The Kraken weren’t as far away from a playoff spot last season as their final standing might suggest. Yes, there were plenty of frustrating nights, and the brutal home stretch where they couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. But they were still hanging around the playoff race into March despite injuries, a league-worst penalty kill, and an offense that struggled to score consistently. Making the playoffs this season doesn’t require a miracle. It just requires a handful of reasonable things breaking in Seattle’s favor.

Here are five reasonable things that need to go right for the Kraken this season.

Stay healthy

This feels like the obvious one, but it also might be the most important. Over the last few seasons, the Kraken have dealt with more than their fair share of injuries. Every team goes through it, and “next man up” sounds great in theory. The problem is that Seattle simply hasn’t had the kind of NHL-ready depth that allows a team to absorb multiple significant injuries without feeling the effects.

Last season, Kaapo Kakko, Brandon Montour, Jaden Schwartz, and Jared McCann all missed time. In the cases of McCann and Montour, both players ultimately played through injuries that impacted their effectiveness even when they were in the lineup. If you want an idea of what Montour was dealing with, Darren’s recent one-on-one with him is worth a watch.

One thing that has stood out during Training Camp so far is that both McCann and Montour appear healthy and are fully participating. That may not sound like much, but it is already a better starting point than a year ago.

The Kraken don’t need perfect health. No team gets that. They just need their best players available for most of the season.

The young guys need to take meaningful steps

Player development isn’t always linear, and the Kraken are banking on several young players taking the next step in their careers this season. Berkly Catton is at the top of that list. Given the options available to him last season (NHL or WHL, but not AHL), sticking with the Kraken was probably the right place for him rather than another year in Spokane. While I wouldn’t describe his season as a struggle, there were stretches where finishing chances proved difficult. Even so, he consistently showed flashes of the high-end skill that made him one of the organization’s most exciting prospects.

The encouraging part wasn’t necessarily the production. It was how often the talent was apparent. There were plenty of moments where Catton created offense, made plays in tight spaces, and demonstrated that his skill set can translate to the NHL. The Kraken don’t need Catton to become a superstar this season. They just need him to be more comfortable, more confident, and a little more productive than he did a year ago.

The same general principle applies across the roster. Whether it’s Catton, Shane Wright continuing his ascent, or younger players solidifying everyday roles, Seattle needs its internal improvement to supplement its offseason additions.

The new guys need to fit in immediately

A year ago, one of the biggest disappointments was Mason Marchment. The Kraken acquired him to add offense and a bit of nastiness, but the fit never really materialized. At various points of his brief stint in Seattle, he looked disconnected from the flow of the lineup, and the production wasn’t there. By mid-December, Seattle had moved on.

That situation serves as a reminder that acquiring talent and successfully integrating talent are two different things. This year’s newcomers need to be different. The biggest name in that group is Mackie Samoskevich. Samoskevich arrives from Florida with plenty of upside and the possibility of flourishing with a larger role than he may have received with the Panthers. The Kraken don’t need him to lead the team in scoring, but if he can hit the 20-goal mark, that would provide a significant boost for a team that finished 28th in goals scored last season.

I’m also including Bobby McMann in the “new guy” category, even though he appeared in the final 18 games of last season. McMann was an immediate fit. He scored 10 goals in those 18 games and seemed comfortable instantly. Of course, expecting that pace over a full season would be unrealistic. Maintaining a 47-goal pace is something reserved for the league’s elite scorers, but if McMann can give the Kraken 25 to 30 goals over the course of a season, that changes the complexion of the lineup.

Remember, the Kraken have had exactly one 30-goal scorer in franchise history: that was Jared McCann’s 40-goal campaign during the magical 2022-23 season. Finding another legitimate scoring threat would go a long way toward helping an offense that has frequently struggled to generate enough goals.

The penalty kill has to improve

There is no way around this one. The Kraken finished 31st in the NHL with a 72.2 percent penalty kill last season. It started poorly, stayed poor, and consistently hurt them throughout the year. If there was a whiteboard in the coaches’ offices this summer listing priorities for 2026-27, improving the penalty kill had to be at the top of the list.

What makes the situation particularly frustrating is that the margins were already so thin. The Kraken lost 24 games by one goal last season, excluding empty-net goals. That was the seventh-highest total in the NHL.

You don’t need a dramatic special teams turnaround to swing a handful of those results. Even a modest improvement could mean a few extra wins, which would mean several additional standings points. And a few additional standings points could be the difference between meaningful hockey in April and another early offseason.

The penalty kill doesn’t need to become elite. It simply can’t remain near the bottom of the league.

Take it personally

Professional athletes love finding motivation. Sometimes it comes from a playoff loss. Sometimes it comes from being overlooked. Sometimes it comes from a perceived slight.

The Kraken should have plenty of material to work with. We don’t need to rehash the entire Jason Robertson saga, but the Kraken, its fans, and the city itself absorbed more than a few shots this summer after Robertson turned down a deal that reportedly would have paid him $15 million per season. The specific reasons for Robertson’s decision were never disclosed. Maybe it was about competitive outlook, maybe it wasn’t, but either way, the narrative quickly became that Seattle wasn’t a desirable destination and wasn’t a team worth betting on. That’s the kind of thing a locker room should remember.

Beyond that, national media projections have been largely dismissive of the Kraken heading into this season. Despite remaining in the playoff race into early March last year, despite making changes to the roster, and despite playing in a division that arguably got weaker over the offseason, many preseason predictions have Seattle finishing near the bottom of the standings once again.

We shall see if those projections are correct or not. Not that outside opinions decide games, but players have a way of finding motivation wherever they can. And few things are as motivating as proving people wrong.

Final thoughts

None of these things are particularly outrageous. The Kraken don’t need career years from a bunch of players. They don’t need everything to break perfectly in their favor.

They need reasonable health.
They need growth from their young players.
They need their additions to fit.
They need a competent penalty kill.
And they need to embrace the idea that almost nobody believes in them.

If those five things happen, the Kraken should find themselves right back in the playoff conversation. And this time, they might just stay there.