The Seattle Kraken just had their best week of the season, grabbing five out of a possible six points without their starting goalie and best goal scorer in the lineup.
The imperfect game
Coming into Thursday night’s game against Winnipeg with Connor Hellebuyck in net, it felt like the Kraken needed to play a perfect game to beat the Jets. Winnipeg got on the board first with a rush chance that looked a little too easy and not characteristic of the type of play we have seen from this team this season. The Kraken answered that mistake with a nice Kaapo Kakko deflection that floated over Hellebuyck’s shoulder.
KAAPO! 🚨
Great play by Vince Dunn, who takes… er… THROWS a hit to make the play to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz shoots for Kakko’s stick, and Kakko gets off the schneid.
Winnipeg took the lead back when Neal Pionk found Mark Scheifele behind a Kraken line change in the second period for a breakaway goal. It was another consequential mistake by the Kraken that we haven’t seen often this season. The Jets had just a one-goal lead going into the third, but it felt like a big hill to climb against a formidable opponent, especially with Hellebuyck in net.
Seattle scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the third and then added an empty-netter in the dying minutes to seal the win. It was a signature victory where they found a way to win without being perfect.
Shot attempt volume
The Kraken are 26th in the league in shot attempts per game. There’s been a lot of fan chatter about the lack of shots and attempts lately, but those numbers can be misleading. Dallas is dead last in shot attempts per game, yet the Stars have the third-best record in the league.
Because the Kraken have been playing from ahead rather than tied or trailing, they’ve naturally taken fewer attempts. They average almost six fewer shot attempts in regulation in wins than they do in regulation losses.
Penalty kill
The penalty kill remains a sore spot. San Jose’s power-play tally marked the sixth straight game in which Seattle allowed a goal while shorthanded. The unit has struggled all season, but discipline had been a saving grace, until this week.
Seattle was shorthanded 13 times over three games, their highest such stretch of the season. Early-season issues stemmed from extended defensive-zone time, whether from failed clears or uncontested entries. I chalk this up more to rough execution than systemic failure, and improvement should come as the season progresses.
Freddy Gaudreau returns to the lineup
Usually the return of a fourth-line center isn’t something that gets fans buzzing, but Freddy Gaudreau’s return should give this team a real boost. Gaudreau does a lot of little things that don’t always show up. He’s a bit of a Swiss Army knife: kills penalties, provides a right-shot center option, is very good in the shootout, and has enough sneaky skill to move up and down the lineup when needed.
On Saturday, he took 40 percent of the defensive-zone draws, was on the ice for 35 percent of the penalty-kill time, and even generated a high-quality shorthanded chance. His return should ease some of the burden the team has placed on Chandler Stephenson while Freddy was out. He’s a sneaky addition who strengthens the lineup in subtle ways that not everyone may notice.
Other musings
The 5–3 win over Winnipeg was the first time the Kraken scored five or more goals this season. They had already done it four times in the first 18 games last season.
The Kraken are now 6-1-3 at home. One regulation loss. That’s incredible.
Jaden Schwartz’s empty-netter on Saturday was Seattle’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
I know I’m not the only one disappointed with Mason Marchment’s production, but I think his last four games have been his best stretch as a Kraken. He feels due for a breakout.
We are not talking nearly enough about how much Ryker Evans adds to this lineup. I really like Josh Mahura, but Ryker’s skating and puck-moving are such luxuries on a third pair.
We got an “interruption goal” on Saturday when Eeli Tolvanen scored 38 seconds after Adam Larsson. I’m sticking with that name, since when we talked to PA announcer Chet Buchanan on the SOH Pod two years ago, he said he doesn’t mind being interrupted—as long as it’s for another Kraken goal.
The Kraken are fourth in the league in blocked shots. Another byproduct of playing with a lead.
The Pacific Division is absolute chaos right now—five points separate the first-place Kings and the seventh-place Sharks.
The Seattle Torrent split their preseason games with the Vancouver Goldeneyes over the weekend. The regular season kicks off Friday when they meet again for real. I have not seen anything official, but I assume the games will be broadcast in the US on YouTube.
Goal of the week
The interruption goal…
EELI GOALVANEN! 🚨
Another great pass off a 2-on-1 from Stephenson, and Tolvanen scores his second in as many games.
Philipp Grubauer – Two wins in two games, including a shutout in relief for two periods against San Jose. He saved 2.39 goals above expected, per evolving-hockey.com.
Grubauer under fire early in the 2nd, after being forced into action at the end of the 1st. He’s standing tall in the first couple minutes… #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/7ORRa9FssY
Jacob Melanson – The 22-year-old notched his first AHL hat trick Sunday for Coachella Valley, giving him six goals in 14 games (he had just eight all last season). Jagger Firkus – Another Firebird hat trick over the weekend, but Jagger’s came Saturday. He leads the AHL in points and has a six-game point streak.
The week ahead
If you had looked at this stretch before the season started, you probably would’ve circled it as a chance to bank some points, with four games against teams that missed the playoffs last year. However… as of Monday morning, all four of those teams are in playoff spots and look a lot tougher than previously expected.
It’s a four-game road trip starting Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings. I still wake up in cold sweats thinking about that game in Detroit last year. On Thursday, the Kraken face the Chicago Blackhawks for the second time this season. Seattle won the first meeting 3–1, but they saw backup Arvid Söderblom in that one, so the boys might see Spencer Knight this time.
Then it’s another shot at fixing the back-to-back demons with the Penguins on Saturday, followed by the Islanders on Sunday to wrap things up.
Given the quality of opponents, four out of eight points would be fine, five would be good, and six would be great.
And finally
It usually takes 20 games to really assess a team, and the Kraken just crossed the 18-game mark. I’m calling it now: the Seattle Kraken are going to be in the mix for a playoff spot. Their success isn’t driven by luck or a soft schedule—in fact, it’s pretty much the opposite. Considering the injuries that have chipped away at the roster and the absolutely brutal October schedule, this start is nothing short of incredible.
I was one of the few people who expected the Kraken to be much better this season, but even I’m impressed. With Freddy Gaudreau back and Jared McCann and Joey Daccord seemingly close, this team might have another level to hit. How are we feeling out there?
You just never know what’s going to happen when you go to the rink. The Seattle Kraken won 4-1 over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, and they did so in a way that I certainly did not expect at the start of the game: by riding a dazzling Philipp Grubauer relief performance through a challenging second period and taking advantage of the few opportunities they got in the frame to ultimately cruise past a team that beat them up 10 days ago.
“Clearly, at that point, we rode off our goalie’s coattails to a certain degree, and then we were able to capitalize timely on a couple of our opportunities,” head coach Lane Lambert said. “We spent a little bit too much time in our zone, we all know that, at the start. But our goaltender played fantastic, and sometimes you need that.”
On Hockey Fights Cancer night, Jaden Schwartz—whose sister Mandi died of acute myeloid leukemia at age 23 in 2011—scored twice, Adam Larsson and Eeli Tolvanen each scored once, and Chandler Stephenson sent out a couple tasty dishes.
Here are Three Takeaways from a remarkable 4-1 Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: One of Grubi’s best games as a Kraken
There are nights as a goaltender when you start to sense that, for whatever reason, the puck is going to stay out of your net. You make a few big saves, the other team hits a post or flubs an open opportunity, and suddenly you get this clarity that you have better stuff in that particular game than the opposing shooters. The hockey gods are on your side, and even if you find yourself down and out, the puck will find a way to stay out of your goal.
Grubauer surely felt that on this night, although when I asked him about it after the game, he said he thinks about it a little differently. He pointed to a break early in the game, when Will Smith’s goal was waived off for a distinct kicking motion that easily could have been ruled a goal.
NO GOAL!
Grubauer robs Will Smith, but Smith's foot drags it into the net.
Refs review and determine no goal due to kicking motion.
“I personally take it situation by situation,” Grubauer said. “Obviously, sometimes you get a little bit more lucky than other nights. I mean, that breakaway where they reviewed it, right? It could have gone one way or another. If there’s a slight push from the D, it’s a different story, and they score on the breakaway.
“They had a couple situations where they sling the puck right across, it hits a guy in the shim pads, or something like that, right? So, yeah, sometimes you’ve got to get lucky, and there’s not a moment, like, ‘Oh, wow!’ and now I feel it. It’s make the save, give the puck back, next shot is coming up.”
What made Grubauer’s showing even more impressive is that it came in relief of an injured Matt Murray, who played well in the first period but exited immediately after former Kraken Alex Wennberg tied the game 1-1 on a power-play goal with 18 seconds left. Grubauer came in to close the period and was then tested early and often to start the second.
Here's the bad news: Alex Wennberg ties it on the power play for San Jose.
Here's the worse news: Matt Murray also got hurt on the play and immediately went down the tunnel. Grubauer in. #SeaKraken tied through 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/1bmnOyCPgY
“I think going into the second period there, right away, the way the first two minutes went were not ideal from a team perspective, but it got me into the game with a lot of shots early on,” Grubauer said. “And it’s always tough, right? If you’re not starting, it’s another situation where you don’t get too many shots in warm up, so it was helpful to get into the game right away.”
It really was just the second period where Grubauer had to be stellar, but he made massive saves on plays that looked like they should absolutely be goals. He held Seattle in long enough for Larsson and Tolvanen to score 38 seconds apart at 16:05 and 16:43, respectively. From there, the Kraken—despite taking three penalties in the third period—kept things mostly locked down.
Takeaway #2: Great game for Chandler Stephenson
I know Chandler Stephenson has been polarizing among the Kraken fanbase, but I personally love what he brings. It’s interesting that in a game in which Alex Wennberg scored for the Sharks, Stephenson really stood out. I mention Wennberg because I view Stephenson as an upgraded version of what the Kraken used to get from Wennberg. He can play in all situations, he’s a great skater, and he has a pass-first approach—but he does all of it at a higher level.
In this game, Stephenson’s speed and passing created two of Seattle’s goals.
On the first, Jamie Oleksiak’s pass through the neutral zone missed the mark, but Stephenson caught up to it and made John Klingberg look foolish in creating a 2-on-1 with Schwartz. Then he threaded a pass between Macklin Celebrini’s stick and skate to Schwartz, who redirected it into a yawning cage.
THE POWER OF THE SCHWARTZ! 🚨
Heckuva play by Chandler Stephenson to burn John Klingberg and find Schwartz crashing to the backdoor.
The second goal also came off a 2-on-1, this one with Tolvanen, who scored for the second game in a row.
“[Stephenson] is an awesome passer,” Tolvanen said. “Power play, 2-on-1’s, every time he has the puck, you have to be ready because you know it’s coming. He can make those passes that a lot of guys can’t.”
EELI GOALVANEN! 🚨
Another great pass off a 2-on-1 from Stephenson, and Tolvanen scores his second in as many games.
The Kraken don’t win this game without Grubauer, but they also probably don’t win it without Stephenson, who finished the night plus-three with three assists.
Takeaway #3: Another game, another injury
It’s strange how things have been playing out lately for the Kraken and their injury situation. Last game, Kaapo Kakko went down with a lower-body injury that Lambert said will keep him out week to week—never a great designation. But his placement on injured reserve meant Seattle could activate Freddy Gaudreau for this game without sending somebody to Coachella Valley.
Now we wait to see what happens with the Kraken goalies. Lambert said after the game that Murray was still being evaluated. Joey Daccord is on IR but appears to be getting closer to a return based on recent practices. If Murray hadn’t gotten hurt Saturday, then Daccord returning would force a roster move. But if Murray also ends up on IR, no move would be required.
The plan may have been for Daccord to return next game anyway, but if I had to guess, I would surmise he could be ready to at least back up Grubauer when Seattle visits Detroit on Tuesday.
Also worth noting: Jared McCann was a full participant at Saturday’s morning skate, so we’re wondering how close he could be to game action. If he returns in the next couple games, that would most likely mean somebody is bound for CV, and I wouldn’t be shocked if that somebody is Jani Nyman, whose time on ice was limited to just 6:34 in his first game since the last time Seattle faced the Sharks on Nov. 5.
One last note on Murray: he’s had some serious injury woes in his career and told us during our Sound Of Hockey Podcast interview at training camp that he was feeling fully recovered from the double hip surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2023-24 season. Here’s hoping that whatever he injured on Saturday is both unrelated to that previous issue and minor.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
“Down on the Farm” is your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. This week we’ll highlight Jagger Firkus’s significance to the Firebirds offense in the early going and check in on his development. After that we’ll have news, notes, and video from around the Kraken system, a prospect data update, and a preview of the schedule ahead, as always.
If you have a Kraken prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X or BlueSky @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey. Let’s dive in.
Second-year forward Firkus leads scoring attack for Firebirds
As we have talked about, the task facing the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season is significant. The roster is the youngest in the AHL. And, in reality, the team is even younger than it looks on paper. The team’s only player older than 30 years old, Max McCormick, is out for the season.
Beyond youth, there was also the question of where the scoring would come from. Five of last season’s top-six scorers are not currently on the roster, and the Firebirds didn’t add any marquee AHL veterans to replace that production. Last year’s No. 3 scorer, Logan Morrison, leads this year’s squad in goals. But who else would elevate?
In this context, Jagger Firkus has stepped forward. The winger was the Firebirds’ No. 7 scorer last year as an AHL rookie. This season he leads the team with 14 total points (four goals, 10 assists). As of this writing, that total is tied for the fifth most in the AHL and tops all U22 players.
When we highlighted Firkus last season, we noted that he was building a base of skills necessary to succeed as a professional winger. Those skills are still there, but his usage has evolved this season, in part due to the needs of the team. Last year he was a complementary scorer from the middle-six who needed to perform two-way hockey to contribute. This year, he has taken on a featured scoring and power-play role.
By design, he is often the top player in the defensive zone looking for disruptions along the blue line or for an outlet pass to transition through the neutral zone into a rush chance. In my viewings, this has lessened his overall defensive-zone involvement, particularly the frequency of—and exposure to—low board battles. This has highlighted his stronger off-puck attributes: his instincts and hands. It has also created a lot more space for his offense.
A year and change into his professional career, I’m more confident in his ability to transport the puck through the neutral zone. He has always had the passing skill to find open teammates. But I had some questions about his ability to get through opposing forechecks with the puck on his stick because he lacked a dynamic skating gear. After 80 games of professional experience, he has found a way with short-area agility, stickhandling, and savvy. Put differently, he’s closer to Matty Beniers on the rush than Berkly Catton. While he’s not at Beniers’ level, this is a strong indicator of his ability to drive play moving forward.
In the offensive zone, his vision is his calling card. He has the potential to be a plus passer. It seems like he’s creating multiple high-danger chances for his teammates every game, sometimes in creative and unexpected ways. Add in a shot that can be deceptive and precise, and there is a real package of skills there. (He showed off most of those offensive skills in the Oct. 24 game excerpted above, scoring two goals and adding an assist.)
He’ll need to keep pushing those offensive skills to another level if he’s going to earn a top-six featured scoring role in the NHL. It’s still more likely he’ll need to carve out a complementary role, which will, again, put his two-way skills in focus. Can he make that work? I’m more confident than ever, but there’s still development road left there.
Notes on four more Kraken prospects
Maxim Agafonov | D | Toros Neftekamsk (VHL)
Defenseman Maxim Agafonov returned to the lineup for Toros Neftekamsk on Friday, Nov. 14, after being absent for multiple weeks. I suspect an injury was involved, but we’ll be monitoring his playing time moving forward. Before missing this stretch, he had been a stalwart on the blue line in the lower-level professional league in Russia (the VHL) and even earned a game in the top professional league (the KHL). It was an impressive early-season run for the 18-year-old 2025 fifth-round pick.
Jakub Fibigr | D | Brampton Steelheads (OHL)
Jakub Fibigr, a 2024 seventh-round pick, has turned up the dial offensively this year. With five goals and 10 assists through 16 games, Fibigr ranks within the top 10 in total points and goals among OHL defensemen. Beyond the scoring, Fibigr is delivering as a true No. 1 in minutes for an underpowered Brampton Steelheads team. Despite a minus-18 overall goal differential, Brampton is plus-eight in Fibigr’s even-strength minutes. Fibigr’s plus-minus is by far the best on the team. The next closest skater is plus-three.
Ville Ottavainen | D | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Ottavainen tallied two points in two games for the Firebirds last week but missed the team’s most recent game with a lower-body injury. The team has deemed him day-to-day. The Firebirds recalled Zach Uens from the Kansas City Mavericks in a countermove.
Kim Saarinen | G | HPK (Liiga)
Saarinen has not drawn any league starts over the last couple of weeks because he has been away with the Finland U20 team at a World Junior Championship precursor event. He started two of Finland’s four games, stopping 43 of 50 shots faced. Less encouragingly, Finland dropped both contests, one to Czechia and the other to Switzerland. And while Saarinen started Games 2 and 4, Saarinen’s primary competitor for the WJC crease, Petteri (“Mr. Showtime”) Rimpinen, started Games 1 and 3 and won both. The WJC job is likely Rimpinen’s to lose at this point, particularly given that Saarinen’s Liiga play cooled considerably over the last month.
Bonus: Reese Hamilton | D | Regina Pats (WHL)
Over the summer, the Kraken invited undrafted, but once highly regarded, defenseman Reese Hamilton to development camp. He impressed in that setting, reminding all in attendance of his strong résumé before a disappointing draft season that saw him log 14 points in 59 games. Well, Hamilton has already topped last year’s point total (with 15), and in only 20 games. Despite being undrafted, Hamilton is not a free agent. He will be eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. If the numbers are any indication, he’s looking like a pick again, whether in Seattle or elsewhere.
With six points in three games, Firkus is your Sound Of Hockey Player of the Week. Morrison and J.R. Avon had highly productive weeks for the Firebirds, piling up five points each across three games.
Julius Miettinen leads the WHL in plus-minus with a plus-22 mark. His 28 points are eighth in the league. He is the only player in the top 10 in both scoring and plus-minus in the WHL.
Nikke Kokko started two games in his return to the lineup and won both. He posted a .923 save percentage in the process.
Semyon Vyazovoi continues to prove himself as one of the KHL’s best U25 players, not just goaltenders.
The Deep Sea Hockey Game of the Week is a 1:00 pm PT Saturday matchup between Fibigr’s Steelheads and O’Brien’s Bulldogs.
Tracking 2026 NHL Draft prospects: Chase Harrington
Last week we highlighted Spokane Chief Mathis Preston as perhaps the best draft-eligible WHL U.S. Division player. His strongest competition for that distinction may be Chase Harrington, who also plays for the Chiefs. Harrington, a 6-foot power forward, has seven goals and six assists in 18 WHL games this season.
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
When the announcement comes from Kraken PR that a practice or morning skate has been made optional, it’s easy for those of us in the local media corps to also “take the option,” so to speak. But every now and then, an optional skate yields some juicy little nuggets of knowledge about what’s happening with the team. There’s something about the nature of those types of practices—with lower attendance from both players and media—that seems to bring out unique opportunities for learning and observation.
After Seattle rallied from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Thursday, Kraken head coach Lane Lambert did, indeed, make practice optional on Friday. Yet something told me it would be beneficial to be there, so instead of pulling a U-turn and heading back home to “take the option,” I pressed on through the torrential rains and found a group of 11 skaters and all three goalies on the ice.
Participants included Freddy Gaudreau, who was skating full speed and appeared to be a practice or two away from returning (I’m predicting he’ll be back in the lineup Saturday against the San Jose Sharks), and Joey Daccord, who remains on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
All that was positive to see, but what was most encouraging was Jared McCann appearing on the ice partway through the skate, going through drills at close to full tilt.
Since McCann disappeared from the lineup and was deemed “day-to-day” with a lower-body injury following Seattle’s 4-3 overtime win at the Toronto Maple Leafs way back on on Oct. 18, I personally had only seen him on the ice one time. In that instance, he was skating separate from the team with assistant coach Jessica Campbell and was clearly testing out his injured leg, flexing it and grimacing regularly. Soon after that, I heard through the grapevine that McCann had been seen walking around Climate Pledge Arena very gingerly, and I haven’t seen him on the ice since.
So, this was a very positive sign and the first real indication of progress for McCann. Although the Kraken managed five goals against the Jets, there’s no doubt they desperately need their top offensive player back in the lineup.
Also worth noting, Kaapo Kakko—who left the game Thursday with a lower-body injury on the next shift after scoring his first goal of the season—was spotted at Kraken Community Iceplex in street clothes. There wasn’t much to learn about his status just from seeing him, and Lambert didn’t address the media Friday, but Kaapo was at least around the team. So, perhaps that’s a positive sign, but we’ll learn more on Saturday.
Berkly Catton remains a full-time NHLer… for now
When Berkly Catton suited up for his 10th game of the season in Dallas on Sunday, he crossed an important threshold. That 10th game means he now burns the first year of his entry-level contract. For a 19-year-old CHL-eligible player, hitting that number is massive, because nine games is typically the cutoff for when NHL clubs send youngsters (who are not eligible for the AHL because of the NHL/CHL transfer agreement) back to junior hockey.
It is still possible that Catton ends up back in the WHL at some point this season, although using up a year of his ELC makes that scenario far less likely.
I chatted with Catton on Friday about what clearing that threshold means to him.
“Out of camp, the conversation was kind of like, ‘We don’t really know what’s going to happen, but at some point, you’ll get your chance,’” Catton recalled. “‘If we think you’ll develop better here, you’ll stick around. If not, we’ll send you back.’ So, I’m obviously doing something right in that sense. I’m just going to try to keep building on that. But it was pretty stressful. That 10th game was nice, and I think just kind of sticking in the lineup’s been good.”
Lambert does seem to be developing more and more trust in Catton, to the point that he recently moved him to third-line center between Shane Wright and Eeli Tolvanen. Catton said it doesn’t matter to him whether he skates at center or wing, but he did find value in playing wing because he learned what’s difficult for a winger to execute at the NHL level. So if he plays his more natural center position moving forward, that wing experience should still be beneficial.
“I don’t really care [whether I’m wing or center], to be honest,” Catton said. “I just want to be out on the ice, and I think a lot of it is just understanding the systems themselves, and I’ve really tried my best to do that and learn that way. And then when you get the puck on your stick, just make a play. That’s kind of my mindset.”
Lambert also had some nice commentary about Catton before the game on Saturday when he was asked by Piper Shaw about his comfort in moving the rookie into his current role.
“This player is a player who is dialed in,” Lambert said. “He’s a sponge, he’s absorbing everything, from what his responsibilities are off face-offs to what his defensive-zone responsibilities are to how he can create more in the offensive zone. We’ll just continue to watch him progress, I think. There’s been a lot of progression from him from that standpoint, and we’ll see where we go.”
By the way, now that Catton has burned through the first year of his ELC, he’s now moving in with Chandler Stephenson and his family for the foreseeable future. That’s a good indication that the Kraken expect him to stick for (at least most of) the rest of the season.
Checking in with Ryker Evans
Since I was away for a while, I wasn’t around when Ryker Evans returned from injury, so I chatted with him about the vibes of the team after the win over Winnipeg and how things feel different this season compared to last.
“Yeah, I mean, big comeback [last night],” Evans said. “I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure when we were down. The vibes were good on the bench. We believe we can come back, and we did. Around the room, it’s great, very positive.”
The defenseman also mentioned that winning breeds positivity in the room, and with an 8-4-5 record through 17 games, there have been a lot more good feelings floating around this season, compared to last.
“Obviously, it’s different when you’re winning, guys are a lot more happy. So I think, just in years past, we just weren’t winning as much, we weren’t finding success. So, around the room, it’s a bit tougher [in that scenario]. But I mean, since we’re winning, it’s happy, and everyone’s really clicking.”
Evans has had an interesting ride over the last couple seasons. He split 2023-24 between Coachella Valley and Seattle, playing under Dave Hakstol in the NHL and Dan Bylsma in the AHL. Then Hakstol was fired and replaced by Bylsma, who Evans, of course, knew well. Now, as a still-developing, 23-year-old defenseman, he missed the first 13 games of the season with an upper-body injury, while the rest of the team was getting to know the ways of the more structure- and detail-oriented Lambert.
Still, Evans said it hasn’t been that drastic of an adjustment.
“Last year’s coaching staff, I had them in Coachella for two years, so it’s a bit different. I knew them and what they expected,” Evans said. “This year, it’s kind of the same messages, just play how I play. And then, I mean, from a team standpoint, as you guys can see, we’re just playing hard, we’re playing fast. I think we’re just very structurally [sound] in the D-zone. They’re a very detailed coaching staff.”
Fall behind, tie it up, fall behind, tie it up, fall behind, tie it up… Go ahead, seal the deal. That was the cadence of scoring in a 5-3 Seattle Kraken win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, as they overcame a couple of costly mistakes and glided back into third place in the Pacific Division.
“We were playing well, other than those [mistake] situations,” coach Lane Lambert said. “I felt like we were playing well, I thought we had our energy, I thought our compete level was high against a very good hockey team.”
Vince Dunn had a big night with a goal and two assists, Jordan Eberle scored twice, and Kaapo Kakko finally broke through for his first point and goal of the season… only to go back on the shelf with a new lower-body injury on the next shift.
An 8-4-5 record and 21 points looks a lot better than what could have easily been a 7-5-5 record and 19 points. Here are Three Takeaways from an impressive 5-3 Kraken win over the Jets.
Takeaway #1: Poor Kaapo
It had been becoming an unfortunate storyline that Kaapo Kakko returned to the lineup after missing 11 games with a broken hand, only to be held pointless for six. The Kraken really needed him to start producing. He got the monkey off his back Thursday after a beautiful play in which Dunn ran over Mark Scheifele to dish it to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz then shot it at Kakko’s stick, and the puck caromed neatly over Connor Hellebuyck’s shoulder, tying the game 1-1 at 15:15 of the first period.
KAAPO! 🚨
Great play by Vince Dunn, who takes… er… THROWS a hit to make the play to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz shoots for Kakko's stick, and Kakko gets off the schneid.
The Kakko storyline became more unfortunate, though, when he played one more 18-second shift after scoring, took an awkward fall, hunched over on the bench for a while, and finally went down the tunnel and exited the game.
“I feel bad for him,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “It was a beautiful goal he scored, and we need him, so it certainly is not a great thing.”
Lambert said he did not have an update on Kakko.
Here’s where the injury happens. It’s not anything obvious, but Kakko falls awkwardly, and you can tell he’s immediately in some discomfort.
Pretty good period by the #SeaKraken, who conceded a goal, but got it back for a 1-1 tie.
Kakko scored the goal, his first of the season, but then he disappeared from the bench one 18-second shift later.
The timing of the injury stinks for a lot of reasons. For Kakko, the reasons are obvious, but for the Kraken, they’re just starting to inch toward good health; Ryker Evans is back, and a Freddy Gaudreau return appears imminent. Kakko’s return to the lineup two weeks ago felt like a long time coming and the first big step in that process.
Here’s hoping this is just a blip, and Seattle will continue marching toward a full lineup.
Takeaway #2: Overcoming bad mistakes
The Kraken made some uncharacteristic defensive lapses in this game. On the first goal against, they had three players back, as they almost always seem to do. Dunn and Adam Larsson were there, as was Ben Meyers, with Tye Kartye backtracking effectively. Dunn and Meyers got crossed up for a brief moment, though, and before they could recombobulate, Alex Iafallo had fought through Larsson’s check, and Adam Lowry had found him with a perfect pass for a tap-in.
1-0 #gojetsgo, who made that one look very easy. #SeaKraken had players back, but they seemed to get crossed up.
The Kraken also screwed the pooch three minutes into the second period when Ryker Evans failed to get the puck deep, and three other skaters headed to the bench for a line change. Neal Pionk rejected the shoot-in and instead sent a quick-up pass to Scheifele at the far blue line for a rare breakaway against Seattle.
…And that's why we get pucks in deep.
A rare breakaway against the #SeaKraken, who were caught in a line change, and Mark Scheifele scores.
But the Kraken didn’t let those mistakes—or a questionable Kyle Connor power-play goal against Philipp Grubauer that made it 3-2—take the wind out of their sails. Instead, they dusted themselves off for the third and came out on a mission to take over this game.
Takeaway #3: The Kraken can score goals
Another uncomfortable storyline that had been becoming more prevalent was the Kraken’s inability to score. In three of the previous four games, they had notched just one goal each, with the exception being their 4-3 overtime win Saturday in St. Louis.
Seattle temporarily quieted that criticism on Thursday with a five-goal night, including the one from Kakko, two from Eberle, one from Dunn, and a power-play bomb from Eeli Tolvanen that tied the game at 4:11 of the third period.
“I think, for us, defense is going to be the backbone of this club. That’s how we’re going to win hockey games,” Eberle said. “But you’ve got to try and create offense out of that. I don’t think it’s been for a lack of chances [that we haven’t been scoring much lately].”
By the way, full marks in this “defense into offense” category to Ryan Lindgren, who had a great game and broke up a 2-on-1 that immediately led to Eberle’s game-winning goal in the third period.
O, CAPTAIN! 🫡 🚨 #SeaKraken take their first lead of the game, 4-3.
The play starts with a great defensive play by Ryan Lindgren and ends with Matty Beniers finding Jordan Eberle open on the doorstep. pic.twitter.com/pMMj30xLXR
This win should reinstall any recently lost confidence in both fans and players. Hellebuyck didn’t have his Vezina-winning stuff on this night, but he’s still Connor Hellebuyck, and the Kraken beat him and his strong team for the second time in as many tries this season.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
