As the Seattle Kraken prepared to take on the struggling Calgary Flames Saturday, line rushes at their morning skate looked familiar to what we’ve seen over the past week. Assuming nothing changes between practice and game time, this will be the third game in a row coach Dave Hakstol has trotted out the exact same lineup, dating back to the team’s road-trip-closing overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 30.
Seattle got off to a slow start to its season, going 1-4-1 in its first six games. Its lineup has been shuffled several times since then partly out of necessity (Brandon Tanev and Andre Burakovsky each got injured in those first two weeks) and partly because Hakstol wasn’t seeing results from groups that were so successful together last season.
The Kraken have started to find success, going 3-1-1 in their last five games, and it seems their line shuffling is settled… for now.
“You come out of wins, you come out of games where you find ways to get points as a group, you’re pretty cautious to make changes,” Hakstol said. “Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t do it, but we’ve liked some of the combinations.”
What’s working?
The forward mix Seattle has gone with the last two games (and will stick with Saturday against the Flames) has looked like this:
Tye Kartye – Matty Beniers – Oliver Bjorkstrand Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Jordan Eberle Jared McCann – Yanni Gourde – Eeli Tolvanen Devin Shore – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Kailer Yamamoto
When the Kraken started their recent four-game road trip in Detroit, everything looked identical to the above, except Eberle and Bjorkstrand were flipped. With Burakovsky out of the lineup, Eberle skated alongside the two youngsters with whom he found success in last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. But the last tweak to the lines came when Bjorkstrand and Eberle traded spots, and things have gone swimmingly for Seattle since that minor change.
“We’ve won a few games, so it seems to be working,” Bjorkstrand said. “We obviously had a slow start, so we’re trying to find a little bit of something that’s working, but I think it looks good. I think we have a lot of combinations that could work.”
The Kraken started the season with forward combinations that were practically etched in stone for long stretches of last season, especially McCann, Beniers, and Eberle playing together on the top line, and Tolvanen, Gourde, and Bjorkstrand making up the third line. But Hakstol recognized those groups didn’t have the same mojo in the early stages of the current campaign, so he quickly recalibrated.
Hakstol said, “When you look at Gourdie, McCann and Tolvi, right? We know that Gourdie and Tolvi have great chemistry. Jared McCann has fit in well there. I thought Matty Beniers had a real good hockey game the other night [against Nashville], and Ollie Bjorkstrand was a part of that. So that group showed a little bit of chemistry together.”
Plenty of depth
The Kraken have enough skilled players that Hakstol can sprinkle them up and down the lineup, even with a guy like Burakovsky out long term, and that depth creates mismatches for some of Seattle’s top players. How can an opponent properly match up against a 40-goal scorer in McCann skating on the team’s third line? As we’re seeing lately, it’s a tall task for opposing coaches to answer that question.
“We have a lot of guys who can score goals and create chemistry with anybody,” said McCann. “And I’m playing with two guys that– I know what they’re gonna do, meat-and-potatoes kinds of guys that just focus on what makes them successful. And I feel like that’s what I was kind of missing at the beginning of the year. I was just trying to make things a little complicated. Getting back to watching guys like Yanni and Tolvi play that way just helps my game.”
Gourde has liked what he’s seen from all of Seattle’s top three lines lately. “This locker room, up and down the lineup, everybody can play different positions, and right now, it’s working that way, and it’s fun to watch,” Gourde said. “And you see that Wennberg line has been really good, effective. That Beniers line, they’ve been staying on pucks, playing fast… and our line, I mean, we’ve just got to keep going and keep building and keep building that transition and rush and be a little bit better in our D-zone.”
Still a work in progress
Is this how the lines will remain for the rest of the season? Of course not. More injuries will happen, and Burakovsky and Tanev will eventually come back. But there are trios of forwards that have shown they can work well together when things get shaken up again.
“It’s never going to be the right mix,” Gourde said. “It can change on a daily basis; it’s not something that is anchored in and that’s going to stay.”
Hakstol does seem confident in the group as it stands, though, and he’s also cognizant of the harmful effects too much line juggling can have on a team.
“One of the things you have to be careful with is it’s not always a line combination that’s not working,” Hakstol said. “So sometimes it’s about giving guys a little bit of time, rather than switching things up every two or three days and not allowing guys to get any comfort together at all. So there’s a fine line there.”
Lifting up slumping goal scorers
There are three forwards in the Kraken lineup—Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers, and Eeli Tolvanen—that have struggled to find the offensive prowess they each showed last season. Those three have combined for just two goals this season, and Beniers, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, remains goalless.
We do not think it’s a coincidence that none of those three are on a line together currently. Instead, Tolvanen is now playing with the team’s top goal scorer in McCann, Beniers is with Bjorkstrand, who has had a solid all-around start to the season, and Eberle is playing with Schwartz, who has been Seattle’s most consistent player so far. Eventually, the goals being scored by others should rub off on Eberle, Beniers, and Tolvanen.
Asked specifically about Beniers, Hakstol thinks he’ll get the monkey off his back soon.
“One’s going to bounce in for him,” Hakstol said. “Whether he shoots it in the net or it bounces in off his ass, one’s going to go in sooner or later. And when it does, that’s going to loosen him up a little bit offensively.”
Other tidbits – Gourde testing neck guard
A big topic around the hockey world lately has been the use of neck guards, after Adam Johnson was tragically killed playing in a game for the Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL. In the wake of that horrifying incident, a handful of players around the NHL have been seen wearing protective equipment around the throat area.
Gourde was the first Kraken player to be seen wearing one Saturday.
“We all know what happened, and I think we’re testing some stuff out here to see how it feels,” Gourde said. “Protecting yourself is probably the biggest answer for [why I was wearing it].”
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
In the run-up to Halloween, watching the Kraken’s four road games against Detroit, Carolina, Florida, and Tampa Bay sometimes felt more like Groundhog Day. It was virtually the same script for each contest; the Kraken would jump out to a two-goal lead, then let it fade away at varying speeds, before the game would come down to the wire and become a 50-50 crapshoot.
Seattle came home with a 2-1-1 record and five standings points in the end, a successful result, especially considering the quality of competition the team faced. Still, there’s work to be done to keep those slip-ups from happening moving forward.
“I’ve been on many teams where it just feels like every game is going to come down to the wire,” Devin Shore said. “You’re scratching and clawing for every point. It’s great to get out to those leads, but all the other 31 teams in the league are getting paid a lot of money to beat us too, so they’re pretty darn good, and they have the ability to come back.”
What linked the four games together so closely was the fact that at some point in each one, Seattle led by the same pesky margin. Seattle isn’t the first team to blow two-goal leads, though, and it won’t be the last.
There has long been a theory that the two-goal lead is the hardest lead in hockey to maintain, but why is that? Shouldn’t a two-goal lead be easier to keep than a one-goal lead?
“It’s probably all mental”
The theory around the two-goal lead usually has to do with how the leading team plays when it gets that extra cushion between itself and its opponent. Whether it’s a shift in mentality or tactics and whether that shift is happening consciously or subconsciously are two topics that are open for debate.
“I think it’s just that you know you have a two-goal lead, and maybe the mind, in a sense, relaxes, I guess,” Oliver Bjorkstrand said. “Maybe you feel a little too comfortable with the lead, and that gives a little bit of an edge to another team to kind of come back. And they get the one, it’s only a one-goal lead. So, I don’t know, it’s probably all mental. I don’t try to think that way.”
From the Kraken perspective, Jamie Oleksiak believes Seattle can keep any lead, but the group needs to re-learn how to avoid letdowns, regardless of the margin on the scoreboard.
“You have to learn how to win as a team,” Oleksiak said. “I think last year, we got used to and comfortable playing with two-goal leads in playoffs, and that’s a big part of it. Because in playoffs you’re playing a lot of one-goal, two-goal games, and I think we definitely got over the hump last year with that.”
Oleksiak also reiterated that this was a positive trip for the team, and that the group made big strides toward finding its game consistently. “It’s still early in the season. I still think we’re kind of building the confidence and whatnot in our game.”
“I don’t buy it”
Not everyone believes in the two-goal lead hypothesis.
“I don’t really buy that, to be honest,” said Shore. “Like, I’ve heard it a lot before, but I’d rather [have] a two-goal lead than a one-goal lead.”
Instead, Shore thought letting two-goal leads slip is just a factor of momentum. He said that when a team is down two and scores to make it a one-goal game, then the momentum has shifted for that team. So, it’s not so much that the trailing team has an advantage when it gets down by two, it’s just that scoring a goal can turn the tide of a game.
“You don’t want that to become too much of a trend. But [comebacks are] gonna happen, and it’s more how you respond and how you stick to playing the right way and not letting it faze you.”
Avoiding the letdowns
Going through game scenarios like this early in the season should help the Kraken down the line. And considering they still managed to come home feeling good about themselves, despite the blown leads in all four games, makes it a relatively inexpensive lesson.
But how does the team avoid these letdowns moving forward?
We heard Jared McCann say during the trip that the Kraken need to keep playing offense in those situations, and Bjorkstrand shared similar sentiments.
“I think we just need to bear down a little bit more and not change the way we play,” Bjorkstrand said. “I mean, we know how we play best, and that’s skating, being aggressive, and battles, all that stuff. So if [we have] a two-goal lead, we’ve got to keep going.”
“Sometimes when you think defense too much, you’re kind of sitting back, and it gives too much space and time for another team.”
Coach Dave Hakstol also offered a simple remedy to the problem for his team. “For us, it’s keep playing the same way and try and make it a three-goal lead, plain and simple.”
Other tidbits: Shore finding a role
Shore, a veteran of 426 NHL games, did not break training camp with the Kraken. Instead, he was placed on waivers and assigned to AHL Coachella Valley to start the season. He wasn’t there long, though, before Brandon Tanev and Andre Burakovsky both went down with long-term injuries, creating a hole in Seattle’s forward corps. Shore got the first call-up of the season.
“It’s a privilege to be up here, and I’m enjoying every second,” Shore said.
After Tanev went down on opening night in Vegas, Tye Kartye slid into his spot after being a healthy scratch against the Golden Knights. Once Burakovsky got hurt, Kartye was elevated to a top-six role, and in came Shore to backfill on the fourth line. He played all four games of the road trip and averaged 8:17 of ice time per game.
“There are a ton of different ways to contribute in a hockey game,” Shore said. “A lot of them are doing the little things and stuff that might go unnoticed by others, but never the guys on the bench, which is really important. But if you can chip in on the score sheet, all the better.”
Shore did that in spectacular fashion against Carolina to get his first goal and point as a Kraken. Bjorkstrand hit him with a 100-foot, waist-high pass that Shore somehow batted down at the blue line, before he raced in, deked, and scored on a breakaway.
Where does that goal rank in terms of the prettiest goals Shore has scored in his career?
“It might be No. 1, for sure,” he said. “They all count as one, though, so I’ll take ’em any way I can get ’em. But it was nice to see that one go in.”
Ummmmmmmmm…. Ok, Devin Shore.
Wait for the third replay. He took Bjorkstrand's stretch pass right out of the air. Heckuva way to get your first goal with a new team.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Historically, it has been hard to get a good read on a team until about the 10-game mark of the NHL season. Well, the 10th game of the 2023-24 Seattle Kraken campaign will be played Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team the Kraken have never beaten before.
I have been preaching patience through the first several weeks of the season, and I have liked what I have seen over the last week of games. But the team has only locked up three out of a possible six points on this trip and six out of a possible 18 on the season. That is a lower point total than they had at this spot during the inaugural season (seven points).
Of course, the optimist in me could still say, Well, they are only two points off where they were last season (eight points), so stop freaking out.
We are all guilty of human biases in our day-to-day lives, and analyzing hockey teams is no different. I often need to ask myself if I am being critical enough about the team this season, and do I have a fair and accurate read of the current Kraken expectations? To answer that question, I am going to do my best to be more objective in this week’s Monday Musings to analyze the team’s performance to date and project if this group can make the playoffs again.
Shooting and scoring
One area the team has obviously struggled with over the season is scoring. Seattle is ranked 28th in the league with 2.22 goals per game, and they had 3.33 goals per game at this point last season. The easy thing to point out is their low shooting percentage of 7.2 percent which is also 28th in the league. This has been turning around a bit, with Seattle clocking in at 11.3 percent over the last five games, and if you isolate the high-danger shooting percentage, that is also showing signs of a turnaround.
I looked at some of the volume metrics such as shot attempts and high-danger shots over the last five games, and the Kraken are at or above league average in most categories.
So, what is the issue? In my opinion, the Kraken are still feeling the impact of the first four games of the season. The team was ice cold at shooting the puck, and it made analysts and fans alike latch onto what was being said coming into the season that we should expect a regression out of this Kraken team. It still may be true that the Kraken are regressing, but if those first four games hadn’t played out so poorly for Seattle, we would be having a different conversation right now, even with the mixed results on this road trip. Despite their record, I feel confident that the Kraken are at least an average hockey team.
The goalie situation
Both Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord have been playing fine between the pipes this season. I was a little surprised to see Joey get the call three games in a row, but I liked coach Dave Hakstol’s explanation after the Florida game. “Both our guys are playing well, so [Joey’s] had a little bit of momentum here, and that’s why I went back with him tonight. And he gave us every opportunity to win the game.”
Over the last two seasons, Daccord has done everything he could in the AHL and just needed some regular reps in the NHL to see if he can truly be an everyday NHL goalie. Although it is early, you can see his confidence growing every game. I think he is on his way.
Grubauer has been mostly good in his outings, but he has gotten almost no goal support. More on that in a bit.
Other hockey thoughts from around the Northwest
It is easy to look at some of the goals scored against the Kraken over the last few games and just blame it on bad luck, but good teams do not put themselves in a position to be beaten by a bad bounce or two. It is part of playing the games, and you can’t expect to get all the breaks. Seattle had some good bounce against Florida too, so it’s hard to hang the entire loss on a ricochet off a stanchion.
The Kraken have scored first in six of their first nine games of the season. They have only won one of those games.
He has not scored a goal yet, but Will Borgen has played great this season.
Matty Beniers has looked good at times this season, but I would really like to see him find the back of the net. He is also dead last in the league in +/- with a -12. +/- is a stat that isn’t widely used anymore, but still, you never want to see one of your top players ranking last in anything. Let’s get Matty going.
Both Ryan Winterton and Jacob Melanson scored their first career professional goals on Saturday in an 8-2 victory for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Chris Driedger started the first four games this season for the Firebirds and has a save percentage of .948 and a goals-against average of 1.52 per game. If he was disappointed to be sent down to the AHL after training camp, he isn’t showing it with his play.
The Seattle Thunderbirds are retiring Patrick Marleau’s jersey on Friday. It reminds me how often the late great Andy Eide and I used to argue about who was the greatest Seattle Thunderbird of all time. I was on Team Marleau, Andy always went to bat for Glen Goodall. Andy was always right, since he saw them both play for the T-Birds. I just chose Marleau since I was once a Sharks fan.
Speaking of the Thunderbirds, I had Gracyn Sawchyn on my radar for one of the best player performances of the week. Sawchyn had two goals and three assists in the T-Birds’ 5-2 win against the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday. Sawychn missed two games over the weekend due to a lower-body injury.
Player performance
Jagger Firkus (Moose Jaw Warriors, WHL) – This is not a mistake. Firkus was on top of our list last week and continues his blistering pace in the WHL this season. After six points in three games two weeks ago, Firkus had nine points over four games in the last week, including a hat-trick on Sunday. Firkus now has 29 points in 14 games for Moose Jaw this season. The Warriors will come through the US division in late February and March.
Jaden Schwartz (SEA) – Schwartz had two goals and two assists over the last three games this past week for the Kraken. The points are great, but he has also been impressing me in the face-off circle during the power play. He only took five face-offs on the power play over the last week, but he won four of them. That goes a long way to help the Kraken improve their possession time on the manpower advantage.
Joey Daccord (SEA) – He went 1-1-1 for the Kraken over the last week and set a franchise record and a career high on Thursday when he made 45 saves.
Chart of the week
A Sound Of Hockey Patreon member asked us on a Mailbag podcast episode last week if we had any thoughts on the lack of goal support for Grubauer over the last few seasons. We believe it is too early to confirm if this is actually a trend this season, but it is stunning to see the difference in support, even if it is just nine games.
Goal of the week
This was easy. The Devin Shore sequence and goal from the Carolina game was incredible.
Ummmmmmmmm…. Ok, Devin Shore.
Wait for the third replay. He took Bjorkstrand's stretch pass right out of the air. Heckuva way to get your first goal with a new team.
I’m using a deeper cut for this honorable mention goal of the week, but Seattle Kraken seventh-round selection from the 2023 NHL Draft, Zaccharya Wisdom, scored his third goal of the season for Colorado College with this nifty backhander.
It would be an exaggeration to call this week a critical week for the Kraken, but I think this week will go a long way in determining how good this team could be. They have the game on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, then have two home games against the Nashville Predators – a team that beat them in the second game of the season – and then finish this week with a game against the Calgary Flames.
Any points against Tampa Bay will be a pleasant surprise. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been out all season, but backup goaltender Jonas Johansson has back-to-back shutouts over his last two games, so getting a point is looking challenging. Although Nashville is better than a lot of people expected this season, they are beatable, and the Kraken have been playing better since the Kraken lost 3-0 in Nashville in the last meeting between those teams.
The big game might be Saturday against the Calgary Flames. Before the season started, I circled the Flames game as a game of note. I thought Calgary would be a team contending with the Kraken for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division this season. Neither the Kraken nor the Flames have looked like playoff teams so far, but Saturday could be devastating for either team to lose in regulation.
This is not a do-or-die scenario for the Kraken this week, but the hole they’re digging is getting deeper and deeper, so showing some resemblance of a playoff team would go a long way right now. Ideally, this means the Kraken get four out of a possible six points this week.
The Kraken season is officially underway, and while the effort was decent, Tuesday’s opening-night loss to the Golden Knights was deserved. Seattle made too many mistakes and left too many chips on the table (that’s a little Vegas gambling reference for you, in case you missed it) en route to a 4-1 loss.
The Golden Knights—on their Stanley Cup banner-raising night—continued their three-year dominance of the Kraken by improving to 8-1-0 against Seattle all time.
“They’re a good hockey team,” Jordan Eberle said of Vegas. “They’re the defending champs, they’re detailed, they have some skill over there, they have some size, they have it all.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a tough opening night for Seattle.
Takeaway #1 (Curtis): A night of missed opportunities
The Kraken had their opportunities in this one. In particular, it looked like Seattle had the jump on Vegas in the first seven minutes of the game. The team was skating well, generated the first half-dozen shot attempts, including a few dangerous looks. They had the defending champs on the back foot early, struggling to generate anything offensively.
“I liked our start. We came out skating and aggressive, which I liked,” Eberle said.
Unfortunately, Brian Dumoulin lost coverage on the third Vegas forward into a transition rush at 7:16 of the first period and conceded a backdoor tip-in by Chandler Stephenson past goalie Philipp Grubauer. The goal came on Vegas’s first shot of the game, put energy back into the crowd, and handed over all of the momentum the Kraken had worked hard to generate.
There were plenty of good looks for Seattle throughout the night, including Will Borgen redirecting a Jamie Oleksiak pass wide of an open net and Adin Hill robbing Matty Beniers on a partial breakaway. But the Kraken couldn’t convert aside from one goal from Jared McCann when the Kraken had already spotted three to the Golden Knights.
From that first goal onward, Seattle couldn’t reclaim its pace advantage. A loose puck play here and a failed backcheck there, and the game was out of reach. The team was “just a half second late everywhere,” as McCann said.
Seattle’s run of having a fully healthy lineup lasted all of 30 minutes of hockey this season. Newcomer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, killing a penalty in the second period, blocked a Shea Theodore blast with his left hand and could be seen shaking his glove as he skated to the bench and headed down the tunnel. Bellemare was absent for the rest of the second and some of the third, before reappearing to kill another late penalty. So, in theory, Bellemare is ok, but you know he’s going to be dealing with that for some time, even if he does remain available to play.
Before Bellemare could get back into the game, Brandon Tanev went down with what appeared to be something significant. Skating across center ice, Brett Howden caught Tanev with an unnecessary shoulder to the chin, and as Tanev fell, he also twisted his left leg awkwardly under his bodyweight. So, not only was there potential for a head injury on the play, but also a leg injury.
Brandon Tanev goes down following a collision with Brett Howden.
After spending several minutes down on the ice, being attended to by Seattle’s medical trainer, Tanev did skate off on his own power, but he unsurprisingly did not return. Worth noting, when Tanev tore his ACL two years ago, it was on his other leg.
Coach Dave Hakstol unsurprisingly did not give an update on Tanev’s status, but that’s standard for how the Kraken communicate injuries, so there’s nothing to read into there. Howden was assessed a match penalty that came with a five-minute major. More on that in a moment from Curtis.
Takeaway #3 (Curtis): Disjointed play on the man advantage
It is well documented that the Kraken struggled to translate their prolific five-on-five scoring touch into power-play success during the 2022-23 season. The team scored on just 19.8 percent of its power play opportunities last year, which ranked 21st overall in the league.
As the team made final preparations for the 2023-24 season, the power play was a frequent topic of conversation in media sessions. On Monday, Hakstol explained that the team had been working on integrating more player movement but cautioned that the team needed to “make sure the basics are there and not try to do too much.” On Tuesday before the opener against Vegas, Hakstol again recognized that the team “need[s] to get a little bit better” on the power play and “it’s about that competitive consistency on a nightly basis.”
Unfortunately, the Kraken couldn’t find that competitive consistency or the basics necessary to be successful against Vegas. To the contrary, Tuesday marked arguably the team’s worst power play performance since the beginning of the 2022-23 season. According to data from Natural Stat Trick, the Kraken had played in only three games with more than ten minutes of manpower advantage time across that timeframe–and Tuesday night was the only one of those three games in which the Kraken failed to score even one power-play goal. They even had a five-minute major opportunity, but could not get one by Hill.
It started with losing draws and chasing the puck, but the team also looked uncertain and uncoordinated when established in the offensive zone. One player would skate around with possession for five-to-ten seconds, not see an opening, and then defer to the next without generating a significant threat.
After the game, Eberle wasn’t mincing words on the team’s issues on the power play. “I thought we skated really aggressive[ly] and carried the play five-on-five, but the big one is the power play. We’ve got to find a way to get a timely goal there… There’s a bunch of things that we’ve got to correct… We’ve just got try to maybe simplify it.”
We thought it would be a good idea to convene the team and lock ourselves in on takes that will almost certainly age like a fine wine. It’s time for another “Sound Table” discussion. (Get it? Yeah, I’ll see myself out. Except I can’t because I have to participate. Also, that’s officially what we’re calling these moving forward.)
First goal of the season
Curtis Isacke: Let’s start things off on a light note. I’m going to steal this one from the Sound Of Hockey Discord. Who scores the first goal this season for the Seattle Kraken? Darren, the goalies are on the board for you.
Darren Brown: Thank you for the nudge, Curtis. While it wouldn’t shock me to see Joey Daccord pot one at some point this season, it feels unlikely that he would have an empty-net scenario before any Kraken skaters score. Of course, he theoretically could score with an opposing goaltender in net, but I just don’t see it. So, instead, I’ll go with Eeli Tolvanen. He’s been blasting away, so why not him? He did score thrice in preseason.
John Barr: I am going way off the board and will go with Kailer Yamamoto. It looks like he will be in the lineup in this first game against Vegas, and he should get power play time. He also scored thrice in preseason.
Curtis: Tolvanen was going to be my pick, Darren. I’ll look elsewhere, but not too far, keeping it among “the brothers” with Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Josh Horton: How about Andre Burakovsky coming off injury and scoring the team’s first goal? It would make a good story.
Most improved player or aspect of the team
Curtis Isacke: OK, let’s kick off the real questions on another high note. What areas are you optimistic about or just plain excited to see? John, let’s go to you first.
John: Defense. It’s not the most exciting area to focus on, and the team was relatively solid last season. But there was still room for improvement, and I feel we are underselling the impact newcomers Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Brian Dumoulin will have. A better defensive team should help out the goalies as well.
Darren: Since I wrote a whole story about the things the Kraken are doing to improve this area, I’m going to take the obvious one and say the power play should be better. Hakstol agreed with this Tuesday at morning skate and said, “Everybody wants to crap all over our power play from last year,” with his general sentiment being that there were some positive stretches, but also a lot of dry spells.
I’ve loved the creativity Seattle has shown in preseason, and I especially like Jared McCann in the central bumper spot. Not doing any crapping here, but I do hope to see fewer and shorter dry spells in 2023-24.
Curtis: For the second straight question, I’ll go to Bjorkstrand. After last season, Bjorkstrand was very honest saying he didn’t think he started the year with the necessary focus to play his best. I think he rights those problems from last year and tallies about 25 goals and 55 points (second-best career marks in both categories) in his second Kraken season, while also improving his production in the defensive zone.
Josh: The power play is definitely the low-hanging fruit here, but it really stands out to me. Darren’s comments above about how it looks visually inspires some hope, but changes are definitely needed, especially watching Seattle’s power play flounder at times last postseason.
Prospect you’re most interested to watch
Curtis: Is there a player not on the initial 22 man roster that has your eye this year? Why?
I’ll start this one. With an eye toward this season’s Kraken team, I’ll say Ryker Evans. I came away from camp this year believing his athleticism and mobility are unparalleled among Seattle defensemen, aside from Vince Dunn. His pure skills in transition and at the offensive blue line are probably better than any on the current Kraken roster.
In my viewings last year I thought his absolute ceiling was a second-unit power play quarterback and fourth defenseman; the type you’d really like to have on your third pair, but is a bit concerning on your second pair. After his training camp showing, I feel fairly confident he can be a second-pairing player and man a top PP unit. He just needs to iron out some rash defensive-zone decision-making, and he’ll be ready.
Ryker Evans (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Darren: You’re right, Curtis, all Kraken-fan eyes should be on how Evans performs in the early part of this season in Coachella Valley, because he is right there. I do feel a little ashamed that I predicted him making the team out of training camp, since… well… he didn’t, but Hakstol had to at least be thinking about keeping him.
Evans isn’t my pick, though, since choosing the same guy just isn’t all that interesting of a move for a Sound Table discussion. Instead, I’ll say I’m keeping tabs on David Goyette. He really impressed me in the split-squad game he played against Calgary on Sept. 25. He’s a smooth skater with good instincts, a shot, and playmaking abilities. He was named captain of the Sudbury Wolves upon his return to the OHL, and after scoring 92 points in 63 games last season, the second-round pick from 2022 is primed for a monster 19-year-old season. Goyette already has eight points in five junior games.
John: The most shocking thing in this article might be that Curtis talked about prospects and it wasn’t 2000 words long. We love him for it and imagine we will hear plenty about Coachella Valley all season. That said, speaking of Coachella… I am going to call out Ryan Winterton as my prospect to watch. Since being drafted, this will be the first start of a season in which he is healthy. When healthy in the OHL, he lit it up, including last season’s playoffs. Winterton had 13 goals and 29 points in those playoffs, which led the league in both of those categories. He looks hungry and excited to start his pro career. I would not be surprised if he is a second-half call-up if the Kraken face any injuries.
Josh: I’m going to be keeping a keen eye on what Jagger Firkus does in what will almost certainly be his final WHL season. The Moose Jaw Warriors are stacked with talent, including linemate and Penguins first-round pick Braden Yager, and they appear to be contenders for the Memorial Cup in a wide open WHL Eastern Conference.
Through just five games, Firkus has 10 points – a 136-point pace. That’ll do!
Any second guessing from the 2023 offseason
Curtis: Put on your general manager hat. What move would you have made in the offseason that would have gone in a different direction from one taken by Ron Francis and his front office? John, I’ll send it to you first.
John: Not really. It’s tough to look at the departures and the acquisitions and definitively say, “They got better.” That is ok in my book. Small as they were, the moves give the Kraken a lot of cap flexibility to add if the situation calls for it.
Darren: It’s not really a move they made, but one they didn’t make. I was hoping all summer for a Burakovsky- or Bjorkstrand-esque move to bolster the top of the lineup, but it never came. I’ve come to live with this and still think it’s possible the Kraken exceed what they did last season, but I complained about the lack of a splash all summer, so why stop now?
Josh: I don’t have many second thoughts on the offseason – it seemed like they came in with a plan to fill minor holes on the roster and accomplished that goal. I will parrot Darren’s sentiment about adding some more scoring punch to bolster an already balanced lineup. I thought that could be a way to significantly elevate Seattle’s roster, but ultimately that didn’t materialize for whatever reason.
Curtis: I understand the theory behind signing Brian Dumoulin, but weighing the value he can deliver at this point against a handful of forwards who could have been had for the same or less (e.g., Evan Rodrigues, Pius Suter, or, to a lesser extent, Sam Lafferty), I would have preferred to invest in a bottom-six center instead. I also would have considered keeping the cap space open. Cheaper (e.g., Mike Reilly) or internal options on the blue line could have slotted in the same third-line role Dumoulin projects to fill at this point. The signing also took them out of the running for a bigger splash move like Darren had in mind.
Award the team MVP
Curtis: John, Darren, and I discussed who we thought might lead the team in scoring during the the 2023-24 season on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. (John’s surprise choice actually led the team in preseason scoring. Foreshadowing? Or did John think he was picking the preseason leading scorer?) Today, we want to know who the team’s most valuable player will be? Who contributes the most to winning this year, Darren?
Darren: I’ll do a little zag to the zig you’re expecting me to take and say Bjorkstrand. After a very slow start to his first season in Seattle, he found chemistry with Yanni Gourde and Tolvanen, and now he gets to start the season playing with those guys. I expect him to be a key piece in potential Kraken success this season.
I’m calling it now, and I’m going even higher with my estimate than the one Curtis made earlier: Bjorkstrand will score 30 goals for the first time in his career. That may not lead the team–hopefully it doesn’t–but his all-around game will make him the most important contributor.
John: I am going to go with Burakovsky. He was the Kraken leader in points at the time of his injury, and I have no reason to think he won’t put up a similar pace for a full season. That’s it. Burakovsky. Final answer.
Curtis: Many credit the depth scoring and a stabilized situation in goal for the turnaround in the standings from Kraken year one to year two. Those improvements were important, no doubt. But, similarly important was the emergence of Vince Dunn as a viable No. 1 defenseman. During the inaugural season, Dunn’s highlights were almost equally balanced by frustrating mistakes. That changed in year two, a season in which Dunn earned every bit of his new $7.35 million AAV contract. If the Kraken are going to be back in playoff contention in 2023-24, it’s going to be because Dunn again props up the offense and transition play from the blue line. No other Kraken defender brings Dunn’s blend of skills. (I’m high on Evans, but I don’t think he’s quite ready yet.) Getting optimistic, I’ll name Dunn as the most valuable Kraken.
Vince Dunn (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Josh: For me, if Seattle is going to take the next step as a franchise, its foundational young player must take a similar step. I expect Matty Beniers to take a leap forward offensively this year, to go along with all of the other terrific things he does on defense and away from the puck, and be the heart and soul of this Seattle team.
Predict the Kraken season
Curtis: Here is the big one. Give us your point total for the team, Seattle’s final place in the Pacific Division standings, and make a prediction on whether the team makes the playoffs, and, if so, how far they go.
I’ll take the heat first. I don’t think this team has quite enough offensive firepower to reliably score with individual skill plays through the neutral zone or once set up in the offensive end, and–although I think it will improve, Darren, as you said earlier–it still seems unlikely to me that the power play will be a true strength. I feel confident projecting Jared McCann as a 30-plus-goal scorer, deploying an elite shot across all gameplay situations. Setting aside McCann, though, it’s difficult to see volume scoring. They’ll score at a good clip based of their pace, discipline, and depth, but I don’t expect them to lead the league in five-on-five scoring again.
All of this makes me think they’re more of a 90-point team than last year’s 100-point unit. If a few breaks go their way and they add a piece or two at the trade deadline, I could see a playoff push, but I’ll project them to finish just outside the playoff field: fifth in the Pacific, falling just behind Calgary for a year.
See why I wanted to go first? Let’s round things out with a little more optimism, shall we, Darren?
Darren: How did you know I would be optimistic, Curtis? Like I said, I see the team marginally improving over last season. I’m hopeful the tinkering done by Francis brings better team defense, and to me, the biggest thing is having Burakovsky and Tolvanen both in the lineup for (hopefully) the full season. Remember, there wasn’t much overlap there in 2022-23. Tolvanen played his first game with Seattle on Jan. 1, and Burakovsky played hurt for a while, then suffered his season-ending groin tear on Feb. 7.
If Seattle has relatively good health, the team is deeper than it was for almost all of last season. I also think Philipp Grubauer’s playoff success will help him get out to a better start to this season. So, I’ll say the Kraken will have 105 points and finish third in the Pacific behind Edmonton and Vegas. Give me the “exacta box” bet on those two teams, though, as I don’t want to pick first and second place. Seattle will be a few points ahead of Los Angeles and a few more points ahead of Calgary.
John: Between Daniel Sprong, Ryan Donato, and Morgan Geekie, 44 goals left the team, so the question is can a full season of Tolvanen and Burakovsky plus contributions from Yamamoto and Tye Kartye backfill for those goals? Probably not, but those guys should be able to make up a lot of the difference. So I think the team is well positioned to return to the playoffs, and I say they do it. Let’s go with 101 points and second in the Pacific.
Josh: Seattle will finish third in the Pacific. The Oilers and Golden Knights are too powerful to overcome, but the Kings, who signaled they are trying to contend by trading for Pierre-Luc Dubois, may experience some growing pains both with new lineup additions and in net. Ultimately, I expect Seattle to be competitive in a really good Pacific Division, but finishing third leads to a first-round showdown with Edmonton or Vegas, and I’m not confident Seattle has the firepower to overcome either of those teams.
On Saturday, the Kraken announced the team’s final round of training camp cuts, reducing the active roster to 22 players. This is one below the active player maximum of 23 players.
First, the Kraken announced waiver-exempt young players Ryker Evans and Shane Wright would be reassigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL. Then, the team announced forward John Hayden, defenseman Cale Fleury, and goalie Chris Driedger were being waived for the purpose of being reassigned to the AHL as well. Every other NHL team will have the opportunity to claim these players. We will know whether any of the three were claimed by 11:00 am PT Sunday.
Additionally, the following players have been placed on waivers for the purpose of being reassigned to Coachella Valley:
On Friday night in Edmonton, the Kraken coaching staff deployed what looked like a dress rehearsal lineup for the opener in Vegas on Tuesday. Those groupings stayed together during Saturday morning’s skate at the Kraken Community Iceplex, with the notable addition of Vince Dunn as a full-practice participant. This suggests to us that we may very well see an opening-night lineup that looks like this:
What else did we learn from Saturday’s roster maneuvering? Here are a few quick notes on the last few players to make and miss the Kraken roster and Seattle’s approach as we near the regular-season opener.
Brandon Tanev skates against the Washington Capitals. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Kraken roster at 22 players
The Kraken could have kept one of the five players moved off the roster on Saturday and remained at the 23-player roster maximum. Instead, the team decided to reduce the roster to 22 players. Why? Reducing to 22 players now potentially gives the team added flexibility at the 23rd roster spot to move waivers-eligible players in and out of that position. After a player passes through waivers once, the player can be moved back-and-forth from the AHL and NHL without being put on waivers again if the player has not played in 10 NHL games or been on the NHL roster for 30 days.
The team may have viewed waiting to waive an additional player as risky. I haven’t seen research confirming this, but there is a common line of thinking that it is relatively easier to sneak a player through waivers at the end of training camp when the wire is inundated with alternatives than it would be four weeks into the season, for example, when the waiver wire is more scarce and roster needs and injuries have started to mount across the league.
It is entirely possible the spot is filled before opening night if, for example, Vince Dunn isn’t ready to go that night. If the spot remains open for a while, the advantage of keeping only 22 players is that the team will accrue additional cap space that could be utilized later, as needed. (See this article from last year on how cap accrual works.)
Last players in
Tye Kartye
Kartye played his way onto the team, plain and simple. Before camp, there was a thought that the best way to preserve Seattle’s depth would be to send Kartye down to begin the year. But, as camp progressed, it became clear that the Kraken would be a worse team without the versatile Kartye on the ice. He appears primed to start the season on the fourth line, but don’t be surprised if he fills many different roles over the course of the year.
Kailer Yamamoto
Yamamoto had a solid preseason, showing offensive instincts and puck-handling skills. It seems he may be the forward scratch on opening night, but he should draw into the lineup quickly. Like Kartye, he has versatility to fill various lineup spots as needed.
Jaycob Megna
Megna is a great fit as the team’s seventh defenseman. He’s on a minimum contract, and if you need to draw him into the lineup for a game, he’ll provide solid defense and value on the penalty kill. He is also an established veteran likely at the top of his development arc. The team doesn’t need to be concerned that it is harming any further progress by keeping Megna inactive, as long as the others on the blue line are performing. (This was our concern with keeping Cale Fleury in this role.)
Joey Daccord
The story of Joey Daccord making the team is similar to Tye Kartye’s tale. A strong 2022-23 postseason run paired with a strong 2023-24 preseason made it difficult to deny that he deserved the shot on the NHL roster. Daccord still has not established himself as an NHL-caliber backup goalie, but he has earned the opportunity to make that jump this season.
Last players out
Shane Wright
Wright’s official reassignment to the AHL confirms the earlier reported agreement between the Kraken, CHL, and NHL waiving certain eligibility requirements in the CHL-NHL transfer agreement. This was the common-sense solution, and we’re glad to see it. Wright had a solid preseason in our eyes, but we like the idea of him receiving heavy minutes in all situations as a top-nine option in Coachella Valley. This is a big year for Wright, and we will be watching closely.
Shane Wright skates against the Calgary Flames. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Ryker Evans
The reassignment of Ryker Evans makes us think Vince Dunn will be a go for opening night. As for Evans, there is little doubt in our eyes that he is one of Seattle’s six most talented defensemen. But he had difficulty managing a handful of defensive situations during full NHL-speed gameplay in each of the last few preseason games. This underscored to us that there is still some work he can do. If there is a long-term injury to a left-shot defenseman this season, we think Evans is the primary option, above Megna.
Cale Fleury
Fleury also had a solid camp, showing improvements over last year. But given his age and development, as well as the rest of Seattle’s depth chart on the blue line, waiving him makes sense to us. He played sparingly last year, relegated to inactive status for the vast majority of the 2022-23 season. This is less than optimal for a (then 23-year-old) defenseman you believe may have an NHL future.
If Fleury clears waivers, it will give him a chance to take regular top-four minutes with the Firebirds early this year, and he’ll remain a top option if there is a long-term injury on the right side. If Fleury is claimed, Seattle’s earlier successful waiver of Connor Carrick ensures that Seattle will still have a righty blueliner capable of filling a top role with the Firebirds.
John Hayden
If Hayden clears waivers, we think he has the inside track for a short-term fill-in role on the fourth line or as an extra skater, should injuries strike. He brings sturdy, physical play and a positive presence in the room. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him back with Seattle soon. For now, it makes sense to put him through waivers and await a need to have him with the NHL club.
Chris Driedger
We don’t think Driedger lost the backup job so much as Daccord won it. The economics of Driedger’s contract also factors in here, since it is relatively unlikely another team will claim Driedger and his $3.5 million AAV contract for this season. Few teams even could do that. Playing as the main goaltender in Coachella Valley will be a good thing for Driedger, as he looks to reestablish himself after the ACL injury that cost him most of the 2022-23 season.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
