Episode 209.5 is a fun one. Darren opens the show from LAX Airport after a successful two-game Kraken road trip. He quickly runs through Seattle’s two games against Anaheim and Los Angeles, then gets to a short interview with Kraken radio play-by-play man, Everett Fitzhugh.
Darren and Everett had a fun chat waiting for Kraken morning skate to begin at the Honda Center. Together, they make some bold predictions for the season and set expectations for Shane Wright and Matty Beniers. Along the way, Darren and Everett have a lot of good laughs.
If we told Kraken fans a few days ago that Seattle would take three points out of four from this two-game trip with back-to-backs, we surmise that most of those fans would have been quite excited about that predicted outcome.
Wednesday’s 5-4 overtime loss in Anaheim may have left a bitter taste due to the nature of the loss, but Seattle did everything it could to erase that from memory Thursday. From top to bottom, the 4-1 Kraken win over the Los Angeles Kings was a solid, convincing performance, and one that should bring optimism to the Puget Sound area.
“You learn from your mistakes,” Alex Wennberg said. “That just shows right now, I feel like this group is just getting together, and more and more it shows on the ice that we’re more connected.”
Thanks to goals by Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev, Wennberg, and Adam Larsson, solid team defense, and a strong debut performance by Martin Jones, Seattle left Southern California happy.
Here are our Three Takeaways from the first Kraken win of the season.
Takeaway #1: Kraken learning on the fly
On Wednesday, the Kraken—holding a 3-1 lead—took a penalty late in the second period. After an offensive odd-man rush, they turned the puck over to the Ducks, which led to a rush and a power-play goal the other way. That gave life to Anaheim as the teams headed to the dressing rooms and was a huge turning point.
On Thursday, the Kraken—holding a 3-1 lead—took a penalty late in the second period. After an offensive odd-man rush, they… did NOT turn the puck over to the Kings. Instead, Karson Kuhlman was allowed to go in alone and take his shot, while the other three killers stayed above the puck this time. The result was a solid kill and a team heading confidently into the room, holding a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
“I loved the room after the second,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “When guys are talking about the right things, it doesn’t mean it’s always going to go the right way, but they were relaxed.”
Hakstol denied having any sense of deja vu, but watching the two games, it was impossible not to draw parallels between the contests.
“You can’t really think about that too much,” Wennberg said, recognizing the similarities in the situations. “I feel like today we just maybe played it a little bit smarter than we did last night, and I mean, obviously it worked out, so maybe we look at this tape and see some good things from it.”
Jones, who watched Wednesday’s game from the bench, liked what he saw from the goal crease Thursday. “It was a lot better tonight,” he said. “Last night, we had some issues [holding the lead], but I thought tonight we were really strong. We checked hard, I thought we supported the puck really well, and it helped on our breakout.”
If the Kraken can replicate Thursday’s effort over and over this season, they should be a very fun team to watch. They did a lot of good things in all three zones and held what should be a solid Kings team mostly at bay.
Takeaway #2: Jones, Schwartz, and Tanev played starring roles
Jones was impressive in his first start as a Kraken. Making 26 of 27 saves, he never looked under duress. Some of that is thanks to staunch defensive play in front of him, but some of that is also Jones reading the play well and always being in position.
“Good night for Jonesy tonight,” Hakstol said. “He was very calm in there. He didn’t have a lot of work in the first period, but second period, a little more action around him.” The Seattle coach recalled a specific cross-ice save Jones made on Arthur Kaliyev and said, “Saves like that give a little life and a little bit of confidence for the bench, for sure.”
Meanwhile, Schwartz and Tanev, two players who have just returned from season-ending injuries in 2021-22, have quickly made an impact. Schwartz set up the Beniers goal on Wednesday by driving hard to the front of the net, and he scored a power-play goal of his own Thursday, cleaning up a Jordan Eberle rebound.
Schwartz had another minor injury in training camp that caused concern he could miss the beginning of the season. But he has shown no ill effects from that or from last year’s major injury and has been a key piece of Seattle’s offense through two games.
Tanev, who individually makes Seattle look faster and more energetic, scored the eventual game winner at 6:08 of the second period Thursday. He took an indirect pass off the wall from Will Borgen in the corner, drove to the net, and jammed the puck up and over Jonathan Quick.
TURBO TIME!
🚨 🚨
Just a hard-working goal by Tanev, as he drives from the corner and gets a good bounce off Quick. Borgen with the assist.
“That put us ahead and let us play with a lead on back-to-back nights, so that’s important,” Hakstol said. “Guys like him and Schwartzy who can play in small areas are important.”
It is very refreshing to have those two key players back in the lineup.
Takeaway #3: Beniers keeps cooking
Matty Beniers is making it harder and harder to temper expectations for his 19-year-old season. With his assist on Wennberg’s goal, he now has 12 points in 12 NHL games, and that’s after he had a goal negated Thursday due to a very close high-stick call.
“He’s unbelievable,” Wennberg said. “You see on [my] goal, he’s patient, he’s holding on to [the puck] to create space for me down low. And I mean, it looks easy, but for players out there, it takes a lot of skill to do that.”
It’s encouraging to see his usage so high, as well. Hakstol is deploying Beniers as a top-line center and on the right half wall on the power play. Beniers has rewarded his coach for the trust, producing consistently while playing responsibly at the defensive end of the ice.
It’s also encouraging when a veteran gives genuine praise to a rookie because players always know top-end talent when they see it. “He’s been in the league for— what is it, 12 games?” Wennberg said. “But he looks like he’s played in it for 10 years. It’s really impressive, and he could be a hell of a lot fun to follow this year, for sure.”
—
Shane Wright was scratched against the Kings Thursday after playing just 6:14 Wednesday. Hakstol downplayed the decision, saying Wright played a good game in his NHL debut and indicating he simply wanted to get Morgan Geekie back in on Thursday.
It started bad. Then it got better. Then it got really good. Then it started to get bad again. Then it got better again. Then it got really bad. And this wraps up Sound Of Hockey’s analysis of the opening night 5-4 Kraken overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Ok, we have more to say, but that does sum up how Wednesday’s game went.
Less than a minute in, the Kraken showed a familiar tendency for coughing up pucks into dangerous areas at early stages, but then somewhat unfamiliarly, completely took over for the next 37 or so minutes. It was a truly dominant performance until things went awry in the third period. And when we say “awry,” we mean things quickly went from celebratory to, Oh, no, they can’t possibly lose this game, can they?
Spoiler alert: They lost it.
“Little things make a big difference,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Line changes, things like that that put you in the soup a little bit, make a big difference at that time of the game.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from an ultimately soupy season opener.
Takeaway #1: Bad mistakes doom the Kraken against the Ducks
There were a couple memorably unfortunate plays that led to Seattle’s defeat on Wednesday. The first came less than a minute into the game, when Jamie Oleksiak tried to retrieve a puck behind the Kraken net but misplayed it, and a second later, Troy Terry had put the Ducks ahead 1-0.
Oh, boy.
Kraken trail 51 seconds in. Bad turnover behind the net by Oleksiak, and Grubauer got hung out to dry. Troy Terry finishes it.
The other came with the Kraken ahead 3-1 and on a penalty kill late in the second period. They had an offensive odd-man rush in which Alex Wennberg had a clear lane to shoot on John Gibson. Instead of firing the puck, Wennberg tried to force a pass to Ryan Donato and turned it over. Not only did Seattle fail to register a shot on a prime scoring chance, but because of the direction of the pass, three of the team’s four penalty killers found themselves above the puck in the offensive zone.
Mason McTavish went the other way and dished to Ryan Strome, who gave Anaheim life as the teams headed for the dressing rooms before the third period.
“I don’t like the second goal, the PK goal against,” Hakstol said. “We get caught up ice. We were too greedy there.”
Like we said… that was an important kill.
3-2 now. Wennberg had a chance at one end but passed up a shot. Ducks came back the other way and scored off the rush.
Kill that penalty, and we think the outcome of Wednesday’s game is quite different.
We do also have to mention that Seattle could have really used a key stop at a few different moments and didn’t get it from Philipp Grubauer. After getting hung out to dry on the opening goal, Grubauer looked solid up until the third, but things went sideways quickly for him in that final frame.
Said Hakstol, “At the end of the day, they got one more [save] than we did, and that cost us a point.”
Takeaway #2: Is the Kraken power play… good?
If you’re a pessimist, stop reading. The rest of this article will be markedly positive, because there was a lot to like about Seattle’s game Wednesday.
It’s no secret the Kraken power play was atrocious in the team’s inaugural season, so seeing them score three goals on the man advantage for the first time in the history of the franchise was a sight for sore eyes. Not only did they score three goals, but two of the markers came off snipes from newcomers Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky, with new power play quarterback Justin Schultz adding two assists.
Some of the team’s struggles last season were tactical in nature, but the personnel wasn’t there either. Now, with new sharpshooters acquired in the offseason, a new distributor on the blue line, and budding star Matty Beniers facilitating from the halfwall, the Kraken looked downright lethal when Anaheim took penalties on Wednesday.
“We just moved it quick,” Beniers said of what was working with the power play. “We’ve been practicing it a lot… We’ve been getting a lot of reps and feeling good with each other, and then you see it on the ice, and some go in the back of the net, so it’s nice to see results.”
Beniers, by the way, is now back to a point-per-game pace in the NHL after notching a goal and an assist.
About the power play, Hakstol added, “The execution was good. We got three, [and with the] game on the line, we executed really well on the last power play. I’m not sure what [Jordan Eberle’s shot] hit, I think it hit the defenseman’s skate in the blue paint, but we executed well and had the chance to get the game winner there.”
Yeah, a fourth power-play goal in the closing minutes sure would have been nice.
Now, watch these snipes by Jared McCann, Burakovsky, and Bjorkstrand (but keep scrolling down, because there’s more to read after the embedded tweets).
KRAKEN POWER PLAY GOAL!
Beniers with a nice pass to McCann through the seam, and McCann SNIPES short side. 🎯
It wasn’t the outcome Kraken fans wanted, but that was mostly an impressive performance. Coming in, we believed the team greatly improved over the offseason, and even with the eventual overtime loss, Wednesday’s game confirmed it.
In all, Seattle put 48 shots on Gibson (a franchise record), scored three power-play goals (another franchise record), and had 74 percent of the expected goals for at five-on-five. If the Kraken continue to play like they played Wednesday and clean up some of the costly mistakes, they could be really good this season.
“They had a good push, and we just gotta figure out how to close out those games,” Beniers said. “We played really well, and it was just those last 10, 12 minutes and they made a good push, and we didn’t have the best response, and they scored a couple and got it.”
Bonus Takeaway: Shane Wright’s NHL debut
Shane Wright, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, made his official NHL debut on Wednesday. The team treated him to his traditional rookie lap to start warmups, which he took bucketless. Comically, the home faithful gave him a few boos as he circled the Kraken zone alone.
Shane Wright gets a THOROUGH no-bucket rookie lap prior to his NHL debut for the #SeaKraken.
Wright didn’t see much playing time, as he skated on the fourth line between Donato and Karson Kuhlman. In all, Wright played just 6:14.
We did get the pleasure of witnessing a very heartwarming moment after the game, when Wright’s parents met him outside the dressing room, and they each gave him a long and very proud hug. It hit us right in the feels.
It is Seattle Kraken OPENING NIGHT, folks! The boys are set to take on the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday and the Kings in Los Angeles on Thursday, before playing their first home game of the season at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday. So, there’s no time like the present to get the hot take machine cooking again.
How will the Kraken fare in the Pacific Division? Who will win the Stanley Cup? The guys do their best to answer those questions and more.
Enjoy!
How many points will the Kraken rack up in the standings this season? Will they make the playoffs?
Darren Brown –I’m going to predict 90 points. That will not be enough to make the playoffs in what looks to be a pretty good Pacific Division, but they will be in the conversation all season long (I hope).
Frankly, 90 might be optimistic, but this is absolutely a better team than last season, and on top of the improvements to the roster, I think Philipp Grubauer is going to get back to the form he was in before being signed by the Kraken as a free agent last summer.
Of course, I would love to say the Kraken will make the playoffs, and the players have all stated publicly that playoffs is the goal, but I don’t know how realistic that is.
Curtis Isacke – I don’t think the Kraken will be able to climb quite that high. I’ll come in just south of your points prediction, Darren, and say the Kraken record 84 this year. To be clear, this would still be a remarkable 24-point/12-win improvement over last season. The difficulty I have in going higher is uncertainty on defense and in net. Last year we thought the blue line and goaltending were strong on paper and would be the engine of the team on the ice. But, as it played out, those groups vastly underperformed.
I am reasonably confident in projecting a significant improvement in the forward group. From Andre Burakovsky to Oliver Bjorkstrand to a full season of Beniers, the forward group is now skilled and deep. But the question remains: What are we getting on the back end? Is it the intimidating, defense-first unit we projected at this time last year or the group that showed a proclivity to lose structure and discipline at key moments? Time will tell.
Who will win the Pacific Division?
CI – I think Edmonton will rise to the top of the Pacific Division this year. Calgary navigated the loss of Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau admirably. But I expect it will take a little bit of time for the new core to find its footing, and I don’t think the team has the necessary depth to win at a high level if its elite players aren’t quite coalesced and producing. Edmonton, on the other hand, can roll out of bed and score goals with their all-world forwards. By the end of the year, I expect these teams to be very close and competitive. I’d sign up for another Battle of Alberta.
DB – Sadly, I have to agree with you. The Oilers’ couldn’t get a save last year, and they seem to have addressed that by bringing in Jack Campbell. I’m also curious to see how Vegas and Los Angeles will be this year. They played a very fun opener on Tuesday that ended with the Golden Knights skating off victorious, but the Kings–who surprisingly made the playoffs last season–look like they could be the real deal (at least on paper). Plus, Vegas had never-ending injury issues last season, so with better health, that team should be a divisional contender.
Who will win the Presidents’ Trophy?
DB – When it comes to questions about who will be the top team in the NHL this season, it’s really hard to bet against the defending champion Colorado Avalanche. They were so dynamic last season, and although they lost Nazem Kadri and Burakovsky, their true core players are still there.
To me, the only thing that was potentially standing between the Avs and the Cup last season was their goaltending. I’ve never been sold on Darcy Kuemper as an elite netminder, and—despite his mediocre stats in the postseason—they still won hockey’s greatest prize with him as their backstop.
They enter this season with Alexandar Georgiev as their starter. After playing second fiddle to Igor Shesterkin in New York, it’s really hard to say if Georgiev is an upgrade or a downgrade in the crease.
If he’s good, Colorado will win all the games. If he’s bad, Colorado will still win the vast majority of the games. I’m going to guess he’s good, and the Avs will skate away with the Presidents’ Trophy (but will not repeat as Cup winners).
CI – Hard to find fault in the Colorado choice, Darren. But if there is a weakness on the team, it might be their bottom-six forward group, which I’d call: Average? Maybe below average?
I’ll take the Maple Leafs here. They have found ways to fit talented players (*cough* Mark Giordano) around the large superstar contracts at the center of the team and will send out a skater group that lacks any significant weaknesses. The argument against Toronto focuses on two things; the goaltenders and the tough Atlantic Division. I don’t have particularly high confidence in either Matt Murray or Ilya Samsonov in isolation, but taken together I could see one or the other step up and record a serviceable regular season. The postseason is another question, of course.
Who will win the Stanley Cup?
CI – I’ll go with the Colorado Avalanche over the New York Rangers for a repeat Stanley Cup Champion. Chickpea pasta for everyone in Denver.
I was tempted to put one or both of Edmonton and/or Toronto in the Stanley Cup Final, but I think a Canadian team is going to need to prove it is possible first before I can actually pick one to win. Edmonton versus Toronto would be fun, though.
DB – It’s opening night, and I’m feeling frisky, so I’m going full Minnutiae here and picking my beloved (though slightly less beloved since the arrival of the Kraken) Wild. Sure, they historically have almost always bowed out in the first round, but the culture on that team has changed dramatically since Bill Guerin arrived. On paper, they got worse by trading away Kevin Fiala and Cam Talbot, but I have a hunch they will be just as good or better than they were last year.
Are we allowed to feel optimistic about Seattle’s chances this season?
DB – Absolutely. As I mentioned above, my expectation is that the Kraken will narrowly miss the playoffs, which will be disappointing in the end, but it’s all part of the process. Plus, experiencing the “must win” feeling in March, when the Kraken are battling for their lives, will be a big thrill.
As for the process I just mentioned, I think Beniers will establish himself as a star player this season, and Shane Wright will get the development experience he needs to be a difference maker next season or maybe the season after.
Here’s hoping Seattle surprises me, wins a few games it shouldn’t, and sneaks into the dance at the end of the year.
CI – Yes, fans should be optimistic. Seattle will blindside more than a few national commentators and fan bases this year with their skill up front. Gone are the days where Seattle has to grind out every offensive zone possession in the corners. The Kraken have the talent to control play, and it’s going to make for a much more exciting product. Even on tough nights, fans will find reason for excitement in the emergence of Beniers and the development of Wright. These are exciting times for Seattle fans, and it is alright to feel that way, playoffs or not.
The second season in the history of the Seattle Kraken has arrived, and the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is thrilled about it. With Andy absent for this episode, John and Darren manage to talk listeners through the 23-man roster that will open the season Wednesday in Anaheim. They also review the last preseason game, project forward lines, and give thanks that Joey Daccord is still in the organization.
Additionally, John and Darren got the goods from Kraken VP of Marketing, Katie Townsend, about all of the exciting changes fans can expect for the gameday experience at Climate Pledge Arena. Darren wrote about this on soundofhockey.com, in case you’re looking for more info on this topic. Spoiler: there are a LOT of changes coming this season.
After talking about the in-arena updates, the show shifts to segments. Segments for this episode include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and TWEET of the Week.
The second season in the history of the Seattle Kraken has arrived, and the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is thrilled about it. With Andy absent for this episode, John and Darren manage to talk listeners through the 23-man roster that will open the season Wednesday in Anaheim. They also review the last preseason game, project forward lines, and give thanks that Joey Daccord is still in the organization.
Additionally, John and Darren got the goods from Kraken VP of Marketing, Katie Townsend, about all of the exciting changes fans can expect for the gameday experience at Climate Pledge Arena. Darren wrote about this on soundofhockey.com, in case you’re looking for more info on this topic. Spoiler: there are a LOT of changes coming this season.
After talking about the in-arena updates, the show shifts to segments. Segments for this episode include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and TWEET of the Week.
The second season in the history of Seattle Kraken hockey has arrived, and with that comes a new opportunity for the organization to dazzle its fans at home games. With COVID protocols now seemingly a thing of the past, a full season at Climate Pledge Arena under the belt, and a lot of the kinks of being a completely new franchise worked out, Seattle has a lot of new tricks up its sleeve for 2022-23.
We spoke with Kraken senior vice president of marketing, Katie Townsend, about some of the updates fans can expect.
“One thing we spent a lot of the offseason doing was listening,” Townsend said. “We heard from casual fans, season ticket members, people like [Sound Of Hockey] who are there every game. We did the same with our investor group and some of our corporate partners. And then we took all of that in May and June, and we were like, ‘Ok, what are the consistent findings, and now how do we act on them?’”
Here is what the organization has in store.
Game presentation
Revamped pre-game show
There will be a new pre-game show with new video, new ice projections, and new music. The updated show will also allot for 20-30 seconds of video focusing on a different individual player for each game. This will keep things a bit fresher than the show last year, which—although spectacular—did get repetitive by the end of the season. In all, there will be 25 different versions of the open, and Townsend says there are a lot of Easter eggs, which should make for new discoveries every time fans see the show.
Townsend says the new show, “Combines the story of our fans—you know, [fans] who, from Day 1—kind of embarked on this pretty brave journey to be like, ‘Yep, we’re gonna back this,’ with the idea of our players coming together, and then everyone together embodying the spirit of the Kraken.”
If you’re wondering about the neon tentacle that gets lowered from the rafters to mark the Kraken players’ entrance to the ice, it will still be used this season, but it will “appear in a slightly different way.”
“Hoist Your Colors,” an all new pre-third-period show
There will also be a new pre-third-period intro called “Hoist Your Colors.” The Kraken partnered with Bellingham’s famous electronic dance duo, Odesza, and filmed video all across Washington for this portion of the in-game presentation. During “Hoist Your Colors,” a large flag will be raised in the arena. “It combines that kind of nautical theme with the Pacific Northwest and with the Kraken.”
In-arena music
There will be several changes to the music heard by fans in the arena throughout a game night. From the jump, more consistent voices will be heard singing the national anthems.
“We heard that people generally like consistent anthem singers, so we did anthem auditions,” Townsend said. “So, we have Madison Stoneman and Tommie Burton will rotate throughout the games, and then hype nights and specialty nights, we’ll still have [other] people come in.”
During pre-game and intermissions, house bands were a popular and Seattle-centric touch in the inaugural season. House bands will be back this season, but in response to fans wanting to get to know more about the bands that were playing, the Kraken will move from one-off performances to a “residency program.” With this program, each band will play four or five games in a row, assuming the scheduling works out for that band. The first act to be featured will be King Youngblood, a Seattle-based alt-rock band.
Additionally, be on the lookout for a new Kraken-employed marching band debuting at Saturday’s home opener called “Red Alert,” named for the color of the eye in Seattle’s logo. The band will perform brief pre-game concerts at Seattle Center Armory, the plaza in front of Climate Pledge Arena, Alaska Airlines Atrium inside the arena, and then in different places in the concourses during games.
There will be bespoke Kraken-themed sea shanty music videos (perhaps featuring cameos by a few members of Sound Of Hockey?) with famed shanty singer David Coffin coming later in the season. Fans will also hear a new organist, Ben Wooley, tickling the keys for most games, though Rod Masters will still make some appearances.
Fan giveaways
Fans let the Kraken organization know they wanted to receive more free stuff on game nights. High on the list of most desired swag was bobblehead dolls, which the team was not able to give out in its inaugural season. “Bobbleheads take around four months to make,” Townsend explained. “So, for us last year, when we found out the team, when we found out the roster, and then not knowing who’s going to emerge as a star and a fan favorite, it wasn’t really an option for us.”
This season, in addition to a whole host of other giveaways, the team will have five bobblehead nights. Of the five, which will feature Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson, Matty Beniers, Brandon Tanev, and Jordan Eberle, Townsend said her personal favorite is that of Larsson. Asked if the Larsson bobblehead will sport the defenseman’s trademark deep v-neck under shirt, Townsend said, “Maybe.”
Salmon toss update
The ceremonial yeeting of the plush salmon that became so popular during post-win “Three Stars” announcements last season will live on in 2022-23. But there will be a new fish thrown by the players.
This season, the Kraken worked with the Bristol Bay Native Corporation to develop the stuffed salmon. Now, it will be an Alaskan pink salmon, which is a smaller species and the most abundant of North America’s salmon species.
There is also hope the game ops department can find a way to get those salmon delivered deeper into the crowd, as most fish seemed to land within a couple rows of the glass last season.
Buoy the troll
Buoy, the team’s new troll mascot, has been very visible since he was introduced to the world on Oct. 2. He’s been at the Stocker Farms corn maze and Pike Place Market, he’s been doing school visits and other community engagement initiatives, and there’s a lot more to come on that front.
As for what Buoy will do during games, Townsend says we have only caught a glimpse of his antics. “Buoy will have different intermissions and different skits at TV timeouts that he will be doing, so [we are] working on those at the moment.”
Townsend also re-confirmed that Buoy will be able to skate on the ice during intermissions, and that there will be a new, larger t-shirt cannon utilized this season. The cannon Buoy used during his one preseason appearance was the smaller of the t-shirt cannons in the team’s t-shirt-launching arsenal.
Food and drink
New beer options
The price of beer inside Climate Pledge Arena was an unsurprisingly hot topic with fans last season. “We heard from fans,” Townsend said. “Lower-priced beers, but larger quantity. So, we’re introducing a $9.99 Miller High Life 16-ounce can, and then a $9.99 rotating craft beer, 16-ounce as well.” Bigger beers for less money is certainly something that we at Sound Of Hockey can get behind.
The new in-game beer offerings will be available at several locations throughout the arena, so these lower-priced options will not be difficult to locate.
Fans arriving early for weekend home games can also enjoy a cold college soda at a new Modelo-sponsored pre-game beer garden, which will be located inside the Seattle Center Armory.
New food options
There will be several new menu items available for purchase inside the arena, including a salmon chowder sourdough bowl, more options from Impossible Foods, and additional selections like a brisket sandwich at Mercer Street Mac & BBQ. More adventurous fans can also look forward to a special new offering; the peanut butter and jelly corndog.
Perhaps most notably, Lil Woody’s Burgers & Shakes is being replaced with Molly D Burgers. Named for Climate Pledge Arena’s executive chef, Molly Demers, Molly D Burgers will be its own concession stand, and the specialty burger there will be the quarter-pound Royal Ranch beef patty topped with cheddar, pickles, onion, and a secret sauce.
The team also hopes to help fans navigate more easily to the various food and beverage offerings. “One thing we learned is [we need] better maps,” Townsend said. “We’re going to try that on the [Kraken + Climate Pledge Arena mobile] app and around the arena so that people— we heard from some fans, like, ‘I only see the food options that are around me.’ And so, I think what I would encourage people to do is to look at that map and to go and explore the arena.”
Mobile app
Speaking of the Kraken + Climate Pledge Arena app, there will be updates to that this season too, as it will be more Kraken-focused than before. Last season, the app was designed with Climate Pledge Arena as the center of attention, with some Kraken info mixed in. This season, it will be a lot more Kraken centric and will also allow fans to stream live radio broadcasts of games in real time.
Transportation
After receiving feedback about parking spaces being too tight at the arena garage, some spaces are being re-striped to make them wider. The team is also now partnered with a new garage in Pacific Place, which will be cheaper than garages around Climate Pledge Arena. Pacific Place is located downtown, but fans can park there and hop on the monorail to get to the game.
Additionally, there is a new option to valet bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and other personal forms of transportation right at the arena, and the popular free transit program for ticketholders is still available and redeemable through the mobile app.
Community initiatives
A new “Heroes of the Deep” program was introduced during preseason, which will award $32,000 to charity at every single home game. “[It’s a] huge commitment on behalf of the ownership group, so people should look out for those stories, and also, if they have people that they want to nominate, they 100 percent should do that,” implored Townsend.
Finally, there is a new 50/50 raffle that was tested in preseason. Fans can buy tickets from raffle sellers around the concourses. One winner will take home half of each night’s pot, while the other half of the proceeds will benefit the One Roof Foundation.
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The Kraken kick off their season Wednesday in Anaheim at 7PM Pacific. Their first home game, where many of these new endeavors will officially debut, will be Saturday at 7PM against the Vegas Golden Knights.
With the kickoff of the NHL season this week, it is a good time to breakdown the 2022-23 schedule. Here, we drill into who is logging the most frequent flier miles, which teams have the most back-to-back games, and which teams will appear on the most national television games.
Travel distance
Comparing 2021-22 to 2022-23 is not a fair comparable due to the impacts COVID had on the schedule, with several games being postponed and rescheduled throughout the season. If you were to compare this year’s schedule to last year’s planned schedule, though, the median travel for last year would have been slightly less due to the condensed nature of last season.
Here is how travel distances for the 2022-23 season stacks up by team.
The Pacific Division teams tend to have the most travel miles in a season, so it is no surprise to see those teams around the top. The Florida Panthers are the only non-Pacific team in the top seven this season.
Here is how the travel miles split out by division.
Based on that perspective, the schedule looks encouraging for Seattle, considering the Kraken will travel less than five division rivals.
Number of road trips
Travel distance is one aspect of evaluating the challenges of a team’s schedule, but the quantity of road trips is another variable to consider. Here is the breakdown of the number of road trips by team.
The Kraken are tied for having the third fewest road trips this year. Here is how their road trip and homestands break down throughout the year.
Of course, having fewer road trips also means longer trips at times, so is that better for Seattle? That’s hard to say.
Back-to-back games
Last year, the Kraken played 13 sets of back-to-back games. When playing in the second of back-to-back’s, they accrued just six points, or 23 percent of the points available in those games. In all other games, they accumulated 43 percent of the points available. Playing back-to-back games was a challenge for the Kraken last season. As a whole, the league will see fewer back-to-back games now that the NHL calendar is on a more traditional schedule post-COVID.
It is nice to see the Kraken will play the second fewest back-to-back games in 2022-23.
Bonus content: NHL national TV schedule breakdown
While we are talking about schedules, let us take a quick peek at the NHL national TV schedule for this year.
As the graph shows, there are plans for 14 more nationally televised NHL games this season than there were last season. Note that the 2021-22 numbers were based on preseason reported schedule that was eventually impacted by COVID cancelations and rescheduled games.
Here is how this season breaks down by network.
TNT, which has the rights to broadcast the Stanley Cup Final this season, added 12 more games compared to last season. ESPN added 10 more games to the flagship network and five games to ABC. The ESPN+/Hulu exclusive scheduled games are down to 53 from 75 in 2021-22.
NHL TV schedule by team
The 10 nationally televised Kraken games for 2022-23 is down from 13 games in 2021-22. If you want to mark your calendars for those games, here is the list.
The real season begins this week. Enjoy the games!
SEATTLE — A quiet Wednesday morning at the Kraken Community Iceplex is given noisy life as 60 children bound through the front door with squeals of joy, anticipation, and excitement. The children sit on benches patiently as their teachers and chaperones lace skates to their feet. They are escorted out to the ice where they grip orange cones, many apprehensive about letting their skates touch the ice.
It is the first day on the ice for the kids, many of whom have never been inside an ice rink before.
Day one
Wednesday was day one of a learn to skate program for children whose families participate in early learning centers with the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) and the Kraken’s One Roof Foundation. It’s the second year of the program that runs for 32 weeks. At the end of the on-ice session, the same children who dared not to let go of the cones on the ice in the beginning were flying around it.
“The children are working individually to build their confidence but also working as a team,” Susan Lee, ReWA operations director for early learning centers said. “They know that when they fall down, they will get up and somebody is going to give them a hand. But they can also do it themselves, and that’s something that a parent had shared with me on their first day last year.”
ReWA has been serving the local community for the past 35 years and is nationally renowned for its work with refugee and immigrant women and their families, taking a holistic approach to promote integration and self-sufficiency. The goal is to quickly and effectively stabilize clients, promote acculturation, increase language proficiency, and improve employability.
Children cling to orange cones before learning to skate
The learn to play clinics are part of that goal as well as opening access to children who might not otherwise feel welcome on the ice.
“We wanted to remove barriers to entry of the sport of ice hockey and to ice skating, and transportation is a huge barrier,” Kraken community engagements and youth access specialist Andrew Bloom said. “We found this group that we could work with, to bring the kids here to the Iceplex and remove that transportation barrier on top of the cost barrier. This is a very diverse group of kids and having them start at such a young age, they’re going to have the same advantage as any other kid.”
On the ice, the four- and five-year-old’s participating go through the trials of learning to skate. That includes pushing objects down the ice like giant cones, chairs, and plastic seals.
There is also the expected falls, but they get up every time, and the one constant among the diverse group is the smiles and laughter.
“I can speak on behalf of the families and the children that this is an amazing opportunity to really bridge the gap of equity and accessibility in early learning,” Lee said. “Especially for ice skating, and hockey, which is a really expensive sport. This is ensuring that our early learners, who I would say about 95 percent are low-income families, children of color, families of color are now able to have a foundation for future growth and this really opens their eyes as well for endless possibilities. These are future Olympians and hockey players.”
The Kraken skills coaches and youth hockey coaches help the on-ice instruction. ReWA serves families who speak up to 60 different languages, but a common language of ice skating becomes the norm for the kids.
Buoy brings added excitement
Near the end of Wednesday’s sessions, the Kraken mascot, Buoy, took the ice to the delight of the skaters who mobbed the mascot and posed for a group photo before they shuffled off the ice with just as much excitement as when they took to the ice 45 minutes earlier.
Hockey is the Kraken’s main business, but that’s not the ultimate point of the learn-to-skate partnership with ReWA.
“It’s learn to skate first,” Bloom said. “We definitely introduce hockey after they get comfortable on the ice. In the coming weeks we’ll introduce hockey sticks and do a little learn to play hockey for free type of event and just get them exposed to it.”
Whether the kids move on to hockey or into figure skating and other skating sports is irrelevant. The benefits go beyond the ice and sport.
It’s not only fun but helping in these young children’s development.
Buoy was a hit among the children
“It’s about social and emotional skills,” Lee said pointing to a young girl skating a chair around the ice. “It’s about their physical skill as well gross motor skills, their fine motor skills and cognitive as well. All of these are in place as the children are learning. For example, this little girl, she’s coordinating her skates and her skating, right? But it’s using her audio and her visual, gross motor skills, and learning from one another through modeling.
So, there’s a lot of learning. Yes, you’re having fun, but there’s a tremendous amount of learning. These kids here, they’re all from different countries, different cultures and this is really exposing them to something that is tangible.”
Watching from just outside the glass were the parents, armed with cell phones to record the memories through picture and video.
The smiles outside the rink were just as plentiful as the kids on the ice.
In the build up of the Kraken becoming an official NHL team, executives from the franchise to be spoke a lot about the importance of being more than just a hockey team. They wanted to be a community partner, and a partnership such as the one with ReWA is proving it wasn’t just lip service.
“As an immigrant child myself, this would have been something that I wish I had,” Lee said. “This is a dream come true for me to be able to see 60 of my kids in our programming, having this ability, this accessibility, to enjoy themselves and not think about the disparity and where they come from. This allows them a space to really express themselves. It gives me hope that corporations such as the Kraken can think about investing in the future of early learning. I’m grateful, I’m very hopeful, and I hope that other professional sports team will follow their example.”
The guys at the Sound Of Hockey Podcast have decided they want to *try* to increase the number of episodes they deliver to you this season, so they’re trying something new here. For as many weeks as they can, John, Andy, and Darren are going to record a second episode that is shorter, more raw, and follows less of a formula than the regular weekly “integer” episodes, which will remain completely unchanged.
Let the guys know what you think of this idea by way of a five-star review. 🙂
For this first “.5” episode, Andy and Darren chat with Coachella Valley Firebirds assistant coach, Jessica Campbell. It is an incredible interview that the guys think you will absolutely love.
