There’s an old saying that it’s hard to play hockey from behind, and Monday night the Kraken made sure they wouldn’t have to, scoring thrice in the first period and holding on for a 4-0 blanking of the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
“We had a great start to the game, we had a really good first period,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “[It’s] the way that you want to come out on the road, and we not only built a lead, but we played a really good first period that set us up.”
Seattle has won five straight and opened a tough seven-game road trip with four consecutive wins.
Martin Jones made a fifth straight start and turned away 21 shots for his second shutout of the season.
“They can be a dangerous team,” Jones said. “They definitely have skill up front and can be dangerous off the rush. We just had to play smart and make sure we were keeping guys in front of us, and we did a good job of that today.”
The Kraken had goals from four different players including defenseman Vince Dunn who has scored in three straight and added an assist tonight. Daniel Sprong, Eeli Tolvanen, and Matty Beniers each scored for Seattle (23-12-4), which will try for its sixth win in a row Tuesday night in Buffalo.
“We’re a deep team, we rely on everyone to win games,” Dunn said. “You see in the Ottawa game we had eight different players scoring goals, so that’s really big for the team right now, especially in the second half [of the season].”
Sam Montembeault made 37 saves for Montreal (16-22-3), who are 1-2-1 all-time against the Kraken.
The Kraken took 15 of the game’s first 16 shots on goal and scored three times to take early control of the game.
Tolvanen opened the scoring at 6:54 of the first period when he got a cross-crease pass from a pinching Dunn and slammed in his third goal with the Kraken to make it 1-0.
While that would be all the offense Seattle would need, it added on and went ahead 2-0 on the power play at 10:01 with a one-time slapper from the circle by Sprong who continues his hot stretch.
Dunn put the exclamation point on the period when he made it 3-0 with a big slapshot from the point at 14:20. It was his seventh goal of the season and 10th point over his last six games.
“Dunner’s just playing with confidence,” Hakstol said. “He’s doing a lot of the little things. When you look at the way he’s getting us out of the zone, he’s defending well, but he’s using his feet, he’s playing fast.”
He has also had the primary assist on all three of Tolvanen’s goals with the Kraken.
“For me, it’s just finding open space,” Dunn said. “A lot of my goals right now are coming from the forwards doing a lot of work down low and finding me, or off the rush. A lot of credit to them, I think our forwards are working really hard as a group right now.”
Beniers found the empty net to make it 4-0 at 18:57 of the third to finish the scoring.
Martin Jones stays hot
Jones didn’t have much of a workload in the first period but did make 15 saves over the final two periods and helped kill off two Montreal power plays.
Jones has been the goalie in all five games of this Kraken win streak and allowed only eight goals. Hakstol started going with the hot hand once Philipp Grubauer was healthy, but Jones has been as hot as you can be over the last five.
“We’re just playing really fast and we’re kind of smothering teams,” Jones said. “We’re not giving them a lot of time and space. We’re checking hard and it’s resulting in a lot of O-zone time for us.”
He has an 18-5-0 record this season, which is the most wins he’s had since he won 36 for the San Jose Sharks during the 2018-19 campaign. All that being said, Grubauer most likely will start Tuesday in the second of back-to-back road games against the Sabres.
Tentacle Tales
The Kraken are 5-0-0 since the New Year and lead the NHL in wins and points over that span.
Dunn leads all NHL defenders in scoring over the last five games.
The Kraken are 26 points better than they were at this point last season.
Jones picked up career shutout No. 27 in the NHL.
Jared McCann had his three-game goal scoring streak snapped.
Everett Fitzhugh checks in with Darren from Montreal, where the Seattle Kraken are prepping for their game against the Canadiens. With Seattle on a four-game win streak and the longest road trip of the season, the Sound Of Hockey Podcast thought it was a good time to chat with the team’s radio voice to get his take on what’s been happening on this trip.
Monday Musings is a collection of random thoughts and observations about the last week of activity from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other happenings around the Puget Sound hockey community.
Kraken thoughts
The boys are rolling
The Kraken have won four straight games to start the new year, and they are doing it impressive fashion. They beat the Islanders, Oilers, Leafs, and Senators all by three goals or more. They are getting back to the Kraken style of hockey with more of a defense-first mindset that makes them tough to play against and limits the quality shots by opponents.
We have talked about it numerous times, but Seattle’s strength is its depth of scoring. In November, when the Kraken went 10-1-1, the top goal scorers were Andre Burakovsky, Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Matty Beniers. In December, only McCann would score more than two goals in that group, and the team needed to also rely more on Daniel Sprong and Ryan Donato for their goal scoring (six and five goals respectively in the month of December).
Getting contributions from guys like Sprong and Donato is great and important for the overall success of the Kraken, but relying on depth players to be the offensive leaders created a challenge for the team. That was reflected in the Kraken’s December record of 4-7-1.
It is early, but January is looking more like November than December. We are just four games into the month, but everyone is contributing again. Beniers and McCann have three goals each. Burakovsky scored his first goal in 11 games. Bjorkstrand has two goals in January and appears to be heating up. They made a big deal about it on the TV broadcast, but the Kraken’s 8-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators had eight unique goal scorers for the Kraken.
Shane Wright decision
After winning the IIHF World Junior Championship for Team Canada on Wednesday, the Kraken assigned Shane Wright back to his junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs in the OHL. If you have been listening to the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, we have been speculating that would be the decision made by Ron Francis and company. There are a few reasons why the decision to send Wright back to the OHL was an easy one.
Winning. The team is winning and is in a great position to make the playoffs. All skaters in the bottom six of the forward group give the Kraken a better chance to win now than an 19-year-old with eight career NHL games.
Health. One of the strengths of this team this season is how healthy it has been [knock on wood]. Theoretically, if there were more injuries, Wright would be able to slip into the lineup from time to time. He did get that opportunity when McCann was out because of injury in two games in early November. This enabled him to play further up the lineup and log more minutes compared to his early season games on the fourth line, where he averaged less than seven minutes a game.
He needs to play. Before being loaned to Team Canada for World Juniors, Wright played only 13 pro games, eight with the Kraken and five with the Coachella Valley Firebirds on the AHL conditioning assignment. If he stayed with the Kraken, he would be unlikely to play regular games, and even when he would play, the minutes would be limited. In the OHL, he has the likelihood to play 30 regular-season games and average around 20 minutes per game. Assuming he is traded from Kingston, he is also likely to get a playoff round or two in the OHL playoffs.
As much as the team would love to get Wright into the lineup and help develop his game at NHL speed, it simply does not make sense right now given the position the team is in halfway through the season. Plus, although this wasn’t the deciding factor, there is the added benefit that the first year of his entry-level contract now will not kick in until next season.
Other Kraken musings:
With the Kraken win at Ottawa Saturday night, they improved their road record to 12-4-2. Meanwhile, their record at Climate Pledge Arena is 10-8-2. That is a mystery to me.
One area of concern I have is the faceoff percentages of the Kraken. I know faceoffs are not as important as they once were, but Seattle has been bottom five in faceoff win percentage all season. In January, they are averaging under 40 percent in faceoffs. I hope to dig into this a bit more next week.
The Kraken have had an open roster spot since Gustav Olofsson was returned to Coachella Valley on Dec. 17. That’s another testament to the Kraken’s depth and health this season.
Kraken fifth-round selection from the 2021 draft, Jacob Melanson, had seven points over three games last week, including a hat trick yesterday against the Shawinigan Cataractes. After two good seasons since his draft year, Melanson is tracking better than a normal fifth-round selection and will likely play next season in Coachella Valley. Melanson was recently traded within the QMJHL from Acadie-Bathurst to Sherbrooke.
Speaking of Coachella Valley. The Firebirds are in first place in the AHL’s Pacific Division and are 8-1-0-1 in their last 10. What is 8-1-0-1, you ask? That’s eight wins, one regulation loss, zero overtime losses, and one shootout loss, obviously.
The Firebirds shootout loss came yesterday to the Ontario Reign. In net for the Reign was none other than Cal Petersen. Petersen was assigned to the AHL after he allowed four goals over 16 shots in the LA Kings “thrilling” 9-8 loss to the Kraken on Nov. 29.
Kraken themes for the week ahead
This road trip was expected to be the granddaddy of all road trips for the Kraken this season. If you would have asked me what success would be, given the teams they are playing on this extended swing, I would have said 50 percent of the points available. Of a possible 14 points, they already have six with eight still on the table. The remaining games on this trip are a bit tricky, though.
They have two good opponents sandwiched by two not-so-good opponents. Ironically, the Kraken have lost to the two bad teams in Chicago and Montreal and beat one of the good teams when Buffalo visited Seattle in October. It is reasonable to expect four of the remaining eight points in this stretch, but it sure would be nice to come back home with even more than that. I am really intrigued to see how the Kraken match up with Boston, which has been the best team in the league by a long shot this season.
I also want to specifically see redemption against Montreal and Chicago. The Kraken were the better team in both of those earlier matchups, but for various reasons, conceded the games to inferior opponents.
Player performance / Stick taps
Vince Dunn (SEA) – seven points in four games this calendar year including two goals. Prior to his goal against the Maple Leafs on Thursday, Dunn had not scored since Nov. 27.
Jack Hughes (NJD) – the 2019 first overall draft pick for the New Jersey Devils has scored at least a goal in each of his last five games and has six goals in four games in 2023.
Martin Jones (SEA) – Jones has started all four games for the Kraken this year and has a 4-0 record to show for it. The team in front of him is playing well and limiting the number of quality opportunities for opposing teams, but he has made some saves at key moments in just about every game. Jones is the only goalie in the league to have four wins in 2023 and will start again against the Canadiens Monday.
Goal of the week
This week’s goal of the week comes from Chicago Blackhawks rookie Lukas Reichel and his first National Hockey League goal. Gotta love his pass to Seth Jones there as well.
This is a recycled chart, but every once in a while I like to refresh the data to see if the narrative has changed. It hasn’t. The Kraken continue to be one of the most improved teams in the goal-scoring category across the league.
Thanks again for all your engagement and questions on these posts. If you have anything you want me to look into, feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.
The Seattle Kraken’s rampage through Canada reached the capital Saturday and once again they left after kicking over the furniture and emptying the fridge. Eight different Seattle players scored in an 8-4 rout of the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“We got off to a good start,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We wanted to push off with a good start.”
It was the fourth straight win for the Kraken and the third straight win to start the Kraken’s seven-game road trip. Last season the Kraken won 11 road games but Friday was the 12th win already this season.
“We’re just a better hockey team (than last year),” Hakstol said. “That encompasses everything, from what our group looks like on paper to how we play every night. We’ve worked hard to be successful on the road. That’s not an easy thing to do but we’ve found different ways to win games.”
Jordan Eberle and Andre Burakovsky each had a goal and two assists. Vince Dunn, Justin Schultz, Matty Beniers, and Daniel Sprong each chipped in a goal and an assist. Lost in all the offense was the 18th win on 19 saves by Martin Jones for the Kraken (22-12-4).
Tim Stutzle set the pace for Ottawa with a hat trick for the Senators (18-18-3), who had a three-game win streak snapped.
The score indicates that the game was devoid of drama, but Ottawa did erase a two-goal deficit to tie the game at 3-3 in the second period.
But as they’ve done over the last four games, the Kraken had a response. Stutzle scored twice in 8:34 to even the game and appeared to give the Senators all the momentum. But, 22 seconds later, Daniel Sprong would score off a rush for his 12th goal to make it 4-3.
“They score, they’re feeling it,” Eberle said. “Obviously they think they have a chance and he comes back with a goal that shuts that down… those are big momentum shifts. As you start getting into important games and playoff-type hockey as you go down the stretch, that’s all it is, it’s momentum swings. You have to be a team that can counter.”
Beniers would score at 14:13 to make it 5-3. The play started with Beniers taking a big hit in his own end but he had managed to get the puck up ice. He got up and followed the play and as the puck went into the corner where Eberle won a battle, Beniers headed for the slot.
Eberle hit him with a pass and Beniers roofed his rookie-leading 14th goal of the season. He has scored a goal in each of his last three games.
The two goals turned the tide and Seattle would add on with goals from Dunn at 1:19 of the third to make it 6-3, and Eberle at 4:55 as he put back a rebound to make it 7-3.
Stutzle interrupted the Kraken scoring at 5:20 to record the hat trick and cut the lead to 7.-4 but the Kraken quelled that uprising with an Andre Burakovsky goal on the doorstep at 9:59.
It was another team win and the Kraken ended the night with 13 players recording a point.
Seattle built an early 3-1 first period lead with goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jared McCann, and Schultz.
Scoring from everyone
The Kraken aren’t relying on one guy or line to get scoring. During their four-game win streak, they’ve outscored the opponents 22-8.
Seattle hasn’t had a player score twice in any of the four wins which speaks to the depth. They’ve gotten contributions from all four lines and attacked teams in waves.
“I think the strength of this group is in the depth that we have,” Eberle said. “Not just on the forwards side but on the defense, goalies and you see teams that have four lines and six D that can contribute and are dangerous. In my opinion, a lot of teams that go deep in the playoffs are because of that.”
Tentacle Tales
Seattle scored eight goals in a game for the third time this season which leads the NHL. The last team with more was the Pittsburgh Penguins who did it four times in 2011-2012.
It was the first time that Seattle has scored five or more goals three times in a row.
Stutzle picked up his second career hat trick.
The Kraken lead the NHL in response goals – scoring within a minute of the opponents. Seattle has done it nine times this year.
The World Junior Championship ended Thursday, with Shane Wright captaining Team Canada to a gold medal in Halifax and Moncton. The morning after, the Seattle Kraken reassigned Wright back to the OHL for the rest of the season.
Now, OHL trade watch begins for Wright.
Several hockey insiders have further advanced speculation that arose during World Juniors that Wright would be traded by Kingston. If that ends up being true, he would be the third Kraken prospect to be traded before the Canadian Hockey League deadline.
This past weekend, two Kraken forward prospects, Jacob Melanson and Ryan Winterton, were dealt from their respective junior teams. Melanson was acquired by the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for a first-rounder, a second-rounder, and a prospect, and Winterton was sent to the London Knights of the OHL along with teammate Ryan Humphrey for two players and a second-round pick.
Melanson, a fifth-round pick in 2021, is 15th in the QMJHL in scoring with 25 goals and 19 assists. He’ll join a roster loaded with NHL draft prospects; Melanson is one of seven drafted players on the Phoenix, and new teammate Ethan Gauthier is projected to be a first-round pick by most public scouting rankings.
Winterton hasn’t played this season yet due to offseason shoulder surgery but is expected to make his debut on Friday against his former team, Hamilton, according to Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press. The Kraken’s third-round pick in 2021 had 46 points in 37 games last season.
New Knights F Ryan Winterton, who hasn't played yet this season while recovering from shoulder surgery, expected to make his London debut Friday against his old Hamilton mates.
Currently, the Kingston Frontenacs, who drafted Wright, hold his OHL rights and are in the middle of the pack in the standings. Ottawa, London, North Bay, Barrie, and Peterborough have been called out as teams to watch by hockey insiders.
With Shane Wright (#SeaKraken) heading back to OHL after captaining Team Canada to 🥇 at World Juniors, expect a trade from Kingston to materialize.
Front runners appear to be Barrie and Peterborough. Can't count out Ottawa, London or North Bay. Huge piece for a playoff run.
As far as Kraken prospect synergy, the best landing spots for Wright would be London (Winterton), North Bay (Ty Nelson), or Peterborough (Tucker Robertson).
The OHL trade deadline is Jan. 10 at 9 a.m. PT.
Since Wright played in only eight games for the Kraken, the first year of his entry-level contract (ELC) won’t kick in this season. Per the NHL-CHL agreement, Wright was allowed nine games in the NHL before Seattle needed to decide whether to send him back to the OHL or burn the first year of his ELC. Wright can’t play the full season in the American Hockey League, per the same agreement.
The path to playing time in Seattle was tight for Wright before World Juniors, but it became even tighter after the Kraken claimed forward Eeli Tolvanen off waivers from the Nashville Predators.
Speaking of Wright, check this out
As mentioned above, Canada won the gold medal game against Czechia, 3-2, in overtime.
Wright played a pivotal part for Canada throughout the entire tournament, centering one of the team’s top two lines and serving as captain. He put an exclamation on his tournament with a highlight-reel-worthy goal to put Canada up 2-0.
Shane Wright with a wicked toe-drag to backhand goal 😳
Wright was solid, but not overwhelming, at World Juniors. Part of that comes from 2023 top prospect Connor Bedard lighting up the tournament with nine goals and 23 points and overshadowing everyone, but Wright posted a respectable stat line with four goals and seven points in seven games.
Even though he didn’t put up eye-popping numbers, there are plenty of positives to take away from Wright’s World Junior stint, according to Lassi Alanen of Elite Prospects.
Shane Wright (SEA) didn't have the most explosive tournament on the scoresheet, but he was still one of the best overall forwards. At least above-average in every metric used in these cards, which speaks volumes about his versatility. #SeaKrakenhttps://t.co/D62yELtiWapic.twitter.com/6pwyWFbSLt
The Finns, the other team at the World Juniors with Kraken representation, were knocked out in the quarterfinals by archrival Sweden.
Kraken forward prospect Jani Nyman finished with two goals and three points in five games, and goaltender NIklas Kokko didn’t see any action for Finland.
Thomas Milic holds down Canada’s crease
The Seattle Thunderbirds netminder took over Canada’s net and performed admirably with a .932 save percentage and lots of heroic saves in the knockout rounds.
Milic, along with teammates Reid Schaefer, Kevin Korchinski, and Nolan Allen, Everett Silvertips defenseman Olen Zellweger, and head coach Dennis Williams, bring a gold medal back to the Puget Sound.
Coachella Valley Firebirds riding long winning streak
Seattle’s AHL affiliate has been scorching hot in December and January. With their 4-2 win over Colorado on Wednesday, the Firebirds have won six straight and 12 of their last 15 dating back to the start of December.
Forwards Kole Lind, Jesper Froden, and Max McCormick boast a team-leading seven goals and 16 points each during that stretch, and defense prospect Ryker Evans has been equally productive on the blue line with 11 points.
Ty Nelson packs scoring punch
Defenseman Ty Nelson is on a nice little scoring run with two goals and 10 points over his last 10 games for the OHL’s North Bay Battalion. The shot-happy blue liner is one of the most dynamic defensemen in creating offense in junior hockey, as Sound Of Hockey’s own Curtis Isacke noted on Twitter.
Ty Nelson leads the entire OHL with 191 shots on goal. 17 more than the next player… As a defenseman. The next D on the list has only 124 SOG.
As puck dominant a season as you'll see. Liked his physicality/energy in dev camp, but an adjustment coming to pro game. #SeaKraken
What is “long-term injured reserve?” What is an “entry-level contract?” Who needs to go through waivers? And, heck, what are waivers and what purpose do they serve in the first place?
I have found that the rules relating to NHL contracts, rosters, and the salary cap are opaque not only to ardent fans but those that cover the league professionally. Why?
Sometimes it is because the governing rule is unique to the NHL. For example, are performance incentives allowed in player contracts? If you’re in the MLB and NFL: yes. If you’re in the NHL: in most circumstances, no.
Sometimes it is because the rule is obscure in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”). For example, if a team loses a player on waivers while attempting to get him to the AHL, but then the claiming team waives him and the original team claims him back, does the original team have to put that player on waivers yet again to get him to the AHL? Depends on if you are the only team claiming him the second time around.
And sometimes it is because the specific governing rule is not actually spelled out in the CBA and can be inferred only in its absence or from cobbling together separate provisions. For example, if a team’s player is suspended, the team gets relief in the form of an extra roster spot to replace that player, right? Actually, no. But that never shows up in black and white. It just is not mentioned as an exception to the 23-man roster limit. (As it happens, this is another rule starkly different from the rule in the NFL, MLB, or NBA.) This is why Jamie Oleksiak was not replaced when he was recently suspended three games for elbowing Washington’s Alex Alexeyev.
If you have any questions you would like to see addressed in future posts, feel free to reach out on twitter (@deepseahockey or @sound_hockey) or in the comments below.
Why haven’t the Kraken placed Chris Driedger or Joonas Donskoi on long-term injured reserve? (And what does it have to do with Matty Beniers being named an All-Star?)
The short answer to the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) question is there has been no reason compelling them to use it, except briefly with Philipp Grubauer earlier this season. The longer answer has to do with multi-season cap management. You may have heard someone say, when considering a player acquisition, “the Kraken don’t want to go into LTIR.” Why? And what does it have to do with Matty Beniers and him being named to the all-star team? Let’s dive in.
A team may place a player on “injured reserve” if the player is reasonably expected to be out of the lineup for seven calendar days due to an injury or illness. Once a player is placed on injured reserve the team obtains an exemption for the player from the 23-man roster limit and, therefore, can replace the unavailable player. Both Chris Driedger and Joonas Donskoi are on injured reserve currently.
“Long-term injured reserve”—a moniker not actually used in the CBA—is different. It is a designation that a team can use on a player when a physician determines the player has an injury or illness that will keep him out of the lineup for at least 10 games and 24 calendar days. In addition to the roster relief afforded by any “injured reserve” designation, when a team designates a player for LTIR, the team is replace the injured player(s) with one or more players of the same aggregate cap hit of the injured player(s), even if this means that the team exceeds the salary cap in doing so.
So, if the Seattle Kraken placed Chris Driedger on LTIR, the team could bring in a player with an identical $3.5 million cap hit and exceed the salary cap in doing so. The same is true for Joonas Donskoi and his $3.9 million cap hit. So, in theory, the Kraken could go out at the NHL Trade Deadline and add a contract or contracts worth $7.4 million in cap dollars and still be compliant. This additional space for injury replacements sometimes referred to as a team’s “LTIR pool.”
Sounds pretty good, right? You could fit in a pretty good player with that amount of additional cap room. Recently waived Jakub Vrana is an example. Likely-to-be-traded Bo Horvat is another one.
So, why haven’t the Kraken utilized this flexibility afforded by LTIR? I see three reasons. First, and most significantly, it is probable the Kraken have not seen an opportunity that justifies doing it. Presume Bruins GM Don Sweeney called Kraken GM Ron Francis tomorrow and offered him F David Pastrnak (and his $6.67 million AAV contract) for a seventh-round draft pick, but only if Francis answered “yes” on the spot without making other trades first. In that outlandish hypothetical, you could bet Francis would say “yes,” use the LTIR flexibility, explain the extra cash commitment to ownership, and figure everything else out later.
But, unrealistic scenarios aside, the Kraken have been able to put their preferred, full team on the ice so far this season. With one brief exception earlier in the year, there has not been any reason for the team to use the salary cap relief afforded by LTIR. And without the need for the cap relief, there is no reason to designate a player for LTIR as opposed to a standard “injured reserve” designation.
The second reason to avoid a big-money acquisition to fill in for the injured players is that the cap relief does not last for the remainder of the season—it lasts only as long as the player’s injury does. Chris Driedger, for example, is likely to return late this season. Joonas Donskoi’s status is less clear, but it is hypothetically possible he could return at some point as well.
Sticking with Driedger, the team would need to be cap compliant when he and his $3.5 million cap hit returns. To do that the team would either need to waive a player it knows another team would claim—therefore subtracting the player’s entire remaining cap hit—or waive a series of players to stash them in the AHL and get portions of their salaries off the books. Teams can get themselves in real trouble in these scenarios and leave themselves shorthanded.
Matty Beniers waits for a face-off. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
The third reason is Matty Beniers’s contract. Huh? Let me explain. Every player’s first NHL contract is a so-called “entry-level contract” (ELC). Under the CBA and the subsequent 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”), an entry-level contract is limited to a maximum amount of base compensation. For players drafted in 2021 (Beniers’s draft year), annual compensation is limited to $925,000 at most. For players drafted in 2022 (Shane Wright’s draft year), annual compensation is limited to $950,000.
But there is an important asterisk on this limit. Recall that I said performance bonuses are not now allowed in “most circumstances.” Entry-level contracts are one of three scenarios where performance bonuses are allowed. And Beniers’s contract has bonuses that, according to Cap Friendly, are worth up to $925,000 for 2022-23. (Shane Wright’s contract has bonuses too, but I doubt those are likely to be relevant.)
Under the CBA and MOU, for players drafted in 2021 (Beniers’s draft year), any ELC bonuses up $850,000 are so-called “Schedule A” bonuses. Bonuses above that threshold are “Schedule B” bonuses. So, Beniers has $850,000 in Schedule A bonuses and $75,000 in Schedule B bonuses.
“Schedule A” bonuses reward Beniers (a forward) with a bonus of a specified amount if he achieves any of the following thresholds (up to a maximum of four separate thresholds achieved):
20 goals
35 assists
60 points
Top six in time on ice among forwards (in total and/or per game) on team (minimum 42 games)
Top three in +/- among forwards on team (minimum 42 games)
0.73 points per game (minimum 42 games)
End-of-Season All-Rookie Team
All-Star Selection
All-Star MVP
In other words, even if Beniers achieves all nine thresholds this season, he still would only receive four of the bonuses. I will presume (but do not know) that these bonuses are split evenly in his contract so that each threshold met would pay Beniers a bonus of $212,500. If he achieves the maximum four bonueses, he gets the full $850,000.
As it stands today, Beniers is projecting to eclipse five of these categories, with a sixth (End-of-Season All-Rookie Team) seeming likely.
20 goals ✅
35 assists ❌ (currently on a 34-assist pace)
60 points ✅
Top six in TOI among F (in total and/or per game) on team (min 42 games) ✅
Top three in +/- among F on team (min 42 games) ❌
0.73 points per game (min 42 games) ✅
End-of-Season All-Rookie Team❓
All-Star Selection ✅
All-Star MVP❓
All of this means the Kraken currently project to pay Beniers an additional $850,000 at the end of the year in Schedule A bonsues.
“Schedule B” bonuses may be awarded to the player if he achieves one or more of the following league-level thresholds:
For forwards: Top ten in NHL in goals, assists, points, or points per game (min 42 GP) among forwards
Win any of the following trophies: Hart, Selke, Richard, Conn Smythe, Norris, Lady Bing, Calder.
Year-end 1st or 2nd team All-Star
Of particular relevance, note that players are eligible to receive a bonus if they finish in the top-3 of Calder voting under the CBA. We know that Beniers can earn up to $75,000 in Schedule B bonuses this year, but we do know the the negotiated amounts he can earn for any specific accomplishment. For today’s purposes, I will presume Beniers accomplishing any one of the foregoing (including top-3 in Calder voting) would earn him the $75,000 Schedule B bonus. Since a top-3 Calder finish seems likely, I will project that Beniers earns this sum too.
The total ($925,000) is not currently accounted for on the team’s salary cap. (Getting really technical, the bonuses do count, but the cap is increased accordingly by a so-called “bonus cushion.” This is relevant only if the team has large bonuses on its books. For our purposes today, easiest to think about it as not on the cap, particularly since publicly reported cap figures, such as the number from CapFriendly, do not include it.)
If the team pays the bonus, though, it hits the cap. The accounting would then happen in one of two ways. The amount either (a) comes out of the team’s available year-end cap space, or (b) if the team does not have enough year-end cap space, any surplus comes off the team’s salary cap space in the next season. So, if Beniers earns his full $925,000 bonus, but the team ends with just $800,000 in cap space, the team’s 2023-24 cap would be reduced by $125,000.
According to CapFriendly, as of today, the Kraken project to have $1,167,181 in cap space at the end of the year. This is based on the daily salary accruals to date and the daily accruals moving forward of the players currently on the roster. That’s just enough to pay Beniers’s bonuses, with extra wiggle room for some temporary AHL call ups.
OK, but what does any of this have to do with LTIR? Well, unused cap space is accrued on a daily basis. If the team goes into LTIR, by definition it is going over the cap and is not accruing any unused cap space. (Unused “LTIR pool” space does not accrue; it disappears when and if unused.)
So, if the Kraken spent the majority or all of the season using LTIR for extra salary space, the team would end the year at or near zero dollars in unused cap space. If (and when) Beniers then earns incentives, that money would come off the Kraken’s cap for next year. The team surely views itself on an upward trajectory and is likely loath to sacrifice cap space next year to benefit this year’s team.
In sum, why hasn’t Seattle used the cap relief afforded by LTIR? Like I said, there has been no cause to do it. And also—in a roundabout way—it is because of Matty Beniers.
Did the contractual implications of keeping Shane Wright factor into sending him back to the OHL?
The morning after scoring a goal en route to winning the World Junior Championship (on his his birthday), the Kraken announced that Shane Wright would be returned to his junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs. Did his contract factor into this decision? Let’s dive in.
If you’ve paid attention to Shane Wright’s status with the Seattle Kraken this year, you have likely heard about two somewhat obscure NHL rules. The first arises from the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement. This agreement allows 18- or 19-year-old CHL players to leave their junior teams to play in the NHL, but restricts those CHL players from leaving and subsequently being loaned from their NHL club to a minor-league team. This means Shane Wright cannot leave his junior team to play with the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season. (As we have seen, a two-week conditioning assignment in the AHL is a one-time exception to this rule.) Honestly, this probably would be the ideal situation for Wright, but it was simply not on the table.
Second, you have also likely heard that 10 games played in the NHL is an important threshold to make a decision on whether or not Wright should be returned to his junior team. There is actually no “deadline” to return Wright to the CHL under the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement. He could play 60 games and be returned (in theory).
The 10-game threshold has to do with Wright’s entry-level contract under the CBA. Wright can play up to nine games in the NHL without using the first year of his three-year entry-level deal. If he plays fewer than 10 games, the three-year deal simply “slides” to the next season. In other words, instead of extending through 2024-25, Wright’s contract would keep him under contract through 2025-26. For both the team and the player, this is significant because, as mentioned above, entry-level contracts are limited in total compensation. After that contract expires, the team and the player are left to negotiate a new deal in restricted free agency, and the player can earn more.
Wright had played in eight games. In theory, the Kraken could have put him into one more game before “burning” a year on his entry-level contract. Obviously, they did not do that, opting instead for the clean transition after the World Junior Championship.
Shane Wright playing in a game for the Seattle Kraken. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Equally important, and less frequently discussed, is the threshold of 40 games on the active roster. If Wright had been on Seattle’s 23-man roster for 40 games this season, the season would count as an “accrued” season toward unrestricted free agency under the CBA. An NHL player becomes an unrestricted free agent with the expiration of a contract after the player is 27 years old or has accrued seven seasons of service, whichever comes sooner.
For many players, this means they reach unrestricted free agency at or after the player is 27 years old. But, for some players who break into the NHL at a young age, there is the chance to reach free agency sooner. Wright could have been in this category if he got credit for an accrued season as an 18-year-old (or next year, as a 19-year-old, for that matter).
Counting the Kraken games while Wright was on his conditioning assignment but not the games during his loan to Team Canada at the World Junior Championship, Wright had been on Seattle’s active roster for 25 games. This left an additional 14 games after Wright’s return before the season would count as an “accrued” season. This was an additional deadline I was watching had Wright stayed with Seattle after the World Junior Championship but his development stagnated.
So, was any of this decisive of Wright’s status after the World Junior Championship? I do not think so. The paramount concern for the Kraken is Wright’s on-ice development. Whether that meant keeping the player with the Kraken or sending him back to his junior team, the CBA rules did not outweigh the on ice considerations. Contract issues become relevant only in the truly marginal case.
Personally, I was starting to lean toward returning Wright to his junior team. After watching him at the NHL level and at the World Junior Championship I did not see a clear path to Wright being a markedly superior player to those already in Seattle’s bottom-six by the end of the year. I don’t fault the Kraken for evaluating him for as long as possible. But, given the state of the NHL roster, I wanted to see Wright get 40-to-50 more junior games and then check in on him next camp. I suppose ideally this would happen with a good CHL team primed for a playoff push. There are some rumblingsthat could happen.
The Kraken appear to have reached the same conclusion. It has an incidental long-term contractual benefit for the team, but I do not think that was the primary factor.
[Author’s Note: The analysis of Beniers’s bonuses was corrected to account for the fact that Schedule A bonuses are capped at $850,000 for 2021 draftees. Only draftees from 2022 or later, including Shane Wright, may earn up to $1,000,000 in Schedule A bonuses, as this post originally indicated.]
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If your early season belief in the Kraken waned in December, perhaps it has been reinstated now. After being blown out by the Oilers at home to close out 2022, Seattle has started the 2023 calendar year with three impressive full-team wins. The most recent Kraken victory came in convincing fashion against the high-flying Toronto Maple Leafs in their barn on Thursday.
Good feelings are continuing to build back up around this club, which seems to have put its December bad habits in the rearview and once again looks confident playing in front of goalie Martin Jones.
The win is Seattle’s first ever against Toronto and also gives coach Dave Hakstol his first victory against the club for whom he served as an assistant coach two seasons ago.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a stirring 5-1 Kraken road win over the Maple Leafs.
Takeaway #1: A bad first period on paper was actually great for the Kraken
Toronto came out flying in the first period and at one point had an 8-0 advantage in shots on goal. Yet, the Kraken held firm and kept the Maple Leafs off the board, living to fight another day (or in this case, another period).
Sometimes when you’re playing a highly skilled team like Toronto on the road, it’s easy to get caught flat footed in the early going. You have to do what you can to batten down the hatches and bide your time until opportunities present themselves. If you keep your structure and don’t panic, eventually things will settle down, and you’ll be able to push back.
That’s exactly what the Kraken did in the opening frame Thursday, and as the Maple Leafs continued to buzz, Seattle limited second chances, blocked shots, and mostly kept things to the perimeter.
“They kind of jumped on us at the start of the game,” said Jones. “I thought we did a pretty good job kind of weathering the storm a little bit, they got a couple chances, but once we got our legs and started checking, started skating, we were able to control a lot of the play tonight.”
“We weathered the storm,” said Hakstol. “The first 10 minutes, they were skating through the neutral zone… They had a lot of speed and pace coming through, but we were able to— you know, we weathered that.”
Hakstol also called it “a dangerous way to start a hockey game,” but the Maple Leafs did eventually ease off the throttle in the second half of the period, and that set Seattle up to go gangbusters in the second.
The Kraken got a lot of help in the first period from Jones, who stopped all nine of the shots he faced in those first 20 minutes.
“Jonesy was a big part of that,” Hakstol said. “To be able to get us through that portion— that was pretty important for him to help us do that.”
Takeaway #2: More second-period success
Just one game after the Kraken hung four second-period goals on Stuart Skinner and the Edmonton Oilers, they did the exact same thing to Matt Murray and the Toronto Maple Leafs, proving again that patience pays off.
Eeli Tolvanen got the scoring started, blasting a power-play one-timer past Murray at 7:02 of the second. Much like on his goal on New Year’s Day against the Islanders, Vince Dunn laid a soft pass right into Tolvanen’s kitchen. Tolvanen unleashed another howitzer that blew Murray’s hair back as it hit the Toronto twine, making it 1-0.
Tolvanen is quite the story. Scratched in seven straight games after being claimed from Nashville, the Kraken are now 3-0-0 with him in the lineup. He seems to have single-handedly fixed the team’s power play woes by adding a left-shot weapon, and he now has two goals and three points in three games. How does Seattle *not* continue putting him in the lineup moving forward?
After Tolvanen’s goal, John Tavares got Toronto on the board at 10:54. But Vince Dunn got the ever-important response goal 14 seconds later, and Seattle never looked back.
“Biggest goal of the game, for sure,” said Hakstol. “That was the biggest point of the game; they tie it up, the momentum can push the other way. For our group to be able to come back and get that goal, that was the biggest turning point of the hockey game.”
Our favorite goal of the night came at 17:25. Adam Larsson slung the puck around the wall behind Seattle’s net to Dunn. Dunn moved it along to Jaden Schwartz, who heard Jared McCann screaming for the puck in the neutral zone. Without even looking, Schwartz somehow hit McCann in stride, who flew over the blue line and beat Murray with a no-doubter.
It was a pretty play and another shining example of McCann rubbing Toronto’s nose in its decision to acquire him in a trade from Pittsburgh and then immediately expose him to Seattle in the Expansion Draft.
Newly minted NHL All-Star, Matty Beniers, rounded out the second-period scoring with a pretty goal of his own, fielding a partially whiffed Jordan Eberle shot, spinning, and rifling it past Murray to make it 4-1.
This could be the game plan for the foreseeable future, folks. Seattle loves bottling teams up with the long change in the second period, and as long as it can get through the first and stay in contact with the opposition, watch out for the fellas in that middle frame.
Takeaway #3: Lots of big-time performances
Thursday was a game for big-time performances, as the Kraken waited out and eventually outgunned a star-studded Maple Leafs team.
As the game went on, it was as if a relay baton was being handed from player to player, with said baton signifying which player would carry the team for that portion of the game.
It started with Martin Jones, who stood tall during the early onslaught and gave his teammates a chance to get things rolling in the second period. The 26-save victory brought Jones to a remarkable 17-5-3 record on the season, and it represented his third straight quality start and his third win in as many tries.
From there, Jones handed the baton to Tolvanen, who kindly shared it with nine other point scorers on the night.
The top defensive pairing of Dunn and Larsson was especially impressive when it was their turn to carry the baton. Dunn set up the Tolvanen goal, scored the response goal that Hakstol called the “turning point” of the game, and had the secondary assist on the beautiful McCann goal.
Larsson saw his seven-game point streak snapped, but he started that play that created the McCann goal, led the team with six shots, and was outstanding defensively in a whopping 26:58 of ice time.
That was a heckuva win against a heckuva team. Let’s see if Seattle can keep it rolling on this long road trip when it visits Ottawa on Saturday.
Two games into a grueling 14-day, seven-game road trip, the Seattle Kraken are 2-0-0. Thursday night it was a 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Kraken have 11 road wins so far this season, which matches their total number of road wins for all of last season.
It was the second period again on Thursday, and for the second straight game, they scored four in the middle frame. They also scored four goals in the second period of Tuesday’s 5-2 win in Edmonton.
“We weathered the storm,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “First ten minutes they were skating through the neutral zone, they had a lot of speed and pace coming through. We weathered that, but that’s a dangerous way to start the hockey game. But once we got through that ten minutes, we settled the game down a little bit. That set us up for a big second period.”
Martin Jones made his third consecutive start for the Kraken (21-12-4), who have won three straight, and made 26 saves for his 17th win on the year. Vince Dunn had a goal and two assists, Eeli Tolvanen, Matty Beniers, Jared McCann, and Alex Wennberg each scored a goal.
John Tavares had a power-play goal for Toronto (23-9-7), who lost at home for the second straight game. Matt Murray made 21 saves.
Toronto had the early edge and took the game’s first eight shots, forcing Jones to make nine first-period saves to keep Seattle in the game. The Maple Leafs outshot the Kraken 9-3 in the first period.
“Once we got our legs and started checking and started skating we were able to, I thought, control a lot of the play tonight,” Jones said.
It was a different story in the second period as the Kraken came to life.
Tolvanen scored on a one-timer from the circle to give Seattle a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the second. It was the third straight start for Tolvanen since being claimed off waivers back on Dec. 12th. In those three starts, he has two goals and an assist.
The Maple Leafs tied the game, 1-1, on a goal by Tavares at 10:54 on the tail end of a four-minute double-minor power play. Seattle had killed off the first three minutes of a high-sticking call on Yanni Gourde but couldn’t hold the potent Toronto power play off forever.
A potential game-changing goal by Toronto was answered quickly.
Just 14 seconds later, at 11:08, Dunn gave the Kraken their lead back, 2-1, with a slap shot from just outside the top of the circle. Oliver Bjorkstrand provided an excellent screen in front and Murray never saw the shot as it flew by him.
McCann would follow that up with his team-leading 18th marker at 13:50 to make it 3-1, and then Beniers spun and fired the puck to make it 4-1 at 17:25. Beniers leads all NHL rookies with 13 goals, and moments after he scored, it was announced that he had been selected to the NHL All-Star Game.
“I’m just happy we won,” Beniers said. “They’re a great team; playing them on the road is hard. We’re getting a little momentum back and playing good hockey so I’m excited about that. The All-Star Game is pretty special, so I’m excited about that as well.”
Wennberg added a goal at 2:57 of the third, scored on a cross-ice pass from Gourde to make it 5-1.
The road trip continues for Seattle with a game at the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.
“I’ve never been on a trip this long,” Hakstol said. “We’re taking it a piece at a time. We got a good win at home before we left town. A nice win on the road within the division in Edmonton and to be able to come in here and play well again, that set us up well, but we have a long road ahead of us.”
Vince Dunn shines in homecoming
Growing up in the Toronto area, Dunn had quite the homecoming Thursday.
He had three points, played over 19 minutes, and took three shots. When he was on the ice at even strength, the Kraken had 73.53 percent of all shot attempts and 53.28 percent of the shot quality.
“I think a lot of bounces went my way,” Dunn said. “All my points were created by the forwards working hard, finding me to get the puck so a lot of credit to them. They make it easy for me to play my game.”
Beyond that, he and defensive partner Adam Larsson played a tight-checking defense and held Toronto superstar Auston Matthews to no even-strength points and three shots.
Tentacle Tales
Tolvanen becomes the fourth player in Kraken history to record a point in the first three games he’s played.
He joins Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, and Daniel Sprong in doing so.
Larsson did not register a point, ending his seven-game point streak.
All three of Dunn’s points came in the second period, which is the first time in his NHL career he recorded three in one period.
The Maple Leafs had not lost a game at home in regulation since Nov. 11.
It’s been a down-and-up week for the Kraken, who hit perhaps the low point of their season at home against the Oilers last week, but bounced back for wins agains the Islanders and revenge on those same Oilers.
Aside from the games, enormous news got announced, as T-Mobile Park will host the Kraken and Golden Knights for next year’s Winter Classic in Seattle. John, Andy, and Darren give their hot takes on how that event will look and what it will mean for the city.
After that, the guys shift to segbits, which this week include:
A week after being embarrassed on home ice by the Edmonton Oilers, the Kraken exacted some revenge by scoring five unanswered goals in an impressive 5-2 win over the Oilers on Tuesday.
“Absolutely great feeling,” Yanni Gourde said. “To come out with the win in their building, I thought we played well.”
Seattle erased a 2-0 deficit and won their second straight game while starting the longest road trip of the season in fine fashion.
“I think we played pretty well in the first,” Gourde said. “We came out, we played hard, did the right things, put the puck deep, and played down low. Second period, we got one goal and it really gave us some wings offensively.”
A key moment came early in the third period when the Oilers appeared to cut the Kraken lead to 4-3 after Leon Draisaitl scored a power-play goal. There were over 18 minutes left, and the knuckles in Seattle were turning white.
However, Seattle coach Dave Hakstol called the officials over and challenged the goal, saying Edmonton was offside prior to the goal being scored. It was a risky move as a failed challenge would put the Oilers and their league-best power play back on the ice with a chance to tie and gain momentum.
The video review proved successful, it was offside, and the Kraken killed off the remainder of the power play for a huge kill.
“That’s the guys in the back room,” Hakstol said. “That’s Tim [Oshashi] and Brady [Morgan] doing a great job. Working through their process, taking the short amount of time they have and they got it right.”
Later on, at 17:29 of the third, Alex Wennberg raced down the ice and slid the puck into the Oilers empty net to make it 5-2, and the knuckles returned to their normal color.
Wennberg had a goal and an assist, as did Matty Beniers. Jaden Schwartz scored a goal and had two assists, Justin Schultz had two assists, and Martin Jones made 32 saves for the Kraken (20-12-4), who are unbeaten in Alberta so far this season.
“It wasn’t anything overly spectacular in this game,” Hakstol said. “We were moving slowly with the puck, especially in the first ten minutes, but we were checking well. But we cleaned up our puck play… we were able to battle back. The power-play goal was obviously a big goal for us to get going. We were able to execute on a delayed penalty and then some face-off goals.”
Edmonton (20-17-2), got goals from Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Stuart Skinner started the game and allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced in the second period by Jack Campbell, who made three saves.
When they played last week, the Oilers had three goals by the four-minute mark. It took them longer Tuesday, but it was Edmonton who scored first again, while on their NHL best power play at 12:47 of the first. Jones made an initial save, but an off-the-mark shot by Draisaitl slid right to Nugent-Hopkins, who had the entire net to shoot at and did not miss to make it 1-0.
McDavid turned on the jets and raced by everyone 48 seconds into the second and slid his 33rd of the season past Jones to make it 2-0. That caused a déjà vu feeling that the Oilers were going to run away with it.
But a mid-period power play would turn the tide for Seattle, who would go on to score five straight.
First, it was a power-play score from Beniers at 4:44 of the second with his 12th of the year. Beniers was at it again 31 seconds later, during a delayed penalty, when he found Schwartz at the goal mouth for a tally that tied the game.
Gourde would give Seattle a 3-2 lead at 12:43. He scored his fifth of the season after Schultz got a shot on a rush, the rebound came out in front, and Eeli Tolvanen tapped it to Gourde.
The Kraken extended the lead to 4-2, and chased Skinner from the net at 15:48. Wennberg spotted Jared McCann streaking for the net and got the puck to him for McCann’s team-leading 17th of the year.
Tentacle Tales
With an assist, defenseman Adam Larsson extended his point streak to seven games.
It was also the seventh game Beniers has recorded multiple points this season.
Tolvanen played in his second game with Seattle and recorded an assist, giving him points in both games he has played for the Kraken.
The win was the 10th road win for Seattle (10-4-2), one away from the 11 road wins they totaled all of last season.
