It wasn’t always pretty, but the Seattle Kraken overcame several defensive lapses Thursday and got two more huge standings points with a 5-4 overtime win over the Red Wings.
It was a high-flying, back-and-forth affair in which Seattle let a lesser opponent hang around by making some big defensive boo-boos. Good on ’em, though; they stuck with it and got the win in the end.
“We gotta stay patient, try to get back on track, and not make those mistakes,” said Oliver Bjorkstrand. “It’s a close game in the end, and it’s just important we got the job done.”
Jared McCann and Bjorkstrand got two goals each, and Philipp Grubauer replaced Martin Jones early in the second period, making 16 saves to earn the win.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a nerve-racking 5-4 Kraken victory against the Red Wings.
Takeaway #1: A timely goaltending change
When Seattle lost 6-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10, we thought there were several moments in which coach Dave Hakstol should have given Jones the hook. It’s not always about the goalie, but when you make a change, it can have a calming effect for the rest of the team. Plus, you can usually tell by the third goal against if your goalie has it on a particular night. We didn’t think Jones had it that night at MSG, and we didn’t think he had it Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
Against the Red Wings, Hakstol didn’t hesitate. Jones gave up a stinker—his third in two games—on an unscreened, short-side offering by Ben Chiarot at 3:07 of the first period. That negated Jared McCann’s game-opening goal and came on Detroit’s first shot of the game.
Red Wings answer and tie it on their first shot of the game. Not sure about that one. A couple questionable goals last game, too. 😬
Early in the second, with the Kraken up 3-2 and hemmed in their zone, Jones went for a swim, overcommitting on Filip Zadina, who skated himself out of a shooting position. Zadina made a nifty backhand pass to Jonatan Berggren, and the net was wide open for an easy goal.
That was all Hakstol needed to see, and he sent in Philipp Grubauer after Jones had allowed three goals on just twelve shots.
#SeaKraken get hemmed in for a long time early in the 2nd, and the play ends with Zadina making a sick pass to Berggren, the game getting tied, and Martin Jones getting yanked after three goals on 12 shots.
“Jonesy— I didn’t think he was seeing the puck as well as he normally does,” said Hakstol. “That particular goal, the third goal, there was a lot of things that happened in front of him that we need to be better in defending. But we wanted to get Grubi in there to change the momentum a little bit, settle things down.”
Hakstol was rewarded for the decision; Grubauer was outstanding. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in 39:51 of game time, and the lone goal he allowed fell heavily on the shoulders of the defenders in front of him (more on that in Takeaway #2).
Grubauer’s best save was a save-of-the-year candidate. Late in the second period, and with the game in a tenuous position at 4-4, the Kraken had one of their many defensive breakdowns. Matty Beniers, Adam Larsson, and Vince Dunn all got caught below the goal line at the same time, and the puck ended up on Joe Veleno’s stick in front of the net without a Kraken defender in the neighborhood.
Veleno waited, deked, and appeared to have Grubauer dead to rights. But Grubauer lunged to his right and made an unbelievable save with the heel of his stick.
“It was a pretty athletic save in desperation,” said Hakstol. “He got back with his blocker and stick to make a huge save, and that kind of set the tone and settled things down for us.”
What a save!
Takeaway #2: The Kraken defense is shoddy right now
We aren’t sure what has been going on with Seattle’s team defense since the All-Star break, but it needs improvement. It’s easy to point at the goalie and say, “He should have had that,” but bad breakdowns led to Adam Erne’s six-on-five goal late in the first and Jake Walman’s highlight-reel goal late in the second. And, let’s not forget the aforementioned Veleno opportunity on which Grubauer rescued his mates.
“We felt like we kind of gave our goalies a tough time tonight with making saves, and obviously didn’t make it easy for ourselves,” said McCann. “We need to clean it up and be better tomorrow.”
On the Erne goal, Seattle had a delayed penalty coming, and Ville Husso was off for an extra Detroit skater. Larsson and Dunn were right next to Erne, but Larsson engaged with Veleno and Dunn did nothing to tie up Erne’s stick or push him out of Jones’s grill. Erne got his stick on Mo Seider’s shot and deflected it inside the post.
The Walman goal was a comedy of errors. First, Alex Wennberg threw a pizza to the blue line, before Jaden Schwartz bit on the fake shot and slid right by Walman. Meanwhile, Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak stood at either side of the goal crease, while David Perron was left all alone to screen Grubauer.
What a goal by Jake Walman!
Wennberg threw a pizza🍕, then Walman faked Schwartz out of his… shorts. Perron provided the screen in front.
It’s becoming a common theme over several high-scoring games in a row that when Seattle gives up goals, they seem to have guys in the area that could take the body or lift up sticks, but they get caught puck watching.
Thankfully for their playoff hopes, the Kraken have played a couple inferior teams in a row, and they’ve gotten away with inconsistent play in their own zone. But, that needs to change quickly if they’re going to get past some of the better teams they’re set to face down the stretch.
“There’s a lot of things in there that we could critique and we want to be better at,” said Hakstol. “A lot of times that comes back to our puck play, but we were able to find a way through.”
Takeaway #3: Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand come up big
That was a pretty negative Takeaway for a crucial win, so let’s close this thing out with some warm fuzzies. Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand had a big night offensively for the Kraken and pushed them past the Red Wings.
We gave credit to Hakstol for his timely goalie change, but we also need to call out the lineup adjustment he made before the St. Louis game on Tuesday. It was a gutsy decision for him to separate Bjorkstrand from Seattle’s most consistent line with Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen, but the move has paid off with two straight wins.
Hakstol was clearly reluctant to make that change, which is why he tried guys like Brandon Tanev and Jesper Froden in Andre Burakovsky’s spot in the top six. But those guys are not top-six forwards. Oliver Bjorkstrand is a top-six forward, and he showed why on Thursday with two nice goals, including the overtime game winner.
Bjorkstrand’s first goal showed his offensive wherewithal in a couple different ways. First, he tried to set up Alex Wennberg with the always-dangerous pass off the pads. It did go to Wennberg but came off Husso’s pads a little too hot to for Wennberg to be able to skate into it. Instead, Bjorkstrand smartly crashed the net, and his old Blue Jackets teammate gave the puck back for an easy tap in.
BJORKSTRAND GIVES 'EM BACK THE LEAD! 🚨
Lots happening early here.
Pretty play, as Bjorkstrand makes the pass off the pad to Wennberg, who gives it right back for an easy tap in.
“Every time [Wennberg] gets the puck, you got to get open,” said Bjorkstrand. “The rebound came to him, and I knew that if I found that area, he would try to find me. He made a good pass, and easy for me to put it in.”
Bjorkstrand’s second goal finally gave the Kraken an official power-play goal on the night, after they scored two separate times, mere seconds after power plays had expired. With a four-on-three advantage, Bjorkstrand made a simple play, looping around the zone, and shooting against the grain as Schwartz took away Husso’s eyes.
McCann, meanwhile, is somewhat quietly having a phenomenal season. He set another new career high for goals Thursday, using his quick release to score twice in the first period. He now has 29 on the season, and would have had No. 30 and a hat trick if he hadn’t launched a shot over an open net at the first period horn.
The Kraken face another inferior opponent Friday in Columbus. With the change to the top six, the offense seems to be clicking again. Now, if they can just clean up some of the defensive mistakes, they could get back on a roll in March.
It’s been a bonkers week around the NHL, and the Sound Of Hockey welcomes Eddie Olczyk back this week to talk about it. With Edzo, who is checking in from Las Vegas, the guys talk about his whirlwind season, and he gives his thoughts on what has been going on in the lead-up to the NHL Trade Deadline. It’s a fun convo.
The interview is just a small piece of a supersized episode, though. John and Darren (no Andy this week) go deep into what has been happening with the Kraken and their expectations for what the team will do before Friday’s deadline.
After the Olczyk interview, the guys jump to a robust “Interesting or Carry On” to get through all of the big trades around the NHL. They then shift to segments, which this week include:
It’s been a bonkers week around the NHL, and the Sound Of Hockey welcomes Eddie Olczyk back this week to talk about it. With Edzo, who is checking in from Las Vegas, the guys talk about his whirlwind season, and he gives his thoughts on what has been going on in the lead-up to the NHL Trade Deadline. It’s a fun convo.
The interview is just a small piece of a supersized episode, though. John and Darren (no Andy this week) go deep into what has been happening with the Kraken and their expectations for what the team will do before Friday’s deadline.
After the Olczyk interview, the guys jump to a robust “Interesting or Carry On” to get through all of the big trades around the NHL. They then shift to segments, which this week include:
As a fourth-line center, Morgan Geekie’s role for the Seattle Kraken isn’t necessarily to score goals. Yet Tuesday night, he reminded viewers that he has a scoring touch, notching a pair of goals to pace the Kraken in an important 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak scored to give Seattle a 4-2 lead at 9:46 of the third period after a great shift by Yanni Gourde and Ryan Donato. The Blues pushed back, however, and cut the Kraken lead to 4-3 on a Pavel Buchnevich goal at 14:29 to force some nervous moments at the end.
“We played a good road game,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had a response each time they scored, we bounced back and scored within a couple of minutes to push the momentum back the other way.”
With the net empty and an extra Blues player on the ice, Brandon Tanev scored an empty-net goal with seven seconds left to secure the win and solidify the 5-3 final.
For Geekie, it was his first multi-goal game as a Kraken and his third in the NHL, and he helped the Kraken end a three-game losing streak.
“The release on his first shot was outstanding,” Hakstol said. “He gets that away and puts it in the right spot. You don’t beat Binnington with many of those. The second one, go to the net and good things happen.”
Eeli Tolvanen had three assists, Daniel Sprong had two assists, and Jared McCann and Oleksiak each scored for Seattle (33-21-6), who played the first game of a four-game road swing. Martin Jones made 22 saves.
Buchnevich had a goal and assist and Robert Thomas and Brandon Saad each scored for the Blues (26-29-5), who lost a second straight. Jordan Binnington kicked away 21 shots.
“We tried to play below the goal line as much as we could.” Geekie said. “We’re a heavy team and we move the puck well. I think we played really well, I think we stuck to our game plan. It was pretty simple coming in.”
Despite the Blues taking eight of the game’s first nine shots, it would be Seattle who opened the scoring at 9:30 of the first period when Geekie scored top shelf to make it 1-0. It was Geekie’s sixth of the year and was set up by Daniel Sprong who returned to the lineup after missing two games.
“We have good chemistry, kind of play off each other,” Geekie said. “Normally, it’s Spronger who is the one scoring, not me, so he returned the favor tonight. It was lots of fun.”
St. Louis tied the game with a short-handed goal after a Seattle turnover, Thomas lugged the puck up ice at 5:11 of the second period and his shot beat Jones on the short side.
As the power play was ending, Jared McCann scored to make it 2-1 from right inside the left face-off circle at 6:57. It was McCann’s 27th goal of the season, which ties his career high that he set last year.
“I really don’t care about that stuff,” McCann said. “I wan’t to make the playoffs, I want to get a shot at the Stanley Cup. Your time in this league flies by, ask some of the older guys, and I want to compete for a Stanley Cup.”
Brandon Saad tied the game 2-2 at 9:03 after it appeared Vince Dunn started a line change, leaving Saad alone in the middle of the ice. He flung a shot and somehow got it past Jones.
Geekie scored again to put Seattle back ahead, 3-2, at 13:32, sliding in a rebound after a Justin Schultz shot was slid across to him by Sprong.
Oleksiak’s goal would end up as the deciding goal.
Tentacle Tales
Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn played his 400th NHL game.
The Kraken won on the road for the 18th time this year, which is the fourth most in the NHL trailing Boston (22), New Jersey (21), and Buffalo (19).
With the win, Seattle jumped over the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers were idle on Tuesday.
I am not ready to hit the panic button, but it is hard not to feel a bit nervous about the play of the Kraken since the All-Star break. The Kraken have just seven points out of a possible 20 available over the 10 games since the break. Their playoff cushion has dwindled down to just four points over the fifth-place Calgary Flames.
There was a stretch in these 10 games where it felt like the Kraken had righted the ship with a shootout loss to Winnipeg and impressive wins against Philadelphia and Detroit. Then along came a game against the San Jose Sharks where the Kraken lost 4-0 with Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl both out of the lineup. What was most disturbing about that loss was the lifeless energy the Kraken brought to the game, as a lack of urgency is rare to see out of this team. Had they won that Sharks game, the fan base would probably be at ease with the next two losses to two of the best teams in the league, Boston and Toronto.
The Boston Bruins game on Thursday night could have been the best game ever played in Climate Pledge Arena. The fans were amped, and the boys were buzzing. In the end, the Kraken lost a heartbreaker 6-5, allowing Boston’s sixth goal with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Matty Beniers scored just 40 seconds into the game that really set the tone for the night. It was a back-and-forth affair that the Kraken led 5-4 with four minutes remaining in the game. Every player from the ‘perfection line’ scored for the Bruins, and Brad Marchand showed us some of his old tricks. Despite the loss, I felt good about the Kraken leaving CPA that night.
Sunday’s matinee was a different story.
I had high hopes but relatively low expectations for the Kraken versus Toronto on Sunday afternoon. Several people mentioned to me over the weekend that they really needed a win versus the Maple Leafs, and to some extent, that was true, but I felt putting a ‘must win’ label on a game against one of the best teams in the league was a bit unfair. The Leafs came as advertised. At one time the Leafs were outshooting the Kraken 20-6. The Kraken eventually logged 27 shots on net, but most of the offerings were from outside the high-danger area, and the Kraken fell 5-1.
I do not think the Kraken played particularly bad, but the Leafs just looked so good. As impressive as Toronto looked offensively, I could not help but notice how they tied up Kraken players defensively around the net. I am sure there is a way to measure this, but it looked like defensively, the Leafs limited rebound opportunities and high-danger shot attempts. This was most noticeable in the third period where the Kraken managed just one high-danger chance.
Kraken thoughts
Goalie situation
In case there was any question, Philipp Grubauer should remain the starting goalie. Despite the nine goals allowed against Boston and Toronto, there was only one of the goals that he probably should have saved. It was a tall order for Grubi to get back-to-back starts against Boston and Toronto, but that is what the team will need out of a starting goalie in the playoffs. He did give them an opportunity to win the Boston game, and even if the Kraken had Andrei Vasilevskiy in net against the Leafs, they still wouldn’t have won that game.
Penalty kill
One of the bright spots for the Kraken as of late is the penalty kill. The team has not allowed a power-play goal in six games and has played consistently above league average since Jan. 1.
The penalty kill did plague the Kraken earlier in the season, so it is nice to see this turn around a bit.
Other Kraken musings:
I’m probably stating the obvious, but it feels like the Kraken really miss Andre Burakovsky. At the time of his injury, he was leading the Kraken in points and was a big part of the power play.
As of right now, the Kraken have the easiest schedule remaining out of any team in the league. Here is a look at the Western Conference playoff contenders.
Apart from the Dallas Stars, the Kraken have beaten all Western Conference playoff teams at least once this season. In the case of the Stars, the Kraken have yet to play them this season.
I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that all the Eastern Conference teams seem to be loading up in advance of the NHL Trade Deadline. That means first-round draft picks are being transferred to the Western Conference.
I’m really eager to see how Chris Driedger’s time in Coachella Valley goes. He could start as early as Monday for the Firebirds, but I would not expect him in net until Friday or Saturday. In case you missed it, Driedger was put on waivers last week, cleared, and was then assigned to Coachella Valley to continue his rehabilitation after tearing his ACL last spring.
It does not fit in the Kraken news category, but the Seattle Thunderbirds have won 10 straight games, and the Everett Silvertips clinched a playoff berth over the weekend. If you get the chance, check those teams out. It is a fun environment to watch elite-level hockey at a reasonable price.
Finally, the news of AT&T getting out of the Regional Sports Network business will not impact ROOT Sports anytime soon. But the broader RSN landscape is changing as customers move from traditional MVPDs to vMVPD, where RSNs are traditionally not available.
Kraken themes for the week ahead
The Kraken have four games over the next seven days, and although it won’t be the easiest of road trips, there are winnable games on the horizon against opponents like St. Louis, Detroit, and Columbus before Seattle ends the trip against a surging Colorado Avalanche team. I don’t like to speak in absolutes, but the Kraken need at least four of the eight points on this trip. Get a win in either St. Louis or Detroit and just avoid a letdown in Columbus. If they can get two wins in the first three games, any points in Colorado is gravy. Meanwhile, Calgary plays Boston, Toronto, and Minnesota this week. By next Monday, we could have a good idea how this playoff chase will really look.
More goaltending
As much as I still believe Grubauer is the starting goalie, that doesn’t mean coach Dave Hakstol agrees, so it will be really interesting to see how he deploys his netminders over this next week. With back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday, it is guaranteed that both Grubauer and Martin Jones will get work. Regardless of who Hakstol leans on, the Kraken need one of the two to play well through this stretch.
Trade deadline
Despite the challenges of the last ten games, I do not think the Kraken do much this trade deadline. They might move a player or get another depth piece for the playoff push, but I anticipate them being relatively quiet. I’ve seen too many teams make big trades at the deadline, only for the acquired player to underwhelm in the playoffs.
As fans, we are susceptible to survivor bias, meaning we only remember the trade deadline acquisitions of the eventual champion, not all the other transactions of teams that might not have even made it out of the first round. If the Kraken do add players at the deadline, I would suspect they might offer up a second-round draft pick or two. Based on some of the deals this week, which have involved first-round picks, it’s hard to predict what kind of value Seattle might be able to get back for that.
Player Performance / Stick Taps
TJ Oshie (WSH) – Mt. Vernon, Wash., native TJ Oshie played his 500th game as a Capital and got his first Gordie Howe hat trick.
Tye Kartye (CVF/SEA) – Kartye has goals in each of his last three games and is having a great season in his first pro year, playing for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He might not get the call up this season, but I think this undrafted forward has a good shot at playing for the Kraken in the next year or so.
Matty Beniers (SEA) – Have you heard of this guy before? After a 10-game pointless streak, Matty has put up six points over his last five games for the Kraken.
Every time I see a goalie take a shot at the net, I giggle, and I love that he took the shot while the Bruins were only up by one versus a lower-risk two-goal lead.
Chart of the week
In researching Burakovsky’s impact to the lineup, I started to look at players’ ability to draw penalties versus take penalties. It may not be surprising, but Matty has drawn 17 penalties and only taken one.
If you have any questions or comments on Monday Musings, please leave them below, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. In the meantime, buckle-up for plenty of trade deadline talk and some really meaningful games.
Win or lose for the Kraken against the Bruins, Thursday was destined to be a memorable night at Climate Pledge Arena. But if Jaden Schwartz’s go-ahead goal with 4:10 left in the game had just held up, it would have been unforgettable.
Instead, the Bruins showed why they are the best team in the NHL, turning the game on its ear late and delivering a devastating 6-5 loss to the Kraken, who—on effort alone—deserved at least a point in the standings for this one.
“The compete level was outstanding all the way through the game,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “There was a lot of intensity to the game, there was pace, obviously a lot of back and forth, especially during the second period and then late in the hockey game.”
The loss was damaging to Seattle’s playoff hopes. Vegas came back from a two-goal deficit to beat Calgary in overtime Thursday, which meant not only did the Golden Knights pull five points ahead of the Kraken for first place in the Pacific Division, but Calgary is now back within four points of Seattle for fourth place. As of now, the Kraken are in the top wild card spot, but every passing loss makes their hold on their first playoff berth feel more and more tenuous. These were two more important points that slipped through Seattle’s tentacles.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a thrilling but painful defeat.
Takeaway #1: Was that our first taste of playoff hockey?
The Kraken came out flying early in the first period, and they looked very aware of the fact they were playing the NHL’s best team and needed to be on top of their game. The way they were defending and forechecking in the early going was the way you would expect them to play, should they reach the playoffs. They were on pucks in the blink of an eye, making the extra effort to deflect passes away in their end of the ice, and making life miserable on Boston defenders in their zone.
“I think this is a game that this room really embraces,” said Jamie Oleksiak, who scored his career-best seventh goal in the second period. “We obviously want to be a playoff team, and Boston’s had a lot of success. So, I think whenever we’re playing these guys, we want to make sure that we’re bringing our ‘A’ game. And I think we did a respectable job tonight, just not enough.”
Matty Beniers scored just 40 seconds into the game, and it was one of those moments that felt like the roof might blow off Climate Pledge Arena.
Some early Matty Magic! 🚨
Just 40 seconds in, Seattle gets a 3-on-1. Beniers delays, uses Dunn as a screen, and rips it by Swayman for his 19th of the year.
“It was a little taste of what playoffs is gonna be,” said Beniers. “I haven’t played in the playoffs, but I know a lot of guys here have, and that’s what it’s going to be like farther down the road and for the games from here on out.”
As the contest went on, things only got more exciting. The Kraken and Bruins traded goal after goal in the second period, before carrying a 5-5 tie into the third. And just when it seemed like Seattle was going to pull off a signature win, the Bruins snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
“It stinks we didn’t get to pull that one out, but it was a good game,” said Beniers.
Takeaway #2: Response goals at both ends, but a late tying goal killed Seattle
Aside from the playoff-like intensity and atmosphere, the thing that made this game so fun to watch was the quick responses that the teams had for one another after goals were scored.
Just 1:06 after Vince Dunn scored from the point early in the second, David Pastrnak turned Adam Larsson inside out and tucked in a highlight-reel goal at the other end.
What a goal by Pastrnak! Disgusting. 🤢
He turns Larsson inside out and tucks it inside the post. Sheesh.
Oleksiak’s tally came 58 seconds after Brad Marchand gave Boston a 3-2 lead at 8:49 of the middle frame. And Yanni Gourde got a good-luck bounce (he had it coming after a very unfortunate own goal against San Jose on Monday) off Charlie McAvoy for a power-play goal. That was 1:02 after the Kraken had conceded a short-handed goal to Patrice Bergeron.
But in the “response goal” department, Boston had the last laugh.
The second Schwartz tipped Will Borgen’s shot-pass over the shoulder of Jeremy Swayman at 15:50 of the third period, we somehow just knew another response goal was coming. We could feel it in our bones.
SCHWARTZ GIVES ’EM THE LEAD! 🚨
Borgen with a shot-pass, and Schwartz with the perfect tip.
Sure enough, this one took just 29 seconds, as Brandon Carlo somehow got left all alone on the doorstep to deflect a Hampus Lindholm pass by Philipp Grubauer.
“We put ourselves in position with the four-on-four goal to go ahead late in the hockey game, and that’s the one that was a little bit too easy,” said Hakstol. “We didn’t make them work for that one.”
Once that tying goal went in, Boston had the momentum and didn’t look back. The Jake DeBrusk tip-in goal came at 18:22, and there would be no responding to that one.
Takeaway #3: Boston is really good
Sometimes you have to just tip your hat. We’ve watched the Kraken play some very good and very bad hockey over the last couple seasons, and Thursday, they played very good hockey. Sure, there were some mistakes and breakdowns, but Seattle is a good team that brought perhaps its best effort of the season.
Yet, the Boston Bruins had answers for everything the Kraken threw at them. And when push came to shove, the Bruins’ stars shined just enough to earn them their 92nd and 93rd points in the standings.
“They’re always in the right spots, and they can make you pay on your mistakes and make a lot of plays,” said Beniers. “So, they’re definitely really tough to play against, and you gotta key in on them. They made us pay for a couple tonight.”
All three players on Boston’s top line—Marchand, Bergeron, and DeBrusk—had a goal on the night, and Pastrnak, who leads the second line, had a stunner of a goal and oodles of chances.
“Well, that’s a hell of a line,” said Hakstol of Boston’s top trio. “I mean those guys have been really good. You look at the two guys that have played together for I don’t know how many years, how many games there, they got chemistry. They’re hard to handle, they’re competitive, and they can make plays.”
—
The Kraken will take a day off Friday before returning to practice Saturday, as they prepare for another difficult test in the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It became standard over the past month for the Seattle Kraken to have three goalies on the ice for their practices, as Chris Driedger worked his way back from an offseason ACL tear. At Thursday’s morning skate, only Philipp Grubauer and Martin Jones were present, though Driedger was spotted in Seattle’s dressing room after the skate, chatting with Grubauer.
We didn’t think much of Driedger’s absence at the time, as the netminder has been on his own program and has often been seen working separately from the team. But as coach Dave Hakstol addressed media Thursday, we learned the Kraken had placed Driedger on waivers with the hope of sending him to AHL affiliate Coachella Valley.
Asked why the team had made that move, Hakstol said, “That’s the step in the process that Driedgs is at. He’s worked really hard through his rehab here. He’s done everything that he can do without getting into games.”
There are a few more layers of the onion that need peeling back, though, so we’ll try to explain the situation here as best we can.
Why no conditioning stint for Driedger?
We always knew this time would eventually come, when the team would need to decide what to do with a (mostly) healthy Driedger. It had become apparent that he was ready for game action, based on watching him take reps from his teammates at game speed and seeing him moving without hesitation or restraint.
So, a two-week AHL conditioning stint was surely on the horizon, right?
Here’s our theory on why that didn’t happen. Roster size can expand after the deadline, but the salary cap remains through the end of the regular season. Driedger has a significant cap hit at $3.5 million, and if Seattle had sent him for a conditioning stint, it would have had to keep him on the NHL roster and absorb his full cap hit during that stint.
That is, unless the Kraken had placed Driedger on long-term injured reserve, though we never saw any indication the team had taken this step. It is our belief they left him on regular injured reserve largely because bonuses due to Matty Beniers would have ended up coming off next year’s cap, had the team dipped into the LTIR pool. It’s all very confusing, but our own Curtis Isacke explained this in detail back in January.
That’s a long, circuitous way of saying Seattle likely would have waived Driedger at the end of his conditioning stint anyway, so they might as well start accruing cap savings now, assuming he clears. If Driedger gets claimed, his whole $3.5 million cap hit would come off the books, but that obviously would hurt the Kraken’s goalie depth.
With Driedger coming off a serious knee injury and having no game action so far to prove he’s ready to play in the NHL, the Kraken took the bet that no team would claim him at this point in time. If they’re wrong, and he does get snatched up by another club, then at least they get the cap savings and their three-goalie conundrum is solved.
We hope Driedger stays in the organization. We’ve been big fans of his since he joined the team, and he has been a great fit in the community. We will find out tomorrow if he will make it to Coachella Valley.
Jesper Froden in; what’s the deal with Daniel Sprong?
Hakstol confirmed Thursday that Jesper Froden will make his Kraken debut against his former NHL team, the Boston Bruins. Based on what we saw at morning skate, it appears he will take Daniel Sprong’s spot in the lineup and will play in a top-six role, supplanting Brandon Tanev back to the fourth line (at least to start the game).
“He’s earned his way to have this opportunity,” said Hakstol. “We’re not just bringing him to hope that it goes well. We’re bringing him in, and he’s part of a plan tonight. He’s got a job to do, he’s confident in his abilities and his readiness to jump in and do it, and we feel the same way.”
So that explains Hakstol’s thoughts on getting Froden—the second-leading goal scorer in the AHL this season—into the NHL lineup. But what did Sprong do to get himself into this oft-healthy-scratch territory?
When asked about his decision to scratch Sprong in Seattle’s game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 7, Hakstol said it was just about having competition and multiple guys that deserved to play. But calling guys up from the AHL and replacing Sprong in the lineup with those players tells us there’s a little more to it.
Here’s our theory on this piece, and please note, this truly is just a theory; it’s nothing we’ve heard directly from Hakstol or any other source.
We know the knock on Sprong over the years has been his two-way play, and Hakstol has been on record in the past saying he wanted Sprong to improve his play away from the puck. Hakstol has also said this season he doesn’t necessarily care if his fourth line is scoring goals, which really is where Sprong excels.
The role of the fourth line is to grind down opponents, bring energy, and be hard to play against in all three zones. Sprong isn’t the perfect fit for that type of role, but early in the season, he was scoring like crazy and racked up a career-high 15 goals. As a coach, even if you don’t expect your fourth line to go out and score, how do you take that kind of production out of the lineup?
Well, Sprong’s offensive output has slowed dramatically, and he has zero goals and two assists in his last 10 games, dating back to Jan. 19. He is no longer forcing Hakstol to put him in the lineup by scoring away any defensive concerns.
For Sprong, it still seems like the way for him to maintain trust from the coaching staff is to score, despite that not really being his role.
As for Froden, it will be interesting to see how he performs in his first NHL action this season. He has had an outstanding season in the AHL, but that doesn’t always translate to success at the highest level. If he does stick in a top-six role for the entirety of Thursday’s game, he will have a good opportunity to show his abilities at both ends of the ice.
Mama said there’d be days like Monday in San Jose, where the Kraken forgot to show up and dropped what should have been an easy two standings points to the lowly Sharks. After a day off Tuesday, the Kraken got back to it on Wednesday for a hard-working session at Kraken Community Iceplex, as they shifted their focus to two daunting home matchups against the Boston Bruins Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday.
Seattle’s players and coaches shared similar sentiments after Wednesday’s skate, recognizing they didn’t have their best game in San Jose, but also knowing these things happen during the course of an 82-game NHL season.
“It wasn’t our best effort for sure; we all know that,” said defenseman Justin Schultz. “You have those games in the season that— it just wasn’t there for us for whatever reason. We’ll look at things, and we got a couple of huge games coming up. So not much we can do about the San Jose game now, just look forward to tomorrow.”
With the team’s fathers and mentors along for the short trip to the Bay Area, and Seattle riding a nice little 3-0-1 wave, the vibes were high before Monday. It felt like things had gotten back on the rails after the Kraken returned from the All-Star break on a 0-3-0 skid.
But Monday’s 4-0 loss was a taste of humble pie.
“We failed to show up,” said Jordan Eberle, who—after 13 seasons in the NHL—knows the perils of taking any NHL team for granted. “We got out-competed, we got out-battled, and it doesn’t matter who you play against in this league; you’re gonna get shown up.”
Eberle also said games like that one can have a positive impact on the team when considering the bigger picture. Think about the Dec. 30 spanking Seattle endured at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, for example, which was a turning point before the team went on its historic perfect seven-game road trip and eight-game win streak.
“Sometimes you get on your high horse, and you think you’re better than you are, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Eberle. “So, you know, it’s good to be humbled in this league. It happens many times, and the key to that is how you get back to it.”
Now, the team is focused on getting back to playing how it normally plays, as it welcomes two teams in a row to Climate Pledge Arena that boast the first- and fourth-best records in the entire NHL.
“We’ve been playing some pretty good hockey,” said Schultz. “We had a lull in the San Jose game. That happens. It’s a long year, and hopefully we do have that bump up tomorrow.”
Even with the loss, Eberle likes where the team sits, just three points out of first place in the Pacific Division. “You look at the playoff picture and where things are at, we’re in a spot where we want to be. It’s a matter of continuing to build, continuing to climb, and you’re going to have nights when things don’t go well, but we got to get back to the way we play.”
Jesper Froden recalled from Coachella Valley
With Andre Burakovsky still listed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, Seattle called up forward Jesper Froden from AHL affiliate Coachella Valley. Froden is having an outstanding season for the Firebirds, notching a whopping 47 points in 44 games so far (25—22=47).
“It feels awesome,” said Froden about getting called up to the Kraken for the first time. “I’ve been waiting for this a couple months now, so now the opportunity is here, and I’m really excited about it.”
Froden said Coachella Valley coach Dan Bylsma delivered the news to him Tuesday that he had been recalled and told him, “Go back home, pack your stuff, and take the next flight up.”
The 28-year-old Swede has seven career NHL games under his belt, all last season with—ironically—the Boston Bruins, Seattle’s opponent on Thursday. In those seven games, he scored one goal and one assist.
“He’s earned his way to an opportunity here,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “I think he’s second in [goal] scoring in the [AHL], one [goal] behind the leader. More importantly, he’s been really competitive and consistent in his role down there.”
Hakstol said for Froden to have his AHL success translate to the NHL level, he’ll need to just be confident and work hard. “He’s not a young guy,” said Hakstol. “He’s been through this a little bit. He’s done the work where he’s at, and he’s just got to come up and be who he is and be ready to compete extremely hard and do it with a real air of confidence.”
Froden calls himself a two-way player whose strengths are his shot and skating ability.
Where or if he will slot into the lineup remains to be seen, but we would assume if he were to play Thursday, it would be on the fourth line. Seattle’s usual fourth line of Ryan Donato, Morgan Geekie, and Daniel Sprong was intact Wednesday, though, while Froden appeared to be a placeholder for Jaden Schwartz, who was not on the ice (a common occurrence this season for Schwartz). So, that tells us Froden may not go in Thursday, but that can always change on game day.
Kraken announce partnership with Muckleshoot Indian Tribe
Wednesday was also a day of celebration at Kraken Community Iceplex, as the Kraken organization and Climate Pledge Arena announced a unique partnership with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
“The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is proud to begin this first-of-its-kind partnership with the Kraken, who worked with us from day one to acknowledge that Climate Pledge Arena is located on our ancestral homeland and to honor our enduring place in the cultural fabric of this region,” said Muckleshoot Tribal Chairman Jaison Elkins via press release.
The team welcomed members of the Muckleshoot Tribe and local elected officials onto the ice Wednesday, as they held a presentation to commemorate the new partnership.
With this union, the Muckleshoot Tribe will be the first jersey patch partner in franchise history, beginning in 2023-24. Additionally, more artwork will be added to Climate Pledge Arena that celebrates indigenous heritage, and the team will help build a community multi-sport court on the Muckleshoot Reservation.
The Kraken will begin wearing Muckleshoot Indian Tribe jersey patches in 2023-24. (Photo/Seattle Kraken)
“This joyful day brings with it a sense of hope that our young people will see themselves represented by the team in the heart of Seattle and around the country with our Tribe’s logo on the front of every Kraken jersey,” said Elkins.
The Kraken have gone out of their way to represent themselves locally and beyond as an inclusive organization that pushes the boundaries of traditional hockey culture. This is another big step by the franchise to show it cares and that it wants to do good in the community.
“We launched our franchise with an eye to the future as well as an acknowledgment of the past,” said Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke. “This partnership manifests our gratitude and respect for the Muckleshoot People, past and present, who are the ancestral keepers of the land upon which Climate Pledge Arena sits and we play.”
The latest episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast starts on a strange note, as Darren pitches his idea of a new dating app to John and Andy. John is immediately sold on the idea, but Andy is skeptical.
After that, the guys get things on the rails a bit more, and they talk about the latest Kraken games, which featured two nice wins and one dud of a loss. John also goes on a couple tangents about Seattle’s recent “Hero of the Deep” honorees, to whom he has personal connections.
Eventually, the show shifts to general NHL talk, where trade season is in full swing. Ryan O’Reilly was traded to the Maple Leafs, and Tyler Motte was traded to the Rangers, so the guys give their opinions on those deals.
