Despite the stinker of a game on Sunday night, the Kraken’s road trip can be considered nothing less than a success. The Kraken managed seven out of 10 possible points and showed some significant compete in all but the last game against the Florida Panthers.

This road trip was a good test for a team that a lot of national media had ranked near the bottom of the preseason standings. Yet despite the strong start to the season, they are still one point off last season’s pace through nine games.

It is safe to say I would rather have this season’s team than last season’s team. For starters, this team can score. The Kraken are averaging 3.8 goals per game, good enough for fourth in the league. Last season, they averaged just 2.8 goals per game, 0.2 of which came from empty-net goals. I don’t think they will be able to maintain the 3.8 goal-per-game pace, but it is encouraging and, in the meantime, flat-out fun.

On the other side of the coin, they are allowing 3.4 goals per game, up from 2.67 through nine games last season. I am sure that is tough to stomach for the defensive-minded Lane Lambert. If they can somehow dial in some of the defense from last season and mix it with the goal scoring they’ve shown this season, we might be able to start talking about the playoffs. In the meantime, I am going to continue with cautious optimism about playing meaningful games in March.

Return of depth scoring

One thing that has been omnipresent from the start of the season is the return of depth scoring that proved to be so vital to the team’s success in Season 2. I mentioned it in the last Monday Musings, and I am going to mention it again.

It is still very early to say the Kraken have depth scoring, but through nine games, 11 players have two or more goals versus seven players through nine games last season. It’s encouraging to see Freddy Gaudreau leading the team in goals, but it’s maybe even more encouraging to see Shane Wright, Mackie Samoskevich, and Bobby McMann with three goals each. To compete for a playoff spot, those three, among others, will need to contribute significantly this season.

When you have a balanced attack, teams have a challenge matching lines, and that should mean more goals. Again, it is early, but it is encouraging.

Possession metrics

I listen to and read a lot of national NHL media. It’s very rare for them to talk about the Seattle Kraken, and when they do, it isn’t very flattering. It is usually obvious who is watching the games and who is just catching up on the box scores and/or advanced analytics.

I don’t care one way or the other what their opinions are on the Kraken, and regardless of how off-base they are, I think it is important to know what the national media thinks of this team. It can be humorous to dissect their perspectives, particularly the ones that clearly have not watched a Kraken game.

The theme across the national media this season so far is that the possession numbers are bad and that the team will regress.

There are certain times when I’ve seen the Kraken struggle to get the puck out of their defensive zone, so by no means am I suggesting they don’t have anything to work on in the details of maintaining possession. However, there is something fundamental that gets lost when looking only at shot share, the only publicly available proxy for possession numbers.

What they miss is the context of the game. Often when teams are up by two or more goals, they aim to protect the lead with shorter shifts and limited risks that might generate offense. It’s the smart thing to do. It doesn’t always happen, but it usually impacts the shot count.

The Kraken had three games where they held three-goal leads and therefore had room to sit back and protect them. This isn’t always the case, but it is an example of context being lost in the aggregated data.

This stuff tends to balance out over the course of a season, but with three lopsided wins in the first nine games, the numbers are skewed and may be missing the real story.

Other musings

• The penalty kill has been better this season, killing 76 percent of opponent power plays. That is still only good enough for 21st in the league, but the Kraken also haven’t been putting themselves on the penalty kill as often. They have been shorthanded 2.8 times per game, which is the sixth-lowest rate in the league.
• Freddy Gaudreau is leading the team with five goals. He didn’t hit the five-goal mark until Game 68 last season.
• Despite my fear of getting a stern talking-to from a certain best friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, I’ll mention that the Kraken have a 51.8 percent faceoff win rate. That is much better than the 47.4 percent they posted last season. Chandler Stephenson leads the team at 58.9 percent and has won a whopping 88.5 percent of his draws on the power play.
• I love a good faceoff goal, and the Kraken had two of them against Tampa, including this beauty of goal to tie it up.

MATTY MAGIC! 🚨

Beniers wins the face-off and goes straight to the net. Vince Dunn drags and shoots, and Matty gets the tip.

3-3 #SeaKraken https://t.co/v54BdKhftE

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 16, 2026

• The Kraken dominated the faceoff circle against the Florida Panthers. That didn’t seem to impact the game. 😐
• There’s not much to say about the Kraken game against the Panthers. Playing without Brandon Montour and even Ryan Lindgren can only explain so much. It is likely the team was a bit exhausted after the long road trip.
• The line of Berkly Catton, Shane Wright, and Kaapo Kakko is one of the most exciting lines the Kraken have ever put on the ice, and they are just getting started.
• The Kraken are 4-0-1 when scoring first this season and 1-3-0 when allowing the first goal.
• The Kraken have led for 38.5 percent of their game time this season compared to 24.6 percent last season. They rank 10th in the league in this metric.

Player performances

Freddy Gaudreau (SEA) – After a disappointing and injury-riddled first season with the Kraken, Freddy is contributing everywhere. Last week he had two goals and two assists. The goals are great, but I love this hardworking play that led directly to the Ryan Winterton goal.

WINTER IS HERE! ❄️ 🚨

Lackadaisical handoff between Vasilevskiy and Lilleberg. Freddy Gaudreau gets in on Lilleberg and forces the turnover right to Ryan Winterton in front of the net.

1-0 #SeaKraken. Fourth line strikes again! https://t.co/zRdb3K7pq5

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 15, 2026

Philipp Grubauer (SEA) – Grubauer went 1-0-1 with a .902 save percentage over the last week, but he has been generally great through the early stages of this season. His one regulation loss came against Edmonton, where an unlucky bounce landed on Leon Draisaitl’s stick in front of the net in the dying minutes of a tie game.
Tyson Jugnauth (CVF/SEA) – “Juggy” had four assists in two games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds over the weekend, upping his total to 12 assists through seven games this season.

Goal of the week

I love this play by the Catton line.

Shaner saw his shot and took it 👏 https://t.co/rygYkOrHwv

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) October 17, 2026

The week ahead

This will be a tough week for the Kraken, who kick it off on Tuesday when they welcome the Detroit Red Wings to town. The Kraken beat the Wings in a 6-3 rout in Detroit to begin the road trip. Since then, the Wings have gone 2-0-2. Nothing comes easy in the NHL, and I am sure the Red Wings feel a little embarrassed about their loss at home just 10 days ago.

Unfortunately, the week doesn’t get any easier after that. The Utah Mammoth will visit Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday. Utah owned Seattle last season, winning all three matchups and outscoring the Kraken 17-8 in the process. It’s going to be a real benchmark game to see how far this team has come from last season.

If Utah isn’t a big enough test, the Minnesota Wild visit Seattle on Saturday. The Wild are 6-2-1 on the season and currently sit atop the Central Division.

The key to being competitive against the Mammoth and the Wild will be staying out of the penalty box. Those two teams rank first and second in power-play conversion across the league and average a power-play goal per game. If the Kraken stay out of the box, they will have a chance.

In a brutal week of matchups, the Kraken should be happy with three out of six possible points. Beyond the points, I want to see them compete with Utah and Minnesota. The Florida game was not fun and served as an unfortunate reminder of the talent gap that still exists. If Seattle doesn’t have its best in a game, things can get out of hand quickly against good teams.

That doesn’t mean the Kraken can’t compete with the top-tier opponents, but they will need to do it as a team with all four lines going. They’ve shown they can do it this season.