Surely, the Seattle Kraken would find a way to defeat the Nashville Predators this time, right? Considering the situation entering the game—with the Kraken barely grasping the last wild-card spot and holding a two-point lead over these same Preds, who overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat Seattle just nine days prior—there was just no way the Kraken could lose this one.
But lose it they did.
It wasn’t because they didn’t try hard. They tried. Coach Lane Lambert was complimentary of the effort, in fact. It wasn’t because they didn’t stick to their structure. They defended well in a lot of ways. The Kraken lost, and have continued to lose this month, because they simply don’t have a talented enough group to elevate their game when it matters most. They can’t score when they need a goal, and with their lack of offensive prowess comes close losses to teams they can beat and drubbings by the league’s upper echelon.
Instead, the Predators again rose to the occasion more than the Kraken, drew level in the standings, and knocked Seattle back out of the playoff picture.
Ryan Ufko—who now has two career NHL goals, both against the Kraken—scored first. Freddy Gaudreau tied it, but then a power-play goal by Ryan O’Reilly in the second and an empty-netter from Filip Forsberg were all Nashville needed against Seattle’s paltry offense.
Here are Three Takeaways from an infuriating 3-1 Kraken loss to the Predators in a critical, must-win game.
Takeaway 1: Not good enough
With this latest loss to the Predators, the Kraken—who entered the Olympic break in third place in the Pacific Division and seemed to be riding high toward their second playoff berth in franchise history—have sunk to 4-8-0 in 12 games since returning to action on Feb. 25. Of those four wins, two have come against the last-place-in-the-entire-NHL Vancouver Canucks.
So what’s the problem? Why can’t they start rattling off wins and taking advantage of the fact that they “control their own destiny,” as Lambert has said?
Plain and simple, this team just doesn’t have the players. Sure, there are guys who can put the puck in the net here and there, and Bobby McMann has been a nice addition so far in that area. And when they’re at their best and staying within Lambert’s system, they’re a staunch defensive unit that can steal wins. But if they aren’t at their best, they seem to have no chance—and this team has not been at its best since January.
The lack of top-end players who can generate goals when the Kraken desperately need them—even against what figures to be a non-playoff team like the Predators (well, they were a non-playoff team until they had the good fortune of facing the Kraken twice in nine days)—has plagued this franchise since Day 1.
They must play borderline perfect hockey to win, and now that teams are playing with more emotion and desperation, Seattle’s imperfections are being magnified even more.
By the way, Nashville had its starting goalie get injured in morning skate and was forced to turn to Justus Annunen at the last second. So with their season effectively on the line, what did the Kraken do? They scored one goal against the Nashville backup with a .894 save percentage.
Takeaway 2: Freddy gets off the schneid
This game brought one (1) moment of joy, when Chandler Stephenson set up Freddy Gaudreau for a beautiful goal. It was Gaudreau’s first since Jan. 5, snapping a 25-game goalless drought.
It was a slick play, too. Gaudreau fought his way into the offensive zone and dropped the puck off at the blue line to Kaapo Kakko, then drove to the net. Kakko passed to Stephenson in the left circle. Stephenson delayed, drew two defenders toward him, then threaded the needle back to Gaudreau, who had an open net.
It was a rare glimpse of creativity that tied the game 1-1 at 18:40 of the first period and gave Seattle fans hope that the Kraken could come up with a desperately needed win. That hope was dashed when the Kraken took two penalties in quick succession in the second.
The Gaudreau goal was a nice moment for good guy Freddy, but one goal is not enough to win in the NHL.
Takeaway 3: Rest of division also stinks
What continues to be maddening about this slide is that if the Kraken had just taken a couple more of these winnable games, they’d be in a prime playoff position. But they keep losing and making fans tear their hair out.
Maybe there is something in the universe keeping this team alive, though, because the Pacific Division continues to stink and keep Seattle on life support.
On a night when the Kraken lost their “must-win” game in Nashville, the Vegas Golden Knights lost 4-0 to Utah, the San Jose Sharks lost 5-0 to Buffalo, and the Edmonton Oilers lost 4-0 to the Florida Panthers.
THE KRAKEN PRODUCED MORE OFFENSE THAN THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS, SHARKS, AND OILERS COMBINED?!
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers, so Seattle fell one point out of the playoff bubble.
It is still possible that the Kraken could get hot and win the division. That’s insane. How are they even in the playoff conversation at this point?
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.
How are they even in the playoff contention at this point… well said Darren.
The talking heads after the game were pointing to the system they are playing and how it’s hard to create offense at the click of a button, they pointed to a more aggressive defensive system in the defensive zone could create more chances going the other direction if they want to stay within their “structure” and still create offense.
I’ve pointed to the passive defensive system and the passive offensive system all season, it’s so hard to win games if you let the other team control the puck. You need stellar goaltending and we almost had it tonight but it wasn’t enough.
This is a difficult situation to the kraken, they have been coached all season to sit on their thumbs but obviously you can’t do that when games become crucial. A team needs to be able to play a puck possession game and not allowing it most of the season then needing it is kinda a problem.
Darren you are completely correct this team isn’t good enough, I’d ask you who is to blame. Is it coaching or management or both?
This was a 4 point game that we couldn’t make a game after dropping another 4 point game to the same team (who’s not a good team) last week. Clearly we are not where we need to be.
Great analysis, Nino. One thing you aren’t asking, because you probably didn’t even watch the game, is why is Lambert calling a timeout with 30 seconds left when we’re down 3-1? If you had an acute hockey mind, as you pretend to, you might be asking this.
Why not call the timeout with 5 mins left, when you are only down 2-1?
Yes I watched the game, I’m not sure why it’s relevant if LL called a timeout with 30 seconds left or he didn’t, at least not to my post?
The game was obviously lost at that point it’s nothing stacked on top of nothing.
Nino, re: who’s to blame, I have a hard time “blaming” Lane, maybe because I like the guy, but I think more so because he has delivered exactly what the FO wanted. He communicates well, holds the team accountable, and his structure—boring as it may be—at least makes them competitive most games. He’s the right coach for the group, but the group isn’t right. If they let down for even 10 minutes in a game, they don’t have guys who can step up and overcome that. So when the group isn’t right and hasn’t been for five years, whose fault is that?
Well said Darren.
I’m with Darren. His article totally nailed it. It’s not the coach. It’s the lack of speed and skill in the players.
If we were wondering where this team was at this stretch makes it crystal clear. They have a great chance to stake their claim and have lost to bad teams repeatedly.
Blame is the wrong word but what’s wrong. Yes the players are not there but it’s the lack of plan that bothers me. Nothing against McMann, he’s done all he can but was he going to make a real difference? Was throwing good young players and absurd money at Panerin the way forward?
If anyone can explain to me what ownership and management is trying to do I’d appreciate it. Lambert is a symptom not the problem.
The fundamental issue seems to be that this FO/ownership is trying too hard to be competitive way before their competitive window opens. As a result, right now they’re in an awkward stage where their young players are too young / not good enough, and their older players are decent enough to prevent a total tank job, but on the wrong side of the curve. When the young players get good (hopefully), the older players will either be in steeper decline or gone, and they’ll likely stay in the mushy middle. Lambert, like was said on this thread, is a coach who squeezes more wins out of a low-talent roster, which of course should not be the goal — it should be to get more talent. The Stephenson/Montour signings were another symptom of this — the (very questionable) timing of the signings suggests that the FO wants to win now, despite the obviously insufficient roster.
Though I’d be much happier with their direction if they had a top 5 pick in this draft, at least the Kraken didn’t trade away any of their 1st round picks at the deadline. I was honestly terrified of that possibility.
Cook, Darren, cook! I am also skeptical about the rest of the season after losing to St. Louis and Nashville twice.
They’re also missing two top line guys. We really miss Schwartz whenever he’s out and having other people take Tolvy’s PK spot doesn’t help.
The problem is that Schwartz and Tolvy are 2 of our top line guys.
The good news is that the Kraken have a top ten draft pick right now. And a bottom ten first round pick as well.
Kraken go!
The bad news is some anonymous clown thinks going by “Daryl V” is clever.
Is it possible that it’s their name? Probably not but maybe.
As a “Daryl” I can say not only is the name uncommon, the spelling is even more so. Add in the “V” as half a “W”… I’m not a smart man, but I’m not a moron either. Someone thinks they’re being clever.
I don’t expect folks to use their real identity, but I’m not a fan of posters constantly changing their names so they can just spit out whatever. I’m also not a fan of folks who pick an identity that mocks or mirrors someone else’s. I think it’s juvenile and disrespectful – a couple qualities I myself have been guilty of – but I’m trying Nino… I’m trying.
Agree and the go kraken is also something I should have picked up on as well.
You really should let this go. I have no idea if you are correct or not. I’m not judging your perspective at all. Assuming you are correct, you’re making it very easy for him to get under your skin.
@deepest34a2f6030d… I think you’re absolutely right and I’ve had my say. Whoever that is can respond as they see fit… but yes, moving on.
On your question of what is ownership and management trying to do. I’ve tried to offer an assumption of what that might be several times, but I can also understand how folks might find it less than satisfying. I do think it’s hard to believe they are operating without any sort of strategic guidelines, but I also believe that’s exactly what a lot of folks think.
Honestly, this is a perfect question for the Patreon Mailbag, unfortunately, that just happened so it’ll have to wait. John, Darren and Curtis are, to me, the best qualified folks to actually answer that question. I also feel, however, – and I’m not putting you in this category – most people who ask that question aren’t really interested in an answer and are instead simply expressing that they believe there is no plan, and by extension management is incompetent. That may be, but to me, it’s not that difficult to see if you accept there are limitations to what they can do. I think between the pod and the mailbag the guys talked around the fringes of it, but I think a specific conversation might be what’s needed.
We only lost 2-1 after playing a Tuesday game, travel across the country and time zones, etc. I’m ok with it. Great to see Freddy bury one!
3-1 with the empty netter?
Darren is finally seeing the light! I was also nodding along with his take on the pod, and with Curtis when he said that the Lightning pass the way the Kraken think they pass. John didn’t get it somehow, but seemingly 10 times a game, the Kraken try a cross ice pass that gets easily intercepted. They’re just way too predictable and not skilled enough.
The only thing I’ll add is that the style Lambert has them playing suppresses offense for both teams, so even if the offensive talent was better, i don’t think he’d be the coach to get it out of them.
Everyone be nicer, please.
No kidding. Some of the “regulars” in here might be a bit “irregular”. Try more fiber in your diet folks. Maybe it’ll help you be less sh**y here and be more so someplace more appropriate. Good grief.
I don’t know if this team making or not making the playoffs will tell us anything we don’t already know. We don’t have the chops to take it to the next level and stay there with consistency and seem to rely on “perfection” to win in a league where a simple puck bounce here and there spells victory or shame. We won’t be able to look to the free agent market for help this off-season because there aren’t many UFAs to choose from plus every team will have cap space. We’ll need to make trades and some aggressive ones to really improve this team. There are maybe 3 players one could consider untouchable but I think the rest should be up for grabs in an effort to get at least 1 difference maker. Can this front office pull it off? Them dumping Marchment somewhat quickly was a promising sign but then trading for a UFA was a bit baffling unless there’s some knowledge that McMann is very interested in staying. Last thing, who’s the voice in the locker room? Seriously. Who’s the guy going around telling his teammates to quit f-ing around and play like their careers depended on it? We’re on our 3rd coach in 5 years and there’s a trend where they can’t seem to get “it” (focus, fire, effort, ect) out of the players with any sort of consistency. Lane ain’t going anywhere so the change needs to be in the locker room.
I’d argue that, if they make changes to management as I could see them doing then LL would most likely be going on his way as well. Our new front office would probably want to install a coach that fits their mindset. It’s very common for a complete reset when major changes are made.
I’d like to add that all of this was obvious at the trade deadline when instead of acknowledging the reality of their situation they stood pat, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. I often think how it took Lou Pinella and Ken Griffey Jr. to finally put the Mariners on the map. The Kraken need their Lou and Ken. Its past time to think about the future.
Agreed, I don’t mind the addition of McMann but let’s try to build a roster and move the parts that are redundant. We could have easily traded two middle lineup players kept Kartye and added McMann as well as walked away with a second round pick. Seems like we don’t have the vision to build a competitive roster and all our efforts seem to go into adding more depth and adding depth to the depth.
The issue here is you think a second round pick actually benefits this team. Hell I’d argue the first don’t either as they’ll be later firsts (you’d in theory be trading to a contender). We have a ton of those picks both in our system and still coming. Why do you think they’ll be any better than the players we have no that are up and coming (hint: they won’t)?
Every pick matters because it’s a trading chip or it’s a lottery ticket. There are tons of 2nd round picks and beyond that have become huge assets in the NHL. Chances are obviously slim but if we’re comparing nothing to possibly something it’s a no brainer. Not saying that we should have sold every asset we had but we definitely should have focused on a roster moving forward and sold what was redundant.
It’s not nothing or tiny chance at something with something in 5 years (neither of which help this team). Instead, It’s a real chance at the playoffs which is also good for the development of our team or a tiny chance at something in 5 years. We already have more trade assets than we can actually trade. Selling for the sake of selling when you’re solidly in a playoff spot is idiotic and ironically what people like you have suggested literally every year. There also weren’t roster changing forwards out there to be had. You keep ignoring that fact
Have you watched this team play? We’re not a playoff team we have only gotten to where we are but goalies stealing games, pull your head out of the sand.
5 years comes pretty quick and btw we want to be a good team in 5 years it’s obvious that it’s not about today…. Going back to have you seen this team play.
What I’m saying is we gave away karts so we could keep a player we’re going to be parting ways with in another 10 games. Very similar to Geekie, this team is not good a roster management. We absolutely should have moved a player or two and if we did it would not have affected our playoff chances. We have parts we don’t need.
If your suggestion was they should have sold everything to rebuild, then you’re just wrong here. They also didn’t just cross their fingers. In a FA period where no one loved, they went out and got a goal scorer who’s already proven their worth. I can’t think of any other player that moved that we’d have wanted and the insiders have mentioned how unwilling everyone was to move the big names. So I pose the question do you… what exactly did you expect to happen that didn’t?
I expected that they would look a the roster for next season and determine who they wanted moving forward. If they had a player that had value that they had no intention of keeping past this season then move on. We know that we’re too full up the middle and it would not hurt our team to thin what needs to be thinned.
Right so you don’t actually understand what happens at the trade deadline.
I’m not sure how you would or can make that assessment
Glass half full – I thought last night was one of Wright’s best performances. Instead of flashes he appeared to be consistently aggressive and making good reads. Not sure if having McCann on his wing helped, but shuffling of the topline has proven to be pretty effective – admittedly on a small sample size. So it makes me wonder if we need to shake things up a bit with others like if putting Catton back with Stephenson and a line of Wright/Kakko/McCann would unlock something for them. I also wonder how Nyman would do on a line with Stephenson and Kakko because both seem to be pass first guys who are good with puck control.
Also trying to not view the sky as falling because after using some AI to see the record when Joey/Gru give up 2 goals or fewer:
“Through March 20 of the 2025–2026 season, the Kraken have a total of 31 wins. 26 of those 31 wins have come in games where their goalies allowed 2 or fewer goals (excluding empty-netters and shootout game-winners). Overall, the Kraken’s record when their goalies hit this benchmark is an excellent 26-3-3.” That is a 86% points percentage so last night is an outlier for a low scoring game. Higher scoring games on the other hand we rarely win because as we all know it is rare for the team score in bunches.
I’m curious how does last night’s game fit into this stat. Joey gave up two goals but the final score was three on the board, would last night’s game be a two or less game or is it the final score that we’re using.
Yes its 2 or fewer goals given up by the goalies – excludes the empty netters so last night would count in that record.
After listening to the SOH pod and the SOH Patreon mailbag I listened to the Athletic Hockey Show Prospects Series pod today. They revisited the 2017 draft and it’s kinda fascinating. Three players that come up are Ron Francis picks from the Canes: Necas (No.12), Luostarinen (No.42 and a draft plus one), Geekie (No.67). As brilliant as they are in Carolina, since firing Francis: Necas forced his way out, they didn’t protect Geekie, and they traded Luostarinen for three seasons of Trocheck who walked for nothing – and they’ve been looking for center help ever since. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
At least in Geekie’s case, Geekie wasn’t today’s Geekie. Hindsight bias is a hell of a thing but his contract speaks volumes. A player who anyone projected was going to be that good at scoring both wouldn’t have taken that contract and there’d have been enough interest that Boston wouldn’t have been able to offer him that little and sign him. Geekie, Donato and McCann are all good examples of players needing time to develop into their best form (to varying degrees of success). People forget that even our oldest prospects are under 24.
I was furious about the geekie situation at the time and even more furious when the player we picked over him was moved the following season. It was the beginning of my distrust in the RF vision. From what I saw in his final season with the kraken was a big body with skill that was just figuring out how to use his size to his advantage. We departed from him because we didn’t have room for him to move up the lineup only to trade his overage road block the next season. Have some fucking vision, the front office is playing one game at a time just trying to make the playoffs every season.
If you were furious over Geekie at the time, it wasn’t because there were any signs of a 30+ goal scorer. Literally no one in front offices around the league saw that. It’s cute you think he showed any of that. The player who replaced him is irrelevant. The reason we let him go was his arbitration rights potentially overvaluing him which the FO was proven correct when his actual contract with Boston got signed.
Koist your being absolutely obnoxious, whatever you have stuck up your ass you should pull out.
Did I say that I thought he’d be scoring 30 goals? What exactly did we do with all that money that would have been better than spending it on Geekie? Did Boston feel that signing Geekie was a waste of money?
I see the reality checks are starting to trigger you. The issues wasn’t the 2 million Geekie got. It was his arbitration rights which could have awarded him more in a year where we were going to be up against the cap. I hate to keep fact checking you but you really do seem to willfully ignore context in a lot of your comments. I won’t reply anymore since you you’ve now resorted to ad hominems. Cheers!
That’s completely rubbish, ask yourself why we were up against the cap with a sub par team with no star player. You have to do a better job with roster management and to use an excuse that we didn’t have cap room to keep a young player coming into his own makes zero sense. But yeah I’m the one that doesn’t know what he’s talking about 😂
Exactly why I didn’t like trade links to Wright. He’s a really young guy on defense first team. It’s too early to push him elsewhere.
People who get bent out of shape about Wright trade seem to not understand what it takes to get a premium player. Everyone needs centers and ideally young centers. If you’re going to trade for a 30 goal scorer there’re going to want something high value in return. For the Kraken, in all likelihood, that means proven young players and that list really only consists of Wright. You have some trade sweetener value with players like Evans and the like, but any team trying to rebuild is going to want proven youth. Center is one position where we’re overloaded as well.
Koist,
You really are a piece of work. All of your posts are critical of the poster. Besides the inappropriateness of slamming those who comment, you act like you are some hockey genius, so please inform us of your bona fides.
How many years have you played non-beer league hockey? How many years have you been in professional hockey operations? What is/was your hockey management role?
Nothing I’ve said is inflammatory unlike your comment. I’m not a genius at all. Just followed the league a long time and seen a ton. Nothing I said above is wrong. Feel free to bring an actual argument against Shane being one of our best and disposable trade assets or maybe an actual legit trade proposal you would make (that a team would accept) for a 30 goal scorer.
It’s funny you want credentials when we’re all just fans talking hockey (including everyone on the pod). Have you asked them for their credentials?
I wait patiently for your actual argument instead of your ad hominems.
I feel like I need to mention that Boist is my brother and seat mate (the names are an old family joke) but neither of us has any affiliation to “Koist.” He can do what he wants with his name but regardless, everyone should chill out.