The Utah Jazz surprised us all with their unexpected reveal of the Seattle Kraken’s Winter Classic Jersey on Nov. 17. This got me thinking about an NBA team inevitably returning to Seattle and what it might mean for the Kraken. More specifically, I’ve been pondering since that jersey reveal about how adding an NBA team to Climate Pledge Arena would impact the Kraken home schedule. Now that the hoopla of the Winter Classic has died down, I decided to do some investigating to see how other NHL teams’ schedules get impacted by sharing their buildings with NBA teams.
My expectation was that teams that share an arena with the NBA would have more mid-week games and fewer weekend games. In fact, the data does support that but does not have nearly the influence I would have guessed. The larger ramifications are on the specific day of the week the game is played and the number of day games.
Process
I analyzed 20 NHL team schedules—10 NHL teams that share an arena with the NBA and 10 that only house the NHL—from 2014-2024 and excluded the two seasons (2019-20, 2020-21) that were shortened due to the pandemic.
During the eight seasons researched, 328 regular-season home games were played per team with the exception of the Detroit Red Wings (205 games), who only started sharing with the Detroit Pistons in the 2017-18 season when Little Caesars Arena opened. For “NBA + NHL” cities, 3,157 regular-season home NHL games were analyzed. For “NHL Only” teams, 3,280 regular-season games were analyzed.
NBA + NHL
Currently there are 10 NHL teams that share an arena with an NBA team:
Los Angeles Kings
Dallas Stars
Colorado Avalanche
Washington Capitals
Detroit Red Wings
New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins
Chicago Blackhawks
Philadelphia Flyers
One team of note is the Los Angeles Kings who share Crypto.com Arena with both the Clippers and Lakers. Interestingly, five of the “Original Six” NHL team arenas also play home to NBA teams. From a divisional standpoint, there are three teams each from the Atlantic, Metropolitan, and Central Divisions that house teams from both leagues and just one team in the Pacific Division.
NHL Only
I compared the “NBA + NHL” teams with 10 NHL teams that have their own barn, and the “NHL Only” teams used are:
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Montreal Canadiens
Buffalo Sabres
Carolina Hurricanes
Tampa Bay Lightning
New Jersey Devils
Pittsburgh Penguins
Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild
Results
Data is sliced into a few views:
Sunday-Thursday versus Friday-Saturday
Days of the week
Day games versus night games
Comparison to the Seattle Kraken
Sunday-Thursday versus Friday-Saturday
As seen in the graphs, the difference between “NBA + NHL” and “NHL Only” for weekend games is only 2.6 percent. That works out to roughly one fewer weekend game each year for teams that share an arena.
Days of the week
What jumped out here is “NHL Only” teams played 68.2 percent of their homes games on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays compared to “NBA + NHL” teams played only 59.9 percent. By far these three days of the week are the busiest in the NHL.
For “NBA + NHL” teams, the remaining days of the week were more level with approximately 10 percent of the games each day, with Friday being the lowest at 8.6 percent. For the “NHL Only” teams, Wednesday was the least active day at 5.7 percent with Monday, Friday and Sunday coming in around a nine-percent average.
Day games versus night games
Teams that share arenas have to deal with converting the venue from hockey to basketball and back, which is the reason I looked at the data for day games. The LA Times reported, “… a group of 60 Crypto.com Arena workers set in motion a two-hour transformation of the playing surfaces, from Clippers hardwood to Kings ice, and for only a handful of times, back to hardwood for a Lakers game the following day.” Here is a video of the process to convert between basketball and hockey.
For reference, a day game is any game starting before 3:00 p.m. and a night game is 3:00 p.m. or later. The main takeaway is that “NBA + NHL” teams had 3.5 percent more day games than “NHL Only”.
The number of day games per team varied by a large margin. For the “NBA + NHL” teams, the range varied from 0.9 percent to 18.9 percent. For “NHL Only” teams the range varied from 0.6 percent to 14 percent. That seems somewhat like team preference was a deciding factor on if teams played day games or not, but in general Seattle might expect a couple more day games during the year if they end up with an NBA team sharing CPA.
Comparison to the Seattle Kraken
Through the first three seasons of hockey in Seattle, the Kraken are right in the middle between “NHL Only” and “NBA + NHL” teams with 33.3 percent of their games scheduled on the weekend. The Kraken have evenly distributed their remaining games over the other days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday). Seattle has had six scheduled day games over the first three years which is 4.9 percent of their home games.
Overall
I agree that the NBA will come back to Seattle. “I think the NBA comes someday, and I think the NBA fans owe the Kraken fans a beer and a tip of the cap,” Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke told KOMO News on Jan. 4, 2023.
Kraken fans can rest easy, though, as the data supports that the NHL home schedule will not change drastically. There could be a few more day games and one fewer weekend game, but overall, we should continue to enjoy a similar schedule composition.
The Seattle Kraken just played their best hockey of the season over the second half of this last homestand. Since the last Monday Musings, the team ended its eight-game losing streak and captured five of the possible six points available. This does not eliminate the challenging start to the season, but the Kraken are showing a lot of heart despite the injuries that have racked up.
What is going right?
The penalty kill has been outstanding as of late, and for the month of December, they have the fourth best penalty kill in the league. Here is how they have fared over the season by game.
Additionally, the Kraken are back to getting contributions from up and down the line up. The depth scoring was a big strength for this team last season, so it is encouraging to see it showing up recently. Kailer Yamamoto, Tye Kartye, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare have a collective seven goals over the last six games. Meanwhile, Oliver Bjorkstrand continued to do what he does with three points against the Chicago Blackhawks and this clutch goal on Saturday that forced overtime and locked in that point in the standings for the Kraken.
Finally, they are getting great goaltending from Joey Daccord since Philipp Grubauer went down with an injury during the Tampa Bay game. Over the last four games, Joey is averaging a .954 save percentage with a record of 2-1-1. A contributor to Joey’s success is the team’s ability to limit the high-danger shots against. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Kraken have averaged five ‘high-danger shots against’ over the last three games.
Adding depth Tomas Tatar
The Kraken added Tomas Tatar in a trade with Colorado on Friday. Tatar is a skilled forward that can move up and down the lineup as needed and will be a welcome addition with the injuries to Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky, and now Jordan Eberle. The Kraken got him for a fifth-round draft pick, so the price they paid was minimal. It is not clear how long Schwartz and Burakovsky will be out of the lineup, but Tatar will serve as a nice stopgap in the meantime.
The trade will also provide a great opportunity for Tatar. Before the trade, he was averaging just 11:17 of ice time per game with Colorado. He logged 13:47 on Saturday after landing in Seattle fewer than 24 hours before the game. Tatar signed a one-year deal with Colorado this offseason, so he is also showcasing his worth for a contract for next season.
Other musings
It was not a surprise to see Tatar jump out as one of the first three skaters in the shootout Saturday night. He has a shootout percentage of 30 percent over the last three seasons. That puts him second on the Kraken behind Kailer Yamamoto over that same timespan.
To put a finer point on why limiting the high-danger shots matter, against the Kings on Saturday night, the Kraken allowed six high-danger shots against. Two of them were the goals the Kings scored.
Joey has been great in net over the last three games, including his first career shutout against Florida, but eventually he will need a rest. I imagine we will see Chris Driedger for his 2023-24 debut in one of these three games before the Christmas break.
We saw a couple uncharacteristic and undisciplined penalties on Saturday night, but the Kraken remain one of the most disciplined teams in the league and are tied for the third fewest shorthanded opportunities per game (2.81).
Adam Larsson is set to play his 800th NHL game in his career Monday. Despite playing the fewest games with Seattle compared to the other teams he’s played for, Larsson has scored the most goals with the Kraken than he has with any other team.
In non-shortened NHL seasons since the shootout was instituted in the 2005-06 season, 10 teams had 28 points (Seattle’s current point total) at the 32-game mark of the season. None of them qualified for the playoffs in that season.
In my research for the times the Kraken have been shorthanded, I found that they have the fewest bench minors in the league. They are the only team with zero bench minors.
The IIHF World Junior Championship rosters are pretty much set. The Kraken will have five prospects playing in the tournament: Carson Rehkopf (CAN), Niklas Kokko (FIN), Jani Nyman (FIN), Zeb Forsfjäll (SWE), and Eduard Sale (CZE). I’m looking forward to early morning hockey and coffee during the tournament.
In case you missed it, Seattle Kraken’s fourth-round pick from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Tyson Jugnauth, left Wisconsin a little over a week ago to play for the Portland Winterhawks. Jugnauth has five assists in five games since joining the Winterhawks.
The Kraken and Seattle Thunderbirds announced their game against the Portland Winterhawks on March 17 will be played at Climate Pledge Arena. This is a great opportunity to see junior hockey in a pro venue… plus Tyson Jugnauth.
If you are looking for an authentic Seattle Kraken Winter Classic jersey, you are out of luck. They are virtually sold out, and it does not look like they will be getting any more.
Looking for a customization of a blank winter classic jersey? Those can be done relatively quickly, so long as you don’t want anyone with a “2” in their number. Apparently, there is a six-week backlog for 2’s.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have won four out of their last five games and got great goaltending from Jack LaFontaine with wins in both of his starts and a .914 save percentage in those two games.
In a losing effort, Goaltender Cale Morris made 43 saves on 44 shots in his Firebirds debut.
Player performance
Joey Daccord (SEA) – Posted his first career shutout against Florida and had a .964 save percentage over his three starts in the last week.
Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) – Had three goals in three games over the last week including the opening goal against Florida that would end up being the game winner.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨 #SeaKraken score the first goal of the game for the first time since Nov. 22.
The Kraken did get shutout last Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, but the overall team shooting percentage has been getting better as of late, another contributing factor in Seattle’s recent success.
Goal of the week
The goal of the week comes from the World Junior A Hockey Challenge. Kaden Shahan busts the goalie’s water bottle wide open with this goal.
Shahan is from Everett and played his youth hockey in the Seattle area. He will be playing at the University of Connecticut next season.
The week ahead
As I was leaving Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday night, I could not help listening to the excitement in fans’ voices as they left the arena. Four or five clusters of fans were explaining to each other what they had just witnessed. They were disappointed with the result but there was a sense of bewilderment on the drama and suspense of Seattle’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings. As the love for this sport continues to grow in this market, I couldn’t help but smile thinking about what a great game the fans in the building witnessed.
The Kraken have quite the hole to dig out of if they expect to contend for a playoff position, but in the meantime, I just want to see some good hockey. They have a tough little road trip here with a game against Dallas on Monday, L.A. on Wednesday, and then they will play their final game before the holiday break Saturday at Anaheim.
At this point, the Kraken need to consistently get two-thirds of the points available before we can even hint at contending for a playoff spot. They are playing their best hockey of the campaign right now, though, so let’s see if they can do it.
It is likely Monday Musings will take a brief hiatus with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Mondays this year.
Just when we thought it could not get any worse, it did. The Kraken are now 0-6-2 in their last eight games and have the second-longest losing streak in their brief history. They currently have 23 points on the season, which is the exact same number of points they had in their inaugural season after the same number of games (29). I can’t say it won’t get any worse, but this losing streak will end… eventually.
Since the shootout was introduced in 2005-06, nine teams had 23 points at their respective 29-game mark, and only one of those teams has made the playoffs, the 2007-08 Capitals. Barring a minor miracle, this team will not be making the playoffs, although I guess an 11 percent chance of making it is better than no chance at all.
How did we get here?
The number of goals scored against Kraken goalies last season is identical to the goals scored against Kraken goalies this season, 91 goals against after 29 games. Goaltending has not been great this season, but it is consistent with last season.
The average goals scored per game at this point last season was 3.4 compared to 2.5 this season. The .9 drop in goal scoring is the second-biggest drop in the league. Only Buffalo with their 1.1 drop is worse.
It would be easy to point to the departures of Daniel Sprong, Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, Karson Kuhlman, and Carson Soucy as the main contributors to the change in goal scoring this season. They had a collective 18 goals at this point last season.
However, when comparing against the players that are currently on the Kraken that were not with the club at this point (Eeli Tolvanen, Tye Kartye, Kailer Yamamoto, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Brian Dumoulin), those players also have a collective 18 goals at the 29-game mark.
If we isolate just the players that were on the team for the first 29 games last season, the narrative changes quite a bit.
As most of you know, Andre Burakovsky has had multiple injuries this season and has yet to register a goal in the seven games for which he has suited up. Matty Beniers struggled early in the season and appears to be slumping again without a goal in his last six games. Jordan Eberle is struggling a bit, but I do feel he has looked a bit better as of late.
Where do we go from here?
I mentioned it on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast last week, that the organization should not make a trade to improve its chance to make the playoffs. The odds are long, and there is little chance the team would be able to improve enough without giving up a significant asset. Barring that miracle I discussed at the beginning of this article, they will be sellers at the trade deadline.
The easy decisions on who to move at the trade deadline will be around the players on expiring contracts. Alex Wennberg, Justin Schultz, and Jordan Eberle could all be moved. The tougher decision will be the players with term remaining on their contracts that might appeal to a playoff team looking to make a run.
Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev are the ones that jump off the roster as appealing players to playoff teams. The thought of trading Yanni makes me sick to my stomach, but if the right offer comes along, general manager Ron Francis would have to consider it. Yanni seems to mean so much to this organization and brings energy on the ice that is infectious, which might mean the price to move him might be too high for teams to consider.
Assuming the Kraken are open for business, do not expect a trade anytime soon. December is one of the slowest months of the season for transactions. There were three trades last December, and there is a good chance you don’t recognize any of the players that were involved.
Reader question: You’re the general manager of the Seattle Kraken. What would it take for you to trade Yanni Gourde?
Other musings
Over the last three games, I think Wennberg has been one of the best Kraken players on the ice. I would love him signed to an extension, but with Shane Wright waiting in the wings, I can’t see it happening. Wright will be centering the second or third line next season… if not sooner.
The Kraken had two losing streaks of seven or more games in their inaugural season; one that lasted seven games and another that lasted nine.
I like what I am seeing out of Ryker Evans so far. It seems that he is getting more and more confident with the pace of the NHL with each game played. Unless things go sideways, I imagine we will see him with the big club and in the lineup for much of the remainder of the season.
I must be a glutton for punishment because on Sunday morning I re-watched the first power play for both the Lightning and Kraken from the first period of Saturday night’s game. The Lightning had the puck in the offensive zone for 1:55 of the two-minute power play. The Kraken had the puck in the zone for 48 seconds of their first two-minute power play.
In the Kraken’s first power play in the Sunday game against the Minnesota Wild, they kept the puck in the offensive zone the entire two minutes of the power play. I don’t recall that ever happening before.
The Kraken won just two of nine (22.2%) face-offs on the power play in the game against Tampa Bay on Saturday, but on Sunday, they won nine of 11 (81.8%) of power-play face-offs.
The San Jose Sharks are now 5-2-2 since losing to the Kraken 7-1 on Nov. 22. The Kraken are 0-6-2 in the same time span.
With Philipp Grubauer out with a lower-body, not-good-looking injury, we should see Chris Driedger tend the net for a few games. Driedger’s last regular-season NHL game was May 1, 2022.
I always love watching the World Junior Championship, but this year will be something special. Up to seven different Kraken prospects could be playing in the U20 tournament at the end of the month. 13 of the 19 preliminary-round games could feature at least one Kraken prospect.
One of those prospects that has a shot at making Team Canada is Carson Rehkopf. On Friday night, he had three assists and the game-winning goal in overtime to cap a four-goal deficit comeback win for the Kitchener Rangers. He is likely a couple years away from suiting up for the Kraken, but in the meantime, he is such a fun player to track and watch.
My money is on Sweden to win this tournament.
Player performances
Jared McCann (SEA) – McCann is the only Kraken player with more than one goal over the last four games. (He has two.) McCann is having a heck of a season. He has 13 goals in 29 games and is on pace for another 30-plus-goal campaign.
Matt Boldy (MIN) – Boldy has six points in his last four games for the Wild including the game-winning goal on Sunday against the Kraken. When he is not playing the Kraken, he is fun to watch. He was drafted in the 2019 NHL Draft and had his breakout season in 2022-23. He is a subtle reminder to be patient with Kraken prospects like Beniers and Wright.
Carter Hart (PHI) – Has won his last three starts with a collective .958 save percentage. The former Everett Silvertip goaltender has nine wins on the season and is one of the reasons the Philadelphia Flyers are sitting in a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Chart of the week
The Kraken have not scored the first goal in a game since the San Jose game before Thanksgiving and up until the Tampa Bay game, had not led in any game since that San Jose game. Here is a look at the elapsed time they have been leading, trailing or tied for each game.
You want to avoid being in the red, and there is a lot of red in this chart for the most recent games.
The Kraken have three tough games to close out the homestand. The Florida Panthers come to town on Tuesday, Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, and then they take on the LA Kings on Sunday. I think the Kraken have played well over the last three games, so they are due for a win or two. In classic NHL shoulder shrug fashion, I wouldn’t be surprised if they won two out of three of those games. Other than being part of an eight-game losing streak, I’ve enjoyed going to the games lately, and I continue to look forward to rooting on this team at CPA.
What a difference a week makes. Last Monday, it felt like the Seattle Kraken were on the brink of theoretical elimination from contending for a playoff spot, and now I am convinced they are a playoff team. Remember what I said about recency bias a few weeks ago? It apparently works the other way too, because I am now feeling good about this team’s chances this season after its impressive win against Vancouver on Saturday.
The Kraken secured five of a possible six points over the last three games and have looked good in all those games. There is still a long way to go, but there is a lot to be happy about over this last stretch. For starters, the depth scoring that was a key to Seattle’s success in 2022-23 has returned. Over the last three games, the Kraken have scored 10 goals from eight different players. They also won a game that went to a shootout for the first time in 579 days.
No panic
Since Game No. 5 on the season, it has felt like the Kraken have been playing decent hockey most nights, but they just were not getting quality results (and yes, I know there were some real stinkers sprinkled in there). If you play good hockey, the wins should come, so I’m hoping the last week of play is the new normal.
Coach Dave Hakstol has been even-keeled and consistent when speaking to the media, even after what felt like a disastrous loss in Edmonton when Evander Kane scored a hat trick that started with under seven minutes to play in the third period. That could have been a loss that stuck with players for a while, but they bounced back with the shootout win against the Islanders, and that seemed to give them some confidence heading into Vancouver.
3-on-3 changes coming
Broadening the scope of this article a bit, there was a lot of chatter about potential changes to three-on-three overtime rules coming out of the general managers meetings last week. My first question is, “Why do we need to change it again?”
The closest answer I saw was the quote from Arizona Coyotes GM, Bill Armstrong. “The purpose of overtime is to end the game [before the shootout], and we need to make sure that continues to progress.”
So, I looked up the numbers.
Three-on-three was instituted before the 2015-16 season, so you can see the obvious and immediate impact it had on reducing the number of shootout games. But, that number has even been trending down slightly since its inception, so changes in tactics from coaches really haven’t made the shootout happen any more frequently.
I, for one, love the shoutout, even when a team’s shooters are slow and methodical about choosing their shot attempts. It adds a lot of anticipation.
If reducing shootouts is the goal, how about they just say… eliminate them altogether? For the record, I have never heard a fan complain about the three-on-three format other than it being too short.
Other musings
Regular readers will already know this, but the Kraken win over Vancouver was their first win on a Saturday this season. They improved to 1-4-1 on the season on Saturdays.
Alex Wennberg, Brandon Tanev, and Jamie Oleksiak all scored their first goal of the season over the last week.
It’s been nice to see Tanev back on the penalty kill. The team was solid on the PK early in the season without Tanev but has struggled as of late. Turbo’s speed brings a different element that might get teams second guessing when trying to pinch on a 50/50 puck.
One of my favorite moments of the game against the Canucks was when Jared McCann took a (clean) run at Elias Pettersson. I love the emotion McCann shows on the ice.
Eeli Tolvanen led the forwards in blocked shots last week. He is known for his shot, but he has looked good defensively. Offensively, he only has three goals on the season, which is fine, but he is still due for a breakout game with a couple goals. If he isn’t making a huge impact offensively, being able to block shots and help at Seattle’s end of the ice keeps him in the coaching staff’s good graces.
I have some feedback for Game Ops at Climate Pledge Arena. When there is a penalty in the game, show the replay BEFORE the game starts again. More than a few times last week, a penalty was called, but the replay did not show up on “The Twins” until after game play began. Anyone else notice this? We, as fans, need more time to be irate over the call.
Big congratulations to Everett native Kaden Shahan for being named to the US Junior Select team that will compete in the 2023 World Junior A Challenge in early December. Shahan played much of his youth hockey in the Seattle area. He now plays for the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL where he has 15 goals and five points in 19 games. He is expected to play at the University of Connecticut next season.
Kraken prospect, Ty Nelson became the North Bay Battalion’s franchise leader in goals, assists, and points for a defenseman. Congrats, Ty!
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard scored two goals on Saturday night for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. He was a second-round selection of the Kraken in this most recent entry draft, and apparently, he had some sage advice for one the veterans before the game.
Former Seattle Thunderbird Luke Prokop made his AHL debut last week. Read about Luke’s inspiring story here.
Another former Seattle Thunderbird hit a significant milestone last week. Goaltender Thomas Milic won his first AHL game in a 3-2 win for the Manitoba Moose.
Player performances
Jordan Eberle (SEA) – After missing a few games after being cut by Jaden Schwartz’s skate in practice, Ebs has five points over the last three games. Eberle’s uptick in production has been a sight for sore eyes, as he struggled to contribute in the first part of the season.
Jani Nyman (SEA) – The Seattle Kraken’s second-round pick from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft continued his impressive season with a hat trick for Ilves against SaiPa on Saturday night. At 19 years old, he is tied for second in goals scored (11-5—16) in the Finnish Liiga.
Sidney Crosby (PIT) – I don’t know if anyone has heard of this guy before, but he has five goals over his last four games.
Goal of the week
This was Mølgaard’s second goal of the game and proved to be the game winner for HV71.
This was Alex Nedeljkovic’s second AHL goal. He then got recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins and pitched a 38-save shutout against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
Chart of the week
The Seattle Kraken power play has significantly improved this season, and the team has become more dependent on it compared to last year.
Here is a look at the team’s power-play goal percentage compared to the rest of the league this season.
Another big and busy week
For as good as I feel about the team right now, they still have some work to do before we can really say they are a playoff contender. They have another critical week ahead, with three home games against division opponents over the next five days. The Kraken will look for redemption Monday against the Calgary Flames, who are not too far behind the Kraken in the standings.
Then, the Kraken will welcome the San Jose Sharks and Canucks in what I call the “Turkey Sandwich” on the days before and after Thanksgiving respectively. Four points should be the target with three being the minimum for good feelings.
Is there an area you want to dig into for next week? If so, let me know in the comments section, and I will see what I can do.
Another Monday Musings and another sinking feeling about this team. The Kraken are now 0-4-1 on Saturday nights this season… We all knew the Saturday egg was coming against the Oilers, right? Edmonton was coming off a humiliating loss to the San Jose Sharks, and the Kraken were coming off one of their best games of the season in Colorado, so we had seen this act before.
In fact, we saw it against Calgary just one week prior, and we saw it last season when Vancouver won its first game of the season against the Kraken after starting the season with seven straight losses. I mentally prepared myself for the loss all day Saturday to minimize that sad Sunday vibe that I usually feel after a Saturday loss.
The week wasn’t a total failure. Last week I wrote that I was hoping for four out of six points, but three would be fine. It is fine, but I can’t shake that sinking feeling in my gut that they could have had more points. I think they were probably the better team Tuesday night in Arizona but only came away with a shootout loss and one point. Thursday against the Avs was one of the more exciting games of the season and ended with a last-minute game-winning goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand.
The Avalanche win felt like a signature win to send the boys streaking, but it was not to be.
Lack of high-danger chances
One thing I did not like about the Saturday night game against Edmonton was the lack of high-danger chances. It just never felt like the Kraken were getting looks at the net until the third period when it was way too late. It is not the first time I’ve felt that way in a loss. Here is a look at the number of high-danger shots by game and the game outcomes.
I am not exactly going out on a limb here, but the Kraken need to generate more shots from in close if they expect to win. The Rangers, Flames, and now the Oilers games have felt like Seattle never really had a chance. How they generate those high-danger shots is not clear to me, but it does seem to correlate with players battling through to get to the top of the crease, similar to what Zach Hyman did three times in 10 minutes for the Oilers on Saturday.
Derek Ryan and promoting the game
I always enjoy seeing Derek Ryan visit Climate Pledge Arena. Derek’s journey through Spokane, Canadian College, Swiss league, Swedish league, the AHL, and the NHL is remarkable in its own right. One thing I especially love about Derek is that he took the time to talk to us on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast back in November of 2020. He did not need to talk to us, but he implied he did the interview because he felt it was important to help grow the game and promote the sport. A lot is asked of NHL players and coaches, so when someone outside the Seattle hockey scene like Ryan makes the time for us, it makes me a fan for life.
Other Musings
The Kraken are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games, good for 50 percent of the points available in that time span. It’s not horrible until you realize the Kings, Golden Knights, and Canucks have captured at least 70 percent of the points available to them over their respective last 10 games.
It is still early in the season, but the NHL’s Pacific Division looks daunting. The Kraken have only played one game (Vegas on opening night) against any of the top four teams in the Pacific, and they are 0-3-0 in games against all divisional opponents.
Nobody brings me more joy when they score than Bjorkstrand. I’ve been following his career since he played with the Portland Winterhawks and still think the trade for him last summer was a major coup. I was jumping up and down in Denver when he scored that game winner on Thursday.
You must figure Colorado is going to come into Seattle fuming. They squandered at least a point to the Kraken on Thursday when they allowed a goal with 32 seconds left in regulation and then had a rather embarrassing 8-2 defeat to the Blues at home on Saturday. I am scared already.
It has been fun to see Ryan Winterton get the call-up this week. I think it will be some time before we can call him an everyday NHLer, but even in limited minutes, I like what I’ve seen. He brings more physicality than I would have expected out of a 20-year-old first-year pro getting called up to the NHL. I think he has a bright future in this organization.
Even though Andre Burakovsky was not playing at the level we expected him to play early this season, this team really misses him. He is a huge scoring threat, and having him out crushes Seattle’s depth.
Speaking of Burakovsky, we would like to congratulate him and Johanna on the birth of their baby girl on Wednesday.
The Kraken only had four regulation Saturday losses all last season. They have four so far this season.
I am wondering if I should change this column to Fridays for the sole purpose of feeling better when I write it. The Kraken are 3-1-1 on Thursdays this season. Friday Fusings? I don’t know. We’ll workshop it.
Seattle Kraken fourth-round selection from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Ville Ottavainen, had his first North American professional goal over the weekend for Coachella Valley.
Monday night’s game against the Avalanche will be my 100th Seattle Kraken game at Climate Pledge Arena. There are moments where it still feels like a dream. This will be another one of those moments.
Player performances
Jaden Schwartz (SEA) – A regular call-out here on Monday Musings, Schwartz continues to be the best player on the Kraken this season. He has four goals and two assists in five games in November and is on a four-game goal-scoring streak and nine-game point streak.
Andrei Loshko (ROU/SEA) – The Kraken’s fourth-round selection from the 2023 draft had three goals in three games for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the QMJHL over the past week. Loshko gets a lot of praise for his defensive maturity, so it is nice to see him starting to get a bit of a scoring touch.
Connor Bedard (CHI) – Have you heard about this guy? He has six points in the last three games including this little beauty. Bedard and the Blackhawks come to town in mid-December. I imagine that will be a hot ticket.
MacDonald is a freshman at Harvard and has four points in five games.
Chart of the week
This is an updated chart from a couple weeks ago. The chart for the 2022-23 records at this point really illustrates how playoff teams start to establish themselves near the top half of the league around this time of year.
This does not mean that teams need to be in a playoff position at this time of the season, but it pains me to say that no team that had a points percentage of .500 or lower at this stage made the playoffs last season. Yikes.
This is a jam-packed week with four games in six nights and some quality opponents to boot. The Kraken will face an angry Avalanche team on Monday, travel to Edmonton for a single-game road trip on Wednesday night, go back to Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday to host the Islanders, and will close out the week with a game in Vancouver on Saturday night. Four out of eight possible points will be fine, but anything less could be devastating for the team.
I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I am really looking forward to the game on Saturday versus Vancouver. The Canucks are playing extremely well, so I’m hoping the Kraken really elevate their game to compete.
Last week, I mentioned that if the Kraken were to get four out of a possible six points from the three games between then and now, it would resemble a playoff team. They got four out of six points by beating Tampa Bay and Nashville and losing to Calgary. So why do I feel so icky and bummed about the Kraken right now? Recency bias.
Recency bias gives “greater importance to the most recent event” that often misleads us into overweighting the most recent events when determining the long-term outlook for future events. This happens in positive and negative scenarios. Right now, we have a bad taste in our mouths from the team’s performance against the Flames on Saturday.
Let’s acknowledge the good over the last week. The Kraken got a big win against a very good Tampa Bay Lightning team last Monday that marked the first win in franchise history against that club. They then beat Nashville on Thursday night at home. That was a bit of a redemption game after losing to the Predators back on Oct. 12, which – up until Saturday night – was the worst they played all season.
What’s up with Matty?
The short answer is that I don’t know. I hate the expression, since I feel it is something that hockey media makes up to create a narrative, but he could be “gripping the stick too tightly” right now. The last couple games, it feels like he is not playing with the same confidence we saw last year. There are times where seems to be passing instead of creating a shooting lane for himself, and other times where he is finding space to create a shooting option but misfires the shot.
I’ve seen him out on the power play, but I am not noticing him as a scoring threat or even a key part of the power play right now. He is third on the Kraken in total power-play time this season with 31:27 of ice time, but he only has three shots on goal. Conversely, Andre Burakovsky, who has been out since Oct. 21, has less than half that time as Matty with the same number of power-play shots. This could be by design in how the power play is structured, but Beniers has been largely unnoticeable.
It could also be that opposing teams know him a little better this season and know how to make his life difficult, or it could be some self-inflicted pressure he is putting on himself. No matter what it is, I know he will get through it and will be fine. Slumps happen, and they probably happen more often to young players in this league than we even know. I keep wishing for some kind of fluky, ugly goal to help him break out of this funk.
Other Kraken musings:
Jaden Schwartz has been playing excellent this season, but I think Oliver Bjorkstrand has been the best player over the last five games or so. Both Schwartz and Bjorkstrand have 10 points on the season and have shown up at critical times in games.
Bjorkstrand scored his fourth goal of the season on Saturday night. He did not score his fourth goal last season until Dec. 22.
Beniers has yet to score this season; last season he had five goals by Nov. 5.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the Kraken rank eighth in the league in power play percentage at 25.7 percent, despite how ice cold (1 for 11) the power play was to start the season. The Kraken have at least one power-play goal in each of their last three games.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds are 5-2-0 on the season after winning four straight games. It has been a total team effort; they have 15 different goal scorers this season.
Shane Wright and Max McCormick lead the Firebirds with four goals apiece.
In just their second season, the Firebirds have the largest season ticket base in the AHL. It’s a remarkable achievement and testament to the leadership at Oak View Group. OVG has raised the bar in how to launch a franchise, both at the NHL level and now the AHL level. I often wonder if that is why we are starting to hear more expansion talk around the NHL.
Niklas Kokko, one of the Kraken’s second-round selections from 2022 NHL Entry Draft, is currently leading the Finnish Liiga in save percentage. He earned his first career shutout last week. Kokko is expected to be the primary goalie for Finland in the World Junior Championship at the end of December.
It was pretty cool to see “marathoner” Zdeno Chara run his second marathon of the year. On Sunday, he completed the New York Marathon in 3:19:19, which is an improvement on his Boston Marathon time of 3:38:23 in April. Congrats Big Z.
After injuring his shoulder in the World Championships last summer, free agent defenseman Ethan Bear is getting close to being fully rehabilitated and is destined for an NHL contract. He probably isn’t a fit for the Kraken, but I am excited to see this former Seattle Thunderbird back in the NHL.
Player performance
Jani Nyman (Ilves/SEA) – Playing for Ilves in the Finnish Liiga, Nyman had two goals in Ilves’ 6-4 victory over Sport on Saturday night. Nyman is currently donning the Red Bull helmet as the top U20 goal scorer in the league. He now has eight goals and five assists in 19 games for Ilves.
🙌😻 JAMPPA
Ilves siirtyi Vaasassa kahden maalin karkumatkalle tällä Jani Nymanin kauden seitsemännellä osumalla! 🚨
Ryan Winterton (CVF/SEA) – The third-round selection of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft for the Kraken has three goals and five points in his last four games. This is Winterton’s first season of professional hockey after playing in the OHL the last few seasons.
Justin Schultz (SEA) – Has four assists over the last three games including two power-play assists. He has been a significant contributor to the success of the Kraken power play as of late.
Chart of the week
The Kraken have uncharacteristically scored first in most of their games this season, which is usually closely aligned with winning. But the Kraken have won just 25 percent of the games in which they’ve scored first. The league average is 65 percent, so I expect that percentage to improve now that the team is scoring more. In the meantime, it has been an odd statistic through the first 12 games of the season.
Goal of the week
I had a hard time deciding between these two, so I’m picking two goals of the week:
BJORK-JAM! 🚨
Oliver goes BarrDown Studios for a power-play goal! What a shot.
The Kraken hit the road for a quick two-game set starting with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, and then on to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The Coyotes are not the pushover we have seen the last few years, and Colorado really took it to the Kraken in a 4-1 win in Seattle’s home opener.
Seattle then returns home next Saturday with a game against a reeling Edmonton Oilers club. Getting four out of a possible six points will again be great, but three would be fine. It is another cliché, but I am looking for a full 60-minute effort in these games. I don’t think we’ve seen one yet, and a full 60 was the theme when the team went streaking last season.
One area where the Kraken must improve is the penalty kill. They have a 73 percent kill rate over the season after not allowing a power-play goal through the first four games. Over the last two weeks, they have a league-worst PK success rate at just 52.9 percent. That is brutally low, and they’ve got no chance at qualifying for the playoffs if they do not turn that around soon. This brief road trip would be a great place to rekindle that early-season magic.
As always, let me know your thoughts, questions, or areas you want me to investigate.
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