It was a devastating week for the Kraken, yet remarkably, they remain in the playoff hunt, albeit hanging on the outside right now. This is uncharted territory for the franchise, which has never truly been in a nip‑and‑tuck race to get into the playoffs. In three of their four seasons, the Kraken were obvious sellers at the deadline and well out of the picture by March. The only exception was Season 2, when they maintained an eight‑point cushion and never really flirted with falling out.
That’s what makes this stretch so frustrating. The opportunity has been sitting right there, practically begging to be taken, because every other wild‑card hopeful has been stumbling too. Seattle, San Jose, and Los Angeles went a combined 1‑7‑2 last week. And the Pacific ineptitude doesn’t stop there: the teams holding the conference playoff spots went 4‑5‑1. It’s been a mess across the board, which only makes the Kraken’s skid feel that much worse. If Seattle had simply split their four games against Nashville and St. Louis, they’d be in a wild-card spot, two points behind Edmonton for third place in the division, and three points behind Vegas for second place with two games in hand on both those teams.
The Kraken aren’t playing poorly, but they’re also not elevating their game at a time when most of the league finds a way to do exactly that. Yes, two of their last three losses came against high‑caliber teams in Tampa Bay and the red‑hot Columbus Blue Jackets, but with a 4‑9‑0 record in 13 games since the Olympic break, that explanation doesn’t hold much weight anymore.
Ice‑cold scoring
The Kraken have averaged just 2.6 goals per game since the break, and even that number feels a bit inflated thanks to three games where they scored five or more goals. That’s good enough for 25th in the league since the break. They’ve scored more than two goals in only four of 13 games since returning. Their shooting percentage sits in the lower half of the league, and their shots on goal per game rank 26th. Shot quality hasn’t been terrible, their high‑danger and medium‑danger chances are only slightly below average, but the finishing simply isn’t there.
The OG: Adam Larsson
The Big Cat is set to play in his 1,000th NHL game on Tuesday as the Kraken take on the Florida Panthers. I’ll always have a soft spot for the players who chose to be here in that inaugural season. Larsson was technically an expansion pick from Edmonton, but he signed with Seattle during the exclusive expansion‑draft signing window, a subtle but meaningful distinction.
He’s been a perfect fit from Day 1: steady, reliable, and quietly one of the emotional anchors of the room. He’s not the guy in front of the camera, but he’s often the one facing the media after some of the toughest losses in franchise history. He also chose to sign an extension after the disappointing 2023–24 season, when it would’ve been easy to look elsewhere.
Larsson holds the franchise records for time on ice and games played, and he’s missed only one game in Kraken history — to be there for the birth of his first child. Stick taps for the Big Cat.
Other musings
- The fourth line had a rough night in Columbus. One of the primary jobs of a fourth line is simply not to get scored on, and they were on the ice for all three of Columbus’s first‑period goals. Plus/minus isn’t everything, but Jani Nyman is a minus‑five in just over 14 minutes of NHL ice time since being called up.
- One bright spot since the Olympic break: the penalty kill. The Kraken have killed 86 percent of their penalties, third‑best in the league over that span.
- It’s not saying much, but the Kraken are the best team in the Pacific when playing other Pacific teams. They have five divisional games left.
- I know it won’t be feasible for everyone, but seeing the Kraken play in Finland sounds like an incredible experience. Based on all the texts I’ve received since the announcement, I am not the only one who thinks so.
- Injuries are part of the game, but it really stings not having some of Seattle’s top forwards available. With so many close games, it’s not hard to imagine guys like Jaden Schwartz and (more recently) Jared McCann could have made a difference.
- Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers on winning the Women’s National Championship. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on women’s hockey, but I’ve casually watched for over a decade, and the skill level this weekend was unlike anything I’ve seen from the college game. The talent pool is deep and trending upward.
- On the NCAA men’s side, the Kraken will have three prospects in the 16‑team NCAA tournament: Clarke Caswell (Denver), Zaccharya Wisdom (Western Michigan), and Ollie Josephson (North Dakota). The tournament kicks off Thursday.
- I mentioned this on the most recent Sound Of Hockey Podcast, but the Seattle Torrent now average the highest attendance across the league. If you haven’t been to a game yet, check them out. Those games are a ton of fun.
Player performances
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard (CVF/SEA) – OFM posted two goals and three assists over two games for Coachella Valley, including the overtime winner.
Jake O’Brien (BFD/SEA) – O’Brien had eight points over the Brantford Bulldogs’ final two regular‑season games. He finished the year leading the OHL in assists and placed third in points. The Bulldogs open their playoffs Friday against the Sudbury Wolves.
Semyon Vyazovoi (SLA/SEA) – The Russian goaltending prospect closed out his KHL season with a 39‑save shutout. He finished fifth in the league in save percentage. The KHL playoffs begin this week.
The week ahead
I don’t say this lightly: this could be the nail‑in‑the‑coffin week for the Seattle Kraken. They have one of the toughest stretches on their schedule at the worst possible time. After having already lost at Nashville and Columbus, they’ll face Florida on Tuesday, Tampa Bay on Thursday, and then a Saturday matinee against world-beating Buffalo Sabres. Even Florida, who will be looking for payback after their embarrassing loss in Seattle last week, will be a tough out. There’s a chance Tampa Bay and Buffalo ease off the gas as they prepare for the playoffs, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The Kraken put themselves in this position by squandering opportunities over the last few weeks. Anything less than three points, which is a big ask, will likely push them out of realistic playoff contention.
Who has outplayed their contract under the Lambert system? Even the ELC guys aren’t bringing back much value, any extra of which is annihilated by using Stephenson for so many minutes a game.
The only player who has benefited from the risk averse , shot suppression (both offensive and defensive) is the backup goalie. Seems like a bad trade off..:.
I had the opportunity to go to the Islanders/Blue Jackets game on Long Island last night, and if I had any question about the state of the Pacific division, that game answered them.
Probably the best game I’ve been to all season with a very playoff-like feel. The fact that both the Islanders and Columbus are battling for playoff positions and in the East really underscores the difference between the conferences/divisions.
That game was the second half of a rare doubleheader day, with the Rangers playing early. Very cool to see the NHL debut for Dylan Garand, who played his juniors for Kamloops. Karts got (another) goal, but also his first roughing penalty for NY, which the fans loved.
Finally, I gotta say that the kids in Seattle could really learn some serious lessons in manners from the kids in NYC. There was a decent-sized group by the players exit after the game and those kids were POLITE! Addressed players as “Mr”, waited their turn without shoving, asked nicely for autographs and photos and said please and thank you. Very different from the behavior I’ve seen (from both kids and parents) at the Kraken practices.
I agree with your assessment on the fans. I’ve seen lots of greedy/selfish “fans” at practices and other events.
Watching a Sharks/Canadiens game a few weeks ago ruined the Kraken for me. Haven’t watched a whole Kraken game since. I feel like I should be invested in this playoff push but I honestly don’t care if they make it or not.
I’m thinking that LL is going to be another one and done coach for us. Hopefully some of the FO joins him this time.
I’ve been saying this for years. I came of age as a hockey fan with the Blackhawks in the 2010s (don’t hate me, Darren). I know what following an actually good hockey team is like. It doesn’t feel like a hope and a prayer every single night, that even though you know your team will probably get badly outplayed and outchanced, that you hope they’ll eke one out with good defense and goaltending. That’s actually how fans of bad teams think. The Kraken have been bad for 4 out of 5 years, and were only good that 1 year because they had an almost record setting shooting percentage (and it was awesome, don’t get me wrong). If Grubauer weren’t having a miraculous turnaround season, this would easily be a bottom 5 team, maybe even bottom 3. I don’t think Lambert is a problem, I think he’s a symptom of the problem, which is that the ownership/FO are pushing for wins way before the talent level indicates that they should.
I do wonder what a year 2 under Blysma would have looked like. What should Wright have looked like, what would Catton and Nyman look like if given the opportunity to play a free-er offensive style. Last year, if he had Ebs (missed 40 games) and Dunner (missed 20 games) for a full season, and Gru not on a historically bad year, we may have been in the same place as the Lane Train this year.
What I don’t get is “the system” is supposed to equal out games to reduce the impact of a more skilled opponent against our less skilled team. But it does seem that that is not working, especially of late. So does that mean that the system is not working, or does that mean that the system is not being executed properly. If its the later, how are we still not able to consistently execute the system after 69 games, a pre season and a full offseason; is that a failure by the coaching staff or the players? Ultimately is not it the coaching staff’s job to coach players to execute their system and game plan? If we have un-coachable players, what are we going to do about it? It seems there is a small core of overlap between all 3 coaches, and most are seemed to be regarded as our “best” players (Dunn, Schwartz, McCann, Ebs, Larsson, Matty and this seasons Gru)
It seems like to the system or something isn’t working. I’m no coach or GM but it seems like we need a shake up beyond McMann. I’d like to see Wright center between Catton and Nyman on a second line and let them play 16-18 minutes for the last 13 games. At least that way you have a good idea of what you have in house going to next year. I’d Also like to see Matty B, the defense first center take over Stephenson role on the PK as that seems like it should be his role next year.
Yes. And it’d also be interesting to ask, on games that it DID work, what made it so? Did they capture that info to duplicate it?
The “stars” on this team are not showing up this month. Eberle 0 goals, Beniers 6 pts, McCann 4. Meanwhile Kartye has 3 goals and 5 assists.
They should go down to the desert and ask if any of those boys want to go the Stanley Cup playoffs? The caveat that they have to come out swinging straight out of the gate and not stop for 60 minutes. If they can commit to that then they’re in. Just start sitting the NHL roster’d guys. This team does not want to go to post season and to be honest, do we? Spend a bunch of money to go to a game and watch them lose? I don’t know but each loss that goes by, the mystery grows. Kinda tired of it.
The patreon question about picking 5th vs making the playoffs is very plausible. We’re only 4 points in front of 5th and 6 points in front of 2OA. With 7 teams bunched up between 70-73 points, there’s high variance in possible outcomes.
Long story short, the best outcome is for the team to go on a long streak in one direction or the other.
We’re going in a direction
I can’t see any sensible reason why the kraken wouldn’t clear out the front office and finally give RF the boot. He’s had too many chances and to many coaches. 5 years is enough time to evaluate his performance. Please take LL with you RF we don’t need or want this hockey in Seattle.
I hear Kevyn Adams is available.
And I will select door number three
Feels like a missed opportunity more than anything. Seattle Kraken aren’t terrible, but they’re not stepping up when it actually matters, and in a messy wildcard race like this, that’s the difference.