While Kraken have stumbled, Schwartz / Beniers / Kakko line has blossomed
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).
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.
“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.
“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.
Monday Musings – Compete and lose
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.
Jordan Eberle, continuing to work on his way back: out early with skills coach Matt Larke. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/s9tPoOuzm7
— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) February 1, 2025
- 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.
Player performances
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.
The week ahead
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.
Three Takeaways – Kraken get terrible breaks in first period, lose 3-2 to Flames
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.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 3, 2025
Schwartz’s skate got tangled with Vladar’s stick in the blue paint.
Still 0-0. pic.twitter.com/Veu7ZodoqH
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.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 3, 2025
1-0. pic.twitter.com/GaJlZwmKOC
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.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 3, 2025
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. #SeaKraken pic.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.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 3, 2025
3-2 #Flames pic.twitter.com/V7CoOLr9U8
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.
Andrew Cristall’s six-point night boosts Spokane Chiefs to statement win over Everett Silvertips
Into February and down the stretch of the WHL season we go!
A sellout crowd of 8,249 packed Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday night to watch two top teams in the Western Conference square off, with interested Kraken fans also getting the chance to see first-round draft pick Berkly Catton in action in the area once again.
But once the puck dropped, much to the dismay of the home crowd, it was all Chiefs all night. Spokane continued its rough-and-tumble play against Everett on Saturday, as the Chiefs dominated for a 10-3 rout, showcasing their offensive firepower all night long and showing they will be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.
Game recap
Spokane (32-16-0-0) entered the game fresh off a 5-1 win over the B.C. Division-leading Victoria Royals, while Everett (35-8-4-3) had routed the lowly Kelowna Rockets 7-3 on Friday. Spokane had previously beaten Everett 3-2 on ‘Wednesday Night in the Dub’ the week before.
The Chiefs got off to a fast start with three unanswered goals to start the first and finished with six by the end of the first period. Spokane got two from league-leading goal scorer and recent Penn State commit Shea Van Olm, who extended his total to 37 goals for the season.
From the opening puck drop, it looked as though the Chiefs were the dominant team. Despite both teams missing key forwards in Mathis Preston, Smyth Rebman, and Sam Oremba, Spokane still appeared to be the more cohesive and offensively sound team throughout the game.
Spokane ended the game with 10 goals on 28 shots. Catton added a goal and an assist in the win, but it was his newest line-mate in Andrew Cristall who truly stole the show.
The Catt Attack 😼 #SeaKraken
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 2, 2025
Him and the @SpokaneChiefs have put up 10 on Everett tonight 👀 pic.twitter.com/4kVi3HJ2Hs
Cristall finished with one goal and five assists, contributing to Spokane’s strong performance. Since his acquisition, the Chiefs have gone 6-3-0-0, impressing against some tough competition. Coach Brad Lauer believes his arrival was just what the team needed.
“When we picked up an elite player like that, it definitely put a big spark in our group,” Lauer said. Cristall has a remarkable 25 points in nine games since joining Spokane. The Washington Capitals prospect is in the top five in all three major statistical categories in the league with 32 goals, 53 assists, and 85 points.
Before Cristall’s trade in January, the Chiefs had scored 10 or more goals in a game just three times since 2015. However, since the trade, Spokane has already matched that number, with three games of 10 or more goals on the road over the past month.
Despite being high atop the WHL standings, Everett has shown signs of vulnerability recently, playing four games in five days twice in the last two weeks. With multiple injuries and a heavy schedule, Spokane capitalized on a tired Silvertips team.
“They’re a tired club,” Lauer added. “We’re all playing lots of hockey this time of year, but we did a lot of good things early on, which gave us opportunities to score, and we took advantage.”
One Chief who made the most of his opportunity was 15-year-old Ossie McIntyre. In just his fifth career WHL game, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 WHL Bantam Draft scored his first goal in the league.
#WHL Ossie McIntyre has his first WHL goal!!
— Cameron Riggers (@CameronRiggers) February 2, 2025
It is 6-2 Spokane 😳 pic.twitter.com/uS5Iz9CDmB
“The young guys are finding their way and doing some good things, and the team is playing good hockey right now,” Lauer said. “That’s what you want heading into the stretch, making sure you’re doing the right things.”
The Chiefs currently sit in third place in the Western Conference behind Victoria, but it’s important they get as many points as they can; after the first round of the playoffs, the WHL re-seeds the teams based on record, meaning if Spokane and Victoria were to advance to the second round, Spokane would currently have home-ice advantage.
Although the Chiefs are 13 points behind Everett, and it might be a little too late to catch up in the standings, the recent losses could signal trouble for the Silvertips come playoff time. The aforementioned Van Olm knows the Chiefs have had Everett’s number of late.
“The last three or four years, Everett’s kind of beat on Spokane,” Van Olm said. “I wasn’t around for all of that, but I know there’s guys that are on this team that were, and it means a lot to those guys. I think coming into their barn and having a night like tonight feels great.”
Before Wednesday’s game against the Medicine Hat Tigers, the Silvertips hadn’t allowed more than four goals at home all season. But now, they’ve allowed seven-plus goals in consecutive games against teams chasing them for the top overall spot.
As previously mentioned, Everett has been dealing with a plethora of injuries to forwards Austin Roest, Kraken prospect Julius Miettinen, and most recently Dominik Rymon.
Once those key players return to the lineup, Everett will be a stronger team, but the recent games at Angel of the Winds have highlighted areas for improvement on both sides of the puck.
“It was one of those nights where we didn’t have a lot,” said Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton. “We just couldn’t get it going, and it combined for a bit of an ugly night.”
Both teams will wrap up three games in three days on Sunday. Everett hosts Kamloops, while Spokane travels to Langley to face Vancouver.
Header photo courtesy of Evan Morud and the Everett Silvertips
Is there really a home-ice advantage in the NHL?
Over the past month, I’ve written two pieces examining NHL standings—one on NHL standings point models and alternatives, and another as an NHL half-season roundup. While working on these articles, I noticed a trend: most NHL teams perform better at home than on the road. That observation led me to dig deeper. I compiled data from the NHL API since the start of the 2021-22 season to see if the numbers back up the notion of a “home-ice advantage.”
As of Jan. 31, 28 of the 32 NHL teams have boasted better home records compared with their road records over the last three and a half seasons. The four teams that just missed the mark were within five points of their home records: the Vancouver Canucks (even record), the New Jersey Devils (even record), the Buffalo Sabres (three points under) and the Anaheim Ducks (five points under).
It’s good to be home
During the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 seasons, home teams enjoyed an average boost of 5.5 percent in standings points earned compared with their road performance. Overall, home teams posted a points percentage of .585, while road teams registered .524. That .585 mark is notable because it surpasses the 95-point pace when extrapolated out—a good measuring stick for playoff contenders.
The home-ice advantage extends to all types of wins—regulation, overtime, and shootout. Regulation wins were 6.8 percent higher for home teams, while overtime and shootout wins were 6.5 percent higher.
The data above covers the last three full seasons, and this season is showing similar trends. As of Jan. 31, home teams have benefited from a 6.8 percent increase in overtime and shootout wins compared to road teams, and a 9.9 percent boost in regulation wins. It should be noted that the current season’s data is partial and may be skewed, as the teams have not yet played an equal number of home and away games against every opponent.
Clearly, there is a consistent boost to the home team’s winning percentage. Now the question is: why?
NHL rules that benefit the home team
A handful of rules benefit the home team, and while most may not directly affect the game’s outcome, one in particular allows coaches to shine.
Last change
When playing at home, the visiting team must put its players on the ice first prior to a face-off. This rule gives the home team’s coaching staff a chance to assess who is on the ice and adjust their lines accordingly—allowing them to dictate matchups. For example, if the away team deploys its top scoring line, the home team can counter with its shutdown line. The only exception is icing; if the home team ices the puck, it is not allowed to change, letting the away team dictate the matchup.
Hockey is a fast-paced sport where line changes happen on the fly, and teams can switch lines in any order during play. The last change rule only applies during stoppages when a face-off is about to occur. During such stoppages, you’ll notice a referee near the team benches: the visiting team has five seconds to make a change before the referee raises their hand and signals that no further changes are allowed by the visitors, and then the home team has eight seconds to adjust before the referee lowers their hand. This rule is outlined in rule 82.2 of the NHL rule book.
Face-offs
In the NHL, players taking a face-off must put the blade of their stick on the ice, making contact with the white part of the face-off dot. Once both players’ sticks are on the ice, the puck is dropped. A common misconception is that the away team must place its stick first. However, according to NHL rule 76.4:
“The sticks of both players facing off shall have the blade on the ice, within the designated white area. At the eight face-off spots (excluding the center-ice face-off spot), the defending player shall place his stick within the designated white area first, followed immediately by the attacking player. When the face-off is conducted at the center-ice face-off spot, the visiting player shall place his stick on the ice first.”
For the home team, the only “benefit” comes at center-ice face-offs, as others are determined based on which zone the face-off is occurring. In theory, if the proper procedure is followed, neither team should have an advantage. In practice, however, the second player sometimes never places his stick on the ice, which can provide an edge. Outside of center-ice, the defending team’s center places his stick first, meaning any home-ice advantage is limited to the center-ice draw.
Looking at face-off data from the 2023-24 season, there were 8,383 center-ice face-offs. The home team won 50.4 percent of these draws, so a benefit, but minor one. This figure may be slightly skewed by the last change rule, as coaches sometimes counter the visiting team’s matchups with lines that are not necessarily their best at winning face-offs. For instance, the Seattle Kraken have typically started either Yanni Gourde’s or Matty Beniers’ line at home. However, Chandler Stephenson leads as the top face-off man, winning 51.7 percent of his draws, while Beniers won 47.8 percent and Gourde 49.9 percent as of Jan. 31.
Regular-season overtime
The last-change rule also applies during 3-on-3 overtime, where controlling matchups is crucial for scoring a timely goal and ending the game. Overall, overtime has favored the home team, which has won 9.6 percent more games in OT than when playing on the road.
Shootout
If a regular-season game remains tied after regulation and 3-on-3 overtime, it goes to a shootout. The home team gets to choose whether to shoot first or second. Over the last few seasons, home teams have opted to shoot first 85.2 percent of the time.
Over the last three and a half seasons, there have been 317 shootouts. In those contests, the home team won 162 times, and the road team won 155 times—a slim 2.2 percent advantage for the home team. If you only consider the teams that shot first, the advantage grows to 5.34 percent. In recent years, the trend has been that more and more NHL teams have have been choosing to shoot first.
One might think that the home team would prefer to shoot last, allowing it to mount a comeback or finish the game on a goal. However, goaltenders hold the edge in shootouts. It appears that home teams are not so much choosing to shoot first as they are opting to “save last.” League-wide, NHL goaltenders have posted a combined stoppage percentage of .679 in these 317 shootouts—meaning that 68 percent of the time, the goalie is more likely to stop the shot than the shooter is to score. I call this a “stoppage percentage” because it includes missed shots, which are not part of a goaltender’s save percentage but still result in a failed shootout attempt.
Penalties
The trend continues when comparing penalties called on teams at home versus on the road. For this analysis, I looked at the raw count of individual penalties—not penalty minutes. A minor, double minor, major, or game misconduct each counts as one penalty. Overall, home teams enjoy a 3.2 percent reduction in penalties called against them.
Over the last three seasons, 26 of 32 NHL teams have accrued fewer penalty minutes at home than on the road. When broken down by division, the benefits vary significantly. Atlantic Division teams saw only a 1.1 percent benefit, Metropolitan teams 2.9 percent, Pacific teams 4.4 percent, and Central Division teams 4.5 percent.
The Calgary Flames have enjoyed the largest home-ice advantage in penalty minutes at 9.2 percent, while Canadian teams overall fared well, with 4.5 percent fewer penalties at home, matching the Central Division. It might be a good time to rethink the hockey tradition of booing the referees as they come onto the ice and haven’t actually done anything yet. Statistically, they tend to side with the home team, especially in the Western Conference. I propose Kraken fans start cheering them on before the game.
The home crowd!
Enough with the numbers—the biggest X-factor in home-ice advantage is the hometown crowd. Nothing fires up a team more than thousands of fans erupting after a big goal, a crushing hit, or some good, old-fashioned fisticuffs at center ice. That energy feeds into the players, creating a momentum shift that can tilt a game. It’s a dopamine hit for the skaters, and the crowd knows it—fans do everything they can to will their team to victory.
This isn’t just superstition; players and coaches often talk about how a raucous home crowd provides an extra edge. It can be the difference between sluggish legs and an adrenaline-fueled surge late in a tight game. That’s why road teams have a strategy—either silence the crowd with an early goal or grind through the first 10 minutes without allowing one. Survive the opening wave, and the crowd might settle. But if the home team scores first? Expect an onslaught of momentum.
Of course, the flip side is also true—when a home team is trailing, and the crowd starts to quiet, that energy can fade. The best teams learn to ride the wave of home-ice advantage but also generate their own spark when things aren’t going their way.
Teams do have an advantage at home
Overall, the last change and shootout options come down to the coaching staff’s ability to capitalize on the slight advantages presented to their team. The Kraken have seen a 2.1 percent boost in their performance at home, making use of the home-ice advantage. In the penalty department, Seattle has 2.3 percent fewer penalties called on them at home than on the road. Both numbers are positive for playing at Climate Pledge Arena, but they fall short of the league averages of 5.5 percent for standings points and 3.2 percent for penalties.
While these boosts might seem modest, they do add up over the course of a season. There’s one more key factor that could tilt the scales for the Kraken, though: us—the fans.
What are your thoughts on home-ice advantage? Put them in the comments below.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.