Mel Brooks tried to warn the Utah Hockey Club with his portrayal of the great Yogurt in the 1987 spoof masterpiece, Spaceballs, about underestimating the power of the Schwartz. But his warnings went unheeded Monday, as the Seattle Kraken used Jaden Schwartz’s red-hot offensive touch to make Utah look like a bunch of Dinks (specifically Rinky Dink, Blinky Dink, Stinky Dink, Pinky Dink, Finky Dink, and Winky Dink) in a 5-2 win at Climate Pledge Arena.
From Seattle’s perspective, the Kraken managed to build off their stunning comeback win in Vancouver on Saturday and create more post-holiday positivity with this full-game effort.
“We wanted to take the four-day break and the [5-4 overtime comeback win on Saturday] in Vancouver as a reset and get real focused on how we need to play 60 minutes every night,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “Just from the mindset of the shooter’s mentality and coming out and being aggressive, being north, the first period was excellent. And that’s something we want to continue to build on.”
Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-2 Kraken win over the Utah Hockey Club.
Takeaway #1: The power of the Schwartz
Jaden Schwartz has put the Kraken on his back the last two games. After Seattle appeared to be combing the desert for any semblance of cohesive play during the team’s recent five-game skid, Schwartz has stepped up and led the group by going straight to the goal crease every chance he gets and constantly sending pucks into dangerous areas.
“I wasn’t happy with how we were playing [before the holiday break],” Schwartz said. “I think each guy knew that we had a lot more to bring individually and for the team, and we’ve done a good job of that.”
Schwartz had a goal and two assists in this one to follow up his outstanding performance against Vancouver, in which he scored two of Seattle’s three late goals to force overtime. He would have also had a second goal Monday if it weren’t for a coach’s challenge from Utah that negated it.
Schwartz wasn’t deterred by the disallowed goal. Instead, just two minutes after the challenge, Schwartz kept a play alive by rimming it around to Adam Larsson at the point. Larsson sent it back, and Schwartz just got a touch on the puck as it headed toward Ryker Evans. Evans sent it to the net, and Yanni Gourde cleaned up the rebound to officially make it 1-1.
Then, 51 seconds later, with Seattle in the middle of a line change, Schwartz found himself on the ice with Andre Burakovsky and Chandler Stephenson. He picked up a loose puck at the right hash and twirled back toward the point to create space. With direct shooting lanes filled by defenders, he sent a wrister intentionally wide of the net, and Burakovsky got on the other end of it.
BURKY DOES IT! 🚨
Nice tip off a Jaden Schwartz shot. Two assists already for Schwartz tonight.
“The first look that I was looking for kind of got closed off,” Schwartz said. “Then I saw [Burakovsky] going to the net, and I was kind of flat-footed, so I just tried to get it in the direction of the net, and he did a good job of getting there and getting a stick on it.”
Schwartz’s final act in the contest, which really made Climate Pledge Arena go to plaid, was when he took Kappo Kakko’s dazzling 100-foot stretch pass at the blue line, cruised in, and fired it between Karel Vejmelka’s wickets for the eventual game-winning goal.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE SCHWARTZ! 🚨
Just a silly pass by Kakko to spring Jaden Schwartz on the breakaway.
“It was a good turnover, and I just heard the whole bench and all the fans yelling, ‘Pass the puck! It’s going to be a breakaway!’” Kakko said. “So, I tried to get it there, and I don’t know, maybe a little lucky, but it gets there and nice finish [by Schwartz].”
What a game, and what a stretch of play from Jaden Schwartz. I promise I’m done with Spaceballs jokes now.
Takeaway #2: The Kaapo Kakko trade is looking better and better
This was the first time I’ve seen Kakko play for the Kraken in person, and man, he looks really good. It probably helps that he’s playing with the sizzling-hot Schwartz, but what Seattle has lacked so obviously for much of this season is players who are willing to go to the front of the net.
Kakko is using his massive frame exactly as one would hope and pounding his way right into dangerous areas. But he’s also making impressive plays on the puck and elite passes; the Schwartz goal and the Matty Beniers goal came off primary assists from Kakko, and both were after spectacular feeds.
“He’s been playing great,” Schwartz said. “He’s a big body, he can see the ice well, he makes little plays, kind of give-and-go’s to create space, and he’s been good defensively. So he’s been a big addition for us.”
Kakko said his confidence has grown now that he’s getting settled with his new team. “The start was kind of hard, all three games we lost. That’s never a good thing,” Kakko said. “But I felt pretty good today. The first period, especially, I think we got a lot of good chances, and on the power play, also, there [could have been] a couple goals. And then [it was a] good thing we got two goals also in the end, so pretty good.”
Pretty good. Prettttaaayyyy pretttayyy good.
Takeaway #3: Chemistry forming
I’m realizing as I write this last Takeaway that all three have been about the Schwartz/Beniers/Kakko line, but they really were the story of this game. It’s encouraging that as Schwartz has cooked lately, there’s also chemistry forming between Kakko and Beniers, who had struggled so mightily before getting a couple nice bounces in the last two games to get some more goals to his name.
“[Beniers and Kakko] are talking, they’re getting together, they’re communicating together with Schwartzy,” Bylsma said. “‘What are we going to do on this play, the next play? How are we going to do it? Will you be there? I’ll be there.’
“And now it’s three games in a row they’ve been the most effective line.”
Assuming this trio continues to flourish, and assuming the Eeli Tolvanen/Shane Wright/Oliver Bjorkstrand line can remain impactful, then the Kraken could finally be forming multiple dangerous lines at the same time, something they’ve been searching for all season.
But while those two lines look like solutions, the Jared McCann/Stephenson/Burakovsky line remains puzzling. Burakovsky had a goal with a tip-in of Schwartz’s shot, and McCann had an empty-netter to seal the win, but for the majority of this game, that line was hemmed in its own zone and earned an abysmal six percent of the shot quality when they were on the ice together, according to Natural Stat Trick. With two of the top three lines working and this one really not, one has to think there’s more tinkering coming relatively soon.
Regardless, after Beniers has struggled all season to find his footing, there are signs that Schwartz and Kakko could finally be giving him the traction he needs; it’s a fun line to watch right now. Get them all going!
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.
As a kid, I went to a lot of Oakland A’s games with my dad. We had season tickets, and barring school or a baseball game of my own, I would go to the ballpark. Depending on the score, we would often leave after the seventh inning to beat traffic. Leaving early was normal for me.
Fast forward a few years to high school, when I went to an A’s game with about eight friends. The A’s managed to score five runs in the final two innings to stage an epic comeback. It was an exhilarating win for everyone who stayed until the end, but unfortunately, I had convinced my friends to leave after the seventh inning.
Ever since that day, I’ve made a rule for myself: never leave a sporting event early because you never know what you might miss. I apply the same logic to watching games on TV. So, when the Kraken were down by three goals with under five minutes remaining in regulation against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, I kept watching just in case we witnessed something incredible. As luck would have it, we were rewarded with the biggest comeback in Seattle Kraken history. It’s a game I’ll never forget, and for that, I’m grateful I didn’t turn off the TV.
I firmly believe there’s no right or wrong way to be a fan. If you need to turn a game off or leave early, that’s entirely your choice, and I won’t judge. But if you do, you might miss something unforgettable.
No quit for the Seattle Kraken
Before the Kraken’s epic comeback win in Vancouver, they had lost five straight games. But as we’ve seen time and again, this team doesn’t quit. Saturday marked Seattle’s sixth comeback win after being down by two or more goals—more than they managed in the previous three seasons combined. Even during their losing streak, the Kraken continued to battle and work to get back into games.
I’m not trying to sugarcoat what’s been a challenging season, but moments like Saturday’s comeback are a big reason I still love watching this team.
The long odds
It’s no secret that the Kraken are a long shot to make the playoffs. But much like watching Saturday’s game, there’s always a chance they could defy the odds and create some magic. Money Puck currently gives the Kraken a five percent chance of making the playoffs, but the odds of them winning that game on Saturday were even slimmer.
The 2018-19 St. Louis Blues are the ultimate example of how anything is possible. They proved that a season can turn around in remarkable fashion. Here’s a look at the standings on Dec. 31 over the past eight comparable seasons (excluding 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to COVID impacts).
Seven of the last nine comparable seasons featured at least one team ranked 12th or lower in their conference on Dec. 31 that went on to make the playoffs. While the odds remain long, several teams in the Kraken’s position have managed to reach the postseason before.
Other musings
Saturday’s comeback win marked the first time in franchise history that the Kraken overcame a three-goal deficit. Before this, they had lost all 82 games in which they trailed by three goals.
Saturday was the 22nd time this season the Kraken allowed the first goal of the game, ranking fourth in the league. Their win percentage when trailing first is .318, compared to .600 when they score first.
Although they didn’t score on Saturday, the Shane Wright, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Eeli Tolvanen line continues to perform well. Bjorkstrand assisted on the game-tying goal with 50 seconds left in regulation, but he was the only member of the line on the ice when Jaden Schwartz found the equalizer.
Speaking of Jaden Schwartz, he might be one of the most underrated players in franchise history. His two goals on Saturday moved him into third place in goals scored in the Kraken’s brief history.
After the Kraken scored two goals with their goalie pulled on Saturday, I hope more people understand the strategy behind pulling the goalie when trailing. It’s a matter of math: there are points in a game where pulling the goalie gives you a better (albeit slim) chance to win. That chance is even slimmer if you leave the goalie in.
It’s been a while, but I loved Yanni Gourde’s comments during his intermission interview. I often get frustrated by the lack of honesty in player and coach interviews, so it’s refreshing when someone tells it like it is.
Candidate for intermission interview of the season right here from @PiperShawTV
Also Yanni Gourde is a real one. Ton of time for this guy.
The interview also reminded me how crushed I’ll feel when Yanni eventually leaves the Kraken.
It’s way too early, but I love the idea of Kaapo Kakko developing long-term chemistry with Matty Beniers. Like I said, it’s early, but it’s an exciting thought.
Despite how tough December has felt, the Kraken still managed to earn 50 percent of the points available, with a 5-6-2 record. A win Monday would push them over .500 for the month.
I still enjoy watching the Winter Classic. This year’s game, taking place Tuesday on New Year’s Eve, features the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field.
The World Juniors have been a blast to watch, especially with so many Seattle Kraken prospects participating. Four out of the 10 teams in the tournament have at least one Kraken prospect.
Carson Rehkopf made his World Juniors debut against Germany, logging fewer than eight minutes of ice time.
Goal of the week
Speaking of the World Juniors, check out Eduard Šalé’s snipe from Czechia’s game against Slovakia.
Jakub Fibigr (CZE/SEA) – We’ve talked about Fibigr, an under-the-radar prospect for Seattle, before. But he continues to impress this season and has five assists in Czechia’s first three games at the World Juniors. Jaden Schwartz (SEA) – Both of Schwartz’s goals were pivotal in the Kraken’s comeback win against the Canucks. The first sparked hope, and the second sent the game to overtime. Kirill Marchenko (CBJ) – I’m not sure why, but I’ve watched a lot of Columbus Blue Jackets games this season, and Marchenko has been a joy to watch. He has three goals and four assists in his last four games. The Kraken visit Columbus next week.
The week ahead
Every game is crucial from here on out as the Kraken welcome three Western Conference teams to Climate Pledge Arena.
The first game is Monday against the Utah Hockey Club. This will be the first-ever matchup between the two teams, and it’s an important game for both sides. Utah is ranked higher than Seattle in the standings but is still battling to get into a wild card spot. Utah has lost its last two games but is 6-2-2 over its last 10.
I watched a lot of Utah HC’s games earlier this season and was convinced they were one of the stronger teams in the conference. Watching Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther move the puck around is entertaining, but I’m hoping we don’t see much of that Monday. Utah has been deadly on the power play, converting 33 percent of its opportunities over the last 10 games.
On Thursday night, the Vancouver Canucks return to Seattle, undoubtedly looking for redemption after Saturday’s epic collapse. The Canucks will be without Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes for this game, which could give the Kraken a significant advantage. Vancouver currently holds the last wild card spot, making this a prime opportunity for Seattle to gain ground with a regulation win.
Finally, the Kraken will host the Edmonton Oilers for the first time this season. After a slow start, the Oilers have been one of the best teams in the league since Nov. 1 and hold a 6-3-1 record against the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena all time. Like the game against Utah, avoiding penalties will be critical, as Edmonton has converted nearly 35 percent of their power-play opportunities over the last 10 games.
Well, that was fun! The Seattle Kraken did the unthinkable Saturday, rallying back from a 4-1 deficit with under five minutes left in the third period to win 5-4 in overtime against the Vancouver Canucks.
The unlikely victory marked the first time in franchise history that Seattle has come back from three goals down in the third period. It also snapped a five-game skid, avoiding a tie with the franchise’s worst-ever losing streak (two six-game streaks in its inaugural season). This was only the third time in NHL history that a team has rallied from three goals down with under five minutes left in regulation to win.
Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz each scored two goals for Seattle, with Dunn’s second marker serving as the overtime winner. Meanwhile, Matty Beniers got the proverbial monkey off his back with a lucky goal early in the second period.
“You saw it, it was not the cleanest game,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “The turning point for me was our power play having opportunities and not capitalizing [in the second period], and then [Conor Garland] getting the goal right out of the box… We had to respond.”
Respond, they did.
Here are Three Takeaways from a shocking 5-4 Kraken overtime win against the Canucks.
Takeaway #1: What a comeback!
A personal anecdote, due to family obligations, I didn’t get to watch this game live. When that happens, I always try to avoid learning the outcome because it’s just more fun to watch later without spoilers. Avoiding the final score in today’s world is a challenge, but on this night, I successfully stayed in the dark.
Lying in bed late Saturday night, I watched the Canucks snag a 4-1 lead at 3:09 of the third period. At that point, I strongly considered shutting it down and hitting the hay. I could fast-forward to the end or just check the final score—because this game was over.
Seattle caught a lucky break, though—one of many in the contest—just 20 seconds after Jake DeBrusk scored to make it 4-1. It appeared Dakota Joshua had scored again to extend the lead to 5-1, but video review overturned it, showing Joshua had played the puck with his hand. That kept the climb at three goals.
Even so, it still felt like Seattle was headed home with a whimper. For the next 12 minutes of the game, that feeling didn’t change.
The Kraken caught another lucky break at 15:15 of the third period when Jaden Schwartz banked a shot from below the goal line in off Thatcher Demko, cutting Vancouver’s lead to two goals.
For more than two minutes after Schwartz’s goal, though, Seattle struggled to establish anything offensively. With Philipp Grubauer pulled for an extra attacker, Kaapo Kakko and Daniel Sprong pressured Noah Juulsen and Carson Soucy into a horrendous turnover right onto Dunn’s stick. Suddenly, it was a one-goal game.
Surely, the comeback would end there, right?
Just 22 seconds later, Dunn followed a dump-in from the red line, and Brandon Montour attacked hard from the other side. With both Seattle defensemen below the offensive goal line, Oliver Bjorkstrand forced Pius Suter to cough the puck up to Schwartz. Schwartz drove to the net and got his own rebound to tie the game with 50 seconds left, marking his 500th NHL point.
“I think they definitely felt the pressure when we just kept coming after them, wave after wave, line after line,” Dunn said. “There wasn’t really any systematic things that we changed at all. It’s just finally committing to each other and playing the right way.”
“There was no quit in the guys,” Bylsma said. “We were looking pretty dismal at 5-1 and get the no-goal on the glove-in. And I thought we used that as a little bit of a wake-up call to put our best forward for the last bit of the game there.”
I’m so glad I didn’t know the outcome beforehand or give up and look up the final score. This comeback was something special.
Takeaway #2: Tyler Myers hands over the win
Kraken fans aren’t shy about their disdain for the 6-foot-8, 229-pound Tyler Myers, who infamously concussed Beniers with a needless cheap shot during the 2022-23 season.
So, it was extra sweet to see Myers essentially hand the game to Seattle in overtime Saturday.
Leading a clear-cut 3-on-1 with forward Shane Wright as the only player back for the Kraken, Myers inexplicably attempted a spin move in the left circle. He blindly passed the puck between Brock Boeser and JT Miller, straight to Dunn, who was trailing behind the play.
Dunn scooped it up, turned, and raced up the ice on a breakaway. He didn’t do too much with it, making a simple juke and then tucking the puck under Demko’s arm for the unthinkable game-winning goal.
“Honestly, it was kind of a blackout. I don’t think I’ve ever had a breakaway in my life,” Dunn said. “I saw Chandler [Stephenson] behind me, and I’m like, ‘Oh, maybe this is going to be a little easier if I just drop it to him.’ And then he said, ‘It’s all you!,’ so then the pressure was on me. And I beat the goalie in the spot as earlier.”
Seattle deserves credit for not quitting despite trailing by three so late in the game. Still, the Kraken benefitted from plenty of breaks, including the overturned 5-1 goal, costly turnovers by Vancouver, missed empty-net chances, and Myers’ overtime gaffe.
Regardless of how it unfolded, the Kraken and their fans were happy to have the last laugh at Myers’ expense in this one.
Takeaway #3: Finally, some good feelings
Whether this leads to any positive momentum remains to be seen. The stretch before the holiday break was dreadful for the Kraken and may have already sealed their playoff fate.
Still, this unthinkable comeback against the Canucks offers at least a glimmer of hope.
“The way we came back, the way time was dwindling down, the effort should build a lot of confidence in the guys for being able to come back and being able to win a hockey game,” Bylsma said.
The group desperately needed some positivity, and they found it with this shocking 5-4 overtime win over a close rival. Now, the question is: Can the Kraken build off this performance?
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.
If your holiday cheer is based entirely on the success of the Seattle Kraken, then you’re surely feeling a bit Ebenezer Scrooge-ish right now. And while you’ve been hoping to see your team break out of its pre-holiday doldrums, Seattle has instead said, “bah humbug,” sinking farther and farther out of the playoff picture.
The Kraken hobbled into a four-day holiday break looking like the Wet Bandits after a tough trip through Kevin McCallister’s house of horrors, dropping five straight games—their worst streak of the season—including a weekend back-to-back sweep at the hands of the Golden Knights and Avalanche. They have been outscored 22-6 during the skid.
Desperate for a break and a whole lot of answers, the Kraken are now seven points out of the last wild card spot, with four teams to leapfrog to get back in. Such a deficit is not insurmountable; a big hot streak to start the 2025 calendar year could close that gap. But with the way things have been going for this team—and this deep into the season—it really feels like we’re heading toward Seattle’s third season of missing the playoffs in four tries.
What has gone wrong?
The answer to the question “what has gone wrong?” is… a lot has gone wrong. It’s no secret that the Kraken lack elite players who can put their team on their backs and carry them through times when the scoring dries up.
Jared McCann is the closest thing to that type of player Seattle has, but even he has been struggling to find the net for a long time. In some good news, he finally got his first non-empty-net goal in the entire month of December on Sunday in Colorado, so hopefully he regains his scoring touch.
Of course, it’s not just McCann. Matty Beniers hasn’t scored since Nov. 14 and has just four goals on the year. Andre Burakovsky has two total goals in 34 games. And let’s not forget that captain and top-line winger Jordan Eberle has been out since Nov. 14 and won’t be back for at least two more months.
When the top guys are struggling and/or absent, you either need: A.) secondary and tertiary scoring to come through, the way Seattle scored in 2022-23, or B.) to play an almost impenetrable defensive game.
On the first part, the Kraken have gotten offensive production in December from their third line of Eeli Tolvanen, Shane Wright, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. But even that trio went relatively quiet lately and was split up Sunday in an effort to spark other parts of the lineup (one could argue it sort of worked, since McCann scored off a beautiful feed from Wright).
On the second part, the Kraken had a little stretch of success earlier in December with a 3-1-0 East Coast road trip, followed by a shootout loss to the Florida Panthers and a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins at home. During that six-game run, Seattle started to show that it had found an identity as a staunch defensive team, allowing almost nothing through the middle of the defensive zone and counter-striking to create scoring opportunities off the rush.
But since that 5-1 win over Boston, the Kraken have gotten away from that style of play for some reason. Now, passes from opposing offenses seem to be getting through the slot with ease, while a propensity for overcommitting to offensive chances has led to odd-man rushes against—Seattle’s big killer in the game against the Avs.
So, they’re giving up goals too easily, and they aren’t scoring. That’s not a recipe for success. On the season, the Kraken are now 23rd in the league with 2.78 goals for per game while giving up 3.11 goals against per game, 22nd in the league. As a result, they sit 25th in the league standings.
Any reasons for optimism?
The Kraken front office and coaching staff have pulled a lot of different levers to help the team find success, although nothing has really worked so far. The biggest lever was Ron Francis trading Will Borgen and two draft picks for Kaapo Kakko last week.
If we’re looking for reasons for optimism (trust me, I’m feeling very pessimistic about this team’s chances right now), then Kakko’s game on Sunday might be one. Kakko scored off a face-off and battled to the front of the net for a late chance that could have tied the game if it weren’t thwarted by an outstanding Mackenzie Blackwood save. His line with Beniers and Jaden Schwartz was—as coach Dan Bylsma said—Seattle’s best line on Sunday, snagging 94 percent of the shot quality when they were on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Meanwhile, getting McCann off the schneid is potentially massive for this club if he can get hot following the hiatus.
You never want to crawl into a break in the schedule feeling bad about the way things have been going, but sometimes getting away from it all and not thinking about hockey for a bit is just what a struggling team needs. Surely, that’s the hope right now—that the players who are struggling the most will come back feeling refreshed when Seattle returns to game action on Saturday in Vancouver.
“We need to [reset],” Bylsma said after the 5-2 loss to the Avs on Sunday. “I think a lot’s been said, there’s a lot of searching… from the guys going on. We didn’t want to use the last two games as throw away and get to the break. We wanted to dig some growth as a team in these two games, and I think the effort that we put in tonight is considered growth for our group.
“But the four-day break we have to take as a break, both mentally… get away from the game a little bit, get refreshed.”
To be honest, I’m at a point where I’m writing off any hope of this team playing meaningful hockey for too much longer. So, give me a holiday gift and write some reasons for optimism in the comments section, please!
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.
This is “Down on the Farm,” your weekly Sound Of Hockey Podcast segment in written form. We will likely skip next week for the holidays, so this may be our last 2024 update. That means there is a lot to get to, including the state of the Seattle Kraken system after the Kaapo Kakko trade, how World Junior Championship camps are progressing, a reader question on Kraken prospect David Goyette’s progress in the AHL, and all of the statistics you can handle.
As always, if you have a prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey or on Bluesky at @deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com. Let’s get to it.
David Goyette battling adversity in rookie AHL season
In the comments to last week’s column, Chuck H requested a “highlight on David Goyette, who seems to have disappeared down in CV.” I had been meaning to write on Goyette for a while, so thanks for the prompting, Chuck.
Before the season, I had Goyette as Seattle’s ninth-best prospect, just behind his Coachella Valley teammate Jagger Firkus. At the time I praised Goyette’s easy four-way mobility but said he “needs to prove he can produce without the space his junior play speed afforded him.”
Fast forward to today, David Goyette has played 20 AHL games, been scratched several times, and only has one goal and one assist to show for it so far. (For the sake of comparison, Jagger Firkus has six goals and eight assists in 25 games.)
What has held Goyette back? To me it looks like he is still trying to catch up with the pace of the professional game mentally. Similar in a way to the adversity Shane Wright faced in his early dose of NHL action in the 2022-23 season, you can almost see Goyette processing the play and responding, rather than anticipating and moving instinctually. This costs him a step or two, which is particularly devastating to him because it negates his greatest strength—the ability to beat players with speed and in space.
This inability to leverage his speed to create advantages also seems to have taken a toll on his confidence, as he is hesitant working through contact of any kind and frequently looking to defer rather than possess. (Here, again, his struggles remind me of Wright’s transition period.) Goyette is never going to be a grinder on the boards, but he is a non-entity when checked right now. During the run of play, he often defaults to floating off the puck, rather than pressing a play, which lessens his touches and overall impact.
These difficulties have taken a toll on his ice time and production. In the last few weeks he has not had a special teams role, and his even-strength time on ice has topped out in the 12-minute area. (This is an estimate; the AHL does not make time-on-ice data available.)
The silver lining here is that the pure movement skills are still evident, and presumably the creativity and playmaking that made him a standout junior player are still in there somewhere if he can start playing faster and can get himself the space to use those skills. Wright has more physicality and a broader skill set, but the template is there for a player to take a leap once he “gets it” at the professional level.
It has been a disappointing start, but I’m not writing Goyette off. Most players of his ilk spend a couple years at the AHL level before getting a shot in the NHL. If he can start putting things together over the second half of the season, he could lay the groundwork for a much more productive 2025-26 season in the AHL and be right on track. We’ll be watching closely.
The Kraken system after the Kakko trade
Earlier this week, the Seattle Kraken made waves by acquiring 23-year-old forward Kaapo Kakko from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen and two draft picks, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2025 sixth-round pick. Darren Brown covered the dynamics of the deal here.
From a system perspective, it makes sense to me that Seattle would be looking to consolidate its broad base of system assets into a potential impact piece at the NHL level. As we have covered in this space previously, the Kraken have as many high-scoring, high-floor prospects as virtually any team in the league. They have done well “hitting” on likely NHL players in the draft and undrafted free agency. But the team is still searching for true difference-makers. So, whether that means moving a few draft picks or a few top-10 prospects, I think the Kraken are wise to start taking swings, particularly on players in Kakko’s age range.
As for the 2025 draft, the Kraken still have their first- and second-round picks, as well as two fourth-round picks. So, the team still has plenty of capital to make further improvements—whether in making those selections or otherwise. If the season trends away from playoff contention before the deadline, the team will almost certainly be able to recoup the lost draft picks by moving “rental” players like Brandon Tanev, while still having Kakko under team control into the 2025-26 season. This was a fine piece of business by the team.
Looking ahead to the World Junior Championship
Last week we covered the eight Seattle Kraken prospects on national team rosters for the 2025 World Junior Championship. Since then, national team training camps have gotten underway in earnest. Team Canada played an exhibition game against Team Switzerland, and Berkly Catton scored. Canada has taken a long look at line combinations that paired Catton with Carson Rehkopf, though it moved away from that pairing on Friday.
Since we are unlikely to have another update before the tournament gets underway, here is the schedule of games. In the United States, NHL Network will carry all Team USA games and many others.
Last weekend, Team Denmark qualified for the 2026 World Junior Championship thanks in no small part to the contributions of Oscar Fisker Mølgaard. (That said, Mølgaard will be too old to participate in next year’s tournament.)
Let’s Get Quizzical
Kraken prospect Nikke Kokko has appeared in 10 games at the AHL level. He is one of only two goalies under the age of 22 to play that many games in the AHL so far this season. Can you name the other one? (Hint: There is a Seattle connection.) The answer comes later in the post.
Kraken prospect data update
With several prominent players participating in the World Juniors, it was a relatively light week of club hockey play for Seattle’s prospect pool. Andrei Loshko scored three goals and added four assists in his last three games, which earns him Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week.
Ollie Josephson hasn’t played since Nov. 30, 2024, which suggests he is likely dealing with some sort of injury.
The sample size is relatively small still due to injury and international play, but Mølgaard’s .67 points-per-game pace is impressive for a player his age in the SHL. The 19-year-old ranks third in points per game among all players 23 years old or younger in that league.
Kraken goalie prospects had anther strong week. Semyon Vyazovoy got two starts in the VHL (the second-level professional league in Russia) as he continues to look for more KHL time.
As mentioned above, Kokko is one of only two goalies under 22 years old to have started at least 10 games so far this season. The other? Former Seattle Thunderbird Thomas Milic.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Berkly Catton: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Andrei Loshko: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Tyson Jugnauth: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Previewing the week ahead
Here is your preview for the next two weeks of Kraken prospect hockey. Thank you so much for following along, and from everyone here at Sound Of Hockey, we wish you and yours a happy and restful holiday season.
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
