When the Stanley Cup Playoffs got underway this past weekend, the Seattle Kraken could only watch from afar (if they were watching at all… Matty Beniers said on Friday that he doesn’t like to watch because it’s salt in the wound). That’s because the Kraken came up short of the postseason for the fourth time in their five-year franchise history and were left to once again reflect on what went wrong.
Seattle had its locker clean out day on Friday, where an assortment of players and head coach Lane Lambert addressed the media and gave their thoughts on a myriad of subjects. They consistently expressed disappointment with how things ended up, especially considering the Kraken were in the thick of the playoff hunt heading into the Olympic break before stumbling to an atrocious 7-17-2 record down the stretch and nosediving out of contention.
“I mean, we failed. That’s just the reality of it,” Adam Larsson said. “We missed the playoffs for the third year in a row. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that went wrong. We were going through spurts in the season where some things would go wrong, and the next day it could be fixed. But overall, I know we took some strides, but we ultimately missed the goal here.”
Lambert—who looked visibly frustrated at different points in games for several weeks down the stretch—did remind us that there were positives to take away from this season.
“It’s fresh, and obviously disappointment would be a word that I would use,” Lambert said. “But then I would also have to look at the season as a whole and go back to what we talked about right at the very beginning, about being in the mix and playing meaningful games, which we were and we did. I think that’s going to be extremely important for helping the growth and development of our younger guys, and getting that experience and being able to do that was very important for us.”
Lambert is right. We were all hoping for meaningful games down the stretch, and Seattle did provide that. Still, it was infuriating to watch the team crumble in the last two months.
What fueled the collapse?
There was a lot of theorizing about what actually led to Seattle falling apart, and although nobody was able to specifically diagnose what happened, captain Jordan Eberle had some interesting commentary.
“For me, it’s trusting,” Eberle said. “It’s trusting that your game, in tight situations, whether you’re playing aggressively and having support, and trusting that you’re a five-man unit playing together that’s going to get the job done. I mean, I think later on, especially the last 10 games, we were dinged up pretty good with goals and odd-man rushes and breakaways, and that trust factor blew up. And our gaps got worse, and we gave teams time and space, and they took advantage… When your team’s playing as a five-man unit, you trust that the next guy is doing his job in front of you.”
It was a sound theory, but it also ties in with the mental flimsiness of the team, which in turn ties in with the culture of the locker room—all factors that I believe led to the losing.
Lambert agreed to some degree with Eberle’s interpretation of the poor late-season results, but added, “I thought our team was a little fragile at times. We run on confidence, as do most teams. But this team here really runs high on confidence, and when we lack it, struggles happen.”
And boy, did those struggles ever happen. Remember, it wasn’t just the late-season meltdown that hurt this team. The Kraken also had to overcome a stretch during the holiday season in which they lost 10 of 11 games before remarkably rebounding and ripping off points in 10 straight.
That’s nothing new for this team, though, which has found itself in long losing streaks in all of the years that it has missed the playoffs.
“I can’t speak of the past before I got here, but I think one of the, really, I guess, most proud moments I have of the season and with our guys is us digging ourselves out of that hole, so to speak, in December, and getting ourselves right back in the mix,” Lambert said. “There is such a fine line between winning and losing, and if you don’t find that line, and the little, simplest of mistakes happen, they can continue to manifest or multiply.”
Will Bobby McMann return?
While trade deadline acquisition Bobby McMann—who racked up an impressive 10 goals in just 18 games for the Kraken and 29 total goals on the season—had great things to say about his time in Seattle and left the door open to conversations and a potential return for next season and beyond, I remain unconvinced he’ll come back.
“I think the biggest thing is winning,” McMann said. “I want to be in a spot that there’s a chance to win, or at least have a competitive approach to every season to be a team that can can be in the mix and in the conversation of being in the playoff picture.”
That feels like a big strike against Seattle; McMann, who will be one of the top free agents available in a very thin class, didn’t exactly get to see the best of what the Kraken can do on the ice, instead experiencing a fall into complete disarray after his arrival.
McMann continued. “But then it’s also [about having] a chance to go for it all. And then on top of that, I want opportunity, and I think most players do. You want to be a contributing factor, and I think for me, the best feeling, and what I love most about the game is when you win and you help contribute. And I think that there’s maybe a chance for opportunity here that I could see, and I was lucky enough to get that coming in here.”
So, you’re telling me there’s a chance…
The Kraken do have that working for them. They showed McMann he would be put in a position to succeed personally in Seattle, and he did just that while playing top-line minutes under a familiar coach in Lane Lambert.
Is that opportunity enough to sway McMann into returning to the Pacific Northwest? Probably not, but perhaps a big bag of money can also help the cause. Remember, McMann has only recently cemented himself as a full-time NHLer and is coming off a two-year contract that paid him $1.35 million AAV. At 29 years old, this is likely his only chance to properly cash in.
“Looking back five, 10, 15 years ago, and thinking about telling myself at that time that this is where I’d be at, I don’t know if I really would have expected it,” McMann said about his journey to his first true unrestricted free agency opportunity. “I think I always kind of had the dream of it happening, but you never really know, especially when you’re so far away and a few leagues removed, or you’re not even playing pro yet.
“And you’re putting in hours and hours of work, not really sure if it’s going to pay dividends, or if you’re really going to get there, and if it will all be for nothing. But being at this point now and being able to enjoy that success, it’s a special feeling, and it’s very rewarding to feel like the work that I put in over basically my whole life to get to this point has been— It’s been a fun journey. I also enjoy it, and I think that’s part of the reason that it’s gotten to this point.”
Eye brow raisers
There were a couple of moments on Friday that raised eyebrows in the room. One was when Jared McCann came limping up to the podium and announced that he had undergone a procedure in Utah the day prior. He said that the injuries he was dealing with all season were related to the procedure he had following last season, but he expects to make a full recovery and be fully ready to go for training camp. He was never fully right this season, so here’s hoping this truly clears things up for him as he heads into the final year of his contract.
But McCann really got people to exchange glances when he seemed to imply that a big reason for Seattle’s late-season downfall was because of the young players in the room.
“When you lose year after year, things change, right?” McCann said. “For me, [former general manager and president of hockey ops Ron Francis] has been here since the beginning, he’s the guy who signed me to my first extension, and I think the younger guys can take it more seriously when it comes to— things change if you don’t win.”
An appropriate follow-up question to this would have been, “Uh… what?” But I unfortunately missed that opportunity.
He also had a line about how when things weren’t going well. “Maybe we need to start screaming at guys. And I know that’s not always the answer, especially with the younger generation coming in now. But yeah, maybe it’s something to learn from.”
I’m not certain McCann meant to explicitly blame the young players on the roster for the team’s failures, especially considering that the struggles should absolutely fall squarely on the shoulders of the veteran leaders. But still, two negative-sounding mentions of the youth were perplexing.
Meanwhile, Philipp Grubauer once again took a couple of pot shots at… [checks notes]… 2024-25 head coach Dan Bylsma, reminding us again that he felt his terrible season last year was mostly related to the lack of structure from the team and consistent playing time for him.
When I asked Grubauer if he made any technical changes, which may have led to his remarkable turnaround this season, he said, “I think [I was] maybe not as aggressive anymore because last year, I don’t know what system we played, if there even was a system, right? So this year, with Lane coming in, and our identity is playing defensive, and defense wins you games, too. So we were eliminating a lot of plays. Maybe we didn’t do it as much the last part of the season, but when you look up until the break, there aren’t many crazy chances. And honestly, I think last year there was a breakaway like each period, right?”
It’s fair to say Grubauer did not enjoy his time playing for Bylsma last season.
Palate cleansers
Remember how Nikke Kokko took a shot at the empty net in his first NHL start, in which the Kraken defeated the Calgary Flames 4-1? Well, after that game, he told Piper Shaw in an interview in front of all of Climate Pledge Arena that he wanted to score “before Joey [Daccord]” gets one.
I asked Joey on Friday what he thought about that.
“Yeah, that was crazy,” Daccord said, getting a big laugh from the room. “That was nuts. I told him, I was like, ‘Dude, if you would have scored, I would have been so rattled.’ But I was pumped for him. I was pumped to see him get his first start and win.”
On a separate note, it was an honor to present Brandon Montour with the second annual Andy Eide Memorial Stick Taps Award, selected by the local media as the player who was best to work with throughout the season.
Brandon Montour is the 2025-26 recipient of the Andy Eide Memorial Stick Taps Award, presented by the local #SeaKraken media to the player we deemed was best to work with this season. pic.twitter.com/ogR71YynrN
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) April 18, 2026
Montour truly has been great to work with over the past two seasons. He’s the only guy that consistently goes out of his way to greet media members, and his willingness to talk about anything and everything—including the unthinkable tragedy he endured this year with the passing of his brother Cameron after a battle with ALS and the joy of his third child being born (‘Baby Cam,’ as they’re calling him for now)—is so admirable.
Congrats to Brandon, and stick taps to Andy.
Kraken general manager Jason Botterill will give his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, alongside CEO Tod Leiweke, so we will likely have additional commentary to share after that. Plus, stay tuned to soundofhockey.com this week, as we continue to dissect this roller coaster of a season.
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.
Did Grubauer have any explanation for why he stunk for 3 years under Hakstol — when the team was, overall, fairly stout defensively?
Your memory of how good that team was defensively must have faded. They CONSTANTLY left guys wide open on the back door. It was truly painful to watch. That kind of shit isn’t covered in the stats.
Funny how it effected the other goalies less….
Oh he must have been injured the last 5 years 😂 but oh yeah Daccord just sucks even though he’s played better this season then the last 4 seasons of Grubauer.
I thought it was because he wasn’t getting regular playing time. Wasn’t that the story when he came back from Coachella and posted .915/2.19 down the stretch behind that systemless mess of Bylsma’s.
I’m no goalie expert, but Kevin Woodley is and his breakdown of Stuart Skinners troubles were spot on with what I saw out of Grubauer for four seasons: elevating the knee up high to push across, throwing out the legs and going face down in the paint, adventuring way out of position. On the last one there, Woodley followed it up saying, “Folks say, ‘you can’t expect him to make a save there’ but if you go back and looked, he didn’t put himself in a position to be able to make the save there”.
I’m overjoyed he’s had such a huge bounce back this past season and I hope it extends his career, but again, I’m not convinced Colin Zulianello doesn’t have something to do with him staying upright, tight to the paint and on the puck.
Last year he was 100% iced out by Bylsma with stupid low amounts of ice time. The saves you’re talking about aren’t the saves I’m talking about. I mean if you’re going down that road, Joeys horrendous track record on break always where he decides to just law face down on the ice and hope for the best or when he inexplicably puts his leg so far out of the net he can’t push back are huge issue. Every goalie has things they can work on. Ironically Joey has been the goalie most guilty in his tenure of not putting himself in a position to make a save. He makes up for it when he’s hot with acrobatics. This year it’s clear someone got through to him and got him to stop some of the bad habits (The Joey flop), but he’s still often way out of position or freezing when he should t.
Ignoring the child throwing the tantrum, thanks for the adult discussion
With McCann’s injury and struggles with that for the last two seasons it feels safe to say he will be back to at least start the season as his trade value is a bit lower due to his status right now.
The players all seemed to like each other and get along well, so it was a bit interesting to hear so many negative comments around the locker room culture. I do think they need to bring some sandpaper into the room – but Marchment was a failed attempt at that.
The writing seems on the wall that McMann will move on. I am torn on if they should swing big for him because we clearly have cap space and it doesn’t look like Wright, Catton, Evans, or any other young players should be expecting big bags of cash in the near future. So unless JB can make some big trades it seems like we can easily aford to overpay for McMann if we think he can continue to produce at a strong clip.
I think the most interesting comments here about the locker room are in the videos and Darren didn’t touch on them. I don’t think it’s bad per se, but several times it was commented that the locker room is quiet. It doesn’t sound like many in there are trying to get the team fired up or pumped to go out and win. They may all like each other, but no one seems to be lighting that fire… if that makes sense.
I would be feeling so different about this season if they hadn’t wasted the picks McMann and had picked up multiple high round picks with their bevvy of unrestricted free agents. Instead of progressing towards our goal of a championship, it feels like the team regressed this year.
Not playing Wright much and probably being forced to trade low on him is part of that cluster****.
I do wonder how regular fans would have felt if a team that was in a playoff spot at the trade deadline and most of the season unloaded their UFAs and then went in the tank while the rest of the Pacific engaged in a pillow fight… all to land some picks outside the top 50. I think it’s easy in retrospect to think the collapse was inevitable, but if it had come following a punt and then 90 points gets you in… I think a lot of fans would have taken exception to management quitting on the season.
I’m not sure what you mean by “regular fans” but if it’s the casual observer, I don’t think they necessarily care who’s on the team, a losing season is a losing season. For fans who follow the team closely, you might have at least some fans okay with how the season went. Instead you have the fans who wanted them to “go for it” disappointed in how they did and fans who wanted them to sell the UFAs disappointed that they didn’t.
The bigger issue in my mind is how the locker room (and ownership) would have responded if JB had sold. He might have had a mutiny on his hands with Lambert and the players. And he might be feeling his seat get hotter if ownership is prioritizing winning now.
I agree with your take on the locker room, though I’m really not sure what to make of this “locker room”.
By “regular fans” I mean the fans who root for the team but aren’t so engaged as to be considering the “five year plan”. I think there are a lot of folks like that and they may have understandably thought it a mistake to “quit on the season”.
I hear you Daryl. At the time, I was hoping for a mixed approach with that in mind. Only because I felt it was somewhat possible. Sell the guys they didn’t believe would come back and anyone a team would I overpay for. Simultaneously look for additions that would likely be long term.
They ended up not selling anyone and getting a rental which likely hurt draft position and certainly hurt draft picks in the bank.
If the GM was good enough to know they didn’t stack up they should have made the TOUGH moves.
I know my hope last couple years that they lean into long term actions would have alienated some. Especially those that believed the Kraken were legit half way through this season.
I think they actually made some progress this season but that monumental collapse undermined any of it and now they may have little choice but a “long term” approach. As good a McMann was it’s hard to believe he kept them from improving their draft position. Their .286 points percentage after the deadline was by far the worst in the league. The Leafs who were tanking for more than just a couple draft spots, moved McMann out, were without Matthews and played a bunch of Marlies and still managed .342 to come second worst. Anyone who wanted to see the Kraken tank down the stretch… no team was worse.
There are way too many variables to know if McMann affected draft position or not. He certainly seemed to play well and put up quite a few points. It would seem strange to argue the team would have been better without him. Maybe it would have?
I don’t know the tie breakers off hand, but a single additional loss might have resulted in the 3rd worst record. Given the talent tiers at the top of the draft, those couple slots could be a huge difference.
If you believe McMann made the team worse, then throwing the draft picks away to attain him was an even poorer decision.
To reiterate, I agree with your point that many fans would have been upset with any selling and realize my stance may be atypical.
Has any team, in the history of the NHL, been a seller at the deadline despite being in a playoff spot? I’m talking about full sale on the UFA’s that people on this site were advocating for, not weird situations like Colorado shipping off Rantanen last year.
The big one was knocking off Calgary. In a vacuum, that game alone moves them from four to six. Any win swapped for a loss would’ve done the trick, but that one seems like the “must lose”. To get past the Rangers it would’ve taken two more. That would’ve been 3-16-2 after the trade deadline. Is hoping your team sucks that bad any way to live. That’s a .190 points percentage. Vancouver, who got completely roasted in the recent agent survey in the Athletic, went .354 on the season to be handily the worst team in the league.
As hard as it is to jump over half-a-dozen teams to get into the playoffs, I think it’s just as hard to jump over more than half-a-dozen to drop from 19th to 27th… but Seattle managed to do it. Way too many variables and there was room for this team to suck out of the deadline AND be picking outside the top ten. Personally, I feel like they’re lucky things turned out as bad as they did.
All eyes now turn to the lottery.
Picks weren’t wasted. They were solidly in a playoff spot and they did what they needed to do to make the playoffs. They basically upgraded the 3rd and 5th they gave Marchment into McMann. Even if he leaves, you got a good look at a player with your team and can now decide if you want to go after him. I’d also go read John’s article from this year if you think we actually regressed. I think the recency bias is killing people here. We were a much more watchable and structured team. Several key young players took steps forward (Wints, Catton, even Wright) and some of the vets as well Matty being the most noticeable.
Wright played plenty of time an extra minute of game wouldn’t have made him a better player. That’s such a tired NHL fandom trope you see in literally every team’s hockey community and what’s ironic is it doesn’t even make sense with the Kraken. He’s been played in favorable conditions all year. Even though he hasn’t lived up to the hype, he’s still shown marked progress and more confidence over the course of the season. I really do think Shane’s issue is his own confidence or maybe even work ethic. Watching Catton develop tons over the course of season AND with less ice time should tell you the problem isn’t the teams handling of the youth, but that specific player.
agree on wright. his offensive stats dropped but i noticed he was way more responsible and less prone to painful mistakes. i noticed his fore and backchecking more in a positive way. with him i wonder if he still hasnt completely recovered from being picked 4th (and losing a year of development, i feel like a year or 2 of college would have done wonders for him). i dont mean that as a dig but its almost like when he came to the nhl and it didnt immediately pop off it made him get in his head. i still have a handful of high hopes for wrighter.
Yeah it could very well be a mental thing he’s been struggling with. I saw a lot more flashes of skill later in the season which is hopefully a good sign for him.
People should watch the post season pressers as I felt a lot better about some things after watching them. The MUST watch tier is Gru Lars Matty, and Bobby. Less insightful but worth watching are Monty and Catton. The rest are skippable IMO.
A very telling media day about the core moving forward, can’t say that any of the insight was particularly groundbreaking except from McCann
Agreed. One of the many issues, and one of the most important, is the age gap between the young players (where the future core should, but does not, exist) and the older veteran players. It must be frustrating for the vets to play for a team as mismatched as the Kraken are. There is a gap where the players at their peak of their careers should be. Kakko is 25, Beniers, Catton, Winterton, Evans are even younger but McCann, Eberle, Larsson, Montour, Stephenson are all around 30 or older. There are hardly any players between 26-29 (hi Tolvanen). The young players are not yet good enough to carry the load, and the older players are not good enough by themselves as they are complementary players rather than stars. Imo this situation cannot be good for morale or the locker room.
exactly, if the audit says anything else they are lying to themselves
I’m so very curious about what they say after the audit.
Such a weird thing to hyper fixate on but since you are, this is the exact situation Caroline, Anaheim, Philly, and LA find themselves in. They seem to be doing just fine.
Sounds like a lot of finger pointing. Not surprising from a team that missed the playoffs. McCann blaming the youngsters who are prone to mistakes. Eberle blaming McCann types who, at times, play for themselves.
Here’s a hot take. Schwartz over McCann any day of the week. There’s a place on this team for Schwartz types. He’s a true pro’s pro with third line secondary scoring written all over him. Bring Schwartz back for 2 year x 4.5 million. Trade McCann. Trade Dunn. Trade Nyman. Trade Wright. All have 1 year left on their contracts. Trade for anyone with a favorable contract with term. D corps or secondary scoring. Third liner. dependable. Someone who will play a support role.
Pay McMann 2 year x 6 million. Pay Tolvi similar to Kakko, something like 4 year x 4.5 million. 2027 Gru contract is off the books. Pay Kakko, McMann and Catton then. Ryker Evans too. Pay Kokko to back up Joey.
Pay Alex Tuch like 6 year x 11m. Bring him to Seattle. We need to start saying it now and saying it loud.
The addition is a LW1 while trading for a reliable D corp or LW3/RW3. Preferably a LW2/RW2 who plays on the third line. Someone that can pop for 15 and 25.
Add Gru to the finger pointers… ‘I’ve been great, it was Bylsma’. I agree, lots of fingers pointing and I don’t know anything about anything, but nothing I’ve read made me feel like anyone there was actually angry about this group turning into the absolute worst team in the league. I’m sure everyone’s “disappointed”, but I’m also getting a serious “whatever” vibe out of this group… and that fits with the finger pointing.
McMann is at least $5m x 5. I can’t see his agent taking anything less than $25m… probably $30m+. If he’s back, it’s because of a huge mistake.
I agree with all the 1 year guys. I love Schwartz but the guy can’t stay off IR.
I think Tuch, like Panarin, isn’t returning their calls.
First the lottery… then we’ll see.
I agree with that, but we’re hearing these comments in a vacuum. Are the comments actually related to each other? Is each player pointing fingers during the season? Is that finger pointing what lead to the catastrophic collapse? I do think there’s something to it though especially if you relate it to Eberle’s comments. Not trusting your teammates can turn into a cycle of finger pointing. Is that what happened? who knows. but its fun to speculate.
Now, is 5×5 for McMann a lot? I think that’s fair value given his elite speed and work ethic. I cant remember exactly what was said but he’s known as a good “B Game” guy. Does well on the forecheck and fits the system well. If hes not putting up points, hes still contributing. 5×5 is cheap in my opinion. Long given his body of work though.
Given his lack of proven scoring, I think the Kraken could reach a bridge deal at 2 years x 6M. He would be crazy to not take that deal. If he comes good, resign him for 4 years.
If you want the players you have to pay.
13 million for alex tuch. Just get the guy. Hes big. Perfect compliment to Matty’s game. in two years put Catton at LW1. They’ll cook.
I don’t disagree with the thinking necessarily… I just don’t think those guys are signing here.
Which sounds innocent enough right? But if true, it’s damning.
Again, I don’t disagree, but I also won’t weep if they don’t get either of those guys.
If neither of those two guys don’t want to come to Seattle who will?? I guess that’s my point.
Nobody
Someone is going to vastly overpay McMann, and I hope it’s not us. Don’t get me wrong, I think he was great for his short time here. But the guy broke 40 points for the first time at age 29, and did so mostly because he had one short insanely hot streak in his brief time here. This is not someone you should give any serious money or term. He shot well above his career average, and I would expect a regression to his more typical 11-12% next season.
Frankly, I think he has “regrettable UFA signing” written all over him/
All the more reasons to sign him on a short 2 year bridge deal. His skills are better leveraged here in seattle. He fits. He’s guaranteed top 6 minutes for us. He’ll choose here.
What is serious money to you? What’s serious term? 7×6.5 yeah that would be a lot for an unproven guy. No ones gonna pay him that. Like I said, the guy would be crazy not to take a 2 year x 6 million dollar deal. It could be the most he makes in his career. I dont have to explain how advantageous that contract would be for everyone.
And the points you’re making are not lost on whatever GM is looking at him seriously. Everyone knows who he is and who hes not. Who’s going to over pay him? Who? Some team with lots of cap that can afford to make that mistake, if you want to call it that. That team is not a good team and he has no interest in going there.
Great post, thanks
It’s wishful thinking to believe that McMann’s would sign a two-year deal. This is his one chance to monetize this season’s success. He’ll have no problem getting a modest 4 x $4-$5 from someone. In terms of career earnings 4 x $4-5 > 2x $6, and he wouldn’t have to risk “reselling” himself again at age 32. There’s no way he returns on a 2-year deal; McMann would rightfully view such an offer as insulting. Jason Botterill would be foolish to even try.
We’ll be lucky enough to sign McCann and Tolvanen let alone any other decent offense players. Lamberts system doesn’t allow for these types of players to fllourish in his system. Did anyone audit Lambert? If the other teams can score more goals, than we can by creating goals from defense, the system doesn’t work. And quit calling it our identity, that’s just embarrassing. We do have some good players, we just need someone in charge who can add and subtract to the team and play them to their strengths instead of forcing them to fit into a system that doesn’t work and takes away from the players strengths. Acomplished coaches attract good piayers. That’s part of the equation not just money.