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.
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.
Though Sunday was a scheduled day off for Seattle Kraken players, there was some big roster news announced. On the last day teams were allowed to place players on waivers before the regular season, Seattle made what appeared to be its final cuts before opening night Wednesday. Defenseman Michal Kempny and forward John Hayden were waived with intent of assigning them to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. We think this means Cale Fleury and Daniel Sprong have made the team (at least for now).
There’s still some murkiness, as the roster is still over the 23-man limit, but more on that in a bit.
Meanwhile, goalie Joey Daccord and forward Alex True cleared waivers and were assigned to Coachella Valley. Daccord staying in the organization meant Kraken fans could breathe a sigh of relief, as there was plenty of speculation the popular backstop could get snatched up. That would have made the Kraken organization very thin in the goal crease. Remember, Magnus Hellberg got claimed by Ottawa on Monday, so the Kraken were down to Philipp Grubauer, Martin Jones, Daccord, and Callum Booth as viable netminding options for their NHL and AHL teams. Keeping Daccord makes things much easier on that front.
Kraken roster down to 24
There’s still at least one roster move left to come, as Seattle needs to get down to 23 players on its roster before taking on the Ducks on Wednesday. Two remaining players have been banged up in camp, though, so it is our assumption that this piece has already worked itself out. Joonas Donskoi left Seattle’s Sept. 29 preseason game in Vancouver after colliding with Kole Lind in the second period and hasn’t been seen on the ice since. Coach Dave Hakstol has maintained Donskoi is day to day.
Additionally, Jaden Schwartz left Friday’s preseason finale in Edmonton and is also day to day, according to Hakstol. Before going down the tunnel that night, Schwartz was seen holding his upper thigh or groin area. He did not practice on Saturday.
Jaden Schwartz left the game in the second period tonight. Believe this was the last time he was on the ice… pic.twitter.com/PU3EorN3yZ
Our guess is that one of these two players will hit injured reserve, which brings the roster to 23.
Daniel Sprong earned this opportunity
Worth noting, Sprong’s inclusion on the opening night roster has not officially been announced by the team. He also did not participate in practice on Saturday, but Hakstol called it a personal day off the ice. Again, there’s some murkiness, but the fact he didn’t get placed on waivers Sunday tells us Seattle intends to keep him.
It is remarkable to see Sprong still on the roster, considering what has happened with him since last season’s trade deadline. Acquired in the deal that sent Marcus Johansson to Washington, Sprong was not tendered a qualifying offer at the end of the season and became an unrestricted free agent. Without a contract, he entered Kraken camp on a professional try-out and impressed every step of the way.
Sprong scored two goals in the preseason and earned praise from Hakstol for his play in all three zones, a consistent knock on Sprong’s game throughout his NHL career. The improved 200-foot play resulted in Sprong signing a two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level or $325,000 at the AHL level.
Now, it does appear he’ll break camp with the Kraken, and assuming that is the case, it is a well-earned opportunity and a good example of why players accept PTO deals.
Cale Fleury beats out Michal Kempny
We always knew there would be a battle for the seventh and final spot on Seattle’s blue line. From the jump, it was plain to see that Kempny and Fleury were the two combatants trying to beat out one another, and Fleury ended up as the last man standing.
The 23-year-old, right-shot defenseman played 41 games as a rookie for Montreal in 2019-20, but didn’t see NHL action again until February of last season with Seattle. In all, he played nine games with the Kraken in 2021-22 and did not record a point.
Kempny, who has had several major injury issues in recent years, faced an uphill battle after he too got banged up in the Sept. 29 game. He missed several days of camp and spent time in a red non-contact jersey before getting back as a full participant in the last week.
Depth chart
We haven’t confirmed Schwartz or Donskoi will be on IR, but we are guessing at least one will be there, as discussed above. So, with that in mind, here’s how things look for Seattle’s depth chart. Based on how long it has been since Donskoi participated in practice, we predict he will land on IR, opening the spot for Sprong. Lines are, as always, very much subject to change.
Forwards
Jared McCann // Matty Beniers // Andre Burakovsky Jaden Schwartz // Alex Wennberg // Oliver Bjorkstrand Yanni Gourde // Shane Wright // Jordan Eberle Ryan Donato // Morgan Geekie // Brandon Tanev Daniel Sprong Karson Kuhlman Joonas Donskoi (potential IR)
Defense
Vince Dunn // Adam Larsson Jamie Oleksiak // Justin Schultz Carson Soucy // Will Borgen Cale Fleury
Goalies
Philipp Grubauer Martin Jones Chris Driedger (will be on IR, maybe LTIR)
Friday’s Kraken preseason finale against the Edmonton Oilers felt mostly celebratory. At least, it felt celebratory until the last few minutes, when things went sideways… then not… and then sideways again. Philipp Grubauer had a great game, until he tried to clear the puck out of Seattle’s zone late in the third period. The Seattle netminder partially whiffed on the clearing attempt, and the puck caromed off Leon Draisaitl and right into the net with just 4:33 left in the game. Oopsy daisy.
To Seattle’s credit, Jared McCann leveled the score temporarily with a power-play blast at 17:42, but Evander Kane got the game winner just 19 seconds later and sent the Kraken home sad.
Here are our Three Takeaways from the final Kraken preseason game.
Takeaway #1: Daniel Sprong makes his final statement
He would need to clear waivers if the Kraken try to sneak him through to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, so if that’s the play, there’s a chance he gets claimed by another team. Waivers or not, the Dutch forward has put himself in a great position to remain an NHL player this season, something that felt like the opposite of a sure thing a month ago.
In his final opportunity to prove that he belonged, Sprong wasted no time in getting himself on the scoresheet. Will Borgen ripped a slapshot from the right point about 12:45 into the game. Sprong whiffed on the rebound, but he stayed with it, found the puck bouncing around, and popped it over the outstretched pad of Jack Campbell to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.
“If you want to score in this league, you have to find some of those on the inside,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “[Sprong] was able to do that on that first goal, so working to get inside and be around for some of those second [opportunities], to get them back on net is important, so it was a good goal by him.”
The Kraken had just two power plays in the game, and guess who showed up in the left circle to start the first one. Yes, Sprong was floating in the “Alex Ovechkin office,” waiting for a chance to blast away, but the puck never came to him. Even so, he has surely given this coaching staff a very difficult decision to make.
If Sprong does stay, who goes?
Takeaway #2: Did Jaden Schwartz get injured?
One of the refreshing sights to see in this training camp has been Jaden Schwartz seemingly at full strength. The top-six forward missed significant time last season with an undisclosed upper-body injury, but has spoken positively about his health status during camp.
He left Friday’s game in the second period and did not return. With just over 12 minutes left in the frame, Schwartz took a light tap on the left hand, then went to the bench and appeared to be holding his upper thigh area.
Jaden Schwartz left the game in the second period tonight. Believe this was the last time he was on the ice… pic.twitter.com/PU3EorN3yZ
It is hard to say from the video above what happened to him, but a healthy Jaden Schwartz is hugely important for Seattle’s chances this season. Here’s hoping it’s nothing serious.
Takeaway #3: Plenty of positives
A 5-3 loss wasn’t the outcome Kraken fans would have wanted, but 4-2-0 is a fine preseason record. And frankly, Seattle had every chance to win that game on Friday, save for an ugly miscue late in the game and a lack of focus seconds after scoring to make up for said miscue.
Things we liked were Sprong showing up again, Grubauer’s game through two and a half periods (until the late mishandle), McCann getting on the board for the first time this preseason, and Matty Beniers scoring his fourth goal in four outings.
“There were a lot of good pieces,” Hakstol said. “Tonight was more complete than we’ve been in the first four.”
This team looks much better than it did last preseason, from the goal crease out. As we head to the regular season, there is a lot to like about this roster, regardless of who the last few cuts end up being.
“You don’t get second chances now, we start next week,” added Hakstol. “We’ve had a hard-working camp. You know, we have a lot of guys that have had good camps, now we have a couple of days to get a little bit of rest, and then it’s for real, and we’ll get going in four or five days.”
This is a fun episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, featuring another big-time guest. Kraken goalie Chris Driedger stops by for a relatively short interview to talk about his new charity, Driedger’s Keepers, as well as how he’s feeling after his offseason knee injury and his expectations for the Kraken this season.
Aside from the Driedger interview, John, Andy, and Darren answered a whole bunch of questions from the Mailbag, which got plenty of great participation this week and leads to some spirited conversation.
Before getting to those parts of the show, though, you’ll get a breakdown of the three Kraken preseason games that have been played since the last episode, a discussion on who got sent down and/or waived by Seattle, and thoughts on who will make the opening night roster.
After the Driedger interview, the show shifts to segments, which this week include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
One of the biggest challenges the Seattle Kraken had last year was scoring goals. The Kraken ranked 28th in the league with only 213 goals scored for the entire 2021-22 season. A key component of this challenge was the lack of opportunity and success on the power play. In this edition of Data Dump, we are going to explore the information we have around Seattle’s struggles with the manpower advantage last season and how the team is addressing the issue.
Power play opportunity
The Kraken had the third fewest power play goals in the league last year with just 32 such markers. This ranked ahead of only the Philadelphia Flyers (30) and Arizona Coyotes (28). There are two components that go into logging power play goals, number of power play opportunities and power play percentage. Let us look at those two numbers from last season.
As you can see, the Kraken were toward the bottom of the heap in power plays drawn (opportunities) and power play percentage (execution). These two statistics are not necessarily correlated. Toronto ranked 21st in number of power play opportunities but first in power play percentage. Similarly, Philadelphia ranked 16th in opportunities but last in power play execution.
Power play trends
One explanation could attribute the lack of execution on the power play to the unfamiliarity the players had with each other in Seattle’s inaugural season. Unfortunately, when we look at the power play over the season, it ebbed and flowed but never showed a consistent improvement.
Drawing penalties
As we mentioned above, part of the reason for Seattle’s low power-play goals output is due to the lack of opportunities. To get opportunities, you need players that draw penalties, so let us look at who drew penalties for the Kraken last season.
One encouraging item that stands out is that the players that drew the most penalties on the 2021-22 Seattle Kraken remain on the team for the 2022-23 season. We can take the analysis one step further by looking at the players by minutes played versus the number of drawn penalties from last season. Plus, we can overlay the new Kraken players to get a more complete picture for this season.
In addition to Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky posting above-average numbers in drawing penalties, we also believe Matty Beniers could be one of the team leaders in penalties drawn this coming season based on what we have seen during the preseason. His numbers from last year hint at this.
Deployment changes
Getting more chances on the power play is one thing, but the team will need to take advantage of those opportunities. We know changes on the power play are coming, but before we get into that, here are the power play minute leaders from last season.
We already know the power play time taken by Mark Giordano, Calle Jarnkrok, and Marcus Johansson will need to be replaced.
Based on coach Dave Hakstol’s deployment during the preseason, we anticipate the changes to be more significant than just filling the vacancies left by those three players. The first power play unit is solid on paper, with Justin Schultz, Alex Wennberg, and the Killer B’s of Beniers, Bjorkstrand, and Burakovsky. The unit has not been remarkable during the preseason, but there have been moments where you can tell it will be just a matter of time before they really start clicking.
The second power play unit is still a work in progress, but looking at the remaining players on the roster, we like the options. Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz, Vince Dunn, and Yanni Gourde feels like the right combo to start the season with Shane Wright and Ryan Donato as options to slide in with those players.
Do not expect instant success when the season starts. Chemistry amongst players takes time, and when you consider the new faces on that first unit, we need to be patient for these players to develop that chemistry.
Improved Kraken power play will be critical
The Kraken will need to see improvements in multiple aspects of their game to expect a different outcome in season two. Behind goaltending, power play opportunities and production could be huge in deciding if Seattle plays meaningful games in March.
We think this chart sums up nicely the relationship between success on the power play and postseason aspirations.
With the season opener only a week away, we felt the time was nigh to take stock in what we’ve seen from the Seattle Kraken in preseason and training camp and look ahead to which players will be impactful in the team’s second year.
Our own Darren Brown and Curtis Isacke got together for a written discussion that assigns predictive superlatives to certain members of the team.
Enjoy!
Most improved
Darren Brown – I think there are two obvious answers for this first one, but I’ll say the one I think is most conspicuous and important and see if Curtis takes the bait for the other one.
The Kraken need Philipp Grubauer to be better this season, no doubt, but it also feels like this is an extremely safe bet for a player that will be much improved compared to 2021-22.
There were 53 goalies that played at least 25 NHL games last season. Of those 53 goalies, Grubauer ranked 53rd in save percentage at .889, yet his career save percentage is .914. In 2020-21 in Colorado, he was outstanding with a .922 save percentage and 1.95 goals against average and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He may not return to that level, but last season is certainly an outlier when you consider his body of work.
What’s really encouraging on the Grubauer front, though, is that he has looked confident and solid in training camp and preseason. He has said positive things about working with new goalie coach Steve Briere, and in a game and a half of preseason action, he has not allowed a goal.
Even a mediocre season for Grubauer could mean a lot more wins for the Kraken.
Philipp Grubauer tends his goal in a preseason game on Sept. 27 against the Flames. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Curtis Isacke – I know I’m inviting a rejoinder from the perspective of a goaltender, but, from the outside, large variations in goaltender performance from season to season are not atypical. And precedent suggests we should see a very large bounceback from Seattle’s German-born netminder. Given the incredible importance of goalie play to wins and losses, Grubauer is a good choice, Darren, and probably the right one.
Beyond Grubauer, there are several candidates that underperformed last year and could be expected to “improve” this season. Joonas Donskoi is particularly notable, but I’m not certain he’ll receive the regular ice time this season necessary to facilitate a rebound.
So, if we’re talking about statistical improvement, I’ll go with Alex Wennberg. I thought he had a bit of an up-and-down first year with Seattle, but he certainly was not a bad player by any means. I’m picking him because I think the 28-year-old will be in a prime position to excel this year. On one side, he will have a legitimate top-six scorer in either Andre Burakovsky or Oliver Bjorkstrand (it seems to be trending toward the latter), and on the other side he may be supported by the skating tornado that is Yanni Gourde. After compiling just 37 points last season, I’ll project Wennberg tops 50 points this year (let’s say 12 goals and 43 assists) and, on the defensive end, sheds the ghastly +/- of -26.
I think Matty Beniers is primed to take the biggest leap in terms of overall contribution to the team, but I doubt he’ll exceed or come close to maintaining his point pace from last year over a full 82 games. Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Tanev can certainly be expected to return more value this year, but their situations are injury-related. Who was the second player you were thinking of, Darren? I’ll guess Donskoi.
DB – No rejoinder from me. Growing up as a goalie, I would stink one year and be great the next. It just happens. And Donskoi is correct. Good guess.
Surprise player to “take a step”
CI – When I think about a player “taking a step,” I think of a young player developing and improving at the NHL level. With the Kraken short on such players – only two likely to have regular roles come to mind – I’ll go with Will Borgen. The 25-year-old defenseman has size and speed and uses his impressive physicality to deny the blue line and clear the goal crease. What’s more encouraging, he showed improved stick skills last year, and that has carried over into camp this season. (There have even been calls for Will Borgen to take a turn in shootouts. I won’t go there, but he has been better.) The opportunity is there to play a full season and deliver solid/average production.
Will Borgen could play a bigger role for the Kraken this season. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
If we’re not confining this to young players, my surprise pick is Justin Schultz. I think there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about his defensive game at even strength, but if he is given the opportunity to run the first unit power play, he should deliver a lot of value there. As an aside, in my ideal world, I’d send out five forwards on the first unit, with Matty Beniers running things from the blue line, but I don’t think coach Dave Hakstol will do that. Short of that, Schultz is clearly the best bet in my opinion. He moves well with the puck, makes good decisions in space, and can deliver accurate passes.
DB – I love that Borgen call. Anecdotally speaking, it does seem like he’s primed to play a regular role this season. With him and fellow right-shot defensemen Schultz and Adam Larsson, Seattle could have a nicely balanced blue line for the first time.
Also, for the record, I do not agree with your premise of putting five forwards on the power play, and I’m quite content with Matty in the right circle.
For my pick, I *want* to go with Morgan Geekie here, but he still seems destined for a bottom-six or even thirteenth-or-fourteenth forward role. So, instead, I’m going to go with another fairly obvious option and say Shane Wright.
General manager Ron Francis said to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he thinks Wright will be with the team all season. If that comes to fruition, it will be fun to watch Wright develop as an NHLer before our eyes.
In his preseason performances, he hasn’t jumped off the page, but there have been moments of brilliance. We expect a relatively slow start, but as he adjusts to the speed of the game, don’t be surprised to see Wright producing and playing a key role in the second half of the season.
Leading scorer
DB – Alright, I know we’re still supposed to be tempering expectations for the 19-year-old rookie, but I’m going to go with the grain and with what my eyes have seen in camp and preseason. Matty Beniers looks even better than he did during his 10-game stint at the end of last season, when he scored nine points. He’s stronger now, his shot is more lethal than I remember, and he looks comfortable in his surroundings.
The proof has been in the pudding so far, as he has goals in all three of the preseason games he’s played, all coming off wicked shots. We expect Beniers to center one of the top two lines all season long and be a shooter on the top power play unit. With those opportunities should come plenty of points, and–dare I say–Calder Trophy consideration.
Matty Beniers looks ready to take a leading role for the Kraken. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
CI – As bizarre as it is to type, I’d agree that Beniers probably should be the betting favorite to lead the team in points. The two point leaders from last season – Jared McCann (50) and Yanni Gourde (48) – haven’t even been skating with the first unit power play so far so I would not necessarily expect total point production improvement from either player. Andre Burakovsky and Oliver Bjorkstand will be considered wildly successful acquisitions if they get into this same range. With Beniers “off the board” so to speak, I’ll go back to Alex Wennberg. I predicted 55 points for him and I guess I’ll say that narrowly leads the team. What do you think, Darren? Any world in which Alex Wennberg is your leading scorer? And, if not Beniers, who?
DB – I did not expect Wennberg as your rebuttal. I would have expected McCann as your second choice, though I have a weird hunch he will regress a bit from his career year. If Wennberg is the leading scorer in terms of points, it will mean one of his linemates has put up a huge number of goals, because I wouldn’t expect Wennberg to shoot nearly enough to fill the net himself. Interesting pick, though.
Prospect to watch
CI – You know I’m ready to go deep on prospects, Darren. And I was tempted to spend three paragraphs expressing my genuine interest in seeing what high schooler Ben MacDonald does with the West Kelowna Warriors of the BCHL.
But my actual answer to the question of which prospect I’m most interested to see this year is the prospect closest to, but not in, the NHL: Ryker Evans. The 20-year-old blueliner got more ice time this preseason with the Kraken, and, while there were certainly rough moments, I was encouraged by what I saw on balance. He plays with aggression and skill offensively and through the neutral zone. Impressive stuff for a younger player.
The Seattle blue line has a number of question marks looking past this year. Will Vince Dunn deserve a new contract? Will Carson Soucy return? Can Will Borgen or Cale Fleury justify a long-term role? All of this means there is opportunity for Evans. Will he seize it? I’m curious to find out.
DB – I’m shocked you didn’t take Wright. I had mentally prepared myself to write a blurb on Evans, but since you went that direction, and since I already commented on Wright above, I’ll throw a curveball here and say Jagger Firkus. I don’t expect him to make the NHL for a couple seasons, but he will be on a good Moose Jaw Warriors team and should have a ton of confidence returning to the WHL after a positive NHL training camp. Can he top his 80 points in 66 games from last season?
Offseason acquisition that makes the biggest impact
DB –I’m glad I get to go first here. Oliver Bjorkstrand is my pick. I love this guy’s game in all three zones, and although he hasn’t found the scoresheet too many times in preseason, there have been flashes of brilliance that make me think he’s going to be a key contributor.
There may be a bit of an adjustment period, which could make it difficult for Bjorkstrand to replicate the 28 goals he potted in 2021-22 in Columbus. But, he showed good chemistry on a line with former teammate Wennberg and Gourde against the Canucks on Saturday, and he will play big minutes.
CI – Yes, Darren, Bjorkstrand is the pick. I mentioned that Justin Schultz could bring a big boost to the power play, but I think if there is another offseason acquisition that could threaten Bjorkstrand, it has to be Andre Burakovsky. Burakovsky is an elite shooter. But he doesn’t shoot as much as you might expect and has not topped 22 goals in any season. If the team can figure out a way to isolate Burakovsky as a shooter, and the 27-year-old forward adopts the right mentality, I could certainly see a 30-goal campaign in his future. If that were to happen this year, you could fairly argue Burakovsky had the biggest impact.
Team MVP
CI – For all of the changes to this team, I think Yanni Gourde is the guy here. The fans got it right last year, and Yanni should keep the belt (fish?) as team MVP for at least one more year. He should be one of the three or four best skaters on the team, and he is one of the clear emotional and inspirational leaders. The total package is too much for any other player to overcome. If Beniers is a point-per-game player as a rookie and wins the Calder Trophy, get back to me, I guess. What do you think, Darren?
DB – Beniers all the way. I’m sticking to my guns from above and saying he’s going to have a fantastic season. I genuinely think that–even at 19 years old–he’s Seattle’s best player, assuming he can maintain confidence and battle through the rigors of an 82-game NHL season.
The Seattle Kraken officially added a player back into the fold Monday and lost another one to a waiver claim. Daniel Sprong, who was in camp on a professional try-out, accepted a two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level or $325,000 at the AHL level. Meanwhile, netminder Magnus Hellberg—placed on waivers Sunday—was snatched up by the Ottawa Senators, thinning out Seattle’s goalie depth chart.
Daniel Sprong signs
Sprong has had an outstanding training camp. He was the best player in an intrasquad scrimmage on one of the first couple days of practice, and he scored on a wicked one-timer in Seattle’s Sept. 27 preseason game against the Flames.
🚨 SPRONG BOMB! 🚨
Dunn serves it to Sprong on a platter, and the Dutchman blasts away. 1-0 Kraken.
Sprong is a goal scorer with blazing speed and a cannon of a shot. He joined the Kraken at the NHL Trade Deadline last season, in the deal that sent Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals, and scored six goals in the 16 games he played for Seattle down the stretch. But even as he was showing offensive prowess, we could tell from how coach Dave Hakstol talked about Sprong that the team thought he needed to show more at the defensive end of the ice.
Sprong, then a restricted free agent, was not tendered a qualifying offer after the 2021-22 season. That made him an unrestricted free agent, and he found himself without a contract as the offseason was winding down.
On Saturday, Sprong said free agency was a “wake-up call” for him, which ended with him coming back to Kraken camp on a PTO and fighting for a contract.
Sprong’s two-way play has always been the knock against him, but after he scored against the Flames this preseason, Hakstol made it clear he liked what he had been seeing from the winger. “I thought he played his ass off tonight,” Hakstol said after that game. “He played hard, and that’s what we want him to keep doing. He’s done that every day, and he’s just got to continue to do that in all three zones.”
How Sprong fits (or doesn’t?)
Now that he is under contract, it will be interesting to see how Seattle proceeds with Sprong. There is no obvious spot for him on the NHL roster, and although he will get a lower salary if he plays for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, he will have to clear waivers to get there.
We think he would clear, because if a general manager out there wanted Sprong, that GM could have signed him at any point during his PTO. But, if Sprong does get claimed, then so be it, since Seattle clearly hadn’t factored him into the plans for the NHL roster coming into camp. That would also likely be a welcome outcome for the player, as he would get another shot at the NHL level.
Regardless of how it shakes out, this is a low-risk deal for the Kraken organization that should minimally provide a top forward at the AHL level and potentially some depth scoring punch at the NHL level.
Magnus Hellberg claimed by Senators
From a goalie gear perspective, we were devastated to learn Hellberg, placed on waivers Sunday with the intention of sending him to Coachella Valley, was claimed by the Ottawa Senators. Hellberg had one of the most unique setups we’ve ever seen, and tragically, we only got to see his Brian’s gear in preseason game action one time.
Magnus Hellberg makes a save for the Seattle Kraken. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Kraken fans should monitor what happens with Ottawa’s goalies when Talbot returns, because it would seem likely that Hellberg would go back on waivers at that time. If that happens and no other team claims him, Seattle could get Hellberg back and put him right into the AHL without having to put him back on waivers. That is how Seattle claimed and then lost Alex Barré-Boulet and Austin Czarnik last season, and lost but recovered Dennis Cholowski.
So, perhaps Hellberg shouldn’t retire his Kraken gear just yet.
The claiming of Hellberg makes us even more curious to see what will happen if/when Seattle tries to send Joey Daccord down to the AHL. He too will have to clear waivers, and we can’t help wondering if Ottawa would have grabbed him instead of Hellberg, had he been available. Hellberg is the second goalie claimed this preseason after Jonas Johansson went to Arizona, so there does seem to be some residual demand for goalie help as teams look to shore up the position.
Seattle is now down to Philipp Grubauer, Martin Jones, Daccord, and Callum Booth as its options to play for the Kraken and the Firebirds. If Daccord gets claimed, the Kraken will need to find some additional goalie help of their own.
Kole Lind and Andrew Poturalski clear waivers, more cuts coming
Including Hellberg, the Kraken placed 10 players on waivers Sunday. Of that group, we were most concerned about Kole Lind and Andrew Poturalski getting claimed by another NHL team, but both players cleared Monday and were assigned to Coachella Valley.
Lind had a good showing with the Kraken at the end of last season, and Poturalski has been a prolific scorer at the AHL level but has never gotten much of a chance in the NHL.
On Lind, Hakstol said the first couple days of his training camp weren’t his best, but he improved toward the end of his time. The message from Hakstol to Lind is that he needs to work on “solidifying his game and being the very best at what he does and doing that consistently.”
After the cuts, the Kraken have 29 players remaining in camp and will need to trim down to 23 players before the regular season gets underway.
Those left on the roster are in Alberta this week for a team-building trip bookended between Monday’s preseason game against the Calgary Flames and Friday’s preseason finale against the Edmonton Oilers.
This preseason had already been surprisingly fun for Seattle Kraken fans, but Saturday’s game was downright memorable. Not only did the Kraken beat the Canucks 4-0 at Climate Pledge Arena to improve to 4-0-0 in their four meaningless games so far, but they also introduced their (apparently polarizing) mascot, Buoy, to the world.
We want to go on record right here and right now to make it known that Sound Of Hockey is whole-heartedly pro-Buoy. We will not stand for any Buoy-related slander, so don’t even come in here with that nonsense.
Understood? Good.
As long as we’re aligned, let’s get to our Three Takeaways from Saturday’s preseason Kraken win.
Takeaway #1: Buoy has arrived
Don’t worry, we’ll talk about actual hockey in the other two Takeaways, but we do feel it important to discuss Buoy’s first night on the job. The troll—said to be the nephew of the famed “Fremont Troll”—arrived by rappelling from the rafters during a pre-game ceremony.
Once detached from his tether, Buoy waved a massive Kraken flag, then gave fist bumps to the Kraken players as they came onto the ice.
He’s certainly a colorful character, with flowing blue locks, a removable tooth, a tentacle in his hair, and an anchor earring. He has impressive dance moves and received good engagement from the crowd whenever he was visible in the arena.
“I hadn’t seen him, so I was kind of shocked walking out,” Alex Wennberg said. “But I mean, obviously it’s a lot of fun. I feel like that’s just great to come out and give you some extra boost and atmosphere, so it was great to see him as well.”
Buoy did have a couple small hiccups on the night. First, when he was refereeing for the children’s shootout during intermission, his very slippery troll feet betrayed him, and he found himself on his backside. Then, after being asked by in-arena host Angelica Salem to show off his dance moves on the Jumbotrons, Buoy did a half split but lost his balance when standing back up. He nearly took down the whole backdrop on “the Deck,” as it’s called, but gathered himself before causing any damage.
Even with the small blunders, it was a good debut overall for the new Kraken mascot. Now, the team just needs to get that troll some skates!
Takeaway #2: New lines show chemistry
Ok, now some hockey talk. The Kraken dressed the most NHL-ready lineup we’ve seen so far in this preseason, with only a few regulars missing. With that veteran-laden roster came four new forward line combinations, highlighted by a Jared McCann/Matty Beniers/Andre Burakovsky line and a Yanni Gourde/Alex Wennberg/Oliver Bjorkstrand line.
But the Wennberg line looked especially dynamic and produced the other three goals on the night. Less than a minute into the third, Bjorkstrand won a puck battle behind the net and fed Wennberg in front for an easy goal.
2-0 Kraken! 🚨
Bjorkstrand with a tasty dish to Wennberg, who buries it.
While it’s a new trio for the Kraken, there is familiarity there. Wennberg and Gourde know each other’s habits from last season, and Wennberg also spent several years in Columbus with Bjorkstrand.
“I’ve played with both of them, so I had the advantage,” Wennberg said. “Gourdie is just great to have out there. I mean, he’s working hard, he’s skilled with the puck. You see on the breakaway he had, he has some really silky mitts right there. And then Bjorkstrand is just— I mean, he can pass the puck, but he’s a shooter as well.”
The feeling was mutual for Bjorkstrand. “For me, [Wennberg] is familiar, so I know how he plays, so that felt kind of natural,” he said. “I think with [Gourde], I like his game. He plays really hard, he’s always on top, and I think when he has the puck, he makes smart plays.”
There were a couple key players missing against the Canucks, including Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle. So, it will be interesting to see if coach Dave Hakstol keeps any of Saturday’s lines together when he has all his veterans playing.
“You never know what’s going to come together chemistry-wise,” Hakstol said. “I mean, obviously they’re all good players in their own right, a little bit different in the way they play the game, a little bit different even in the way they think the game… But those guys should feel good about their night and how they played together.”
Takeaway #3: Philipp Grubauer is having a solid camp
Entering Seattle’s inaugural season, goaltending was supposed to be one of the team’s strengths. But Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger both had shaky moments in preseason, and that carried into the regular season.
The netminding tandem will look different this season, with Martin Jones as the likeliest backup to Grubauer, at least until Driedger recovers from offseason surgery to repair a torn ACL. To be successful, the Kraken will need marked improvement in this area, especially from Grubauer.
After a game and a half of preseason action, Grubauer has not given up a goal. We don’t want to read too much into preseason results, but it is definitely a positive sign that he appears confident and comfortable in the Kraken net so far. He stopped 10 out of 10 shots in just under 31 minutes against the Flames on Tuesday, then went the distance against Vancouver on Saturday and turned away all 17 of the shots he faced.
“Tonight is a difficult game for a goaltender to play,” Hakstol said, referring to the several long stretches in which Grubauer did not face many shots. “You know, Grubi had two real good saves at 1-0, that for me, those are— that’s a goaltender doing his job and doing it well.”
Grubauer’s best save of the night came in the second period when he tracked a puck across the top of the crease and extended his left leg to rob Tyler Myers, who was standing on the doorstep.
“There’s two backdoor saves that he was part of at 1-0,” Hakstol said. “We got pretty scrambly as soon as we scored our first goal. The next 12 or 13 minutes of that period, you know, we got back on our heels, and we stopped doing things the right way, and at 1-0, the goaltender makes a couple of saves like that, you know, those are game-changing-type saves.”
If the improvements to the team’s roster pan out the way we think they will, and Grubauer can go back to being the Grubauer he was with the Avalanche, this team will be tough to beat this year.
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The Kraken have two preseason games remaining, Monday in Edmonton and Friday in Calgary. Their first regular-season game will be Oct. 12 in Anaheim.
This one had the makings of a real stinker for the Kraken, who—at least on paper—appeared to be overmatched coming in. In Thursday’s preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle dressed a young lineup with only a handful of roster locks, while its neighbors to the north sent out most of their regulars.
The Canucks (especially offseason signee Andrei Kuzmenko) were scoring early and often, and it felt like a game that could get away from the Kraken. To their credit, though, the young guns battled back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits and skated away with a surprising 4-3 overtime win.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Seattle’s third preseason win in as many tries.
Takeaway #1: John Hayden makes his presence known
There are several players with NHL experience battling for the last spots on the opening night roster. The thing is, those roster spots don’t really exist if Seattle’s regulars remain healthy, but… well, more on that in a bit.
One of the guys trying to at least make a name for himself is John Hayden, a 6-foot-3, 223-pound wrecking ball with 240 career NHL games under his belt. He certainly made his presence known on Thursday, mucking it up with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, dropping the gloves twice—once with Kyle Burroughs and once with Dakota Joshua—and scoring the tying goal at 12:33 of the third period.
Hayden said he couldn’t remember the last time he scored a tying goal like that. “It was ugly,” he joked. “The fights were ugly, the game got ugly at times, but I thought we stuck together and did a pretty good job.”
In all, Hayden ended the game with a goal, three shots, and 12 penalty minutes in 9:32 of ice time.
Coach Dave Hakstol took notice. “Look at John Hayden and the night that he had,” Hakstol said. “That’s a hard job. He ended up in two scraps. Fittingly, and maybe [it was] a little poetic justice, he scores the game-tying goal. That’s big.”
It was a chippy game from the start, and nights like that are great nights to have a John Hayden in your lineup. Can he earn himself a spot with the big club when camp breaks? Hayden is on a two-way deal, so our hunch is still no, but he could certainly be a call-up candidate if needed.
Takeaway #2: Komeback Kraken
We will be honest; looking at the lineups, we expected a loss for the Kraken on Thursday. When Vancouver jumped out to an early lead, then scored again, then scored again but had it negated by an offside challenge, our prediction seemed to be coming to fruition.
But the young Kraken group found its sea legs (pun intended) and pushed back in the second half of the game. The late Hayden goal sent the game to overtime, and Ryan Donato scored his second dazzling goal of the preseason to win it in overtime.
“We were on our heels for the first 20, 25 minutes of the hockey game, for sure,” Hakstol said. “They drove the momentum five-on-five, they drove the momentum with the power play, but we were able to turn that, and you know, that says a lot about the group in the dressing room.”
Martin Jones also played a big part in the victory after coming in halfway through the game to replace Joey Daccord. Daccord stopped 18 of 21 shots, while Jones stopped 15 of 15 to remain perfect in his two preseason outings.
We’ve said it plenty of times over the last week, but take preseason success with a grain of salt because positive results mean nothing in the scheme of things. Still, it is nice to see the squad battle back, even when the lineup is made up mostly with players destined for the AHL.
Takeaway #3: Stay away, injury bug!
We hate to say this, but a couple guys got banged up on Thursday. Hayden’s second fight of the night was in response to Dakota Joshua crushing Michal Kempny into the end boards behind Seattle’s net. Kempny stayed down for a bit, then skated off under his own power and headed down the tunnel. He did not return after 6:52 of ice time.
Kempny has battled back from some major leg injuries, though this looked to be upper body, just based on how he went into the boards. The veteran defenseman is one of the players fighting for a spot.
Additionally, Joonas Donskoi collided with Kole Lind in front of Seattle’s bench and exited the game after logging 9:24 on ice.
Hakstol did not have an update on either player after the game.
You never want to see players get hurt, especially in a meaningless preseason game. The Kraken dealt with injuries all season long in 2021-22, and surely they’re hoping for a mostly healthy squad when opening night rolls around.
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Seattle will have a day off Friday, then return to preseason action against these same Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday. The team is expected to reveal its mascot during pre-game festivities that night.
