It’s almost comical to imagine that an 18-year-old playing in his eighth career NHL game, running up against a fellow 18-year-old playing in his 20th career NHL game, could be a storyline that dominates the hockey world. But that is what we’re going to get for the next 36 hours or so. It has been confirmed that Seattle Kraken No. 4 overall pick, Shane Wright, will be in the lineup Tuesday against the No. 1 overall pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, and the Montreal Canadiens.
If it weren’t for how the 2022 NHL Entry Draft played out, this would not be a particularly notable storyline. It draws attention because everybody who is anybody with an opinion on the draft assumed for the longest time that Wright would end up as that No. 1 pick and begin his career with the Habs. Instead, he slipped all the way down to No. 4, and as Kraken director of amateur scouting Robert Kron said, “Christmas came early” for Seattle.
Since obtaining exceptional status to join the OHL early in 2019, Wright had been tagged as the consensus top pick. Once Montreal won the NHL Draft Lottery, pundits far and wide started penciling him onto the Canadiens roster for years to come.
Yet, in the days and weeks leading up to the draft, the winds started to shift. It became less of a foregone conclusion that Wright would be selected first overall, as so many had been predicting for so long. Lo and behold, Wright’s name was not called first by Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes. Instead, it was Slafkovsky who hustled onto the stage at Bell Centre and donned the Montreal bleu, blanc, et rouge.
Knowing the context of the next two picks, it was unsurprising to see New Jersey take defenseman Simon Nemec at No. 2 and only slightly surprising to see Arizona select Logan Cooley at No. 3. When the Kraken went on the clock, general manager Ron Francis wasted no time in proudly announcing that Seattle would take Wright at No. 4.
A lot was made in the days that followed the draft of how disappointed Wright must have been and how he gave the Montreal draft table a hard look from the stage.
Wright has since dispelled the theory that he was intentionally staring anyone down, and contrary to popular wisdom, he has displayed nothing but positivity about his situation since arriving in Seattle.
Now, Wright will get his first chance to show Montreal that it made the wrong choice.
Wright is back from the AHL
Wright has been in an odd spot during the early stages of his first pro season. Too good to return to the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs, but not quite developed enough to crack Seattle’s roster full time, he’s been stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Because of the transfer rules between the CHL and the NHL and because of his age, Wright is not eligible to spend this season with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. Truth be told, we believe the AHL would be the perfect place for him right now, as he would be able to play every night and get plenty of minutes on the top line. Instead, Wright spent the first two months of the season mostly scratched by the Kraken. During that time, he did get good, hard work in with the team’s coaches and players, helping him adjust to the speed of the best hockey league in the world.
The healthy scratches ended up affording Wright a unique opportunity to get some of that AHL experience he so sorely needed. Thanks to a loophole in the rules, by scratching him five games in a row, Seattle was allowed to assign Wright to the Firebirds on a two-week conditioning stint.
Wright performed well with Coachella Valley, scoring four goals in five games and adding a shootout goal. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol liked what he saw as well but cautioned against reading too much into the offensive success.
“You got to be careful to over-analyze everything,” Hakstol said. “Really nice to be able to see him play some minutes. Nice to see him have— he had some early success, in terms of the offensive side, scoring a couple goals. Those are all real positives.”
Now, Wright’s conditioning stint is over, and he returned to Kraken practice Monday.
Slafkovsky has had a good start
The situation for Slafkovsky has been quite different. Though Montreal has been punching above its weight to get itself narrowly above .500, it is a team that is focused on developing its young players for the future with no real aspirations of contending this season. That focus on development has allowed coach Martin St. Louis to be patient with Slafkovsky, keeping him in key roles in the lineup and building him up to as many as 14 minutes of ice time per game.
Playing on a line with veterans Sean Monahan and Josh Anderson, Slafkovsky has started to produce offensively. He now has four goals and three assists, including a point in each of his last two games.
Physically much larger than Wright and having already played against men in the Finnish Liiga, we are not surprised to see Slafkovsky transitioning to the NHL faster, though we still believe Wright has the highest upside of anyone in the 2022 draft.
As for what’s happening on the other side, Wright isn’t too worried about what Slafkovsky is doing for Montreal. “Two different situations with what’s going on,” Wright said. “I’m really more focused on myself and my game and what I’m doing here and what I want to bring to the team here.”
A challenging development road for Wright
Wright has been forced out of the NHL lineup mostly by circumstance. Seattle is proving itself to be a contender and has always maintained its goal this season is to make the playoffs. So, how could Hakstol continue to send him out night after night if Wright wasn’t giving the Kraken the best chance to win?
It’s a tough spot for the coach and the player, but the Kraken got creative and found a way to get Wright some additional playing time in the AHL. It will be worth watching to see if that extra time has helped build Wright up to being NHL ready.
Through the first couple months of the season, Hakstol said the Kraken have been happy with Wright’s approach but recognized that every player’s journey is different. “I’ve been through this with many young players, players that go on to be great players. Every player is different in their trajectory and their pathway and how they’re going to get there.”
Whether the short stint with Coachella Valley did enough to make Wright more effective at the NHL level remains to be seen, but Wright believes it helped him in the short term. “I definitely gained a lot of confidence down there,” Wright said. “It was nice to be able to play a lot of high minutes, get a lot of touches, and play the puck as well, and just kind of play my game. You know, be myself and regain that confidence in myself and my abilities and hopefully bring that back to Seattle.”
Wright will likely only get limited, fourth-line playing time again Tuesday, but it sure will be fun to see him on the ice next to the guy that knocked him out of the top spot in the 2022 draft.
Monday Musings is a collection of random thoughts and observations about the last week of activity from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other happenings around the Puget Sound hockey community.
Kraken thoughts
The Kraken went 2-1-0 for the week and sit comfortably in second place in the Pacific Division. The boys continue to bank those points in pursuit of the playoffs. Their current record of 15-6-3 is putting them about on pace for a 113-point season. There is and should be a sense of optimism around this team right now, but this week has raised a couple yellow flags.
The Good
The Kraken’s thrilling 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday was an epic. The boys showed some resilience in coming back from a two-goal deficit that included a tying goal by Yanni Gourde with less than three minutes left in regulation. The icing on the cake was a game-winning goal by Matty Beniers just seven seconds into overtime.
After a pedestrian first period by the Kraken, they pretty much dominated the rest of the game with Philipp Grubauer coming up big when they needed him. We have seen some great games at Climate Pledge Arena, but I will put this one toward the top.
The Bad
The great thing about this team this year is you go into every game anticipating a win. At the very least, you expect them to be competitive and play a close game deep into the third. When that doesn’t happen, it feels like a letdown. The Kraken looked competitive in Saturday night’s game against the Florida Panthers, but a 5-1 loss at home can make you feel like you just got your teeth kicked in. Even the best teams in the league take it on the chin from time to time so let’s not overreact here. It is just a loss, and it is also ok to be upset about it.
Sometimes the toughest thing for me about a Kraken loss is the wait for the next game. I want to see them redeem themselves as soon as possible. Tuesday night cannot come soon enough.
The Ugly
You are allowed to win ugly. Tuesday night’s 9-8 overtime win against the Kings might have been a lot of fun for fans, but it is about as ugly of a win as you can get. The goaltending was sketchy at best, but there was poor defensive play all over the ice that night. If you have not watched the condensed replay of the game, do yourself a solid and give it a viewing.
Regardless of your feeling about that game, the Kraken walked away with two points in the standings, and as Darren Brown said on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, “It is better to win ugly than lose pretty.”
Goalie interference
At the Kraken game on Saturday night, I was sitting next to someone I did not know. He seemed like a new fan with plenty of passion. During the coach’s challenge of the first goal, he was adamant that it would get overturned. He asked me what I thought, and I told him flat out that I had no idea and it I would not be surprised either way. The goal would get confirmed, which led to a bench penalty against the Kraken, and the Panthers scored again on the subsequent power play.
If the outcome of the goaltender interference challenge is so variable, why challenge? Darren did an excellent job at covering the mindset of Hakstol in the challenge in his first takeaway from the game.
From an analytical perspective, I look at it as a math problem. Let us assume there is literally a 50/50 chance of getting the goal reversed. That will mean there is also a 50/50 chance you are assessed a penalty and will go on a penalty kill. If your penalty kill is killing penalties at a rate of .750 or so, you will more than likely kill that penalty off and there really is no harm. That is massively oversimplifying the analytical view, but in my perspective, that exercise should be part of the consideration.
Penalty kill woes
The Kraken penalty kill has been stinking as of late. Here is a look at how the team has performed by game so far, with the size and number on the circle representing the number of times the team was shorthanded in that game.
Part of the recent drop could be related to Morgan Geekie being out of the lineup, and another part could just be the ebb and flow during the season. Another aspect of penalty kills could be they are putting themselves shorthanded with more penalties this year.
That is true, but across the league, they are not the biggest offenders.
Regardless, the penalty kill has been bad. Geekie should be coming back, and I expect the team to make some adjustments sooner rather than later. In the meantime, let us continue to monitor for some improvement.
Other Kraken musings:
After the Kraken lost their first three overtime games of the season, Thursday night’s thrilling win against the Capitals marked their fourth overtime win in a row. They have yet to play in a game that went to a shoutout.
Florida’s win on Saturday night was their first point ever against the Kraken.
For those of you that attended or viewed my presentation at SEAHAC over the weekend: all three of the Kraken goals against the Capitals on Thursday night were ‘High-Danger’ goals, and the Kings had over 72 percent of the shot attempts in the third period.
I think the team misses Geekie right now. He is an integral part of the penalty kill and has become a bit of a faceoff specialist as well. Geekie led the team in faceoff percentage during November.
Shane Wright’s conditioning assignment with the Coachella Valley Firebirds is now over. I believe the Kraken hope to get him in the lineup at least once before deciding on loaning him to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship.
Tuesday night against Montreal would be a fitting time for Wright to draw in, but it will largely come down to Geekie’s status. The penalty kill needs Geekie. If he is not ready to play Tuesday, Wright should play.
This all-Kraken panel was fun to hear. It featured general manager Ron Francis, strength and conditioning coach Nate Brookreson, amateur scout Chris MacDonald, and video coach Tim Ohashi. Give it a watch.
After the 2019 SEAHAC conference, I wanted to create a meetup-type community of Seattle-based folks interested in hockey analytics. After attending the 2022 SEAHAC, I am convinced I need to make this happen. Would love to hear what other individuals think about the idea.
Alex Wennberg appreciation bullet. He flies a bit under the radar, but I have loved his gameplay this season. We do not talk about him nearly enough. That’s all.
Matty Beniers (SEA) – Three goals in three games for Matty, including the thrilling overtime winner on Thursday night.
On the docket
Montreal Canadiens – Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Climate Pledge Arena
Montreal is having a better than expected season but still faces an uphill battle to get in the playoffs. The Habs will be playing the Kraken on the second night of back-to-backs, but this will be a battle.
Canadiens Current Record: 12-11-1
Players to watch:
Kirby Dach – After being traded to Montreal, the 21-year-old center is having a solid season and is currently third on the team in points. Dach played a few years for the Saskatoon Blades before going to the Blackhawks. Cole Caufield – Like Dach, Caufield was selected in the first round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Caufield is known for his small size but big shot. He is currently tied for the team lead in goals with 13.
Washington Capitals – Friday, Dec. 9, at Capital One Arena
The Caps will have the loss to the Kraken fresh in their memory and will be looking for redemption. The team has been hammered with injuries this season, but beating Alex Ovechkin and company is never an easy task.
Capitals Current Record: 10-12-4
Players to watch:
Nic Dowd – I did not call him out last week, but I did notice him in the game against the Kraken on Thursday. Dowd was born in Huntsville, Ala., and played one year of junior hockey for the Wenatchee Wild in central Washington. He plays an important role for the Capitals. Dylan Strome – Speaking of noticing someone, I literally did not notice Strome on Thursday night against the Kraken. He is second on the team in points and is a pretty good playmaker out there.
Florida Panthers – Sunday, Dec. 11, at FLA Live Arena
These guys again. The Panthers game on Sunday kicks off a bit of a gauntlet of a schedule for the Kraken. Hopefully they can get some redemption of their own to start this stretch on a good foot.
Panthers Current Record: 12-9-4
Players to watch:
Carter Verhaeghe – With two goals against the Kraken last week, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on him in this one. He leads the Panthers with 14 goals on the season. Matthew Tkachuk – He was a pest on Saturday night, and I imagine he will be a pest on Sunday. He is also a really good player.
Chart of the week
Skeptics of the Seattle Kraken have been pointing to the shooting percentage as not sustainable, thinking the Kraken will return to earth after such a hot start. There is some room to be skeptical on the sustainability of the shooting percentage, but someone must lead the league in shooting, and as one former pro athlete in Seattle once said, “Why not us?”.
As always, thanks for reading, and I love the engagement and discussion we have in the comments section. If there is a topic you want me to dig into, feel free to leave in the comments I will aim to address it next week.
We bring you another round of Monday Musings, where we share a random collection of thoughts and observations about the last week from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other Puget Sound teams. Enjoy.
Kraken thoughts
What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. At least let’s hope that is the case as the Kraken have lost the last two games at home in contests they easily could have won. I am not even close to hitting the panic button, but the last two losses sting. On Friday night the Kraken could not sneak one past Marc-Andre Fleury and lost 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild. Then Sunday night, Seattle let victory slip away with 4 seconds left when Blake Wheeler popped in an easy rebound on a Jets power play. Ugh… so close to snatching two points and a regulation win against a team the Kraken might find themselves competing with for a wild card spot come April.
The Kraken are still on pace for 97 points but have yet to establish a home-ice advantage. They are 3-4-2 at Climate Pledge Arena but 5-1-1 on the road. They are 1-1-1 on this homestand with another three games before hitting the road again. My hope is the Kraken can get four out of a possible six points in the remaining home games against the Rangers, Kings, and Sharks.
I am really looking forward to seeing how the Kraken fair against the Kings. As you might recall, Seattle handled the Kings 4-1 in LA in the second game of the season. The Kings are currently ahead of the Kraken in the standings, and as of Monday morning, have won four games in a row. The end of the Kraken-Kings game in LA featured a “spirited” ending, and I wonder how much of this will spill over on Saturday night.
The Kraken have only won one and lost eight overtime games in their history. Last year, it felt they did not have the high-end skill that favors teams in this area. They have the skill this season but have lost all three overtime games they have played.
The penalty kill allowed two power-play goals against on Sunday, but there was a season high of seven penalty kills in the game. Prior to Sunday, the Kraken killed off 16 PK’s in a row.
The seven penalty kills in the Winnipeg Jets game was a Seattle Kraken record of the most times shorthanded in a game. Hopefully that record sticks for a long time.
I said it a few weeks ago and will say it again; the Kraken are a playoff team.
On Sunday, Gustav Olofsson became the first Coachella Valley Firebird skater to get called up and play for the Kraken. His game against the Jets would mark his 60th NHL game and the first since 2019-20. He played well in the few games I saw him play with the Firebirds but what stuck out was his fun interactions with the young fans during warmups. I love that and will be rooting for him to score his first NHL goal soon.
Matty Beniers has not registered a point since his point streak was broken in the game against the Wild in Minnesota. That is his longest point drought of his career. There is obviously no room for concern there, but I would love to see him get it going again.
Matty also has just two power-play points on the season, which is a little surprising considering he is second on the team in power-play time on ice.
If you predict something long enough, eventually it will be true. Oliver Bjorkstrand is bound to get hot. He has just one goal, and his shooting percentage is a brutally low 2 percent. Over the last four seasons, his shooting percentage was 13 percent.
Will Borgen is getting more likeable every game. He plays a very physical style and never hesitates to get in the mix when there is any kind of dustup. Last season he played just 16 of the Kraken’s first 61 games, and it was not until after the trade deadline when the Kraken traded Jeremy Lauzon and Mark Giordano that Borgen would find himself as a regular in the Kraken lineup. He has really impressed me this season, and by the looks of it so far, has a future with the Kraken.
The Los Angeles Kings assigned 19-year-old Brandt Clarke to the AHL for a “conditioning assignment” this week. Per the transfer agreement with the CHL, Clarke is not eligible to play in the AHL this season apart from this “conditioning assignment” clause. The clause states that under 20 years old, a player can be assigned to the AHL on a conditioning assignment for no more than 14 days, provided that the player was scratched for five games in a row. The Kraken can do the same with Shane Wright this season and Sunday marked his third scratch in a row.
On Thursday last week, the Kraken claimed Magnus Hellberg on waivers and sent Joey Daccord down to Coachella. This was a strategic defensive move. Daccord had been called up from the Firebirds since Philipp Grubauer’s injury on Oct. 21. Because Daccord cleared waivers earlier this year, he does not require waivers again unless he is on the NHL roster more than 30 days. He was coming up on that milestone, so strategically, the Kraken sent Daccord down and will use Hellberg as the backup to Jones until Grubauer returns.
Speaking of Grubauer, the Kraken also added him to the long-term injured reserve list retroactive to Oct. 22. This is another strategic move to bank some salary cap space. I will not get into it here, but this gives the Kraken some flexibility down the road to spend above the cap number should they need it later this season. Grubauer has been on the ice and appears to be nearing a return.
Not Kraken related, but don’t forget about the USA-Canada Rivalry Series game coming up this Sunday at CPA. That game will be intense, and I am hearing that it might set a US record for the highest attendance for a female hockey game. I would love to see Seattle own that record.
Coachella notes
Since flying south from their Seattle residency, the Firebirds are 2-0-0, winning both games in a two-game set against the Tucson Roadrunners. The Firebirds are now 7-3-0 and have the highest point percentage in the AHL’s Pacific Division.
The points leader for Coachella is Andrew Poturalski. He has 18 points in 10 games so far this season. The 28-year-old center is in his eighth year of pro hockey. He has four NHL games in his career.
I don’t know if there are any of you that might head to Palm Springs for the holidays, but the Firebirds home opener is set for Dec. 18 against the Tucson Roadrunners at the brand new Acrisure Arena.
Top player performances
Jordan Eberle – After a slightly cold start, Eberle is starting to heat up. He has three goals in the last three games.
Martin Jones – His record might be 1-1-1 over the last three games, but he is giving the Kraken every opportunity to win games with a save percentage of .934 over that span.
Jack Eichel – Four goals over his last three games, including a hat trick against his former team, the Buffalo Sabres, in Buffalo.
New York Rangers – Thursday, Nov. 17, at Climate Pledge Arena
Another great test for the Kraken and a benchmark for how they stack up. The Kraken have only played four games against the Eastern Conference and have a 3-1-0 record. The Rangers are proving last season was not a fluke and will be a challenging opponent. The Kraken have never beaten the Rangers.
Rangers Current Record: 8-6-3
Players to watch:
Adam Fox – Fox is the new breed of defensemen making an impact on the league. He has eight points in his last four games. He had the game winner against the Kraken last season when the Rangers visited CPA.
Mika Zibanejad – Let us hope we don’t see much from Mika on Thursday night, but he can put up some monster games and is generally a pretty fun player to watch.
Los Angeles Kings – Saturday, Nov. 19, at Climate Pledge Arena
Going into the season, I figured the Kings were set to regress this season, and if there is a 2021-22 playoff team from the Pacific that would not make the playoffs this season, I thought the Kings would be that team. The Kings have won four in a row and have points in eight of their last 10 games. They are currently ahead of the Kraken in the standings so a win would be very encouraging on the playoff prospects for the Kraken.
Kings Current Record: 10-6-1
Players to watch:
Brendan Lemieux – Not the most skilled player, but he and Yanni Gourde got into it all night last time they played in October. Expect more of the same on Saturday night.
Gabriel Vilardi – After splitting the season with the Kings AHL affiliate last season, he is a prime reason for why the Kings are on the upswing. He has 10 goals in 17 games which is a bit crazy considering he is known for his passing ability.
We bring you another round of Monday Musings, where we share a random collection of thoughts and observations about the last week from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other Puget Sound teams. Enjoy.
Kraken thoughts
What a week for the Kraken?!?! Three regulation road game victories against some quality opponents. Each victory seemed to build on the previous one, and suddenly, the Kraken see themselves in second place in the Pacific Division and riding a franchise record four-game win streak. The Kraken now have 16 points in the standings over 13 games. Last season, they did not capture their 16th point until their 21st game of the season.
The boys will now play a six-game homestand that will take us right through Thanksgiving. They are currently 2-3-1 at Climate Pledge Arena versus 5-1-1 on the road. Let us hope they can get some CPA mojo and turn that home record around.
I’ve said this many times before, but this team is very different than last year’s team. The ability for this group to bounce back after something goes wrong has been remarkable. In Tuesday’s game against Calgary, the Kraken rallied from two goals down in the third after giving up two quick ones to the Flames. In the game against Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jake Guentzel scored an equalizer for the Penguins, but the Kraken bounced back with a Tanev goal with roughly three and a half minutes left. Those kinds of responses were few and far between last season.
One thing that has helped with the resilience is this team is scoring at a much higher rate than last year. The Kraken are averaging 3.46 goals per game compared to 2.63 last year. Goal scoring in the NHL is challenging, but last year it seemed as if the team would need to work so hard for every goal. Right now, it just seems like anyone out there can score. 19 of the 20 skaters that have drawn into the lineup have scored a goal.
The Shane Wright situation
The only skater to not score a goal is Shane Wright. Wright has the fewest minutes played among the 20 players with just under 57 minutes over his seven games. The challenge with getting Wright more minutes is the players that are drawing into the lineup are better NHL players than he is right now, being that he’s still just 18 years old. Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Daniel Sprong give the Kraken a better chance to win hockey games.
The other “problem” that is preventing Wright from drawing in more consistently is that the Kraken have been relatively healthy. Seattle has not had to dip into the Coachella Valley Firebirds for any skaters to date. Last year’s team had several injuries and COVID absences in the first part of the season. Colin Blackwell, Yanni Gourde, Calle Jarnkrok, and Jared McCann all missed several games in the first part of last season.
McCann being sidelined on Thursday and Saturday gave Wright the opportunity to not just play but play on the third line with Gourde and Tanev.
I have mentioned this several times on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, but assuming no injuries between now and early December, I imagine the Kraken will loan Wright to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship. This will give him the opportunity to play a couple weeks of logging high minutes of elite-level hockey. At the end of the tournament, he can then return to Seattle for rest of the season.
Other Kraken musings:
The Kraken’s depth is their strength. The Kraken lead the league in unique goal scorers with 19 players scoring at least one goal, but they are also tied for the league lead for unique players with at least two goals. There are 12 players with at least two goals, tied with the Kings and the Bruins.
One of the players with two goals or more is Morgan Geekie. After a challenging start to the season, Geekie finds himself firmly grasping the fourth-line center position, and he will head into Tuesday’s game on a four-game point streak, a career high.
The Kraken will still have a roster decision to make once Joonas Donskoi comes back from injured reserve. From what I have heard, he is not expected back any time soon.
I was asked several times this week “Who has been the best player on the team this season?” I don’t think there is a best player on the team. I feel McCann, Jaden Schwartz, and Matty Beniers could all have a case at one time this season, but people are contributing all over the place and that’s been the key to the success this year.
Andre Burakovsky is tied with Schwartz for the team lead in points, but despite the points, he has another level that we will see soon enough. He is an elite goal scorer, and his current shooting percentage is only 8.3 percent, which is a career low.
After no points in his first six games, Gourde has seven points in his last six games including factoring in all three goals Saturday night against the Penguins.
Coachella notes
The Coachella Valley Firebirds residency in Seattle is officially over, as they fly south to establish their presence in the Valley. It was fun to see them around KCI, and that should create a consistent culture between the two teams. The games I have seen live or on AHL.tv were all entertaining, and I will be looking forward to making a trip down to see them in their barn.
The Firebirds capped off their residency with a split of two games against the Abbotsford Canucks over the weekend. Saturday night’s Firebirds win featured a hat trick by former Kelowna Rocket, Kole Lind. Lind now leads the team with six goals in eight games.
Second in goal scoring for the Firebirds is Jesper Froden. Froden was named the AHL Player of the Month in October.
Yanni Gourde – Yanni had five points over the last three games and was a huge reason the Kraken went 3-0 over the last week. One of the most critical points was his short-handed goal that tied the game up against the Flames on Tuesday night.
Erik Karlsson – He had eight points over the Sharks’ last three games including his first career hat trick on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
Martin Jones – He had two of the three Kraken wins over this past week including his first shutout with Seattle against the Minnesota Wild. Jones has a .967 save percentage in his last three games and has given Kraken fans a sense of optimism for the goaltending this season.
On the docket
Nashville Predators – Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Climate Pledge Arena
Heading into the season, I thought the Predators were one of the teams the Kraken would need to challenge for a playoff spot. This team is tough to figure out; they are rolling into Seattle with a bit of a hot streak, having beaten the Flames and Canucks, but prior to those games they lost two lopsided contests to the Oilers and Capitals.
Predators current record: 5-6-1
Players to watch:
Tanner Jeannot – hits everything in site and can put the puck in the net. He is the type of player you hate if he is playing against you but love if he is on your team. Regardless, he is entertaining.
Filip Forsberg – easily the best chimney sweeper in the league with an outstanding shot. His snipe last year at CPA is etched into my memory.
Minnesota Wild – Friday, Nov. 11, at Climate Pledge Arena
After an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to the Kraken last Thursday, the Wild will be looking to return the favor at CPA. It is hard to get a read on how good the Wild are this year, as they have been rather inconsistent through their first 11 games. Most of the media had them pegged as a playoff team, but with the emergence of Winnipeg, there could be some doubt.
Wild current record: 5-5-1
Players to watch:
Matt Boldy – I mentioned him last week, but I am going to double down and mention him again. The 21-year-old winger was kept off the score sheet against the Kraken but still created some chances and clearly has a bright future in the NHL.
Connor Dewar – he played four years with the Everett Silvertips and is now in his first full season with the Wild after splitting last season between the NHL and AHL. He is relegated to the fourth line, but it is always fun seeing former local WHLers playing in the NHL.
Winnipeg Jets – Sunday, Nov. 13, at Climate Pledge Arena
The Jets have gotten off to a sneaky good start to the season and will find themselves in a playoff spot if they can keep this up. If they cool off a bit, the Jets and Kraken could be fighting for a Wild Card position in March.
Jets current record: 7-3-1
Players to watch:
Connor Hellebuyck – despite being one of the best US goalies in the NHL right now, Hellebuyck still flies under the radar. He already has two shutouts and has a save percentage of .936. The Jets will be playing the night before, so it is possible we see David Rittich between the pipes on Sunday.
Cole Perfetti – This 21-year-old first-round draft pick from 2020 is entering his first full season in the NHL. He is currently centering the second line with Pierre-Luc Dobois and Blake Wheeler and has seven points over 11 games.
If you drive 90 minutes east of Edmonton, you’ll come to the Village of Irma, Alberta. Irma is a town of 477 people. It has snow in its forecast for this week, and it’s hard to imagine a community more different than Seattle and the Puget Sound region. Yet, Seattle and Irma are connected through the game of hockey.
The hockey connection first revealed itself at this past summer’s NHL Entry Draft when Seattle Kraken second-round pick Jagger Firkus mentioned that he knew a member of the Kraken.
“It’s Carson Soucy,” Firkus said when asked. “He’s from my hometown of Irma, Alberta, which is pretty cool because there’s like 500 people and he played there. He’s someone that I’ve skated with and worked out with, he’s someone that I look up to a lot. He’s pushed himself and he’s played in the NHL now, so he’s a guy you’ve got to look up to a lot and follow his lead.”
Soucy, 28, is a decade older than the 18-year-old Firkus and lifelong friends with his older brother. Because of that, the Kraken defenseman has known Jagger for a long time.
He was watching the NHL Draft unfold, hoping to see the younger Firkus be selected.
“I haven’t watched the draft in a couple years, but we had a group of us hoping he’s going in the first round,” Soucy said. “So, we were all watching, hoping to see him. Then kind of just flipped it on the next morning and pretty much right when I turned the TV on, I saw it was our pick, and then I saw him and I saw one of my best friends hugging their dad and it’s just great.”
Jagger Firkus grew up in the Village of Irma, Alberta. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Soucy and Firkus were able to reunite at Kraken training camp this fall, but the Seattle and Irma connection doesn’t end here.
Down in Kent, Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Scott Ratzlaff, 17, also hails from the small village in rural Alberta.
And, yes, he knows Firkus as well, and despite being a year younger, did play one year of hockey growing up with Firkus.
“He’s a great guy,” Ratzlaff said of Firkus. “We go golfing, Irma’s got a golf course, we play on the outdoor rink. We’re very close, and he’s just a great guy to be around. So, it’s fun to have him around.”
Firkus is back playing in the Western Hockey League this season for the Moose Jaw Warriors. The Thunderbirds will be in Moose Jaw on Jan. 7, and Ratzlaff is hoping he gets the start that night to take on his good friend.
Growing up in such a small community, is there a chance that the older Soucy also knows Ratzlaff?
“He’s my younger cousin,” Soucy said. “He’s my dad’s sister’s son. He’s my first cousin. He’s good, he’s a competitor.”
Seattle Thunderbirds Scott Ratzlaff, from Irma, won gold this summer for Canada. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Ratzlaff says he’s close with his cousin, and Soucy has texted him looking for Thunderbirds tickets before. Ratzlaff has been able to get to some Kraken games as well.
“You always go to grandma’s house together, we spend a lot of quality time together,” Ratzlaff said. “He’s a great role model as well. I always try to learn from him and see how he acts. He’s great. I go up there every once in a while to downtown Seattle. He’s got a nice house. I just go up there and spend some quality time.”
What’s in the Irma water?
How is it that a village in Canada has three players playing high-level hockey in the Seattle area?
“There’s just not too much to do,” Soucy said. “We grew up kind of playing street hockey and baseball. That’s kind of what we revolve around when there’s only a certain amount of kids, so we just grew up playing sports pretty much 24/7. And there’s a couple other guys that are still doing pretty well in hockey and sports, so I don’t know, it’s pretty cool.”
If you go to the Village of Irma web site, it’s obvious they take a great deal of pride in their baseball complex. The diamond is well referenced and Irma has hosted regional tournaments that have brought in teams from as far as New Zealand.
Of course, hockey is a staple, and Irma does have a public arena that has youth hockey and a senior team known as the Irma Aces.
Ratzlaff says the outdoor rink is popular and offers competitive games. Everyone who plays hockey in Irma, which is pretty much everybody, shows up. Even when the temperature drops to minus-30 Celsius (that’s minus-22 Fahrenheit).
“You go with two layers on and a toque,” he said. “You get a couple guys out there, because they’re all so committed.”
Agriculture and farming are prevalent in Irma, but there is a pride in the sports offered. Ratzlaff mentions several times how nice and kept up all the facilities in town are.
Soucy agrees.
“I don’t know how, but great job of developing and keeping our youth programs going,” Soucy said. “Whether it’s with new facilities or just great volunteers or parents willing to be coaches with youth and stuff, keeping the small kids very into hockey and baseball too. It’s definitely a sports town for sure.”
This past summer, Ratzlaff realized attention and notoriety beyond Irma and Seattle. He was the No. 1 goalie for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky under-18 tournament played in Red Deer, Alberta. Ratzlaff played well and helped the Canadians take the gold medal.
Suddenly he was known throughout Canada, and Irma celebrated.
“I got tons of emails and messages of just everyone’s cheering me on,” Ratzlaff said. “Since Red Deer wasn’t that far away, it was about two and a half hours, lots of guys made the trek down to come support. I even saw my librarian. It was just awesome to see that support, and coming from Irma, it’s awesome.”
Ratzlaff is in his NHL Draft year and his future is unknown. Firkus is in Moose Jaw and probably a year or two away from joining the Kraken, and Soucy is in the final year of his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
The Seattle-Irma connection may change in the next few years, but for now, a small village of 477 people is linked with Seattle at very high levels of hockey. It’s unique, special, and almost inexplicable to have three sons of Irma in Seattle.
“Seattle likes the Irma boys, I guess,” Ratzlaff said.
One thing is for sure, the three Irma boys will skate and workout together this summer.
Teams across the National Hockey League have exclusive clubs embedded within them. The privilege of joining those clubs requires a level of tenure, panache, and… well… hair product.
Curious about the unwritten rules of ditching the helmet in warmups, we asked the members of the Seattle Kraken chapter of the No-Bucket Warmer-Upper Club (that’s what we call it here at Sound Of Hockey) how they decide whether to protect their noggins or let the locks flow. Their answers taught us a lot and gave us some good laughs along the way.
Here’s what we learned about the longstanding NHL tradition of the bucketless warmup.
It’s all about the hair, for most
Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson—two frequent but not entirely consistent members of the NBWUC—shared similar sentiments about deciding whether to don a helmet or not. For the defensive partners, it’s actually quite simple.
“For me, it’s how good my hair looks,” Larsson said.
“Yeah, me too,” added Dunn. “It’s how fresh my haircut is.”
Brandon Tanev is the most committed member of the club and one of the Seattle chapter’s founding members. We can’t recall a time when we’ve seen him wear a helmet in warmups. In fact, in a game early last season, he took a puck to the forehead and hustled off the ice to get stitched up before the opening face-off. The following game, he was right back out there without a helmet, forehead stitches and all.
Brandon Tanev got hit in the head with a puck during warmups in a game against the Sabres last season. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Tanev, coincidentally, has perhaps the best flow on the team. But he says it isn’t so much about letting his hair down, rather a privilege that comes with tenure and experience. “The more games you play in the league, you’re able to do it, so you do it.” Fair enough.
Alex Wennberg’s approach is a bit more nuanced. “The warmup is to get prepared mentally,” he said. “It still doesn’t change the way you play at all, so every now and then you switch it up. And I mean, sometimes— it’s not like you’re superstitious, but sometimes it feels like the routines are working and sometimes you want to switch it up.”
Product is paramount
As Larsson and Dunn suggested there are external factors to consider, namely what hair products are available to the players on a given night. Larsson, for example, says he doesn’t travel with product, so what he uses is reliant upon what is provided in the locker room. If there’s no gel to give him the “wet look” that he prefers, you better believe he’s wearing a helmet that night.
Dunn also noted that Larsson’s gameday grooming routine can factor into the Swedish defenseman’s decision. “I know for Lars, if he conditions his hair, he’s probably not going to go no bucket because his hair is too soft; it’s not styled enough.” For the record, Dunn’s product of choice is paste.
And although Wennberg leans on how he’s feeling on a particular night, he too admits product can play a role in the decision. “I will say that if I don’t have any product in the hair, there is no way I’m going out without a bucket.”
The No-Bucket Warmer-Upper Club tonight features Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev.
Those that are not regular members of the NBWUC have their own reasons to stay helmeted. Morgan Geekie tried it once, but it was under specific circumstances. “My buddy was in town, and he bet me 20 bucks that I wouldn’t do it.” So, that was easy money for Geekie.
The one-time payout wasn’t enough to prod Geekie into the club permanently, though. He says growing up, he thought one of the coolest things about the NHL was seeing guys warm up without helmets on, yet even for him, the decision to typically stay helmeted comes down to follicles. “I don’t have nice enough hair to not wear it,” he said. “Earlier last year, I maybe could have when I had long hair, but Wenny, Tanev, all those guys that do it with no helmet, you can tell there’s a reason why they do it.”
A privilege reserved for veterans
It was borderline shocking to see Shane Wright take his traditional rookie lap Wednesday without a bucket, though that action was likely demanded by Seattle’s veterans to add to the moment. Aside from that situation, in which veterans are mandating a bucketless warmup, it would be unheard of and unacceptable for a rookie to try to join the NBWUC.
Shane Wright gets a THOROUGH no-bucket rookie lap prior to his NHL debut for the #SeaKraken.
To determine when a player can begin shedding his protective lid, Tanev doesn’t have a specific point in mind for when that would be tolerable. “It’s at the discretion of the older guys,” he says. “The older guys when I was playing— when I was younger, you have a certain amount of games, and you’re able to do it, and that’s about it.”
Larsson and Dunn thought the threshold was a bit more cut and dried, putting the minimum for NHL service time at somewhere between 200 and 250 games played.
Wennberg, meanwhile, didn’t try it until he was with the Florida Panthers and playing his 400th career game. “This is just how I came into the league,” he said. “When you’re a rookie or a couple years in, you’re not really going out without a bucket. It feels like more of a veteran thing, and in Columbus we weren’t allowed, so for me, I tried it first in Florida when I had the opportunity.”
A decision rarely discussed in advance
You might think the decision to show the hair would be something that gets discussed nightly by players in the dressing room, but that isn’t the case. It’s typically an under-the-radar, personal decision that is made quietly.
“I’m more of a guy who shows up, and when you walk the line [to go onto the ice] and you don’t wear your bucket, that’s when people will see it,” explained Wennberg. For him, it’s almost like a surprise reveal.
He adds, though, that there are rare occasions when teammates push each other to ditch the dome.
“If a bunch of guys on the team are saying, ‘It’s got to be a no-bucket night for you, your hair’s on point,’ yeah. I get that comment every now and then, but I don’t really spread the word.”
