When a season unravels the way the Seattle Kraken’s did, there’s usually a laundry list of things people want to point to as the cause. I won’t hit everything on everyone’s list, but when you zoom out and look at the entire year, these are the areas that went wrong for the 2025–26 Seattle Kraken.

Penalty kill

Let’s start with the most obvious one. The Kraken penalty kill finished the season 31st in the league, operating at just 72 percent. It wasn’t consistently bad, but the lows were really low. There was a stretch in November where the team gave up a power‑play goal in nine straight games. Just three games after that streak finally ended, they allowed another seven power‑play goals against on eight shorthanded opportunities over a three‑game span. It stabilized a bit in the middle of the season, only to collapse again toward the end.

Injuries did disrupt the personnel, but the issues felt more systemic than situational. Problems like that often lead to assistant coaching changes, but we’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case for the Kraken.

Scoring

Another obvious category is goal scoring, which is nothing new for this franchise. The Kraken finished 28th in the NHL at just 2.7 goals per game. Scoring has always been a struggle (outside of 2022–23), but I don’t think anyone expected nearly a quarter‑goal drop from last season.

The real question is why scoring dipped the way it did. Expect a deeper dive into the Kraken’s offensive issues from the 2025–26 season in the coming weeks.

Middle‑of‑the‑lineup contributions

Part of the scoring problem can be traced to the drop in depth production. I’m not talking about a fourth line masquerading as a third line; since their inception, the Kraken have made up for a lack of elite scoring with reliable contributions throughout the middle of their lineup. Even last season—when the team was worse—they had seven players hit 15 goals or more. This season, only four players reached that mark, the fewest since the inaugural year.

Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Montour, Shane Wright, and Eeli Tolvanen all hit 15 goals last season but failed to do so this year. Injuries played a role for these players, but you can’t blame injuries for the decrease across the whole roster. Injuries happen every year, so they should not be used as an excuse.

Mason Marchment was supposed to be one of those middle‑six drivers, and he was just that… for Columbus after the Kraken moved him midseason when it became clear the fit wasn’t there in Seattle. Berkly Catton also occupied a middle‑six role but contributed only seven goals.

Defensive-zone time

The NHL doesn’t publish team zone‑time data, but it doesn’t take a leap to say the Kraken spent far too much time defending. It’s not a random sample, but in the final seven games of the season, the Kraken averaged 35 percent of their 5‑on‑5 time in the offensive zone and 42 percent in the defensive zone. When you’re defending that much, you’re not generating offense, and the scoring dries up.

Pinpointing the root cause is tough with the limited public data available. Possession stats like face-offs help, but even those are incomplete. The Kraken ranked 27th in face-off win percentage, still better than playoff teams like Tampa Bay, Minnesota, and Buffalo, which only reinforces that public face-off data isn’t always telling the full story.

Consistency

Above all else, this team struggled with consistency across almost every aspect of its game. Early on, it looked like the Kraken were committed to limiting chances and grinding out tight games, and they were banking points however they could. Then they drifted away from that identity.

The swings were wild: 11‑6‑6 (.609) before Thanksgiving, followed by a 1‑8‑0 (.111) stretch, then a 15‑6‑3 (.688) run heading into the Olympic break, and finally a 7‑17‑2 (.308) collapse over the final 26 games. Even the best teams hit rough patches, but this was the most volatile season to date for the Kraken.

Where the Kraken go from here

These issues won’t be solved with a quick patch. Some will require personnel changes, some will demand structural adjustments, and some will hinge on players simply performing closer to their career norms. The front office has major decisions to make: more coaching evaluations beyond just parting ways with Jessica Campbell (she decided to seek new opportunities after her contract expired), roster construction, and determining how aggressively they want to reshape this team’s identity.

With the potential departures of three middle‑six forwards in Bobby McMann, Jaden Schwartz, and Eeli Tolvanen, they already have some built‑in roster flexibility to work with. They’ve promised an aggressive offseason; now we wait to see whether they can actually deliver on it.