforsaken first period.

“Let’s be clear, Joey played well last game,” Lambert said. “This was not any reflection on Joey tonight. Our team needed a wake-up call, so we put Grubi in, and we put him in in a tough spot—we were shorthanded when Grubi came in—and I thought he did a good job. We did a poor job tonight to clear the front of the net, they went to the net harder than we did, and things have to change if we’re planning on making the playoffs.”

The goalie choice probably didn’t matter in this game because the Kraken were dominated in the opening frame and hung Daccord out to dry. It’s still interesting that Lambert used Daccord in three straight games, though.

Takeaway 3: What is going on with Bobby McMann’s visa?

It is insane that Bobby McMann still has not made his debut for the Kraken. Six days have passed since his acquisition from Toronto in a deal made just under the wire of the NHL Trade Deadline last Friday.

Would McMann’s inclusion have meant a win against the Avalanche? Probably not. But he is a player who brings speed, energy, and (perhaps) a little jolt of positivity, and we saw what happened when Jacob Melanson first got inserted into the lineup earlier this season. So who knows what will happen when McMann finally plays?

Here’s what Lane Lambert said about the visa situation at morning skate on Thursday, when the team was still holding out some hope that it would go through in time for the game:

“As of right now, he’s not [cleared]. So it’s extremely disappointing right now, the uncertainty. We traded for him for a reason, to help our hockey club, and having him not be available to help our hockey team hurts our hockey team.”

Now, here are some excuses you may hear from the organization:

1. The deal was done on Friday, which meant the process couldn’t really begin until Monday due to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices being closed on the weekend.
2. McMann hasn’t played for a U.S.-based NHL team before (and apparently his time with the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder doesn’t seem to be helping him through this process).
3. The U.S. government doesn’t tend to work quickly.

While I’d love to blame the government, I’m having a hard time doing that in this case. Logan Stanley, who was seemingly in the same situation as McMann—a Canadian citizen who had never played for a U.S.-based team—has now played two games for the Buffalo Sabres since getting acquired from the Winnipeg Jets last Thursday. He first entered the Buffalo lineup on Tuesday, on the third full business day after the trade (Friday, Monday, Tuesday).

Even if you give the Kraken the benefit of the doubt and don’t count Friday—since the trade happened at 3 PM Eastern that day—we’re still four full business days removed from the McMann deal (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).

I asked Lambert after the Avalanche game (and after McMann was out of the lineup for the third time since being acquired) if he had any insight into what the actual holdup is.

“I do not,” Lambert said. “Good question, but I don’t.”

Regardless of whether the issue is government bureaucracy, organizational mismanagement, or a combination of the two, this situation is getting downright embarrassing for the Kraken.

And what happens if McMann isn’t cleared on Friday? In that case, are we to assume he’s ineligible for either of the two games this weekend against Vancouver and Florida because the USCIS offices are—again—closed on the weekend?