The normal process here at Sound Of Hockey is to publish “Three Takeaways” after (almost) every Kraken game. But with Seattle’s lackluster performance Thursday, getting outclassed at home by the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fifth loss in six games, we thought the time would be better spent considering what might happen for the Kraken at the NHL Trade Deadline, now exactly one month away.
In the past four seasons, it has often been a grim thought to consider how the Kraken will approach the trade deadline, knowing that some beloved players could be on their way out. But with the team FIRMLY out of contention once again, fans should begin to wrap their heads around the fact that some Day 1 Kraken will soon be on different teams.
With the way things have gone this season, we’ve begun thinking that general manager Ron Francis will need to listen to calls made on every player on the roster. Clearly, the current collection of players donning Deep Sea Blue is not strong enough to compete for a playoff spot, so a shakeup is needed, and this is a good time to begin shifting to a younger core.
This may be a difficult conversation for some, but let’s talk about the players that we expect to be traded and those that are less obvious, but could be considered.
No-doubt trade candidates
Yanni Gourde
Until a week ago, I was 100 percent certain that center and two-time Stanley Cup winner Yanni Gourde would be dealt at the deadline. The 33-year-old is on the last year of his deal and is well respected around the league for his gritty and pesky style that is coveted by playoff teams.
I have him in the “no-doubt” bucket because he is one of just three players, along with Brandon Tanev and Josh Mahura, set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season, and contenders are looking for rentals at this time of year. But he also just had surgery to repair a sports hernia and is expected to be out through the deadline, which will surely impact the return Francis can get for him.
How low does the return have to be for Seattle to just keep him? After all, they will need a fourth-line center next season and potentially somebody who can bridge the gap until Berkly Catton is ready to become a full-time NHLer in a couple years (at that point, Seattle would theoretically have more mature versions of Matty Beniers and Shane Wright, plus Chandler Stephenson and Catton as its four centers). So if he’s willing to return on a team-friendly deal, would the Kraken bring Gourde back for another season or two?
On the other side of the coin, assuming the offers are decent and Francis pulls the trigger to move Gourde, we’re expecting this to be a painful loss for fans. Though it took him a couple months to see game action in the inaugural season because of injury, the feisty forward has been the heart and soul of the Seattle Kraken since his arrival from the Tampa Bay Lightning after the Expansion Draft in 2021.
Gourde is part of that group of players that came to the Kraken in their late 20s and are now heading toward the latter stages of their careers. He’s a great leader and brings a spark every night that he’s healthy, but with a shift toward the future needed, Gourde’s days in Seattle may be numbered.
Even worse, with his injury keeping him sidelined, it’s possible he has already played his last game as a Kraken.
Gourde has a modified no-trade clause in his contract, in which he would have had to submit a list of 23 teams to which he is willing to be traded.
Brandon Tanev
We’ve viewed Brandon Tanev as a likely trade candidate for the better part of two seasons now. The hard-checking, speedy, and gritty depth winger has been a fan favorite since his selection from the Penguins in the Expansion Draft, and to his credit, he has put together a solid season despite his team’s struggles.
Like Gourde, Tanev is on an expiring contract and plays the kind of hard-nosed style teams covet for the postseason. Will he fetch a first-round pick? Almost certainly no, although you never know how the trade market develops around this time of year. If a team is desperate enough to add some speed and grit, they may be coaxed into overpaying for a guy like Tanev, who will at least help a struggling penalty kill and provide energy.
Brandon Tanev is a gritty winger for the Kraken. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
We won’t be as sad to see Tanev go as we will be for Gourde, but he too is one of the O.G.’s that has been well liked by fans since the early days of the franchise.
Tanev has a 10-team modified no-trade clause, for which he submitted a list of 10 teams where Seattle cannot trade him without his consent.
Could stay, but a trade wouldn’t be shocking
Josh Mahura
I’m putting Josh Mahura at the top of this bunch only because he’s the last of the three pending unrestricted free agents, making him a potential trade candidate. I would guess he doesn’t move, simply because I don’t expect there to be a huge market for him. But once Ryker Evans returns from injury, it is possible that the Kraken move on from Mahura and keep Cale Fleury (who has performed well) up with the big club.
On a one-year deal, Mahura has played himself into a full-time spot on the blue line, taking over the vacated third-pairing role after Will Borgen was dealt as part of the Kaapo Kakko acquisition. He’s on a league-minimum deal and has been a good soldier, but the Kraken would surely listen if anyone comes calling on him.
Oliver Bjorkstrand
The names Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky have been bandied about at times by national media pundits, and it’s easy to see why, being that they both briefly experienced healthy scratch treatment this season in an effort from coach Dan Bylsma to spark the two veteran forwards. But does that mean they’re likely to be traded?
Oliver Bjorkstrand skating in a game against the Vancouver Canucks. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
In Bjorkstrand’s case, I would think there’s some market for him as a player that can provide depth scoring off the wing (he eclipses the 20-goal mark every season and is likely to do so again in 2024-25, despite Seattle’s struggles).
Bjorkstrand also has just one year left on his contract at a $5.4 million cap hit, and being that he’s had some turbulent moments under Bylsma, it wouldn’t shock me to see him traded.
Bjorkstrand has the same 10-team trade protection as Tanev.
Andre Burakovsky
The Burakovsky signing was great for about three months. He was leading the team in scoring in the first half of his first season with the team, but since he tore his groin during the 2022-23 season, he has never seemed to regain his confidence or produced with consistency. That trend has continued this season—perhaps the worst (healthy) campaign of his career with four goals and 15 assists in 53 games.
I also know that Burakovsky was not happy about the healthy scratches in December, so there could be some desire from his side for new surroundings.
The challenge, though, is that I’m not sure who would want Burakovsky. Yes, he has been a successful forward in the past, but he has two seasons left beyond the current one at a $5.5 million annual cap hit. What team in the NHL would buy on a “scoring” forward that has notched 11 total goals across the last two seasons and makes that kind of cheddar?
If Burakovsky is moved this season, Seattle will likely have to retain a significant portion of his contract rather than expecting him to be a highly coveted trade asset. If nobody bites, I would think he could be a buyout candidate this summer, but we shall see…
Burakovsky also has a 10-team modified no-trade clause.
Less likely, but the Kraken should listen to offers
Jaden Schwartz
Jaden Schwartz has arguably been Seattle’s best player this season and remains the only forward on the team who will consistently go to the blue paint. On pace for 27 goals, Schwartz has had one of the best statistical seasons of his career thanks, in large part, to [knock on wood] simply staying healthy for the first time since becoming a Kraken.
He also has been a huge help in bringing up the confidence of young linemates Matty Beniers and Kaapo Kakko the last couple months, so losing him now would sting. But, there are only so many opportunities to sell high on a player, and trading Schwartz now could fetch a decent return. With a year left on his contract at $5.5 million, one would have to think that next season would be the 32-year-old’s last with the organization anyway.
Plus, trading Schwartz hurts the team’s chances of winning many more games the rest of the season, which stinks for the fans in the short term but is probably best for the long-term future of the club at this point.
Schwartz has more control than the other players mentioned, with a 16-team modified no-trade clause on his contract.
Eeli Tolvanen
I don’t personally like the idea of trading Eeli Tolvanen, mainly because I believe Tolvanen sticking with the Kraken increases the likelihood that Kaapo Kakko stays beyond just next season (Kakko is a restricted free agent after this season, but when his next deal is up, he will be a UFA. So, he may want to re-sign for just one year and then test the open market next year).
Plus, Tolvanen is having his best season and is in the prime of his career at 25 years old, right in the age range where I hope the Kraken will continue shifting.
But again, Tolvanen may be a player that can bring back a significant return from a contending team looking for depth scoring, so it’s worth listening.
Jamie Oleksiak
Oleksiak could make a lot of sense for a lot of teams looking to improve their defense. While he doesn’t have the edge to his game that a lot of fans would like to see from a 6-foot-7, 252-pound blueliner, I think he’s underrated at keeping the front of the net clear.
Jamie Oleksiak celebrates a goal. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
He’s also in that category of players in their early 30s whose contracts will be up after next season and will likely move on at that point anyway, so why not see if you can cash in on the Big Rig’s perceived playoff value now?
Oleksiak has the same 16-team modified no-trade clause as Schwartz.
Vince Dunn
This suggestion could upset some people, but hear me out…
As I’ve mentioned, the Kraken need to listen on offers for every player on the team. Seattle was a good team defensively last year but has struggled in that area this season. Part of that is systematic, but part of it is a shift in personnel to more offensive-minded players on the back end.
For the team’s first three seasons, Dunn was really the only offensive defenseman Seattle had. Now that Evans is a full-timer, and Brandon Montour is in the fold, half of the regular defense corps would fit into that “offensive-minded” category.
While Dunn is viewed as one of the Kraken’s best players, he would surely be sought after on the trade market and is one of a very select handful of players that could bring back a bounty and—potentially—some desperately needed scoring up front.
I personally wouldn’t hate if the Kraken shift back to being a bit more defensive on the blue line if it means more goals from the forwards for years to come.
Dunn is in the last year of having a full no-trade clause on his contract, so to trade him, Francis would have to get his approval. That makes a Dunn move even less likely this season. This switches to a 16-team modified no-trade clause next season.
What will Seattle want back?
Deadline deals typically bring back draft capital, and we’ve seen Seattle load up on extra draft picks in its two previous trade deadline sales.
I do think the whole organization is feeling pressure to be better, though. The front office made some swings in free agency last summer, bringing Montour and Stephenson on splashy free-agent signings, and fired original head coach Dave Hakstol, indicating they’re desperately trying to get back into the playoff conversation.
Yet, in 2024-25, the Kraken have moved even farther from that conversation, and it’s easy to see that the fanbase is already growing impatient, while the “new franchise potpourri” quickly dissipates.
So are the Kraken really looking to trade reliable players for draft picks that may or may not help them five years down the road? One has to think there will be a desire to bring useful, younger players that have either already cracked an NHL lineup or are right on the cusp of being full-time NHLers, rather than more poker chips.
What say you, Kraken fans?
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 5-4 shootout loss suffered Tuesday by the Seattle Kraken against the Detroit Red Wings was close to an ideal outcome for the pro-tank crowd. Everyone wants to see Seattle at least in games for the rest of the season, but to that group’s dismay, Chandler Stephenson scored late to tie the game and force overtime, snagging Seattle an unlikely point in the standings.
Meanwhile, the pro-win crowd didn’t get its way either, because in the end, Patrick Kane scored one of the prettier shootout goals I’ve ever seen live, and Seattle came up short of completing the two-goal comeback.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-4 Kraken shootout loss to the Red Wings, who have won seven straight games for the second time this season.
Takeaway #1: Killed by special teams
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma spoke after morning skate on Tuesday about staying out of the box against Detroit, which boasts the third-best power play in the NHL. But the Kraken did not heed that warning well enough, giving the Red Wings four power-play opportunities while only earning one of their own.
Detroit officially went 2-for-4 on the power play, but Elmer Soderblom’s tap-in goal at 3:21 of the third period, which put the Red Wings up 4-2, came just four seconds after the conclusion of Shane Wright’s questionable penalty for tripping Vladimir Tarasenko. So, call that 3-for-4.
Both official power-play goals came immediately after face-offs in Seattle’s end. On the first, Chandler Stephenson was in the box, so Mitchell Stephens took the draw. He sort of won it backwards, but Alex DeBrincat jumped on a loose puck and popped it out to Moritz Seider at the blue line. Seider walked the line and sent a perfect shot through a dual-layer screen of Stephens and Jamie Oleksiak to make it 2-1 with 30 seconds left in the first period.
Red Wings get a power play off a Stephenson trip and immediately score.
Stephens also took the draw just before Jonatan Berggren’s power-play tally that made it 3-2 at 12:07 of the second period. On that one, Andrew Copp won the face-off cleanly back to Berggren, and Berggren simply sniped it past Joey Daccord’s blocker.
“One of the keys of a good penalty kill is winning the draw,” Bylsma said. “The face-off circle is underrated as a spot in the game where the battle and the competition is going on, and they won that one. And, it pops out, not to a one-time guy, but it pops right out on their stick with an open shooting lane. I thought the PK, when we had zone time against us, did a good job getting in lanes and blocking shots, but on the face-off a quick play like that, we weren’t able to do that. And again, that’s the story, I guess.”
3-2 Red Wings.
Second time this game they’ve scored immediately after a power-play face-off.
Give credit to Detroit as well, which has had incredible success with the manpower advantage this season and has been on fire since Todd McLellan took over as head coach at the end of December.
“Power play’s been good all year,” Kane said. “Obviously, we want to create more opportunities for ourselves. I thought there were a couple that were maybe uncalled tonight too, that we could have had a couple more [power plays]. But nice to get a few opportunities and bury a couple.”
Takeaway #2: Nice night for the young centers
We’re definitely in “find the silver lining” territory with these many losses piling up and the Kraken fading deeper and deeper into irrelevance, so with that in mind, here’s some silver lining for you.
Matty Beniers and Shane Wright each found the back of the net—and in style!
What I liked about the goal was that Beniers didn’t hesitate when the puck did get to him in the slot. He just found a soft area away from Detroit’s defense, and when the puck was there, he let it rip. We saw that from Matty multiple times in this game, which I found encouraging in terms of his confidence continuing to grow. There’s no second-guessing, just quick, hard shots at the net.
And Wright came through with two goals, the first being an absolute snipe off a rush, and the second being a product of sticking with the play after his pass attempt got broken up. The goals meant Shane Wright is now on a six-game point streak, during which he has racked up three goals and four assists.
WRIGHT AS RAIN! 🚨
Cale Fleury gets away with an obvious trip, and it creates a 3-on-2 the other way.
“They’re a big part of our team,” Bylsma said. “And to see Matty, the way he’s grown in the last 20 games, and to see Shane keep stepping forward and being on the scoresheet repeatedly and getting big goals, a power-play goal a couple games ago, and tonight, both those goals are huge for us in the game. And they’re coming from our young guys, so it’s good.”
As we turn our attention to the future, it is easy to see a path toward Seattle becoming a more competitive team, once Beniers and Wright mature a little more, and Berkly Catton joins the fold. That gives the Kraken three dynamic young centers, with Chandler Stephenson as the elder statesman.
Takeaway #3: Too many Red Wings fans
I have had some concerns lately about more and more empty seats popping up at Climate Pledge Arena, and I guess that will happen when your team has been well out of the playoff conversation for three out of four seasons.
But I hated seeing the building at what I estimated to be about a 40-60 split with visiting Detroit fans Tuesday. Their red paraphernalia made them stick out like a few thousand sore thumbs, and when Detroit scored its goals, there was a certain pop from the visiting crowd that made CPA feel a little less homey.
I have a feeling we’ll continue to see this trend grow this season, as the larger-market teams come to town, and the games become even less meaningful for the Kraken. With Toronto coming to town Thursday, expect another irritating crowd split.
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.
It’s been a rough week… er… month… er… season for the Seattle Kraken, who dropped to 10 points out of the playoff picture with a devastating and controversial 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday, as they continued their march toward a Trade Deadline fire sale.
As things have gone sideways for the team, though, there have been some bright spots, and by George, we could use a little positivity right now. One of those bright spots has been the emergence of a reliable top line for the Kraken, which has consistently produced since being assembled soon after Seattle’s acquisition of Finnish forward Kaapo Kakko.
In that fateful contest on Sunday, Kakko scored for his fifth goal as a Kraken off a 2-on-1 rush with linemate Jaden Schwartz, and Schwartz appeared to have a power-play goal, finding a rebound from other linemate Matty Beniers. We all know what ultimately happened on that one.
The performance of the Jaden Schwartz / Matty Beniers / Kaapo Kakko line on Sunday was another example of the light this trio has provided in an otherwise dreary season.
Kakko’s arrival and instant impact
Since Seattle traded defenseman Will Borgen, plus a third- and a sixth-round draft pick, for Kakko on Dec. 18, the 6-foot-2 right winger has been attached at the hip to center Beniers. The two didn’t show instant chemistry, but once Schwartz joined their line a few games later, things took off for all three players.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s not like when they made the line, we knew that we were going to have a good start or anything, it’s just, sometimes things click,” Schwartz said. “And I’ve talked about them a lot, but they’re both working really hard.”
Kaapo’s 16 points (5-11—16) in 21 games with Seattle have already surpassed his production with the Rangers this season, where he posted 14 points (4-10—14) in 30 games before being shipped to the Pacific Northwest as part of New York general manager Chris Drury’s in-season roster shakeup.
It’s no coincidence that Kaapo’s presence has helped spark Beniers, who got off to a dreadful start to his season, at least in terms of scoring. Prior to Kakko’s arrival, Beniers had just four goals on the campaign. In the 21 games since Kakko arrived, he has almost doubled that number with seven goals (11 total for the season).
Matty Beniers skates in a game against the Anaheim Ducks. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Alongside the veteran Schwartz—who is quietly having one of the best seasons of his career with 18 goals and 18 assists through 54 games—both youngsters, Kakko and Beniers, are exuding confidence.
Confidence growing among the trio
In those earlier stages of the season, it was plain to see that Beniers was struggling with his confidence, although he would never admit that. That happens when a young player who rose through the amateur ranks consistently posting massive offensive numbers hits a wall at the NHL level. Beniers looks like a different player now that he has found consistent linemates that seem to compliment his game well.
“That’s something I’ve been working on is having confidence when it’s going in or it’s not,” Beniers said. “I say it all the time that there’s going to be times when it’s going in, and it’s great. And there’s going to be times when it’s not. You have to have the same level of confidence, same ability of playing that you do in both those situations.”
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) for Matty, he’s under a microscope as a former Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2022-23 and the beneficiary of a seven-year, $50 million contract extension that went into effect this season. The organization is banking on him being a central character for most of his career, so the drop in production last season, which carried into the beginning of this season, was a concern. Beniers finding his game next to Kakko and Schwartz has allayed some concerns about the 22-year-old’s future.
While Beniers struggled to start the season in Seattle, Kakko found himself in the crosshairs of his old GM in New York. Though there was some scuttlebutt that Kakko may have wanted a change of scenery, the former No. 2 overall draft pick had every right to let his confidence get shaken when he was shipped off by his old team at 23 years old. But after a few games of getting his feet under him in Seattle, he took off and has also played with swagger in his new surroundings.
Kaapo Kakko has made an impact since joining the Kraken. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
“I think we’re playing a lot, we’re playing against top lines,” Kakko said. “[The confidence] is getting higher all the time. If you’re playing a lot— I mean, also, there’s going to be some bad shifts, like maybe [the other team is] going to score. It happens. But then you get out there again, and then you’re going to get more chances because you’re out there more.
“I think we’ve still been playing more in the O-zone, doing the things we like to do out there. I think it’s been pretty good, and confidence is getting higher and higher because of that.”
Said Schwartz of his young linemates: “They’re going to the dirty areas. They’re playing a give-and-go game where they’re not really holding onto pucks too long, or we’re moving it and then moving our feet to get open, and we’re just reading off each other.”
Why this line works
Schwartz indicated it isn’t an accident that Kakko and Beniers are producing now and gushed about the effort that they have employed with the Kraken.
“We need them to be good. They’re big, big pieces of this team, and they’re going to be big pieces for a long time,” Schwartz said. “So, I think they’re working hard throughout games, but even in practice, you can tell how dedicated they are, and I just love their work ethic, I love how they play the game.
Jaden Schwartz stickhandles in a game at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
“They don’t really cheat the game, they work hard defensively, they’re in the right spots, and they just see the ice. They’re making small little plays and protecting the puck, and they’re fun to play with.”
In talking with Beniers, you can tell that he feels a certain comfort with Kakko and Schwartz that has perhaps been missing since Jordan Eberle went down with a pelvis injury on Nov. 15.
“Kaapo, obviously, is really, really good at playmaking, holding onto pucks, and so is Schwartzy,” Beniers said. “So, it keeps possession time down there [in the offensive zone], and I think everyone’s just working hard and being in the right spots, doing the right things.”
So why does this trio fit together so well?
“I think early on in the year, Matty was with [Jared McCann] and Ebs and having some success with that line,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “And putting Kakko there with Schwartzy, you’ve got a guy who’s got some speed, who’s got some dartiness in Schwartzy. For stature-wise, he’s really good in and around the net, both in screening and making plays and scoring goals.
“Kakko helps in adding a big-bodied winger who can hold onto the puck in the offensive zone and create space, not only for himself, but for his linemates, and that has given us more pictures of [Matty] giving-and-going and getting space.”
Matty himself had a different theory for why the line has clicked in the way that it has. “I just think you’ve got similar but different players on the same line,” Beniers said. “I think it works well because we’re all pretty smart players.”
With Schwartz now 32 years old and his contract expiring after next season, his days with Seattle could be numbered. But in the meantime, he’s helping lift two young players that the Kraken hope have bright and long futures with the organization.
Here’s hoping this trio can continue growing together in an otherwise difficult 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.
It wasn’t the greatest week in Kraken land, with just one win and three losses over the last seven games. That lone victory came against the struggling San Jose Sharks, who currently sit dead last in the NHL with a record of 15-33-6. The coup de grâce came in the form of a 3-2 regulation loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday, a game in which the Kraken spotted the Flames three goals in the first period. As rough as the results were, the team continues to compete, making them enjoyable to root for and watch.
The week began with a 3-2 loss to Edmonton, a game that felt like a real opportunity to steal a win against one of the NHL’s best teams. The second game, a 6-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, felt like the final nail in the coffin for any realistic playoff hopes.
Sunday’s loss to the Flames was particularly frustrating. The first period featured two goalie interference challenges—both going against Seattle—and five Kraken penalties. I don’t usually critique the referees too much, but they had a rough night, missing a blatant trip on Kaapo Kakko, a hold on Oliver Bjorkstrand, and a too-many-men penalty on Calgary with 10:45 left in the third that went unnoticed. I’m sure there were other missed calls, likely some that Flames fans weren’t happy about either.
If there’s one thing this team has been consistent with all season, though, it’s their refusal to quit. No matter the score, they continue to fight their way back into games. It may not earn them points in the standings, but it certainly makes them easy to root for.
Salary cap updates
In case you missed it, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced new salary cap guidance for the next three seasons. According to Friday’s announcement, the cap will increase by 9 percent annually over the next three years. That compounding increase will raise the upper limit by 35 percent by the 2027-28 season compared to the current year.
I foreshadowed this massive salary cap increase back in July when the Kraken signed Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour to long-term contracts—six and seven years, respectively. At the time, armchair GM’s argued that these deals would age poorly, but few considered the substantial cap growth once the league recouped losses from the COVID-impacted seasons.
This isn’t exactly “found money” for any specific team, as all clubs will benefit from the added cap space over the next three years. As of now, the only restricted free agents due for new contracts are Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, and Tye Kartye. Kakko is the most intriguing of the group, as he could opt for a one-year deal and test unrestricted free agency next summer. Given the expected salary cap increases, plenty of teams will have money to spend. The Kraken are surely aware of that, and if Kakko is happy with his brief tenure in Seattle, they may offer him a long-term deal that could initially look like an overpay but might make sense in the long run.
Yanni Gourde undergoes surgery
Late Friday afternoon, the Kraken announced that Yanni Gourde underwent successful surgery to repair a sports hernia. Gourde has not played since Jan. 2. It appears the team and Gourde hoped to avoid surgery; he had been skating multiple times over the previous week to test it out, but ultimately, the procedure was necessary.
His expected recovery timeline is five to seven weeks—right around the trade deadline. The injury certainly doesn’t help his trade value, but injured players do get moved at the deadline by teams looking for playoff reinforcements. Before the injury, Gourde was a frequent name on trade target lists, and several teams are in the market for centers. We’ll have to see how this plays out, but there’s a chance we’ve already seen the last of Gourde in a Kraken jersey. If he is traded, there will be plenty more to discuss, but for whatever reason, I keep thinking about how Kraken PA announcer Chet Buchanan enthusiastically calls out “Yanni Gourde!” in the starting lineup introductions.
Quick thoughts on Philipp Grubauer
In other major news, Philipp Grubauer was placed on waivers and assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds. There’s no question that his performance with the Kraken has been disappointing. Sending him to Coachella seemed like the only viable option. If he’s going to reclaim an NHL role, he needs to play his way out of this slump, and the Kraken simply can’t afford to take that risk at the NHL level.
The timing works well with the 4 Nations Face-Off break, giving Grubauer a chance to play without missing NHL action. He played his first AHL game on Saturday night, and Coachella has five more games before the NHL resumes on Feb. 22. He likely won’t start all of them, but he should get at least two or three starts.
All signs point to Grubauer being a buyout candidate this offseason. However, as they did with Chris Driedger last year, the Kraken could opt to bring in another backup and ride out his cap hit for two years instead of stretching it over four via a buyout. Either way, it’s hard to imagine him in a Kraken uniform next season, even in a backup role. Here are the buyout details per capwages.com
Off the ice, Grubauer has been a fantastic presence in the community. He’s one of the few Kraken players who lives in Seattle year-round and has been actively involved in local appearances and events. But at the end of the day, this is a performance-driven business, and the Kraken had to make the best decision for the team.
The race for the final wild card spot
Last week, I mentioned that the Kraken’s only realistic path to keeping their playoff hopes alive was winning three of four games, including a regulation win against Calgary on Sunday. That didn’t happen.
The Kraken now sit 10 points out of the final wild card spot, with four teams standing between them and a playoff berth. Mathematically, they’re still alive, but if the projected “get-in” target is 95 points, they would need to play .821 hockey the rest of the season. And if things weren’t already bleak enough, here’s a look at the strength of their remaining schedule…
Sunday’s win over the Kraken was a crucial victory for Calgary, especially on a night when Vancouver lost, giving the Flames a narrow two-point lead for the final wild card spot. Calgary and Vancouver are beginning to separate themselves from the rest of the pack, making it look like a two-horse race after all. I really like Utah’s team, but they just haven’t been able to put it together when it matters most.
Other musings
I know it was a rough week, but all three losses were essentially one-goal games, with empty-net goals sealing the defeats against both the Oilers and Ducks. The Kraken are still competing, and while one-goal losses can be frustrating, I still enjoy watching them play.
On Sunday night, the Kraken appeared to score first when Jaden Schwartz knocked home a rebound in the opening seconds of a Kraken power play. However, the Flames challenged the goal, and it was overturned. Calgary went on to score the first goal later in the period. It’s hard not to wonder how the game might have played out if the goal had stood. The Kraken are 13-6-3 when scoring first, while the Flames are just 6-13-4 when trailing first. I understand why the goal was reversed, but I’ve seen far more egregious goalie interference go uncalled in similar situations.
I’ve heard the explanation coach Dan Bylsma was given for the non-reversal of Calgary’s second goal, but I find it hard to believe that Yegor Sharangovich was actually trying to play the puck when he struck Joey Daccord’s stick. Regardless, I do appreciate that we at least got an explanation of the reasoning behind the decision.
The Kraken have been one of the more disciplined teams in the league this season, averaging the fourth-fewest penalties at 2.85 per game. However, Sunday night tied their season high with seven penalties, and the Flames capitalized on two of them.
Since Yanni Gourde’s injury, the Kraken’s penalty kill has dipped. Before his absence, they were killing penalties at a 78.9 percent rate, but since Jan. 3, that number has dropped to 74.1 percent.
Jordan Eberle has been back on the ice for a while, and Mike Benton captured some of his work on Friday. It’s unclear when he will return, but at the very latest, I’d expect him back after the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
The Seattle Thunderbirds played a thrilling game on Saturday night, knocking off the Eastern Conference-leading Medicine Hat Tigers in a shootout. The Tigers were 5-0-0 against the U.S. Division before falling to the Thunderbirds. It’s always a great time to check out some WHL hockey, but if you have been putting it off because of the Kraken schedule, the 4 Nations Face-Off break might be a good time to attend a game.
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic has been releasing his NHL prospect rankings over the past few weeks, and this week, he ranked the Kraken’s prospect pool 10th in the league. These rankings are subjective, so I don’t get too high or low on them, but ideally, Seattle remains a consistent top-10 team.
Wheeler ranks Berkly Catton as the top Kraken prospect. Catton is currently on a nine-game point streak, recording 24 points over that span, and helped Spokane defeat the first-place Silvergips 10-3 Saturday in Everett.
Goal of the week
I love Monty wrist shots when he is barreling down the slot.
3-1 #SeaKrakenHockey gods smile on Shane Wright. After an unfortunately bounce off his skate earlier, now he's Wright where he needs to be for the steal and feed to Montour in the slot. #ResponseGoal
Ben Meyers (CVF/SEA) – Meyers has recorded three goals and three assists over his last five games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Nikke Kokko (CVF/SEA) – The 20-year-old goaltender is 4-1-0 with a .931 save percentage over his last five starts for Coachella Valley. Kraken fans should be excited about Kokko’s development so far, but he likely won’t be in Seattle for a couple more years, while he continues to refine his game in the AHL.
Shane Wright (SEA) – Wright is currently on a five-game point streak.
Power play goal for Seattle!Scored by Shane Wright with 13:45 remaining in the 3rd period.Assisted by Jared McCann and Brandon Montour.Seattle: 4Anaheim: 5#ANAvsSEA #SeaKraken #FlyTogether
This will be the final week of games before the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, with the Kraken hosting the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, and wrapping up with a final game Saturday night in Calgary. The outlook isn’t promising. The Red Wings dominated the Kraken 6-2 in Detroit back in early December, a game in which Philipp Grubauer allowed three goals on four shots in the first seven minutes. Detroit will also come into Seattle with a six-game win streak. Meanwhile, the Kraken have only beaten the Leafs once in franchise history and have never defeated them at Climate Pledge Arena.
It’s shaping up to be a tough week, but the Kraken have risen to the occasion before, earning wins against Vegas, Carolina, and Minnesota this season, so regardless of the opponent, a loss is never a foregone conclusion. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—this team never gives up.
In a season that has rendered feelings of indifference at times for fans, the Seattle Kraken’s 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday invoked some big emotions. Anger, confusion, excitement, hope, and disappointment—they were all there, wrapped up in a loss that, had it gone the other way, could have reinvigorated the last semblance of belief that the team could re-enter the playoff conversation.
Instead, Seattle went the other direction, dropping to a whopping 10 points behind the Flames for the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Here are Three Takeaways from a crushing 3-2 Kraken loss to the Flames.
Takeaway #1: Everything went against Seattle in the first period
After digesting that chaotic and lengthy first period, I’m left with one lingering feeling: disdain toward the non-goalie-interference ruling on Yegor Sharangovich’s goal that made it 2-0. But that decision also put Seattle down 5-on-3 for two full minutes, leading to Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal—the eventual game-winner.
So, now that I’m thinking about it again as I’m writing this, I’m getting mad about all of it all over again, as I imagine a lot of Kraken fans are still feeling on Monday morning.
Let’s walk through the sequence of events. Jaden Schwartz scored a power-play goal at 11:03 of the first period that should have made it 1-0, but Calgary challenged for goalie interference. On the review, Schwartz’s skates were in the blue paint when the contact occurred between him and Dan Vladar’s stick, and Vladar did seem to be impeded on the play. So, I understood the no-goal decision, although Schwartz sounded perplexed by it after the game.
“You never know with these calls, right?” Schwartz said. “I don’t know if it’s people from Toronto, or… Both of the refs told me that it was probably a goal, but it was out of their hands, and people from Toronto called it, so not sure what they’re watching. I think it was a bad call. He put his stick in my skates, and I was then— I went out of the crease. Just a tough break.”
Jaden Schwartz appeared to score a power-play goal, but the #Flames successfully challenged for goalie interference.
Schwartz’s skate got tangled with Vladar’s stick in the blue paint.
So that was perceived major injustice No. 1 in the game.
Morgan Frost scored his first goal as a Flame three minutes later at 14:03. I had no major complaints about that one, other than poor defending, as Frost dangled between Oliver Bjorkstrand, Vince Dunn, and Adam Larsson, and rifled it over Joey Daccord’s shoulder. It was basically a 1-on-4 rush, as Sharangovich drifted out to the side on the play, so a tighter gap by Dunn and Larsson should have quashed that opportunity.
Now Morgan Frost DOES score his first with the #Flames, and it’s a beauty.
Injustice No. 2 is where the proverbial s*** hit the fan.
Mikael Backlund sprung Sharangovich for a mini breakaway, which caused Jamie Oleksiak to slash Sharangovich and jar the puck off his stick. At first glance, it appeared that Sharangovich losing the puck simply fooled Joey Daccord, and the off-speed pitch trickled through him to make it 2-0 at 16:43. But Dan Bylsma submitted a goalie interference challenge of his own, and replay showed that Sharangovich did make contact with Daccord, causing his stick to pop up off the ice and allow the puck to slide under him.
Uh oh.
2-0, as Sharangovich loses the puck because of a slash by Oleksiak.
For some reason, the penalty is also standing up, which makes no sense, because it happened before the goal. Bizarre call. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/mZLNmsCCJj
But, because we can’t have nice things, the officials announced no goalie interference, good goal. Since Oleksiak had slashed Sharangovich, and Jared McCann was already in the penalty box for jumping Brayden Pachal (who flattened Andre Burakovsky and then turtled in a very Martin Pospisil fashion), McCann’s penalty ended with the goal, but Oleksiak’s started. PLUS, the Kraken got penalized for a failed challenge, which I still say is a ridiculous rule, but that’s a conversation for another day.
The official ruling indicated that it was incidental contact between Sharangovich and Daccord, and that they were both lunging for a loose puck. Maybe you could say it’s incidental, but if you do, then you also have to say that Schwartz’s contact with Vladar on his negated goal was incidental.
“I think from going up 1-0 to down 3-0 with goalie interference calls, the power play, the 5-on-3 that ensued… I think a lot of events in that period were not how we wanted them to go,” Bylsma said.
The coach also said the refs explained that Sharangovich’s goal stood because it was a “continuation play,” whatever that means.
As the game wore on, you could tell the Kraken were getting more and more agitated with the officials. Oliver Bjorkstrand got his stick ripped out of his hands but didn’t get a call and barked at the refs on his way to the bench. Brandon Montour got hauled down and went out of his way to scream at them two separate times during one shift. Even Kaapo Kakko remarked that he was upset he hadn’t gotten a penalty call on Jake Bean, who blatantly tripped him at center ice seconds before Kakko ended up scoring to get the Kraken on the board.
It was a tough night for the officials, and it cost Seattle dearly.
Takeaway #2: Kraken tried to recover
The Kraken had an impressive push in the second period and got robbed on several occasions by Vladar, who always looks like Dominik Hasek when he faces Seattle (which probably says more about the Kraken than it does about Dan Vladar, but I digress).
They made a real game out of it, though, with Kakko breaking through at 14:31 of the second period to put them back within arm’s reach heading to the third. And they did finally get a break from the officials that led to Brandon Tanev’s goal at 5:41 of the third period.
After being screamed at all night, the linesman had an itchy trigger finger and whistled a bizarre icing call on which the puck barely crossed the goal line when McCann touched it. Shane Wright won the ensuing face-off, McCann shot from the top of the circle, and the puck deflected off Tanev and in.
TURBO TIME! 🚨 #SeaKraken finally get some good fortune with a heinous icing call in their favor. Then off a face-off win by Shane Wright, Tanev gets a good bounce.
Seattle battled all the way to the final horn, and on a feverish rush with time ticking down, forced Vladar to make one more big stop on McCann to close out the game.
Had that gone in, it likely would have been ruled no goal for a kicking motion. The fans would have loved that.
Takeaway #3: Another crushing loss
There have been a lot of stinging losses for the Kraken this season, and that one may just take the cake. If there was still a path toward getting back into the conversation, it revolved around winning the two matchups with Calgary this week and snagging one of the two tougher matchups against Detroit and Toronto. With Step 1 of that plan a failure, this Kraken loss to the Flames confirmed what we already knew—that Seattle will be selling at the NHL Trade Deadline and playing months of meaningless hockey down the stretch.
