It was another roller‑coaster week for the Seattle Kraken, who traded off losses and wins to finish 2–2–0. Things opened with a 6–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in which the Kraken started late, battled back, but ultimately came up short. Two days later, they skated to a convincing, though not dominant, 4–1 win over the New York Islanders, and it briefly felt like things were back on track heading into a very important Friday night matchup with the Anaheim Ducks.
I don’t have much desire to relive the Ducks game, but as poorly as the Kraken played for the first two periods, they were within one goal for most of the third. They had their chances, too. Look at the Kraken’s shot attempts by period, excluding blocked shots.
I’m not trying to spin that loss, but even in one of their worst games of the season, they were somehow still in it. Then they rebounded Sunday at got a needed 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
As of Monday morning, they sit four points back of Anaheim for third in the Pacific Division and are tied with the Sharks and Kings for the final wild‑card spot. San Jose and Los Angeles hold the advantage because they’ve each played one fewer game than Seattle.
Even with all that swirling around, it’s worth zooming out for a second and taking stock of where this team actually sits in the bigger picture.
Sticking around
I wasn’t feeling great about this team after either the Penguins game or the Ducks game, but despite the poor results, the Kraken remain firmly in the playoff mix. Even I need to remind myself that this is all I asked for at the start of the season, and I probably shouldn’t get too emotional after a loss. They’ve had their share of stinkers, but they can beat anyone, which makes tuning in easy. The team is healthy and, believe it or not, starting to score some goals. If they can lock down the defensive structure that defined their early‑season success, they have a decent chance of making the playoffs.
Sabotage returns
For those who haven’t been to a game lately, Kraken game ops brought back “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys as the player‑intro song. The switch happened for the Islanders game, and based on what I saw online, fans had been clamoring for its return. The Kraken were 10–8–5 with “Cochise” by Audioslave as the intro and are 2–1–0 with “Sabotage” this season. I genuinely wonder what went into the decision to insert “Cochise” in the first place and how “Sabotage” made its way back. My guess is fan feedback drove the return, which is nice to think about.
🎶 Sabotage IS back! 🎶 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/hpZOOaqfie
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 24, 2026
Quick thoughts on Shane Wright
I’ve had no fewer than 20 people ask me what’s going on with the Shane Wright narrative, so I feel obligated to share my perspective. We spent a good chunk of time on it in the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast, and Curtis Isacke brought the heat with some data on Wright’s season to date, so I highly recommend checking that out (the Wright discussion starts around the 31:40 mark).
Are the Kraken “shopping” Shane Wright? No. Are they listening to offers? Yes, just as they should for every player.
You don’t need to be an insider to see that roughly 20 NHL teams are looking for a center, while the Kraken have five or six centers playing in their lineup every night. Center is where Seattle’s depth lies, and to acquire a top‑six, high‑end, goal‑scoring winger, you have to give up something of value.
Theoretically, any center could be available, but only a few would fetch the return Seattle needs, which is where Wright enters the conversation. It really is that simple. I’m not disputing that discussions are happening, but I am not sure Wright will be traded this season.
Other musings
- Sunday’s win was their first against the Devils since January 2023. They have still never won in New Jersey. The only other team they haven’t beaten on the road is Utah.
- For the ninth time in the last 10 games, the Kraken gave up the first goal. It’s a trend that has been all too common after they opened the season so strong in scoring first. They’re 16–6–3 when scoring first and 7–13–6 when allowing the first goal.
- Naturally, after I just posted about how good the Kraken’s special teams have been lately, they went 0‑for‑4 on the power play and allowed two goals on the penalty kill.
- After going 27 games without a goal, Berkly Catton now has five in his last 11. He’s tied with Matty Beniers and Jared McCann for the most goals in that span despite playing significantly fewer minutes.
- One small thing I picked up on Sunday was the “face-off and change” pattern in the third period. Several times, Chandler Stephenson took a defensive‑zone draw with Freddy Gaudreau on the wing. They aren’t on the same line, but more than a couple of times I noticed head coach Lane Lambert sending them out together for the face-off, and once the puck was cleared, one of them would change.
- It’s been 16 years since I started the NHLtoSeattle grassroots movement, and 13 years since the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. I mention them together because I remember feeling emboldened by that run to back‑to‑back Super Bowls and the civic pride that washed over the city. It validated what I was doing and reminded me of the value sports bring to a community. Sports bring people together, and I think we need more of that in the world right now. Go Hawks.
Goal of the week
This was an easy one…
Player performances
Carson Rehkopf (CVF) – Rehkopf is no stranger to this section of Monday Musings, but it has been a while since we mentioned him. He recorded his first professional hat trick on Wednesday night.
🧢 CARSON REHKOPF WITH HIS FIRST PRO HAT TRICK!!!!! 🧢 4-2 FIIIIREEEEBIRDDSSSSS! pic.twitter.com/pIktElzQdC
— Coachella Valley Firebirds (@Firebirds) January 22, 2026
Jake O’Brien (BRA/SEA) – The Kraken’s 2025 first‑round pick returned to the Brantford Bulldogs lineup last Sunday and has 10 points in four games.
Logan Morrison (CVF) – Morrison has points in eight of his last 10 games and has quietly put up strong numbers for the Firebirds. He has 20 goals in 39 games this season and is on pace for 37.
The week ahead
I’m sure I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but with six points on the table this week, the Kraken should aim for three. They host the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, before hitting the road for a Saturday matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The home games will be a challenge, but they’re catching both the Capitals and Leafs at a good time because neither team is playing its best hockey right now. Vegas has lost three of its last four but still has seven wins in its last 10. If nothing else, this season keeps giving us reasons to stay plugged in and see where the next twist in the ride takes us.
The Devils game was the 26th in a row (since the back-to-back Edmonton games) where the Kraken have either been leading or within a goal in the final five minutes. They’re in every game.
Go Kraken!!!
Might be time to stop the trad or S and start talking about Swartz and Eberly as they could bring in some reinforcements that could make this team younger and faster. Maybe even the Big O on D. Every one see Shanes talent except LL.
Imagine reading the post and writing that. You’re not going to get a ton for 30 year olds on expiring contracts. There’s zero evidence Lane doesn’t believe in Shane and if you listen to him or the podcast this week, your comments would instantly be debunked. You need to stop listening to ECH my guy.
This is good advice.
Damn it, why do athletes have to get older? Honestly, the prospect of being without Schwartz or Eberle going forward worries me. I know that they are set to leave for nothing if the team does not trade them, but they make a significant difference on the ice right now. No matter which line he plays on, Schwartz creates offense either for himself or for teammates with his net front play. Eberle has been a big part of Beniers’s offensive breakout, and he is clearly the best right handed wing on the squad. Other guys like Kakko and Tolvanen can play on the right, but Ebs has his stick curved in the proper direction. Sure, Eberle leaving allows Winterton to move up and Nyman to make the roster, but it would amount to a drop in team skill. There is no end of left wings who can slot into Schwartz’s spot, but none of them can do what he does. Losing him creates an all-too-familiar need in the screening and tipping department.
As for Oleksiak, he has been good this year, noticeably better than he has been in years past. Maybe Josh Mahura can step in without being too much of a downgrade, but can he cover the mistakes made by more aggressive defensive partners the way Oleksiak has been? I mean, it is a privilege to have Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, and Ryker Evans on one team, but the offense they create comes with some risk. Adam Larsson can’t be on the ice with them all the time.
But folks have to go. They can’t keep everybody. One way or another, this trade deadline is going to hurt. Folks have wanted the young guys to play more. Well, ready or not, here they come.
I understand the fatigue of hearing Shane Wright’s name, and agree with your take that they should be willing to listen to offers for every player even if they aren’t shopping them.
Who are some of the names you think could be in actual conversations right now between us and other teams for a trade that could involve a guy like Shane? Most of the trade talk is currently centered around guys on expiring deals or teams that are in a definite sell position, not the kind of players the Kraken would be targeting in a trade involving Shane.
yep. it is hard to look at this roster and say anyone is untradable and as the saying goes, if Gretzky can be traded, anyone can.
As far as candidates, I feel Kyrou is the type of fit that makes sense. Kyrou is older, with term, and fits the profile the Kraken need. I am sure both teams would feel uneasy in a one-for-one trade, but I think it is an interesting starting point. I think Robertson is another interesting name, but I can’t imagine the Stars move him until the summer….if they move him at all.
It seems to me one of the challenges with going after Kyrou is his no move. I think it would be a lot easier to convince him to waive if they were solidly in a playoff spot.
Oops… no trade
Ditto for Robert Thomas
It came up in the post game with Lindgren about him being played with Ryker. I wonder what the driver to that was. The d-pairs had been very consistent. So curious what LL thought process was on moving them around.
I hate the idea of trading Wright unless we get a legit top line winger like Jason Robertson who is young, healthy, and produces. I feel like moving him now would be like when the Bruins moved Seguin after a bad season and then he was a point per game guy for the 6 seasons. You know it will haunt us like when we gave up on Geekie too early.
Yep. There is always a risk.
The reality is they are loaded with centers, including their top prospects. You have to give something good to get something good. Do I want to see Shane Wright traded, no. Would I like to see some hot shot winger out there flanking Berkeley Catton or Jake O’Brien. Yes I would.
PS, apologies for veering so far off topic, but what happened to “Kraken Stash”? My local store now has the suspiciously similarly packaged “Seattle Stash” which is conspicuously void of Kraken logos, but I haven’t seen anything about what happened. Thanks
You nailed it. I don’t think the team is in a pinch to move a center right now since some of those guys won’t see the NHL for a few years. Good position to be in.
I didn’t see that about the Kraken Stash. I’ll ask around but I wonder if it means Hop Valley is or will no longer be a Kraken sponsor.
I emailed Hop Valley and got this response:
“When Molson Coors sold Hop Valley last year, they forced us to exit the Kraken partnership (we tried to stay, trust us!). Molson Coors brought in a Canadian brewery for their craft option at Climate Pledge Arena.
But Seattle wasn’t ready to say goodbye – and neither were we. So we kept the beer alive under a new name: Seattle Stash. Same great beer!”
Essentially, Coors sucks.
Thanks for the follow up. Beer tastes great, but I do miss that Kraken “S” with the sinister eye. And yes Coors sucks, very hard.
Servalli recently doused a lot of the trade flames around Shane Wright, basically saying the same thing you did here John: He’s not untouchable, but their not looking to trade him either unless they get an offer they can’t refuse. I think the same thing goes for pretty much every player on the roster.
They’ve been doing the face-off-and-change for quite a while. On the PK, they’ve been doing it most of the season. On 5v5, pretty much since Gaudreau returned from IR, it’s happened at least once or twice per game.
I’m trying not to read anything into it, but thought it was very interesting that the Wright line started yesterday’s game. I’m far too lazy to do the research but, if they have started, I can’t recall them doing so recently.
That would help explain why Chandler Stephenson’s on-ice 354 5v5 defensive zone faceoffs is the most in the entire league among forwards… 97 more than 10th most Alex Wennberg’s 257.
I’m happy to hear that Sabotage is back! I also wonder what ever happened to ‘THE BOYS OF THE PUGET SOUND’ from the first year? I loved that. We were in the desert last week and saw Coachella play the Barracudas. They looked good. Sale still not doing a lot and neither did the Circus. Hayden and Melanson are on a line together. That’s spicy.
There is a very bloodthirsty part of me that, when Seattle goes to Columbus, they call up Hayden and they put out a line of Hayden, Melanson, Kartye, Montour and Lindgren against a certain former Kraken player and let all hell break loose.
Love reading your content but you’re missing the big picture. We are an average team because we don’t play the man (check) especially in our own defensive zone. Our defensemen are the softest in the league. Their head and eyes are always down on the ice chasing the puck instead of focused on the opposing team’s logo and body!!!😡 Ryker Evans needs to go back to Coachella and figure out how to be a “defenseman”. Vince Dunn needs to be converted to a forward because he’s an absolute liability in our own end! It was a travesty that we didn’t get Quinn Hughes from Vancouver. Trade Olysiak while he still has value. Bring back Mahura and Fleury. The coaching staff must insist we play more physical hockey on both ends of the ice because we do not possess the talent and skills to play the finesse game. We pull up and spray more players than finishing checks. It’s painful to watch. Sorry to vent, but I’m a frustrated season ticket holder and fan that wants to win! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
“It was a travesty that we didn’t get Quinn Hughes from Vancouver.”?!?!
Quinn Hughes does not really fit into the strategy of playing physical in the d zone does he.
This Kraken team is hardly built to be heavy and physical; it’s built to be speed based and to play fast – GM Botterill stressed he wants to play with speed last summer. The FO has prioritized puck moving d men, for better and worse. We have three primarily puck movers in Dunn, Monty and Evans. Lindgren is physical but smallish. Oleksiak is big but not very physical. Larsson is great. I agree that I’d like to see a sturdier d core, and probably one of Dunn or Evans traded (redundancy, pref. turnover machine Dunn for better return), but a d core overhaul won’t happen overnight.
The idea of Quinn Hughes to Seattle is ridiculous for multiple reasons and saying “it’s a travesty that we didn’t get him” is even more ridiculous.
Agreed but still feel this team will not take the next step until it becomes more physical so individuals can win one on one battles in the corners. That’s where games are won.
Maybe it’s time to let your season tickets lapse. I’ve been having a great time watching our team compete every night. You don’t need to field a good squad to succeed. Your comments about Ryker and Dunn are pretty off base… even more so that you think Fleury and Mahura somehow solve the problem you made up in your head.
“You don’t need to field a good squad to succeed.”
Seriously, WTF?
A little more physicality in the D-core would certainly be welcome, and the team will get it once Ville Ottavainen is ready for prime time. I had thought that he would make a push for NHL time this year, but no. Next year, though, we’ll see. There are a couple other guys in Coachella who might make the squad next season, but they are not particularly big like Ottavainen is. Nelson, for example, has the physicality if not the size. Fleury, as you noted, has some grit to him.
Dunn makes some costly turnovers, but they happen in very much the same way that he creates breakouts and odds man rushes. It is popping the puck off the wall and across the middle of the defensive zone up to the blue line, but when that gets through, which it usually does, there is a good chance that it finds the skates or the tape of a forward streaking to the neutral zone. It looks like a catastrophic blunder when it doesn’t work, but it looks like a brilliant play that tilts the ice back the other way when it does work.
I will not sugarcoat it, though. Dunn is having a bad year, so he is missing on more of those than he usually does. In general there seems to be some discombobulation between the defensemen and the forwards. I don’t know what is causing it, but you can also see it when a forward tries to cover a side of the net in place of a defensemen who has gone off on some adventure. You have probably noticed a few opponent goals that resulted from that circumstance. What that is and what needs to be done about it are a mystery to me.
John, your description of the Shane Wright situation is pretty different from what NHL insiders are saying. Elliotte Friedman said: “he’s available and out there and the Kraken are considering moving him, that’s real.” That is much stronger than just, “the would listen to offers on him like on anybody.” The latter is just a meaningless truism. Do you have better inside info than Friedman?
Those two statements mean the same thing with different spin. Remember that Elliott Friedman’s inside information consists mostly of intentional general manager leaks and stories that agents put out there to try to get leverage for their clients. He is not Deep Throat. So, with that in mind, what does that quote actually tell us? It tells us that either Botterill wants to encourage other teams to offer up trade packages for Wright like they did for Jared McCann previously or Wright’s agent wants to gather ammo in the form of league-wide interest to use in contract negotiations later due to Wright’s metaphorical stock being so low right now. In effect, all that amounts to is the team listening to what others are offering.
Friedman followed that up with… “I think what they’re looking for is a scorer. That’s one thing Seattle has always looked at is trying to find a dynamic offensive player… and I think what they’re hoping is maybe Wright can get them that.”
To me I don’t hear Friedman saying Seattle is “shopping” him as if they’re trying to move on from him, he’s saying his name is out there if the right player is available, which isn’t a departure from what John said:
“You don’t need to be an insider to see that roughly 20 NHL teams are looking for a center, while the Kraken have five or six centers playing in their lineup every night. Center is where Seattle’s depth lies, and to acquire a top‑six, high‑end, goal‑scoring winger, you have to give up something of value.”
Agree. I think Seattle is offering Wright from the perspective as a buyer and not a seller.
Most of the national media seems to assume that Seattle is trying to sell Wright and teams should use it as an opportunity to dump off some overage under performers or a mid-round draft pick.
I think the correct scenario is that the Kraken are trying to buy, have specific targets in mind and are reaching out to teams to determine the cost. And they’ve communicated that, for the player(s) they’ve targeted, Wright is among the pieces of currency they can offer – likely along with draft picks and/or other players.
I got the impression last season that the McCann rumors were teams making unsolicited offers to Seattle. With this situation, I get the sense that it is Seattle who has offered, but from the perspective wanting to buy and minimizing cost versus wanting to sell and maximizing revenue.
Exactly
You guys are not making much sense. You acknowledge that, based on the credible rumors from insiders like Friedman, the Kraken appear to be actively calling teams and offering Wright to try and “buy” a high-end scorer. So they are actively trying to use an asset to go and buy something they want… and that is NOT “shopping”? Isn’t that the very definition of “shopping”? John appears to be disputing that account and saying it’s entirely passive — that the Kraken are listening if someone calls, just like they would anyone, and people call about centers a lot, and Wright is a center. That is significantly different from what Friedman and you guys are saying, and the latter is far more noteworthy. Note that I’m not offering any opinion about which thing is better or what the Kraken should be doing, and I know in either universe, there is a good chance he doesn’t get traded. I’m just curious what is going on and asking if John’s different account is based on some inside info he has on this with the Kraken. I’m pretty sure John does have some connections with the Kraken so it’s entirely possible that is the case.
“You acknowledge that, based on the credible rumors from insiders like Friedman, the Kraken appear to be actively calling teams and offering Wright to try and “buy” a high-end scorer.”
No, Foist. We are saying that Botterill appears to be using professional industry leaker Friedman to announce that they may be willing to move Wright if a significant enough return is offered. It is not calling people with offers. It is saying “call me if you have a farm you feel like betting on a blue chip, and maybe we can do business.”
To me, “shopping” a player is more independent of a teams other interests. While there isn’t a sports colloquialism dictionary that I’m aware of, I think of the Blue Jackets “shopping” Chinakhov as opposed to the Kraken allowing that Wright could be available in a trade. This may be semantics or subtly depending on your view, but again, to me shopping and available are not synonymous.
If the Kraken are calling on other players, that most likely begins with the Kraken asking “what would it take to get player x”, and the other team mentioning they want picks, and a young player like a Shane Wright.
“Shopping” a player is putting their name out there to see what you can get for them, i.e. they decided they wanted to move on for Marchment and were shopping him to see what the best offer they could get for him was.
It would take a rare set of circumstances for a team to shop a first round pick on year 2 of his ELC. Shopping a player actively weakens your negotiating power, and unless Shane has asked for a trade, it would erode the trust you have with him and his agent when its not certain you get an adequate offer. Elliot Friedman is likely exaggerating what he heard from a source or mis-worded things, I really doubt they’re “shopping” Shane.