When we last checked in on macro trends in the Seattle Kraken data, the Kraken were limping home after a calamitous five-game road trip. In a curious bit of historical mirror imagery, this next look comes after a heartening trip that included wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. After salvaging a point in Tuesday’s home tilt against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, we are at the 30-game mark in the season and due for another deep dive on team-level information and player-level results.
Big picture, the team’s season sits on the knife’s edge. While the Kraken have been accumulating points in a tough stretch, most playoff prognosticators still put Seattle’s playoff odds below 25 percent. Looking at the standings, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Seattle will need to climb over one or two quality teams if they are going to eke their way into the playoff field in a relatively deep Western Conference. Our own Blaiz Grubic has detailed the task ahead, but, put simply, every standings point is going to be “high leverage” from here on out. The time is now to deploy changes based on the lessons learned to date. Even after some adjustments, the playoffs are still a long shot, but any further delay in addressing problem areas could sink Seattle’s playoff push well before the March trade deadline.
Unless otherwise noted below, the data used in this article is from Natural Stat Trick. Let’s dive in.
Kraken scoring has stabilized but remains below average
Seattle’s scoring offense has found necessary depth over the last few weeks with Vince Dunn’s return to the lineup and with Shane Wright, Eeli Tolvanen, and Oliver Bjorkstrand all improving their production.
The picture isn’t quite as bleak as it seemed during our first update, but there is also little to suggest a playoff run as a 5-on-5 behemoth like two years ago. The shots went in on the road trip, but the team still struggled to create consistent shot quality inside. The chart below shows the five-game rolling average of 5-on-5 goals scored and expected goals scored (i.e. “shot quality”) by game number.
The actual and expected results were progressing and then saw a significant bump with Vince Dunn’s return. But 5-on-5 shot quality regressed again at the end of the trip and in the Florida game. Was that the product of tough competition or simply a regression to the team’s established “average” production this season?
The story is similar on the power play. The team has found its game to an extent; it no longer resides among the basement dwellers in terms of shot quality or production, but there is also little evidence it will prove to be a team strength. (Most notable to me on this chart, though, is the persistence of Edmonton’s struggles.)
Again, looking at how the team’s production has evolved over time, we see a spike in production over the last few games, but little in the underlying shot data to suggest it’s sustainable. (This conforms to my eye test too. Recently, the Kraken have gotten a handful of power-play goals off tips or deflections after stagnant efforts that don’t feel particularly heartening to me.)
Kraken 5-on-5 defense has come around, but the penalty kill is a problem
Over the last 15 games, the team has improved its consistency with defensive-zone coverages, while also benefiting from the return of Dunn.
Since our last update the 5-on-5 defense has been average or better at limiting shot quality and is trending toward average numbers overall. The team struggled to prevent goals over the last couple weeks, but at a macro level, that looks like a run of bad goaltending for the most part. With Joey Daccord playing extremely well against the Panthers on Tuesday, the team is surely hopeful the goaltending is back on track.
I don’t see similar room for optimism on the penalty kill though. The shot quality against numbers are quite poor overall. Indeed, it seems that strong goalie play is the only thing separating Seattle from a bottom-five shorthanded unit.
More troubling, though, is the utter absence of any successful run of play. In a rolling five-game sample over the course of the season, the unit has been below average at suppressing opposing shot quality almost the entire time.
Put simply, the ultra-passive box approach the team has been using so far is not working. In fact, the shot quality results have been getting worse recently. Perhaps other teams have realized the Kraken are unwilling or unable to disrupt possession.
The team used a similar box scheme at the end of last season, but the players were empowered to create significantly more puck pressure. This year’s unit might benefit from a shift back to that prior mindset.
On the personnel side, I’d prefer to see more of Matty Beniers (who brings natural defensive aggressiveness) and less Chandler Stephenson (who is passive to an extreme on the penalty kill).
Kraken skater data shows an average group with a few lagging behind
It’s no surprise to fans at this point that Kraken individual player deployment and production is relatively flat. While the team lacks high-end producers, it has depth that few teams can counter. This creates few true standouts in the data set. Beniers has emerged as the team’s No. 1 even-strength center both in terms of total ice time and quality of competition (more on that in a minute). Brandon Montour continues to be a workhorse pacing the team in 5-on-5 time on ice. From a scoring efficiency standpoint, Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand lead the way up front, with Vince Dunn rapidly catching up on the blue line.
Losing Jordan Eberle has been a blow to the team’s 5-on-5 offense. No player generated individual shot quality or goals more efficiently than Eberle when he was in the lineup.
Drawing back to examine team performance depending on who is on the ice, we start to get a sense of a group of players who have been struggling to tilt the ice in Seattle’s direction this season.
Using Evolving Hockey’s on-ice Quality of Competition metric, we find that these poor results aren’t necessarily due to being matched with difficult competition. Stephenson and Andre Burakovsky see only slightly more difficult than average matchups, while Borgen has been seeing relatively poor competition.
The team benched Burakovsky previously and saw immediate dividends, with a goal in the first period of his first game back. I believe that option should be on the table with Will Borgen too. It goes without saying the team is better with Borgen in the lineup over Josh Mahura, but Borgen has been fighting it this year. The team’s full health on the blue line gives the Kraken the luxury of getting Borgen “a breather” like it did for Burakovsky, Wright, Bjorkstrand, and Tye Kartye, to varying levels of success.
The situation with Stephenson, who is in Year 1 of a seven-year contract, is exponentially more complicated. In the short term, however, I think the team would be better off by scaling back his even-strength (and penalty kill) exposure a bit.
Turning to the power play, Stephenson has stood out as a key facilitator. On the other hand, I have found myself frustrated with him, Burakovsky, and Beniers to varying degrees for their propensity to lock in on passing when opportunities for a decent shot attempt are there.
On the penalty kill side, the Kraken don’t have a net positive performer in Evolving Hockey’s shorthanded play-driving metric. This brings me back to the scheme because there is no reason players like Jamie Oleksiak or Yanni Gourde shouldn’t be strong penalty killers. Only Brandon Tanev is performing near league average levels in Evolving Hockey’s model.
Is there anything else that you’d like to see? Or anything else that stands out in the data here? Drop us a note in the comments below or on X, formerly known as Twitter, or on BlueSky @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
Close, but no cigar for the Seattle Kraken, who had some promising looks in an effective, defense-first game against the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers but ultimately fell 2-1 in a shootout.
“We’ll take the point,” Chandler Stephenson, who scored Seattle’s lone goal with a breakaway late in the first period, said. “Obviously, it would have been nice [to win], but at the same time, we still did some good things. But I think we’ll just look to be better next game… Joey played outstanding for us, gave us a chance, and we just couldn’t buy one in overtime.”
Florida tilted the ice for much of the game and came close to a 2-to-1 shots-on-goal advantage. However, the Kraken defended well by keeping shots to the outside, breaking up seam passes, and benefiting from Joey Daccord’s stellar 32-save performance. This was particularly impressive given that Daccord had been a late scratch on Sunday in New York due to a stomach bug.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 2-1 Kraken shootout loss to the Panthers:
Takeaway #1: Controversial tying goal for Florida
The Kraken got the short end of the officiating stick Tuesday, with a missed call on Nate Schmidt directly leading to Florida’s only goal in regulation.
Seconds after Daccord made his best save of the game—a sprawling glove save on a 2-on-1 chance for Aaron Ekblad—Brandon Tanev sprung Yanni Gourde for a breakaway. Gourde cut to his left to shield Schmidt from the puck, but Schmidt swung his stick around and whacked Yanni on the hands, causing him to lose control.
Ridiculous non-call on Nate Schmidt to break up a Yanni Gourde breakaway at one end, Barkov ties it at the other end.
Bylsma was furious with the officials after that one.
If that same play happens 10 times, the referees call it nine times, perhaps even awarding a penalty shot two or three of those times. Instead, the play went back the other way and ended with Aleksander Barkov rifling a one-timer from the right circle into an open net.
Bylsma was screaming at the officials both during and after the play, on which just 11 seconds elapsed between the slash and the Panthers’ goal that tied the game at 1-1.
After the game, I asked Bylsma what he saw because it had looked to me like Schmidt got his stick into Gourde’s hands. “Yeah, you described it pretty good,” Bylsma said. “We get the wall play, and it squirts out there. Yanni has speed, we get it to Yanni, and he has a breakaway. It looks like his glove comes off his stick for a reason, but that’s not the way the ref saw it. He saw stick on stick.”
It’s always brutal to see a blown call lead immediately to a goal against, and in this low-scoring affair, it ended up being pivotal.
Takeaway #2: Rope-a-dope almost works (again)
Twice in the last week, the Kraken have played what I call a rope-a-dope style of hockey. They did it in New Jersey on Friday against the Devils, relying on Philipp Grubauer, who was sharp that night. Seattle ended up losing that one 3-2 due to a flubbed net-front play to start the third period, but it was anybody’s game despite a dramatic difference in zone time.
On Tuesday, against the high-flying Panthers, Seattle was back in “bend but don’t break” mode. This time it was Daccord in net, and he was dialed in from the start. The Kraken seemed more in control this time because they did such a good job in their zone, allowing shots while taking away passing lanes and blocking many of the more dangerous-looking attempts at the net.
“I thought all six defensemen did a real good job of [clearing the front of the net],” Bylsma said. “But back behind them was Joey.”
In both the Devils and Panthers games, the puck was in Seattle’s end a lot, and yet some late chances in each contest could have led to better outcomes.
Friday, it was the Brandon Montour chance that rolled through the blue paint and past a yawning cage. Tuesday, it was a cut to the middle by Jared McCann and a dish to Shane Wright, who chipped it over from a sharp angle late in regulation. It was also breakaways by McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand (Bjorkstrand’s came with nine seconds left) in overtime, both of which were shut down by Sergei Bobrovsky.
If any of those three late-game chances had found the back of the net, Seattle would have knocked off the champs in thrilling fashion. Instead, they settled for a point and remained at .500 on the season.
Takeaway #3: What happened to Yanni?
The play discussed in Takeaway #2 was Yanni Gourde’s last shift of the second period. He played one more early in the third and then exited the game with a lower-body injury. I asked Bylsma if the injury was related to the Schmidt slash that led to the Barkov goal. Bylsma thought about it for a moment and then said, “It was after the breakaway that it happened.”
I took that to mean it happened on a completely separate play, but after reviewing the sequence, I think Bylsma meant it happened as Gourde was falling off to his left immediately following the slash. He careened awkwardly, and it almost looked like his skate dug into the ice in a way that could cause a lower-body injury. He was in distress on the bench after Barkov scored.
My working theory is that the slash itself didn’t hurt Gourde, but losing his balance did. On the shift Gourde played early in the third, he looked fine, throwing hits and skating without a limp. Hopefully, his removal from the game is similar to what happened against the Islanders last Thursday, and this ends up being just a minor issue.
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 just captured six out of a possible eight points on what, at least on paper, looked like one of the most challenging road trips on the schedule. This comes right after we were all searching for answers following three straight losses to Anaheim and San Jose. How did this turnaround happen?
Starting on time
I’ve always considered “starting on time” part of the coaches’ and players’ cliché vocabulary—something they break out to essentially say nothing to the media. However, the Kraken’s slow starts were a big factor in those three losses against Anaheim and San Jose. They trailed in all three of those games, but on this road trip, they scored the first goal in three out of four games.
The Kraken still lead the league in allowing the first goal, trailing first in 62.1 percent of their games. But it’s more than just scoring first—they looked engaged from the start in all four games. There were early stretches against the Devils and Rangers where they were being outshot, but it wasn’t the same sloppy affair we saw against San Jose.
Power play comes alive
Prior to this road trip, the Kraken were a brutal 2-for-28 on power play opportunities over the previous eight games, including a six-game drought without a power-play goal. On this road trip, they went 4-for-8 on the power play.
It doesn’t seem like the team is doing anything drastically different other than successfully entering the zone and setting up in the offensive zone. Vince Dunn is obviously a valuable addition to the power play unit, but he only had one point on the four power-play goals scored during the trip. Still, Seattle seems to be getting more zone time than before, and you can tell he’s very comfortable quarterbacking that top unit.
The Shane Wright ‘line’
One recent line adjustment made by Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma was putting Shane Wright with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen. The three were productive before the road trip, but they contributed eight goals over the four-game trip, including four in the game against the Rangers.
It’s not entirely fair to credit that line for all eight goals since several came on the power play when they weren’t on the ice together. However, the trio is clearly clicking, both at even strength and with the manpower advantage.
I’m not going to pop any champagne bottles proclaiming Shane Wright is living up to his draft position just yet, but his play over the last few weeks has been very encouraging. He’s still just 20 years old.
Bylsma talked about Wright’s progression following the game on Sunday. “He’s matured as a player over the last year and a half. But in training camp, he was playing his best hockey that he’s played as a Kraken, and he just needed to reset and get focused on playing that way again.”
I’m sure these guys are tired of being asked about it, but how about the performances of Bjorkstrand and Wright since they were healthy scratched? While it’s a small sample size, Andre Burakovsky is showing some early signs that he might follow a similar path.
Here’s how the guys performed before and after their healthy scratches:
They still have work to do
As great as the past week has been, the Kraken still hold a .500 record, which projects to just 82 points by season’s end. That obviously won’t cut it for a playoff spot. However, their adjusted goal differential has hovered right around zero for most of the season, which suggests they are better than an 82-point team.
Other Musings
Philipp Grubauer’s surprise start did not begin well, as he allowed a soft goal just 3:38 into the game. I can’t imagine the mental challenge of going to bed as the backup and waking up as the starter for an early afternoon game. He looked a little shaky for the rest of the first period but settled in nicely over the final two.
Grubauer came up huge during a critical stretch midway through the second period, making several key saves to keep the deficit at two.
This goal sparked Sunday’s comeback, and I love everything about it:
The Kraken overcame a two-goal deficit on Sunday for the fourth time this season. I’ve mentioned this before, but last season they never came back from a two-goal deficit. This team is different.
The Kraken allowed two response goals to the Rangers on Sunday, bringing their total to 10 this season. That’s the third most in the league, trailing only Colorado and San Jose. (Response goals are goals allowed within two minutes of scoring.)
The Kraken’s victory over the Rangers was their first at Madison Square Garden in franchise history. The only road arenas they haven’t won in? The Prudential Center against the Devils and, of course, the Utah Hockey Club’s rink.
Due to Joey Daccord’s last-minute illness, the Kraken signed Michael Matyas to an Amateur Tryout Agreement (ATO) to back up Grubauer. The full story and logistics will emerge soon, but Matyas played on a U16 AAA team with Kraken director of team services Brennan Baxandall, who was instrumental in securing the emergency goalie.
Speaking of being winless, the Kraken have never beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning at Climate Pledge Arena. They’ll get another shot on Saturday.
Shane Wright is averaging the most goals per game (.29) of anyone in his draft class.
Offense heating up: The Kraken have scored six or more goals in a game five times this season. That matches their entire total from last season.
Jared McCann has just one goal in his last 10 games, but don’t expect that to last much longer. He’s due.
Jakub Fibigr was named to Czechia’s World Junior Championship team invite roster. Last week, I mentioned him as a dark horse to make the final squad, but after talking to a few well-connected folks, it sounds like he’s all but locked in for the tournament in Ottawa.
Joining Fibigr on Team Czechia is Eduard Sale, who’s had a strong first season in the AHL. That said, he’s hit a rough patch, with no points in his last six games—his longest pointless streak of the season.
Finland hasn’t announced its pre-tournament roster yet, but expect Kraken prospects Julius Miettinen (center) and Kim Saarinen (goalie) to make the squad, with Visa Vedenpaa (goalie) having an outside chance.
Seattle Kraken goalie prospect Victor Ostman got into a goalie fight over the weekend in the Mavericks’ win against the Utah Grizzlies, and I would say he held his own.
WE HAVE A GOALIE FIGHT PEOPLE THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!
Tyson Jugnauth (POR/SEA): The unsigned Kraken defenseman prospect had six assists in the Portland Winterhawks’ 7-2 win over the Vancouver Giants. My only question—where was he on the seventh goal? Jaden Schwartz (SEA): Schwartz tallied two goals and two assists over the four-game road trip. We don’t talk about Schwartz nearly enough—when healthy, he’s been a steady, reliable forward for the Kraken. Vince Dunn (SEA): Dunn notched six points on the road trip, including a goal and two assists in the Kraken’s 5-2 win over the Islanders.
The week ahead
The boys may be coming home, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier with matchups against Florida, Boston, and Tampa Bay—three teams playing excellent hockey heading into the week.
Tuesday: Florida Panthers. They’re 5-0-1 over their last six games and are averaging more than five goals per game in that stretch.
Thursday: Boston Bruins on Thursday. The Bruins are 7-2-0 since firing head coach Jim Montgomery and naming Joe Sacco as interim bench boss.
Saturday: Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning’s power play is on fire, operating at 38 percent efficiency over their last 10 games.
Capturing three out of a possible six points this next week would be a solid result, but the Kraken need to keep clawing back points to reinsert themselves into the playoff picture.
The margins in the NHL are razor-thin. The Seattle Kraken headed home Sunday after a challenging four-game road trip with every reason to feel good about themselves. They took six of a possible eight points and—frankly—just missed an even better result had they found an equalizer Friday against the Devils.
But the Kraken capped off the East Coast journey with a… ahem… no-doubter (wink wink): a 7-5 victory over the New York Rangers. The win marked their first-ever triumph at Madison Square Garden and brought them back to .500 on the season.
“The significance of the three wins and how we got them, just a little change in mindset in how we play and how we compete and where we compete,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “This was a tough road trip; Carolina, the Islanders, Devils, and the Rangers here tonight, and we had success in all those games a certain way, and I think that should be pretty evident.”
Here are Three Takeaways from a 7-5 Kraken win over the Rangers.
Takeaway #1: Last-minute goalie chaos
In Bylsma’s pre-game press conference, he announced that Joey Daccord—projected to be the starting goalie Sunday after Philipp Grubauer played Friday—was battling an illness that left him struggling to “keep food down.”
With Daccord out and no time to call someone up from AHL Coachella Valley, Bylsma said, “We will see a name on our backup that I’m not quite sure of yet.”
When the Kraken took the ice for warm-ups, an unfamiliar netminder in yellow and green gear appeared, giving Grubauer breaks and taking shots from his new teammates.
That fill-in backup was Michael Matyas, 33, who played for the University of Alaska-Anchorage during his college days. According to Kraken radio color commentator Al Kinisky, Matyas—friends with Director of Team Services Brennan Baxandall—received a surprise call just hours before puck drop. Matyas’ LinkedIn page shows that he is a Sales Associate for a financial services company in Manhattan, where he will surely have a fun story to tell his coworkers on Monday morning.
Joey Daccord out sick today. Michael Mayas @31Matyas warming up to backup Phillip Grubauer on an ATO (Amateur Try Out) with the #SeaKraken. He’s a childhood teammate of @BBaxy18 from Calgary, AB. He was at the grocery store buying baby formula 2hrs ago. Living his dream! pic.twitter.com/XLGjQqdvc4
Grubauer, playing his second game in a row, had mixed results: big saves at key moments but also five goals allowed on 37 shots with a couple squeakers.
The first period featured some EBUG-related drama when Filip Chytil skated through the crease and collided with Grubauer, sending the goalie sprawling (perhaps selling it a bit) and earning Chytil a two-minute minor.
Kraken fans held their collective breath, while Matyas was shown nervously chomping gum on the bench on the MSG broadcast. Grubauer ultimately continued, stopping just enough shots to secure his second win of the season.
“I was actually wondering what Michael was thinking, the EBUG, what he was thinking when Grubauer went down there,” Bylsma said. “Because, obviously, live, I didn’t see exactly the guy go through the crease, just Grubauer going down, and I think the EBUG’s heart probably went to 180 immediately.”
Takeaway #2: Bjorkstrand/Wright/Tolvanen line was cooking
This matchup between the Kraken and Rangers showcased the Oliver Bjorkstrand, Shane Wright, and Eeli Tolvanen line. Bjorkstrand (2-2=4) and Tolvanen (1-2=3) posted season-best point production, with Wright adding a goal and an assist. (It’s worth noting that Bjorkstrand’s first goal came on the power play, thanks to a slick pass from Chandler Stephenson.)
This trio was instrumental throughout the road trip, combining for 15 points over the four games, including several highlight-reel moments against the Rangers.
“Really the whole line, I think they were… you know Carolina, the Island, and again tonight, they were our best line,” Bylsma said. “And Oliver has an outstanding game with two and two, and big goals at big times when we needed it.”
Wright and Bjorkstrand have been excellent since their return from Healthy Scratch Land, and their success has been well documented. But what about Tolvanen? He wasn’t having the most impressive season either before the other two landed in the doghouse, but he too has come on strong of late and has started racking up some points.
His goal against the Rangers came at a pivotal moment, 1:28 after Brandon Tanev brought Seattle within one. Tolvanen’s quick movement into the slot left Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider scrambling, allowing Bjorkstrand’s pinpoint pass to tee him up for a blast that ricocheted off Jonathan Quick’s mask and in at 15:34 of the second.
Bjorkstrand followed that up by tipping in a Brandon Montour shot at 19:24 for his second of the game, giving Seattle a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Takeaway #3: Resilient game, impressive road trip
This road trip was critical for the Kraken’s playoff hopes. After a dismal 1-3-0 record against the Ducks and Sharks, the Kraken faced a make-or-break stretch against tough opponents and in difficult buildings. A poor showing could have spelled disaster for the season, but instead, Seattle went 3-1-0, earning six points to get back within three of a playoff spot.
“This was a huge trip for us,” Tolvanen said. “Everybody knew that coming into this trip, [the games before were] disappointing, and we knew that we needed to make a statement on this trip. And I think we did a really good job with that.”
The outing against the Rangers demonstrated resilience from the Kraken. Despite dealing with goalie chaos, playing a desperate Rangers team fresh off a loud-and-clear message from management, and facing a tough building where they’d never won, the Kraken rallied from a 3-1 deficit with five unanswered goals.
“I definitely think we could have been doing more [at the beginning], and I think we did more in the latter half of the game,” Tanev said. “We didn’t like our start… but we got a timely goal, a big save by Grubi, and we understood what we needed to do to get back in the game.
“We played hard, we played physical, and when we got our opportunities, we capitalized.”
Even with the nervy finish, the Kraken deserved their victory over the Rangers and a very successful road trip.
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.
Heading into the third period on Friday, it looked like the Seattle Kraken were poised to pull off an unexpected win over the New Jersey Devils, one of the NHL’s top teams, under challenging circumstances. Seattle was on the second night of back-to-back games, had Philipp Grubauer in net for the first time since his worst performance as a Kraken, and got outshot by a 2-to-1 margin by a high-flying New Jersey team. Still, Seattle had a chance to win.
Despite a big push from the Kraken late in the game, the 3-2 loss came down to two killer plays in the third period.
Andre Burakovsky remarked that the puck just wasn’t bouncing Seattle’s way, and Eeli Tolvanen added, “That’s part of hockey. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Here are three takeaways from this 3-2 Kraken loss to the Devils.
Takeaway #1: The first killer play
With the game tied 2-2 in the opening minute of the third period, a calamitous miscue unfolded in front of the Seattle goal. On a night when Grubauer bounced back, stopping 33 of 36 shots and looking sharper than he has in quite some time, he still had a hand in a goal coach Dan Bylsma described as “just unfortunate.”
I won’t hang the entire goal on Grubauer, because Chandler Stephenson threw a pizza to the blue line a few seconds earlier, and Vince Dunn could have helped by sweeping the puck out of danger rather than fumbling it off his own post, which set Timo Meier up for the easiest goal of his career. Plus, Grubauer had just made a strong save on Brenden Dillon, looking around a screen and appearing ready to melt it down for a whistle.
However, when Grubauer swept the puck with his stick toward his glove to clamp down on it, he somehow pushed it under his own glove and out the other side. Dunn was clearly caught off guard to have the puck land on his stick and reacted accordingly.
Oh, man.
Brutal goal to give up. Grubauer mishandles it, Dunn gets surprised and pushes it toward the net, and Timo Meier gets a gift of a goal.
Just like that, the Kraken were trailing for the first time on the entire road trip.
“It’s just unfortunate, the third goal, especially the timing of it,” Bylsma said. “Because the start of the third period—we knew it was going to be a difficult game, we knew it was going to be a game against a good opponent. We had the mindset we were going to come in and dig one out.”
Takeaway #2: The second killer play
To their credit, the Kraken didn’t fold after that deflating goal. They battled hard down the stretch and generated outstanding chances against Jacob Markstrom, only to come up short. Then came the moment with six minutes left—you know the one.
Burakovsky carried the puck over the blue line and found Jaden Schwartz in the slot, who made a quick pass to Brandon Montour. Montour had driven wide, gained speed, and gotten behind New Jersey’s defense. With momentum, he deked Markstrom out of his jock and had him dead to rights.
But when Montour pulled the puck back toward the gaping cage, he inexplicably hooked it through the crease, past the far post, and out the other side.
That was the tying goal, and somehow, it stayed out.
When I asked Bylsma about that play after the game, he literally crossed his eyes and said, “We were all scratching our heads a little bit on how that one doesn’t go in.”
Seattle continued pressing and created several strong opportunities in the closing minutes but couldn’t solve Markstrom again.
Takeaway #3: An impactful return for Burakovsky
The healthy scratch bump appears to have worked again. After Oliver Bjorkstrand and Shane Wright each spent time in the press box before returning to play their best hockey of the season, Burakovsky became the latest recipient of this not-so-subtle messaging from Bylsma. Benched against the Hurricanes and Islanders to start the road trip, Burakovsky returned Friday when Yanni Gourde was sidelined with a minor injury.
Burakovsky responded in style, scoring a pretty goal at 10:16 of the first period to give Seattle a 1-0 lead for the third consecutive game. He also led a 3-on-1 rush, kept a play alive along the wall that directly led to Shane Wright’s power-play goal, and made the first of the tic-tac-toe passes that set up Montour’s painful miss.
THE HEALTHY SCRATCH BUMP! 🚨
You cannot make it up. Andre Burakovsky takes a quick-up pass from Vince Dunn, carries it 120 feet, and snipes.
Speaking with Burakovsky after the game, it was clear the healthy scratch treatment hit him hard.
“You don’t want to be in that situation when you’re playing your 11th year in the league,” Burakovsky said. “I mean, there’s been a lot of games that have been good, and there’s been games where I haven’t felt my best and the puck hasn’t really bounced my way.
“I think three games ago at home, I had maybe five shots from the middle that just hit a stick or something. But, I mean, you’ve got to stick with it, and yeah, I mean, it’s not fun to sit out.”
Bylsma said Burakovsky’s performance was “a good response.” So is he out of Bylsma’s doghouse? I’m not convinced, but this was a promising step. It will be interesting to see if Burakovsky can sustain this momentum and achieve results similar to Bjorkstrand and Wright in their respective post-scratch eras.
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.
Welcome to “Down on the Farm,” your weekly update on all things Seattle Kraken prospects. This week we’ll take a look at the progress of Seattle’s goaltending prospects, highlight two standout performance from Brampton Steelheads teammates, and, as always, get you all the data you can handle. Let’s dive in.
Kraken prospect question of the week: Checking in on the goalie prospects
Many of the comments on last week’s prospect update focused on the team’s goaltending prospects. Even though I’m not responding to a specific question posed there, I took that discussion as inspiration to check in on the progress of Seattle’s prospects who make a living getting hit by short cylinders of vulcanized rubber.
This past week was a tough one for Seattle’s netminders at the NHL level—and it was only slightly better for the team’s prospects. Big picture, it’s impressive that the Kraken have relatively young goaltending prospects taking regular starts in Liiga, the KHL, and the AHL. But the goalies in the system faced a lot of adversity this week.
Let’s start with a positive. Victor Ostman, 24, started a pair of games for the ECHL Kansas City Mavericks and posted two wins, one of which was a 23-save shutout. Overall, he stopped 44 of 45 shots, raising his season save percentage to .909. That mark is 10th best in the ECHL among goalies with at least 10 appearances. Ostman faced questions after a rough senior year at the University of Maine and an up-and-down NHL camp, but he has settled in well for Kansas City. Even if that’s where he spends the balance of the year—and we’re beginning to suspect that will be the case—there is still an NHL trajectory for him if he can continue stacking success. His stellar week earns him Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week.
For his part, Nikke Kokko, 20, took hard contact from a Texas Stars skater at 8:32 in the second period of the Firebirds’ game Thursday night, forcing him to depart. There was no definitive update postgame, but the team recalled Jack LaFontaine from Kansas City today, with two weekend games in San Jose on the horizon. That transaction suggests Kokko’s short-term availability is in doubt. On the bright side, the Firebirds came back to win Thursday’s game, so Kokko still does not have a North American professional regulation loss.
Jack LaFontaine has been recalled to the @Firebirds.
Ales Stezka, 27, was solid on Thursday, but struggled a bit in two losses earlier the week, allowing eight goals on 70 shots overall. Stezka’s play had been trending well in recent weeks and the Firebirds will likely be leaning on him even more heavily with Kokko out. While Stezka has been solid, he hasn’t given the Kraken strong reason to consider a promotion even following a few poor NHL starts by Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer.
Kim Saarinen, 18, continues to pile up starts at the Liiga level, which is good, but the production hasn’t been particularly strong. Saarinen’s .891 save percentage ranks 15th among goalies with at least 10 starts (in a 16-team league). One of Saarinen’s weakest starts came Thursday when he gave up five goals on 35 shots. To be fair, though, Saarinen’s team, HPK, has struggled overall and is currently 14th in the standings. Saarinen’s goalie tandem partner, Sami Rajaniemi, is right next to him on the save percentage leaderboard with a .890 mark.
Semyon Vyazovoy, 21, got off to a strong start in the KHL but has recently slid into true backup status for his club, drawing a start every week or two. He didn’t get into a game in the last seven days. It’s a disappointing development for the young goalie, who has posted above-average results at every step of his development path. His .919 save percentage is roughly league average for a regular KHL starter and is fourth best among KHL goalies under 22.
Visa Vedenpaa, 19, still hasn’t seen the ice since playing one period in a game on October 15. He is likely dealing with a long-term injury.
Notes on three Kraken prospects
Jakub Fibigr
Brampton Steelheads (OHL) | D | 18 years old | 25 games played | 2 goals | 11 assists | 0.52 PPG
2024 draft pick Jakub Fibigr opened eyes at Kraken training camp with his skating skill, prompting some commentary that he could be a seventh-round “steal.” If you’ve followed Sound Of Hockey’s draft coverage, though, you already knew that Fibigr was anything but a typical seventh-round pick. He slipped in the draft, but he was No. 98 overall in our consensus scouting ranking, and his draft-year scoring data would have had him even higher (No. 37 overall).
That said, Fibigr had a very slow scoring start for the high-flying Steelheads this year. He finally broke through on the offensive end last Saturday when he registered four assists in a 5-3 Steelheads win over Saginaw. He kept that momentum going with two more assists Wednesday against Guelph. He still trails his 2023-24 scoring pace by a wide margin, but if the last two games signal a hot streak, it shouldn’t take long to make his quiet start a distant memory. The talent is there to pile up points in a hurry.
Carson Rehkopf
Brampton Steelheads (OHL) | F | 19 years old | 25 games played | 18 goals | 26 assists | 1.76 PPG
Fibigr’s Steelheads teammate Carson Rehkopf had a great week both on and off the ice. As expected, he was named to Team Canada’s selection camp for the World Junior Championship—along with fellow Kraken prospects Berkly Catton and Caden Price. Fourth in the OHL in points and a natural shooter, Rehkopf is almost certain to make the final team (Catton is very likely to make it too). Rehkopf also has a strong chance to be named a team leader, given that he’s an alumnus of the 2024 team and one of Canada’s oldest eligible players.
For Brampton, Rehkopf poured in three goals and added four assists in three games this week. The Steelheads were a borderline ludicrous +9 with Rehkopf on the ice at 5-on-5. Needless to say, Brampton’s top line continues to dominate. (This is now the third time Rehkopf has put up production worthy of “Prospect of the Week” status, only to miss out due to another Kraken prospect’s performance. I’m sure he’ll be able to console himself with the World Juniors invite.)
Ben Meyers
Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL) | F | 26 years old | 15 games played | 7 goals | 7 assists | 0.93 PPG
Ben Meyers had a leviathan week for the Coachella Valley Firebirds, punctuated by a hat trick Thursday night that fueled a comeback win against the Texas Stars. Overall, he had five goals and an assist in three games. Mentally, I deemed him ineligible for the Prospect of the Week award since he’s over 25 years old, but it probably should have gone his way but for that.
Seattle’s prospects scored a lot over the last seven days. 20 different players had multi-point weeks. In addition to strong performances from Rehkopf, Meyers, and Fibigr, Clarke Caswell had three goals and three assists in three games.
Catton and Rehkopf continue their battle for Kraken junior scoring supremacy. Last week Catton held the lead, but he relinquished that spot to Rehkopf this week after the Steelheads forward recorded seven points.
Forward Justin Janicke is now second on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in scoring, following a two-goal, one-assist week. Defenseman Kaden Hammell’s +35 plus-minus is the best in the entire CHL (though he is closely trailed by several Silvertips teammates).
As detailed above, Ostman was the organization’s highlight in goal over the last seven days. Stezka played in all three games for the Firebirds after appearing as an injury replacement for Kokko on Thursday.
Saarinen’s Liiga numbers aren’t stellar but his continued usage in that top-level pro league as an 18-year-old is reason for continued optimism.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Berkly Catton: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Previewing the week ahead
Hammell, Julius Miettinen, and the Everett Silvertips host Caden Price and the Kelowna Rockets on Friday, and then square off against the rival Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night at Angel of the Winds Arena. Next Wednesday, Everett welcomes Tyson Jugnauth and the Portland Winterhawks.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have three straight contests against the San Jose Barracuda over the next seven days (two in San Jose and one in Palm Desert). With a weekend back-to-back scheduled, I’d expect Jack LaFontaine to get an AHL start (assuming Kokko doesn’t bounce back rapidly). On the ECHL side of things, I expect Ostman to carry the load for the Mavericks.
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
