We at Sound Of Hockey have been asked on a number of occasions what is happening with Seattle Kraken season tickets for the 2025-26 season, as news about renewals, pricing, and benefits has repeatedly been pushed back by the organization.
We now have some clarity about the team’s plans in this area and got the inside scoop from Kraken senior vice president of marketing and communications, Katie Townsend. Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke also announced these updates to season ticket holders at a fan appreciation event at the 32 Bar and Grill on Tuesday.
A year of reflection for the organization
What Townsend told us is that the organization has been hard at work over the last year, determining what it has done well over its first four years in existence and what it can do better moving forward.
Factoring in survey results, listening sessions, focus groups with fans, and a myriad of other data sources, the Kraken believe they’ve done a strong job of getting both the Kraken and Coachella Valley Firebirds franchises off the ground. They built three state-of-the-art facilities—Climate Pledge Arena, Kraken Community Iceplex, and Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif.—and have had excellent attendance and merchandise sales numbers for both teams.
But they are also realistic that there are things they can (and want) to improve.
“We looked at all of those areas and said, ‘How do we make this better for fans?’” Townsend said. “And this comes from [Kraken chair and owner] Samantha Holloway and, I think, her tech background as well, being nimble and making changes. And her saying, ‘Yeah, do these things if they make sense for the business.’”
On-ice struggles and a shift in focus
On the ice, things haven’t quite gone according to plan, aside from Year 2, when the team came up a goal shy of the Western Conference Finals. Now, as the Kraken head into their third extended offseason in four years—after once again missing the postseason by a long shot—the organization is looking at what it can do to improve its hockey product.
But it’s also seeking ways to entice its fanbase to continue buying both season ticket packages and single-game options, beyond simply improving the team—which it also hopes to do this summer.
“Everyone acknowledges this season didn’t go as we’d hoped with where our expectations were, but [these changes are] totally unconnected to that,” Townsend said. “This is about how we look at particularly our season ticket members and our offerings.”
So, what will change exactly?
New approach to pricing and benefits
The team believes season ticket holders want more exclusive benefits—experiences that money cannot buy—while the broader, ever-evolving fanbase wants more affordable single-game options.
For example, family packs have been seen as a smashing success for getting new fans in the door at Climate Pledge Arena to experience Kraken hockey. These types of packages (there’s a family bundle that includes four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas, and a popcorn for as low as $150) will be more readily available for next season.
As for season ticket holders, they too will see reduced pricing on a vast majority of seats. According to Leiweke, about 90 percent of season ticket holders will see the per-game price of their seat decrease in 2025-26 compared to what they paid for the same seat in 2024-25 or remain flat. Exactly how much it will decrease (or if it will decrease) will depend on the location of the seat and several other factors, but the Kraken have re-evaluated their pricing models across the board. Some season ticket holders we’ve heard from have received their updated pricing for 2025-26 and have seen decreases of up to 25 percent.
“We felt like the world was a really different place when we did a lot of our initial setting of prices and setting of benefits, partly because of the pandemic and partly just the world that we live in,” Townsend said. “For a lot of our fans, they had never been in the arena, and our fanbase has evolved over time.”
The fan experience and resale reality
I personally do not hold season tickets, since I get into the games as a member of the media. But one thing that has struck me on a number of occasions is that a season ticket holder may have paid $150 or more for their seat for a midweek game against an unexciting opponent in the middle of the season. As the team’s performance went sideways again, so too did demand on the resale market—especially for those types of games—and prices just before game time would often plummet.
So, although I don’t get too concerned about whether or not fans are able to offload tickets for games they either don’t want to attend or can’t attend (I’ve been a season ticket holder for other teams in the past and always viewed this as part of the price of the package—you commit to going to the games and accept the risk that they may go to waste if you can’t go), I do sometimes feel badly for people who paid three times what their neighbors paid—especially when the season ticket member is the one that has been there almost every game and lived through all the highs and lows.
That does seem unfair to me, and I believe it’s related to prices being set too high in the beginning. The team hopes that this exercise of reexamining pricing across the entire arena will help to rectify these types of issues, but how that shakes out remains to be seen. (I also think the team needs to be significantly better next season to ensure that demand remains high throughout the long season, but that’s a topic for another article.)
Regardless, the folks that sell tickets are doing everything they can to show that buying season tickets comes with good value. They are introducing new benefits in addition to the old ones, including a 25 percent discount on food and beverages throughout the arena for season ticket members, and a sort of choose-your-own-adventure calendar of events and experiences to pick from.
We’ve obtained the list of events, and they are as follows:
Signature Events (all season ticket members invited):
Kraken 5k presented by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
Paint the Ice presented by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
STM Private practice(s) at Training Camp presented by Starbucks
Crystal Mountain takeover
Road Trip Experience in Vancouver
Kraken Gear Sale
NHL Draft Party at 32 Bar & Grill
Development Camp Scrimmage
Chart Your Own Course (choose your own exclusive experience):
Rookie game
Season ticket member practice & meet Kraken players
Kraken holiday photos with Buoy
Skate at Climate Pledge Arena
Watch party in player lounge for away game
Watch party in 32 Bar & Grill with Kraken Hockey Network team
“Play like a Kraken” adult hockey at Climate Pledge Arena
“Play like a Kraken” kids hockey at Climate Pledge Arena
From what we’ve heard, the changes to season ticket memberships are all very positive for fans. Are you a season ticket holder? If so, are you encouraged by these changes? Let us know in the comments.
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.
There was a lot to feel good about for Kraken fans after a 4-3 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues that turned from uneventful to thrilling at the drop of a hat.
In the end, the Kraken skated away with a resilient and exciting win after Chandler Stephenson beat Jordan Binnington in the seventh round of the skills competition, and then Philipp Grubauer rejected Jimmy Snuggerud to earn a victory in what could be his final game as a Kraken.
It may have hurt Seattle’s chances at winning the draft lottery, but it was a fun late-season victory to witness nonetheless.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken win over the Blues.
Takeaway #1: Hey, it was exciting
Since the Kraken played themselves out of playoff contention and into the draft lottery, we’ve maintained that we’re perfectly happy with wins because of the good feelings and potentially even added momentum heading into the offseason and eventually training camp. But we’ve been on the “absolutely no loser points” train, and yet the Kraken flirted with that outcome on Saturday after Shane Wright got a good bounce off his skate to tie the game 3-3, and then both teams instinctively went into “play for OT” mode.
WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️ 🚨
Shane gets his 19th of the season by driving hard to the blue paint and getting a bounce off his skate. Goal was reviewed, but refs determined no kicking motion.
The first two periods were dull as could be, with almost nothing happening at either end of the ice other than Jaden Schwartz getting a fortunate carom off a sprawling Nick Leddy to give him an open net off a 2-on-1 rush. Schwartz deposited his 25th of the season to make it 1-0 at 3:44 of the second period.
Once the game turned to the third stanza, it was like somebody popped the top on a shaken-up soda, and all of a sudden, it went from 1-0 to 3-3.
“I was kind of thinking [it was a low-event game], and then all of a sudden, it was 3-3,” Stephenson said.
In fact, after a fast and furious maelstrom of goals, Seattle found itself chasing the game, down 3-2 after Mikey Eyssimont, Colton Parayko, and Leddy all scored within 50 seconds of one another.
But that chase was also short-lived, because Wright tied the game again just 2:19 after Leddy had given St. Louis the lead. Wright, by the way, said after the game that he was sure the goal would withstand a video review—until he actually saw the footage himself.
“I was confident [it was a good goal] until I saw the replay,” Wright said. “It looked like I kind of moved my foot a little bit, but I know I didn’t try to kick it. I was just able to get the bounce there.”
The excitement of the third period carried all the way through to the seventh round of the shootout, when Stephenson scored and Grubauer got the deciding save.
Takeaway #2: “For Grubi”
Both Wright and Stephenson mentioned that the team wanted to win this game for Philipp Grubauer, who has undoubtedly had a tough go this season—even getting waived and sent to the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League for a stretch.
With his ongoing struggles, we’ve surmised for a while that Grubauer could be a buyout candidate after this season. And with Joey Daccord surely set to play the final game of the season on Tuesday, it’s possible that Saturday was Grubi’s last game as a Kraken.
If that ends up being the case, he would be ending his run in Seattle on a high note. His shot volume Saturday wasn’t huge, but a couple of his 20 saves were of the critical variety, and he stood tall in the shootout to help his team snag a victory from the desperate Blues. He also seemed to find himself again in the later stages of the season, though he only got a handful of chances to play after his recall.
“The starts that he’s had since he’s come back [from Coachella Valley] have been the goaltender he can be,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “Tonight, he was really solid. He gave us a chance early on, made a big save on the PK, the save on [Brayden] Schenn in the third was massive, and good for him getting the shootout win.”
For his efforts, Grubauer was awarded the team’s player of the game championship belt.
WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️ 🚨
Shane gets his 19th of the season by driving hard to the blue paint and getting a bounce off his skate. Goal was reviewed, but refs determined no kicking motion.
While the Kraken didn’t necessarily hurt the playoff chances of the Blues by giving them a loser point, they did add some tension for the St. Louis fanbase, who will have to watch their team go all the way down to the wire before finding out whether they’ll officially qualify for the playoffs.
With the single point earned, the Blues moved to four clear of the Calgary Flames and one behind the Minnesota Wild (who rallied back from a two-goal deficit to win in overtime in Vancouver on Saturday), remaining solidly in the last wild card spot. But the Flames have three games left, whereas St. Louis has just one—against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. So, nothing is decided on that front, though it is looking pretty good for the Blues.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the standings, the Kraken didn’t help themselves in terms of draft position either. We know this isn’t something players think about, but the Kraken actually ended the night two spots higher in the standings than where they started. If that were to hold through the end of the season, they would have the sixth-best odds of winning the draft lottery, instead of the fourth-best odds, where they sat earlier in the day on Saturday.
There’s a lot to work out as far as games in hand, tiebreakers, etc., so where Seattle finishes is still very much up in the air. I hate to say this, but the Kraken really need to lose Tuesday against Los Angeles.
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.
The Seattle Kraken closed out their road slate in perfectly acceptable fashion, bouncing back from a dud 7-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday with a more competitive outing against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.
But, as has happened many times before (Seattle has been largely owned by Vegas over its franchise history, now sitting just 3-10-1 all-time against the Golden Knights), Seattle battled hard and ultimately came up short with a 2-1 loss.
Here are Three Takeaways from the latest Kraken loss to the Golden Knights.
Takeaway #1: Missed opportunities
Seattle had some golden opportunities in this game that found different ways to stay out of the net. Twice in the second period, the Kraken appeared destined to get themselves on the board. Had either of those gone in, Jared McCann’s tap-in goal at 17:21 of the second would have leveled the score heading into the third, instead of just getting Seattle back in the game after falling behind 2-0.
Early in the middle frame, Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers showed good chemistry when Kakko found himself with the puck and minimal room to stickhandle deep in the Vegas zone. He made a couple of nifty moves to nutmeg William Karlsson and find Beniers in the slot. Beniers then made a nifty move of his own, fired it toward Adin Hill, got his own rebound, and took a second shot that rang off the crossbar.
Wow. Some dazzling stickhandling by Kaapo Kakko to set up Matty Beniers, who gets his own rebound and rings one off the crossbar. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/Uenw4VOHcB
Karlsson scored with a missile over Joey Daccord’s shoulder soon after that to give Vegas some insurance and make it 2-0.
John Hayden also had a great chance later in the period when Josh Mahura found him streaking unmarked down the slot. Hayden got a good shot off, but Hill got just enough of it with his blocker to redirect it past the outside of the cage.
The nail in Seattle’s coffin came during a feverish push with Daccord off for an extra attacker. With the 6-on-5 advantage and the Kraken doing everything they could to find an equalizer, Jaden Schwartz whacked at a loose puck and sent it into the crease. Brandon Montour was there and had a wide-open net, but he completely fanned on his attempt to push it into the yawning cage.
🤦♂️
Brandon Montour gets a chance at an open net with 20 seconds left but fans on it. #SeaKraken lose 2-1.
That chance came with 20 seconds left in the game and surely would have sent it to overtime.
Takeaway #2: A bounceback for Joey Daccord
Joey Daccord has seen heavy usage in the second half of this season, and with it, his stats have slipped a bit. He had largely found his game again with three excellent starts in a row before he was forced into playing both games of a back-to-back with travel, after Philipp Grubauer came down with the bug that’s been floating through the Kraken locker room on this road trip.
In the second of those games, Daccord got lit up for seven goals on 29 shots before mercifully giving way to Victor Ostman, who made his NHL debut with 12 stops in relief.
In this one, Daccord didn’t face massive volume—only 25 shots in total—but there were some good testers in there. He came up with a couple of timely saves that felt like the kind that could propel the Kraken to tie the game. Most notably, Daccord came up large just seconds after McCann got Seattle on the board, and he absolutely robbed Nicolas Roy on a point-blank shot in the middle of the third that allowed Seattle to make its late-game push.
So, it was good to see Daccord recover from a rough night when he was set up for failure in Utah. But in the end, Adin Hill was just a little better at the other end and got some lucky breaks to give Vegas the 2-1 win.
Takeaway #3: Draft watch
At this stage in the season—with just two more games to play—it’s easy to wonder where Seattle will land in the NHL Draft Lottery. As of Friday morning, the Kraken have one more point in the standings (74) than the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, who each have 73. The Bruins have played the same number of games as the Kraken, whereas the Flyers still have four to play.
I’m still in the mindset of hoping for positive outcomes in games—because it’s just more fun—but it would probably behoove the Kraken to drop these last two to the recently red-hot (but just lost their last two) St. Louis Blues and the playoff-bound Los Angeles Kings.
If the Kraken can drop behind Boston and Philadelphia in the standings, they would finish four spots from the bottom. That would give them a 9.5 percent chance of winning the lottery and the No. 1 overall pick, though they’d most likely stick in the position that landed them Shane Wright in the 2022 draft.
Tanking stinks. Buuuuuuuuuut… Seattle might as well lose these last two.
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.
When the Seattle Kraken traded Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde to the Tampa Bay Lightning for two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and depth forward Mikey Eyssimont, our immediate reaction to Eyssimont’s inclusion in the deal was that he was some sort of throw-in from the Lightning. We figured it was akin to Daniel Sprong coming back from the Washington Capitals when Seattle traded Marcus Johansson at the 2021-22 trade deadline, when general manager Ron Francis called Sprong a player that Washington wanted the Kraken to take.
After all, Eyssimont arrived in Seattle on an expiring contract, had been in and out of the lineup in Tampa Bay, and was claimed off waivers by the San Jose Sharks as recently as January, 2023, before being traded to the Lightning at the 2022-23 deadline and then subsequently signing a two-year deal, which the Kraken inherited.
But Francis’ tone when speaking about Eyssimont’s acquisition was different from when he discussed Sprong’s arrival. Rather than Eyssimont being a player Tampa Bay wanted Seattle to take, Francis made it sound like the Kraken were going to give Eyssimont a good look to determine if there could be a future for him in the Pacific Northwest.
Embracing his role with the Kraken
In watching him since the deadline, we at Sound Of Hockey are sold that Eyssimont should be back next season, and he seems to want to be here as well.
“I’ve been loving it here,” Eyssimont said. “I love the boys, love the arena, the amenities, the organization itself. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed my time in the city of Seattle; I mean, I truly do love it here.”
According to Eyssimont, several players—like Matty Beniers, Joey Daccord, Tye Kartye, John Hayden, Josh Mahura, and Cale Fleury—have gone out of their way to make him feel welcome in the organization since his arrival.
“It’s been nice to just— the boys have kind of showed me around a bit, gone out to dinner quite a few times here, which has been nice. It’s not something that I think the guys normally do very much, but in the interest of kind of bringing me into the fold, guys have gone out of their way to show me the city and take me out. It’s been a great time.”
A perfect fourth-line fit
What we’ve liked about Eyssimont’s game is the way he embraces the fourth-line role he has been given. In a way, he is a perfect—and much cheaper—replacement for Brandon Tanev, who was also moved at the deadline.
Eyssimont, making $2.7 million less than Tanev, brings many of the same elements as Tanev, from his speed to his grit, minus the penalty killing that was such a hallmark of Tanev’s game in Seattle. But one could argue he plays that fourth-line role even better than Tanev did, simply because he understands that it’s his role, and he just wants to be his very best within that role. He’s not trying to do anything more than be the best fourth-line player he can be.
Earning praise from Dan Bylsma
While he’s been an every-night player for Seattle since his arrival, Eyssimont, 28, is not playing huge minutes, averaging just 10:11 per night. But he’s doing everything he can to leave a lasting impact every time he hits the ice.
“I guess when you’re not playing much, you probably smell blood a little bit more and want to push a little bit harder,” Eyssimont said. “I know that when I’m playing my best, I’m a little bit more poised and confident, so I mean, as far as my role here, I’m not playing special teams, but you just try to do your best and do what you can to help the team win with the minutes you get.”
You can tell that Dan Bylsma loves Eyssimont’s game, too. In Seattle’s 6-1 drubbing of the “Edmonton Oilers” (said in quotes because they were without Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Stuart Skinner, Mattias Ekholm, and others) on March 27, in which the Kraken piled on five goals in the second period, Bylsma pointed to Eyssimont’s hard-nosed forechecking as the catalyst that got the team rolling. Eyssimont was awarded the player-of-the-game championship belt that night.
More recently, Bylsma gushed more about Eyssimont’s approach to playing as a fourth-liner.
“I think that’s the role, and what he does makes him an effective player. The speed, the physicality, the tenacity, a little bit of snarl in there is always making him an effective player,” Bylsma said. “That’s a hard thing to do, I think, when you come to a new team… With what Mikey brings, and what he does with how he plays, with speed, with tenacity, we’re starting to see [effectiveness] every night with him.”
Growth and future potential
The Littleton, Colo., native also got the scoring started last Wednesday in Vancouver on a quintessential Eyssimont hustle play, stealing the puck on a backtrack, then racing in and slipping it through Thatcher Demko’s five-hole.
Having comfort in that position—playing limited minutes but flying around, throwing hits, and creating energy for his teammates when he does play—is not by accident. As many young players have had to learn when moving from a developmental league or (in Mikey’s case) college hockey to the pro ranks, continuing to play the same way you always have simply doesn’t work.
“I learned early on in my career in the AHL with Mike Stothers [with the Ontario Reign] that the way I played in college wasn’t going to cut it in pros and wasn’t going to get me to the NHL,” Eyssimont recalled. “So there was a lot of developing and additions I had to add to my game to get to this level.
“And as hard as it was on me during those seasons in the AHL with Stothers, it developed me into the player I am today and ultimately an NHL player, so it was all worth it.”
And even now that Eyssimont has finally stuck in the NHL for the last two full seasons and seems to have solidified himself in the Kraken lineup for the rest of 2024-25, he’s not resting on his laurels. He brings a refreshing attitude to his game, aiming to improve every day, even as he gets deeper into his career.
“There’s been points in my time here in Seattle, there have been moments where I feel like I’ve been playing the best hockey I’ve ever played in the NHL,” Eyssimont said. “And that’s something I try to find every season, is a point in the season where I’m playing the best hockey I’ve ever played in my life.
“To me, that means that you’re elevating your game and you’re continuing to develop. So I’m really pleased to have found that kind of gear and that confidence, because it shows that I’m still developing as a player and have more room to grow.”
Will Eyssimont return next season?
Eyssimont said nothing has been discussed with the Kraken yet about a potential extension, and who knows what other teams will throw at him if nothing materializes before the opening of free agency on July 1? But assuming Eyssimont is willing to take a reasonable cap hit for next season, we have to think there will be mutual interest in an extension, even if it’s for a 13th-forward spot.
What say you, folks? Would you pencil Eyssimont into the Kraken lineup for next 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.
The Seattle Kraken scored five goals in each of their last two games and allowed just one goal against in two convincing wins over the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks. These games don’t mean much in the standings, but they might help set the tone for the offseason and provide a new baseline of expectations for the players heading into next season.
I’ve been saying it a lot lately, but this team isn’t as bad as their record suggests. Their goal differential, excluding empty-net goals for and against, is minus four, which ranks 15th in the league. Yet, they sit 27th in the standings. They’ve picked up wins against Carolina, Florida, Los Angeles, and Vegas. I’ve said it all season: this team competes. Despite the record, I still enjoy watching them play.
The two blowout wins this week were a blast, but both the 5-0 win over Vancouver and the 5-1 win over San Jose were closer than the final scores suggest. The Kraken started slow in both games, going without a shot on goal in the first five minutes each time. Still, they scored first in both games, improving their record to 20-10-4 when striking first this season. Once they built a two-goal lead, the games felt under control, even though they were outshot in both games.
Joey Daccord fatigue?
Another key storyline from the last two games has been the stellar play of Joey Daccord. I was all set to dig into his workload this season to see if he might be getting overworked. In March, Joey posted a save percentage below .900 in eight of his 11 starts. I know save percentage isn’t everything, but he just didn’t look like himself over the past several weeks. The working theory was fatigue. And then he goes out and stops 47 of 48 shots over a two-game span.
Joey has definitely been logging a heavy workload in the second half of the season, but there are still plenty of NHL goalies who have played more games than he has this year. He’s already hit a career high with 53 NHL games this season, but if you go back to 2022-23, he played 64 games when you include his 26 Calder Cup playoff games with Coachella Valley.
Other musings
Expect a PWHL announcement this week. My odds of Seattle landing a PWHL team have only gone up over the past week. Should be a fun week of news. (update: new intel. Sounds like this is still a few weeks out but it is coming.)
Through 77 games this season, the Kraken have gone to overtime 12 times. At this point last season, that number was 19. If they’d managed to get to overtime and lost in those additional seven games, that’s seven extra points in the standings. Not enough to get them into the playoff picture, but one of a few micro-trends that really hurt this team.
Another one of those trends: their record in the second game of back-to-backs. The Kraken are 0-11-0 in those situations—the only team in the league without a single point in back-to-backs. The league average is 0.9 points per back-to-back game. If the Kraken had just played to league average in those games, they’d have 10 more points.
Good news? The Kraken have a back-to-back on Tuesday when they visit Salt Lake City for the first time in franchise history.
Shane Wright did not score on Saturday night against the Sharks, but what stood out more to me was his shot selection. He has a real knack for getting inside, and he generated several quality looks from high-danger areas.
As noted by the Kraken Audio Network broadcast team, Jared McCann and André Burakovsky are playing their best hockey of the year, with 13 and 12 points respectively since the trade deadline.
As we’ve been predicting for a while, Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard has been assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds and suited up for both games against the Henderson Silver Knights.
Now that their OHL teams have been eliminated from the playoffs, I’d expect Carson Rehkopf and Nathan Villeneuve to get some time with the Firebirds down the stretch and into the postseason. Rehkopf is expected to make the jump to Coachella Valley full-time next season, while Villeneuve has one more year of CHL eligibility before he’s AHL-bound.
Here’s a look at how Kraken prospects performed in the first round of the CHL playoffs:
I believe the Kraken still have one non-emergency AHL call-up remaining, and I expect them to use it sometime this week.
Goal of the week
Seattle Kraken prospect Lukas Dragicevic is having himself a series. He scored this clutch goal in the final minute to force a Game 7.
Jared McCann – McCann has six points over his last two games and is just two points shy of hitting 60 on the season. It was a secondary assist, but I loved the steal and the effort he put in to get the play started.
2-0 #SeaKraken set up the cycle. McCann with the takeaway below the goal line drops the puck to Larsson who sets up Burakovsky in the low slot.
Berkly Catton – The Kraken’s first-round pick from the 2024 draft is having a monster postseason, including a two-goal, five-assist night in Spokane’s 9–4 series-clinching win.
Tyson Jugnauth – “Juggy” has racked up seven points in his last four playoff games for the Portland Winterhawks and will be suiting up for a decisive Game 7 on Monday night.
The week ahead
The Kraken have five games left in the regular season and face the second-toughest remaining strength of schedule. This week features a three-game road trip through LA, Utah, and Vegas, before they return to Climate Pledge Arena to host the St. Louis Blues, who, at this point, may never lose again.
As I’ve said before, I’m always rooting for the Kraken to win. That doesn’t stop me from keeping an eye on the bigger picture, too. If we peek over at the current NHL Draft Lottery odds on tankathon.com, the Kraken are hovering somewhere between 4th (Boston) and 8th (Buffalo) in the standings.
Where the Kraken ultimately land in the draft lottery odds will likely come down to the wire. Here’s a look at the remaining schedules for the teams clustered around them in the standings.
It’s nearly impossible to predict how these final games will shake out. I expect a few teams that are locked into their playoff or draft positions will start resting key players, so some of these stronger teams down the stretch might not be at full strength. In the meantime, I’ll be rooting for all the teams near the Kraken in the standings—hopefully they can pick up a few wins and help Seattle improve their draft position.
Things I’d like to see down the stretch
Outside of rooting for wins, there are a few other things I’m hoping for as the boys wrap up the season:
Matty Beniers and Shane Wright each get two more goals to hit the 20-goal mark. At the start of the year, I had Matty projected for 25 and Shane around 12. Let’s split the difference and get them both to 20.
Josh Mahura scores a goal. He’s been a quiet contributor since joining the team, and he just seems like a genuinely great human. Let’s get him on the board.
A win on Saturday night against the Blues. That would push the Kraken above .500 at home on Saturdays. Winning at home is always good for morale.
One more goal for Brandon Montour. He’s currently sitting on 16, which ties his career high for a single season. Would love to see him set a new personal best.
A look at one more prospect at home. Ty Nelson? Jagger Firkus? Honestly, I don’t care who, just give us one more glimpse of the future before the season ends.
The end is nigh
No matter how tough this season has been, I still feel a little sad that it’s almost over. The team has shown a ton of compete over the last month, which is all I could ask for down the stretch. There’s plenty of work to be done this offseason, but the way they’re battling already has me excited for what’s ahead.
The Seattle Kraken wrapped up their season series against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night with a commanding 5-0 victory at Rogers Arena. Despite missing top goal scorers Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen due to undisclosed reasons, the Kraken never looked out of sync. Per the Kraken Hockey Network broadcast, both are considered day-to-day. Ryan Winterton was recalled from Coachella Valley on an emergency basis, signaling that the absences are injury or illness related.
The Kraken were tested early with a couple penalties—first Jamie Oleksiak for holding at 1:55, followed by Mikey Eyssimont for hooking at the five-minute mark. But the penalty killers held firm, and Eyssimont quickly redeemed himself, opening the scoring late in the first period. From that point on, Seattle never looked back.
Goals were added by Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright, Andre Burakovsky and an empty-net goal by Adam Larsson.
Takeaway #1: Mikey Eyssimont is fun to watch
Eyssimont continues to make the most of his opportunity in the lineup. The scrappy forward notched his third goal as a Kraken, beating Thatcher Demko five-hole after Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk flubbed a pass in the neutral zone. The sequence was equal parts opportunistic and skilled, highlighting Eyssimont’s ability to capitalize on chaos.
I LIKEY MIKEY!!! 🎯 Eyssimont rips one blocker side on Demko to get the #SeaKraken on the board! Kraken lead 1-0 with 2:33 left in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/SWsztY0OSa
He nearly added a second goal in the third period, ringing a shot off the post after driving hard to the net. But goals alone don’t define his impact. Eyssimont was noticeable all night, buzzing around on the forecheck and getting under the skin of the Canucks players. He played with the energy of someone who knows every shift counts—and made each one matter.
Eyssimont is everywhere tonight—jumps on another chance and rings it off the post! 🔔 #SeaKraken still up 3-0 with 14:32 to play. pic.twitter.com/RxN7F6frfb
What stands out most is how Eyssimont has become a tone-setter for the fourth line. Whether he’s pressuring defenders into mistakes, chipping in on the cycle, or finishing a check, he brings consistent pressure. His ability to frustrate opponents and energize teammates adds depth to a lineup that needs all hands on deck with key scorers sidelined.
Takeaway #2: Kraken starting on time
For the fourth game in a row, Seattle scored the opening goal. Starting on time has been a key focus for this group all season, and the early advantage gave them control of the pace. While that fast start didn’t lead to wins in their back-to-back losses to Dallas, it kept them competitive deep into those games. This time, the strong start translated to a full 60-minute effort.
Vancouver didn’t play a poor game, but Seattle appeared to be the more patient and opportunistic team. The Kraken waited for chances and made the most of them when they came.
Joey Daccord was calm and composed between the pipes, turning away all 25 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season. His best save came midway through the first period. With the game still scoreless, Conor Garland found Drew O’Connor wide open for a short-handed chance. Daccord read it perfectly, snagging the puck with his glove and holding the line. Less than two minutes later, Eyssimont scored to give Seattle a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Daccord’s performance was backed by a disciplined defensive effort. The Kraken killed off three penalties, including two in the first seven minutes, and shut down Vancouver’s power play entirely.
Takeaway #3: Playing the role of spoiler
With the Canucks clinging to the slimmest of playoff hopes, every point matters. Seattle didn’t do their Pacific Northwest rivals any favors, handing them a deflating 5-0 loss and potentially sealing their postseason fate.
The Canucks now sit eight points out of a wild card spot with only seven games remaining. According to MoneyPuck, their playoff odds have dropped to 1.64 percent. Making matters worse, the St. Louis Blues—who currently hold the final wild card position—have rattled off 10 straight wins.
Seattle will have two more chances to play spoiler in the final weeks. They’ll face the Utah Hockey Club on April 8 and the red-hot Blues on April 12. While their own playoff hopes may be dashed, the Kraken can still shape the Western Conference picture—and maybe, just maybe, build some momentum for next season.
Bonus takeway: Li’l Jani is a big man
Jani Nyman showed he’s not afraid of the moment—or the opponent—in the third period. After a whistle, Nyman gave a solid shove to defenseman Elias Pettersson, sparking a five-player pile-on from the Canucks. Undeterred, Nyman stood his ground. As the scrum cleared, he pointed straight at Pettersson and, based on my admittedly questionable lip-reading skills, appeared to say, “Me and you. Fight.”
The bout never materialized, but the moment said a lot. Nyman may be new to the NHL and still finding his footing, but he’s not shrinking from the spotlight. His willingness to mix it up, especially in a blowout game, speaks to the kind of edge and confidence that bodes well for his future.
