And with that, the Kraken will head home from the NHL Global Series in Helsinki with nothing to show for their two hockey games, other than Jagger Firkus getting his first NHL action, and the team getting some nice bonding moments in, something that Jordan Eberle and Kaapo Kakko called out as the one positive thing to take away from the trip.

“Right now feels pretty bad,” Kakko said. “We lost 5-1 [tonight], a couple days ago, 4-1… These games were big for us, that’s why we came. And then on the other side, it was a fun week, especially for me, seeing people who can’t come to the US during the season, it’s a big thing for me. And also for the whole team… I think all the guys are saying it was actually fun to do things over here, spend time with the team. So that’s a good thing, also.”

For fans, the hope is that everybody had a great time exploring Helsinki and experiencing Finnish culture. Because the hockey itself was horrendous to watch and, frankly, felt like an important inflection point in the season. These games showed just how far away the Kraken are from competing with the league’s best teams.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-1 Kraken loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and a 9-2 combined spanking between the two games of the Global Series.

Takeaway 1: A couple brief glimmers, then… nothing

There was a brief moment in Game 2 of the NHL Global Series in which Kraken fans could have started to build just the slightest shred of belief that this one could be different from the 4-1 loss in Game 1 on Thursday.

Brandon Montour and Ryan Lindgren took penalties 35 seconds apart, putting the Kraken at a 5-on-3 disadvantage about six minutes into the game. The Kraken got several big stops from Joey Daccord, giving the illusion he was dialed in, and Seattle came away with a surprising kill. It then immediately went onto a power play. Could the Kraken take advantage and score first in this one?

NO!

Not only did that first power play of the game look markedly ineffective, but Berkly Catton also tripped Jackson Blake with four seconds left in the advantage. On that power play, Blake scored after a nifty passing play with Nikolaj Ehlers and Sebastian Aho, giving Carolina a 1-0 lead at 11:12.

NOPE! Puny power play, and Berkly Catton takes the #SeaKraken’s third penalty of the game with 4 seconds left in the SEA man advantage. Canes then score on their power play. Jackson Blake finishes a sick passing play with Ehlers and Aho. 1-0. https://t.co/SDRd1Dwrg6

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 14, 2026

There was one more dash of hope on Seattle’s second power play, when the Kraken had perhaps their longest sustained zone time of the entire two-game series. That sequence ended with Mackie Samoskevich ringing a shot loudly off the post.

Alas, Mark Jankowski partially whiffed on a shot a few minutes later at 17:30, and it fooled Joey and floated over his shoulder to make it 2-0. From there, it never felt like Seattle was in the game, even when Matty Beniers scored the team’s only goal at 6:06 of the second period.

Matty Magic! 🚨 For the #SeaKraken’s fifth shot of the game, Beniers finds a soft spot and rips one past Kochetkov. 3-1 CAR. https://t.co/J1PN6LOjyI

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 14, 2026

In the moment, the idea that the Kraken could score three more goals beyond that one, without giving up more, felt far-fetched. In the end, overcoming the deficit was far-fetched. Seattle didn’t score again.

Carolina went on to score two more power-play goals, both by Andrei Svechnikov, and cruise to another shockingly easy win.

Takeaway 2: Another bad night for Daccord

It is getting concerning now that Joey Daccord hasn’t been able to find his game consistently this season. His stats have sunk to 4-4-0 with a 4.10 (eek!) goals-against average and .872 save percentage. After playing well in a 2-1 win over Calgary on Nov. 4, he’s been pulled from his last two outings, including Saturday after allowing four goals on 14 shots halfway through the game.

Coach Lane Lambert said he pulled Daccord Saturday because he was “looking for a spark.”

“Much like the rest of our hockey team, [Daccord] has to be better, but we were bad to him,” Lambert said.

Takeaway 3: Kraken organization needs to do some soul-searching

This feels like a massive inflection point for this team, but also the organization as a whole. In the dressing room, do the players regroup and learn something about themselves and what it takes to be real winners after getting a firsthand look at the NHL’s best? Or do they lose all belief and let this three-game skid spiral another season into the dumpster?

Meanwhile, there are real questions lingering about the makeup of this roster. We’re under the impression that the front office wants to remain competitive and push for a playoff spot this season. But in two games for which large swaths of fans spent many thousands of dollars and a week of their lives to fly halfway around the world and watch the Kraken play hockey, the team was anything but competitive. They looked as overmatched in these two games as I’ve ever seen them.

Did Seattle truly just play badly for a couple of games? Did the players perhaps not deal with the distractions of the NHL Global Series well enough, while also running into a buzzsaw Stanley Cup champion (who does have the NHL’s best record at 16-3-2) currently playing its best hockey?

Or—and this is the bigger question in my mind—have recent roster changes like Jared McCann going out for 10 weeks with a lower-body injury and Shane Wright getting traded for Matthew Wood actually blown up something that was working earlier in the season?

I do think there’s a big trickle-down effect that happened when McCann went out after the 5-3 win over Utah on Oct. 22. It’s not like McCann was scoring the lights out, but I don’t think Lambert has been able to find the right mix of forward lines since then. He’s cycled through several different players to try to fill the void, but no matter what he tries, there’s just nothing clicking. And in the process, he’s broken apart lines that worked well earlier, then tried to put them back together, but he’s effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul with every move he makes.

I’ve said it many times before, but this team needs four lines that can contribute, and with McCann out, it seems none of them can do it.

Meanwhile, I also think the Wright-for-Wood trade has hurt Seattle in the short term, though I recognize that a move had to happen sooner or later. There was real chemistry between Catton and Wright, and although things have looked good at times between Catton and Samoskevich, they—along with Kaapo Kakko—haven’t put teams on their heels the way Wright/Catton/Kakko did. Wood was relegated to the fourth line on Saturday, which tells you what Lambert thinks of his performance so far.

There’s something there with Wood, talent-wise, but he’s a work in progress and perhaps not as far along in the development path as Wright, who is a year older and looked to be figuring it out this season. So in the immediate term, the team has arguably taken a step backward.

Pair those two factors together, and it’s easy to see why things look disjointed. McCann’s injury being as significant as it is makes the picture look bleak. If my theory is accurate that the Kraken can’t get to the necessary level without McCann, then this could be a lost season by the time he comes back at the end of the calendar year.

It’s no secret Jason Botterill has been trying to land some talent for some time. This week in Helsinki has shown that the Kraken need more of it just to stay competitive, and if they want to start to close the gap between themselves and the top teams in the NHL, they will need to add a lot.