It was the fish toss heard around the world, or at least heard around the Seattle Kraken, NHL circles, and in Jared McCann’s home.
In the hours before the NHL Expansion Draft in July, a video was leaked of ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes rehearsing the reveal of Seattle’s pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The video was shot at Pike Place Market with a fish monger catching a fish that had a note attached to it. Weekes pulled the note from the fish to announce that the Kraken had chosen Alex Kerfoot from the Maple Leafs.
“I was like ‘what’s happening right now’ and then I saw another video of my name being called,” McCann said about the video. “I was like, ‘okay, both of us. I don’t know.’”
The video added to what had already been an anxious week for the 25-year-old forward. Previously with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he appeared to be a key player that would be left unprotected and selected in the Expansion Draft. In the hours before the Penguins had to submit their protected list to the NHL, McCann was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“That was definitely a stressful time in my life,” McCann said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know where I was gonna play. But it worked out for the best and I’ve got a great opportunity here that I wouldn’t have gotten in Toronto. So, I’m very excited.”
The Penguins traded McCann because they didn’t want to lose him to the Kraken in the Expansion Draft for nothing. They avoided that by moving him in return for a prospect in Filip Hallander and a seventh-round draft pick in 2023.
Toronto wanted McCann for Expansion Draft insurance, and if Seattle selected him, they’d still have Kerfoot who is a similarly skilled player.
McCann was of interest. He was coming off his third full season with the Penguins where he scored 14 goals and 32 points in 43 games. His ultimate selection by Kraken general manager Ron Francis was not a surprise.
It all worked out for the Kraken and McCann. The team got the player they wanted all along and McCann landed in a place where he was given the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
Kraken have provided a bigger role for McCann
Playing as a center for the Penguins has its limits. McCann was not going to unseat Pittsburgh’s top two centers. Those roles belong to future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. He faced a similar log jam in Toronto with Auston Matthews and Jonathan Tavares at the top of the order.
With Seattle he’s getting those minutes, he’s on the power play, and he’s getting the opportunity he wanted.
“I’ve had [chances] sporadically over my career and I’ve done well every time I’ve been able to get the chance,” McCann said. “I’m taking it one day at a time. I know it sounds cliche, but I’m just enjoying it. I really am.”
The Kraken are enjoying it as well.
Seattle’s Jared McCann is on pace to set career highs in all offensive categories. (Brian Liesse photo)
He was leading Seattle in scoring before landing in the COVID-19 protocol that forced him to miss five games. That was a setback and he dealt with the low energy and lack of taste and smell that came with the virus.
It didn’t take long for him to make an impact once cleared to play. In his first game back on Nov. 11 against the Anaheim Ducks, and while still dealing with some COVID after effects, he scored twice in a loss.
“[McCann] brings speed and a shot, you saw it tonight on a couple goals,” Jordan Eberle said after the game.
In the 10 games McCann has played with the Kraken he’s skated up and down the lineup from the top line to the third line. He’s played center, on the wing, and he’s often on the half-wall for the power play. He has scored five goals and recorded nine points.
That versatility has come in handy as Seattle has had early injuries to navigate around. No matter where he’s played, McCann has produced.
“I’ve done that my entire career,” McCann said. “I’ve always kind of been a guy who fills in a lot and it’s something that I pride myself on. I love doing that.”
McCann a key player for Kraken moving forward
While he may not be as noticeable from game to game as Brandon Tanev or Yanni Gourde, McCann is a key player as the Kraken try to break out of their early season malaise.
He’s consistently been one of the team’s top offensive performers and at his current pace he would easily top his career high in goals (14), assists (21), and points (35). If the Kraken are going to break their slump and get into the Western Conference’s playoff race, they’ll need McCann to continue taking advantage of his newfound opportunity.
His career started in Vancouver after the Canucks selected him with the 24th pick of the 2014 NHL Draft. After one year in Vancouver, he was traded to Florida where he spent three seasons before landing in Pittsburgh.
McCann is in his final year of a $2.9 million contract and will be a restricted free agent after the season. That makes it easier for the Kraken to re-sign him and the way things have started, that’s good news for both the team and player.
“The facilities have been unbelievable; our gym is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. That’s pretty crazy so we’re very fortunate to have one like this. It’s just been amazing,” McCann said of playing in Seattle. “They’ve taken care of us so well and we were able to go see the Seahawks play and we got to see a Mariners game. We have great owners and a great management here.”
The Sound Of Hockey Podcast is back with a new chuckle-inducing episode that the guys think you will really enjoy. As always, it’s heavy on the segbits, as John, Andy, and Darren meander through the world of hockey, both at the NHL level and beyond. Plenty of Seattle Kraken talk to start the show, like what happened on a painful road trip and how much of the recent struggles have been due to goaltending.
But then the guys shift their focus to discuss:
The Jack Eichel trade
The Bob Murray resignation
The quality of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Segments this week include Sound Of Hockey’s Three Stars, Down on the Farm, Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
What looked promising for the Seattle Kraken Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas turned bad in just 1:33 of game time and they lost 4-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
It was the second straight loss on the road for Seattle (4-8-1) in which it held a lead, and Tuesday had a familiar odor to the disappointing loss Saturday in Arizona.
“We’re just a fragile team,” Jordan Eberle, who scored his seventh goal of the season, said. “We’re finding ways to lose instead off finding ways to win.”
After a dominating second period, Yanni Gourde scored a goal to put Seattle up 2-1 with 31 seconds left in the period. Instead of building momentum, it would be Vegas (7-6-0) who tied the game on a goal from Evgenii Dadonov on the next shift with 15 seconds left before intermission.
The Golden Knights rode that wave to score twice on goals from Reilly Smith, one at 30 seconds and again at 1:16 of the third period, to take a two-goal lead and sail to a win. Goalie Robin Lehner made 25 saves, 10 of which were in the third period, to squash any Kraken notions of a comeback.
“This was a hard loss,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We worked really hard to be in a position going into the third period and that slipped away. We’ve got to reset, practice tomorrow, and get ready for a game Thursday.”
Chris Driedger made his first start in net for Seattle and allowed four goals on 23 shots. Gourde’s goal was his second in two games and third on the season. Eberle scored his seventh goal in seven games to open the scoring in the first period.
It was in the second that the Kraken were gaining control.
Seattle took 75 percent of the unblocked shots at 5-on-5 and 75.8 percent of the quality shots. They also drew two penalties as the ice was tilted and the Kraken were controlling things. They took a deserved 2-1 lead when Brandon Tanev hit a streaking Gourde in stride for a go-ahead goal.
That’s where things turned.
With time running down in the period a Shea Theodore shot was stopped by Driedger, but he couldn’t control or find the rebound and it was poked in by Dadonov to make it 2-2.
“We have to go into the intermission up by one,” Hakstol said. “That’s a goal we can’t give up. We got caught with an out numbered situation at the net on a throw in. That’s a little too easy.”
Vegas grabbed the lead when a Theodore point shot was tipped by Smith in the slot causing Driedger to miss it with his glove. Smith would then knock in a touch pass in front on a Vegas power play to make it 4-2 and sap the life out of the Kraken players.
Driedger had a similar struggle with the glove late in the first period with the Kraken up 1-0. Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo threw a shot on net that seemed to surprise Driedger. Despite getting a piece of it, he was not able to keep it out of the net.
“There’s a couple he’d probably want back,” Hakstol said of Driedger’s game. “He’s got to reset and be ready to go back to work at practice tomorrow.”
The last two games have been a struggle and wiped away the good feeling last week’s win at home over the Buffalo Sabres gained. Trends are starting to emerge as the Kraken can’t find a way to cash in on repeated stretches where they control the play, and they are still looking for timely saves from their goaltenders.
Finishing a team once they’ve built a lead still appears to be a lesson that the team needs to learn.
Power play finally breaks through
One bright spot Tuesday was Seattle finally cashing in on a power play. It came in the first period after Gourde goaded Vegas’ Chandler Stephenson into taking an unsportsmanlike penalty for grabbing Gourde’s visor.
Eberle would then find a rebound in front and score on the backhand. It snapped a streak of 23 straight failed power play attempts.
In a touch of irony, Seattle failed on two second-period power plays which would have gone a long way to giving them a two-goal lead and change the tone of the contest. Even when the power play works the Kraken still managed to have it let them down.
“We’ve got to get feeling good about ourselves,” Mark Giordano said. “In tight games, we’ve got to find a way to still make those plays.”
Other Kraken game notes
— Marcus Johansson returned to the lineup Tuesday for Seattle. He last played in the season opener, also against Vegas, but recorded an assist on Eberle’s goal.
— Ryan Donato was injured in Arizona and was not in the lineup Tuesday. Hakstol did not have an update.
— Gourde did not play the last six minutes of the game, apparently suffering an injury. Hakstol did not disclose what the nature of the injury was nor did he offer any status update. Earlier in the game, Gourde took a shot off the knee but returned to the ice for his next shift.
— The Kraken open a six-game homestand at Climate Pledge Arena Thursday with a game against the Anaheim Ducks.
It’s been a season of firsts for the Seattle Kraken, but being the first team to lose to the Arizona Coyotes was not a first they wanted any part of.
But that’s what happened at Gila River Arena Saturday as the Kraken (4-7-1) raced to a 3-1 lead in the first period and then were outscored 4-1 the rest of the way for Arizona (1-10-1) to win 5-4.
It was a loss for the expansion team that could only be described as ‘bad.’
After giving up the lead with just over six minutes left in the game, and with Philipp Grubauer at the bench for an extra skater, Seattle tied the game at 18:42 on a Mark Giordano slap shot, and it looked like they would at least salvage a point by forcing overtime.
But 13 seconds later, Adam Larsson turned the puck over behind his own net, and it was passed out to Lawson Crouse who scored the go-ahead goal on his second of the night.
“Obviously that’s a real disappointing loss,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
The Kraken stormed out of the gates Saturday and Jordan Eberle scored at the 15 second mark with a backhand from in close followed by a Yanni Gourde goal at the 59 second mark, scored off the rush. That chased Coyotes starter Karel Vejmelka who gave up goals on each of the two shots he faced. Scott Wedgewood, who was just claimed off waivers by the Coyotes on Nov. 4, replaced him and made 27 saves to give Arizona a chance to come back.
“I don’t know. We got two quick goals and I don’t think we played real well after that,” Gourde said. “We weren’t managing the puck really well, weren’t playing fast, weren’t playing with our identity.”
Perhaps a harbinger of the way the night was going to end up came after the two early Kraken goals.
Just 34 seconds after Gourde scored, Seattle’s Morgan Geekie turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Shayne Gostisbehere found Antoine Roussel who had a two-on-one breaking into the Kraken zone. Roussel scored his first of the year and the Coyotes stemmed the tide a bit.
Even then, things looked good for Seattle as Nathan Bastian answered that goal at 11:04 of the opening period with his first goal as a Kraken.
The period ended with Seattle up 3-1 and leading in unblocked shot attempts and a somewhat dominating 59.77 expected goal percentage (xGF) – meaning not only were they getting more shot attempts but higher quality shots at that. This is how the game was supposed to go considering the Coyotes had been woeful the first 10 games of the season.
But Arizona quietly began to walk the Kraken down in the second period.
After a dump in by the Coyotes, Haydn Fleury got to the puck and the Kraken defender threw a backhanded pass up the boards in an attempt to break out. Gostisbehere read it, pinched, and broke the pass up. The puck would get to Travis Boyd who had an easy one-timer to cut the lead to 3-2 at 3:12.
The Coyotes started to turn the tide while down only one goal. They matched the Kraken in shot attempts and swung the quality shots to their side with an xGF of 59.77 in the second period.
“We had some of the pieces to our game, but we didn’t have the completeness at all,” Hakstol said. “That shows in… volume of chances. We didn’t make them work hard enough to get (chances).”
Third period unravels for Kraken
With a 3-2 lead for Seattle things started frantically in the third. The Kraken were in on Wedgewood on the first shift, nearly scoring on a couple of great looks. But they didn’t go in and Arizona transitioned the other way, getting the puck behind the Seattle net.
Johan Larsson beat the Kraken defenders to the puck and flung it in front to Crouse who blasted a shot to tie the game 3-3 at the 46 second mark.
“We got a good start early in the third, had a good shift,” Gourde said. “They get a scoring chance and score, quick turnaround. We’ve got to manage the game better…we got more looks in the third, but we’ve got to be better than that. Our identity is to play 60 minutes hard and we didn’t do that.”
Gourde is right, Seattle did get more looks in the third. A lot more.
Seattle had 18 unblocked shot attempts to the Coyotes 7 and had 77 percent of the quality shot attempts. Wedgewood made 12 saves in the period to keep Arizona in it. That allowed Phil Kessel to put the home team ahead at 13:34 with a power-play goal.
The goal was set up by Gostisbehere who ended with three assists.
“We’ll look at the clips, look at the tape and come up with an answer,” Gourde said. “Overall, our battle level, they won more battles than we did.”
— Seattle was 0-for-2 on the power play and has failed on 22 straight attempts.
— Ryan Donato was hurt after falling into the boards in the first period and did not return. After the game, Hakstol said that he did not have an update on the forward.
— Saturday was multi-goal comeback night in the NHL. Arizona came back from down two and was the third team to do so, joining the Vegas Golden Knights, the Minnesota Wild, and the Detroit Red Wings.
— With Eberle and Gourde scoring for the Kraken in the first 59 seconds, Seattle became the first road team to do so since the St. Louis Blues at Anaheim on Jan. 30 of 2004.
Through the first eleven games of their inaugural season, the Seattle Kraken find themselves at 4-6-1 and at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings. We at Sound Of Hockey are bullish on how they have been playing lately, so we decided to dig into the numbers to identify any trends and validate if our sense of optimism is justified.
Goals scored and goals against
Through the Nov. 5 games, Seattle is tied for 19th in average goals scored per game and 25th in average goals scored against. Those numbers reconcile with their record, but the goals against number is a bit surprising considering most media outlets forecasted the Kraken would be a strong defensive team.
Let us look at these same numbers by game so we can evaluate if the Kraken are trending in the right direction.
Even with Edmonton scoring five goals against the Kraken in game 10, the average goals against has been declining. This is a trend we like to see.
The goals scored is slowly trending in the right direction as well. Up until the game on Thursday against Buffalo, the team was feeling snakebitten after getting Shesterkinned against the Rangers last Sunday and having several near misses against the Oilers on Monday.
Shots taken and shots against
At 29.5 shots per game, the Kraken are 25th in the league, which correlates very well with their goals per game. On the other side, they are averaging the lowest number of shots against in the league which should be considered a very positive sign.
Here are how those numbers project by game.
These trends should give Kraken fans a sense of optimism. Shots for (taken) per game have been on a steady incline while shots against have been on a steady decline. The Kraken have outshot their opponent over the last six games, and if they can maintain that trend, they should start winning more games than they lose.
High-danger and medium-danger shot quality
Of course, it is not always about quantity, as sometimes you need to consider the quality of the shots being taken. To analyze the quality of shots we’re going to look at five-on-five high-danger and medium-danger shot counts by game.
The concept is relatively simple. A high-danger shot has a higher likelihood to go in than medium- or low-danger shots. We’re probably stating the obvious here, but ideally you would have more high-danger shots than medium- or low-danger shots to increase your chances of scoring goals. This data was pulled from NaturalStatTrick.com, a valuable resource if you ever want to know more about the advanced analytics of hockey.
This trend should be considered positive and could be the impact of the “learning to play together” narrative of an expansion team that is compiled of a bunch of players that had limited playing time together before this season.
Wrapping it all up
This is a case where the eye test is aligning to the analytics. We do not like to get pollyannaish about the team’s outlook, but there are some objective signs in the analytics that this team is getting better and is trending in the right direction. It will be interesting to continue to monitor these trends and see if the goals and therefore wins start to follow.
If you have any questions, insights, or feedback, let us know in the comments section.
Episode 161 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here. Lots to break down for the guys this week, both from the Kraken perspective and from the hockey world in general. First, they dig in a bit on Seattle’s first homestand and what they liked and didn’t like from the team, as well as the experience of attending the games. They also share some updates on what’s coming from the Kraken for the rest of the week.
They then move on to the story that gripped the whole hockey world this past week, which was the Kyle Beach and Chicago Blackhawks situation. Interestingly, John, Andy, and Darren did not go into the show with the intention of talking about it that much, being that it has been discussed so broadly over the last week. But once they got talking about it, it was hard to stop.
We then get an update of what’s happening down on the farm, a Serious Business, Goalie Gear Corner, and Bad Boys. We also hear a Get Off My Lawn from Darren, who is irked that other larger outlets seem to have no issue stealing content.
The show closes with Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
