Heavy Kraken talk is becoming the norm on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, and this episode is no different because the guys have plenty to discuss. After the last two “home” preseason games, played in Everett and Kent, John, Andy, and Darren share their thoughts on what they’re seeing from the team.
Next, Andy gives a WHL update. Then the guys dig into the Robin Lehner situation that arose this week, as he has gotten himself involved in the Jack Eichel saga in an interesting way.
Finally, the guys roll into segments, which feature You Don’t See That Every Day, Serious Business, Weekly One-Timers, and an underwhelming Tweets of the Week.
There’s an old theory in hockey that a team’s best penalty killer needs to be its goaltender. Seattle Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer proved that true and then some Tuesday in Vancouver.
Grubauer made 38 saves during a 4-0 shutout against the Canucks, but it was on the penalty kill where he was at his best. Vancouver outshot the Kraken 29-17 through the first two periods but would end the night 0-for-4 on the power play, thanks to Grubauer.
He was especially brilliant during a second period Canucks power play where Vancouver blistered the Seattle net with 7 shots. These weren’t chances from the outside or bad angles. They were in close, and they were of the ‘Grade A’ variety. Grubauer stopped them all and didn’t appear to break a sweat in doing so.
It was like that all night for Grubauer who would end with 12 saves while his team was shorthanded.
The exceptional goaltending allowed the Kraken to score three goals in the second period, two coming on their own power play, in a game that was filled with special teams as the two teams combined for 11 power play chances. Grubauer’s play was a continuation of his performance all through camp and the fact he looked dialed in Tuesday suggests that the Kraken goal crease is in good hands.
Vince Dunn paces the Kraken offense
With Grubauer keeping the puck out of his net, defenseman Vince Dunn was filling the Canucks cage.
He got the scoring going with a power-play goal in the second period on a big slap shot from the point. Dunn put Seattle up 2-0 later in the period when he jumped into the rush and found space in the high slot. Jared McCann got him the puck and he scored with a snap shot.
Having Dunn scoring is big news for the Kraken, who need to find secondary scoring. In the six preseason games they have leaned on the McCann, Jaden Schwartz, and Jordan Eberle line and have yet to get consistent scoring from anyone else. Getting Dunn or Mark Giordano chipping in from the blue line will be a big boost.
Dunn, 24, has always been an offensive threat and with three goals in six preseason games, he appears ready for another strong season.
Special teams clicking for Kraken
Seattle scored on two of its seven opportunities Tuesday and looked dangerous all night. The team didn’t spend too much time in camp working on special teams, but they played well during the six exhibition games.
Along with Grubauer, special teams were key to the win against the Canucks because at five-on-five, which accounted for 36 minutes of game play, Vancouver held a 42-26 advantage in shot attempts.
Mark Giordano continues to be a beast for Kraken
The 37-year-old defenseman led all Kraken with 22:39 of ice time and did it at high energy. He’s on the top defensive pairing, top power play, and is one of Seattle’s top penalty killers. Giordano shows no signs of slowing down.
With seven power-play chances, the Kraken’s top unit got a workout in. Schwartz logged 7:50 of time on the power play while Eberle, McCann and Alex Wennberg each joined Schwartz for over seven minutes.
Other notes
The NHL is emphasizing calling cross-checking penalties to the letter of the law. As a result, it’s become the trendy preseason penalty. Tuesday, Seattle and Vancouver combined for five cross-checking penalties.
Seattle ends its preseason schedule with a 4-2 record.
While the Kraken preseason is over, they will continue to put the work in. The team has practice scheduled every day but this coming Sunday in preparation for the Oct. 12 season start in Las Vegas.
Ryan Donato scored the Kraken’s third goal, on a second-period power play, and led the team in shots with five. Vancouver’s Bo Horvat put eight shots on Grubauer.
Sick of preseason? Of course you are. BUT! BUT! It’s the Kraken’s LAST preseason game tonight in Vancouver, which means you’re getting something that will look very close to Seattle’s initial roster.
Recently, coach Dave Hakstol implied that the last preseason game could be a dress rehearsal for opening night, but in the same breath cautioned us, saying that may not be the case for this particular group. And he’s probably being truthful in that statement because a guy like Marcus Johansson, for example, is going to end up on the team but is not dressing tonight.
There’s also the Yanni Gourde factor to consider. He’s been downplaying his readiness and the fact that he switched out of a red non-contact jersey the last two days, but one can’t help but wonder how far off he truly might be.
If Gourde’s return is imminent, and he’s ready to go within the first few weeks of the regular season starting, then that changes the entire makeup of Seattle’s lineup for the better. In that case, Hakstol’s cautioning on line combinations and the initial roster will be validated.
What we have tonight probably is not the exact lineup that we’re going to see for the season opener in Vegas next week, but it is darn close. Worth noting, the all-Swede line has been broken up with Johansson out of the lineup, so Hakstol has really put Ryan Donato in a position to succeed here.
Philipp Grubauer will go the distance this evening, which we have not seen him do before. He has looked dialed in at practice of late and was solid in his most recent preseason appearance, so keep an eye on the Kraken’s No. 1-A goalie tonight.
Canucks still dressing a sub-par lineup
After Seattle mostly dominated and won 5-3 in Spokane two Sundays ago against a largely AHL roster, we were expecting to see a slightly more seasoned group this time around. That still doesn’t appear to be the case, though, as the Canucks are not yet in dress rehearsal mode. They still have two preseason games to play after tonight, so they are saving a lot of their veteran players.
We will see a better top line in Tanner Pearson, Bo Horvat, and Nils Hoglander, plus an NHL goalie in Thacher Demko. But Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes will not participate tonight, among others.
We still will not be comparing apples to apples as we dissect tonight’s game, but this is what the Kraken have to work with. On paper, Seattle really should be the better team tonight.
Projected lineup
Here’s our projected lineup, based on what Hakstol said after morning skate.
SEATTLE – Yanni Gourde caused a bit of a stir at the Kraken Community Iceplex Monday. It wasn’t for his all-out relentless skating but rather for the color jersey he was wearing during practice as the Seattle Kraken prepared for their final preseason game Tuesday in Vancouver.
Gourde was wearing a light blue jersey.
It was the first time all training camp that the center was not wearing a no-contact red jersey. Did this mean that he was ready to play? That he had completely recovered from off-season shoulder surgery that was supposed to keep him out of the lineup until December?
No.
“When I wear red, guys are super careful out there and you don’t do much, so I need to get a little bit more bumps in,” Gourde said. “It just doesn’t mean much. I mean it’s just a different color. We’re still working. It’s a work in process to get back in shape and get back, ready to play, but we’re not there yet.”
So, we still don’t know when Gourde will take the ice in a game. He later mentioned that he is not approved for full contact yet but quipped that maybe it was ‘half contact.’
On the ice, he was a ball of energy, flying around the zone during special teams drills. Worth noting, Gourde was killing penalties.
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said that they are following the process laid out by the team’s medical staff and refused to speculate about a specific return date for Gourde. But he did like what he has seen on the ice out of him.
“We know what he is as a player and what he brings skill wise and ability wise,” Hakstol said. “You see it every day what he brings energy wise, and those are all great things that right now he’s able to apply to get himself ready, he’s just one of those guys. Everything he does is at 110%.”
Early in practice we got a glimpse perhaps of where Gourde will play when he does come back.
Hakstol had Gourde centering a line with Joonas Donskoi and Ryan Donato Monday. Those wingers had previously played with Morgan Geekie and have had some success during the preseason. Monday, Geekie was with Mason Appleton and Calle Jarnkrok.
Kraken get some special teams work in
Seattle spent the bulk of practice Monday working on special teams. It was the first time during camp that they’ve done so.
Previously, the only power play and penalty kill work had been brief and in morning skates on game days. The two units on Monday looked familiar.
The first power-play unit started with Mark Giordano on the point, where he has played in the preseason. Along with him was Alex Wennberg on the half wall and Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Jaden Schwartz up front. Vince Dunn handled the point for the second unit with Geekie on the wall while Donskoi, Jarnkrok and Marcus Johansson manned the forward positions.
With the roster trimmed down and one last preseason game left on the schedule, the lines and combinations feel close to being finalized.
But Hakstol, as most coaches will do, wouldn’t commit to that being true.
“I think it would be a mistake to say this is a projection of what we’re gonna see seven days down the road,” he said. “There’re more pieces and combinations that fit together that are likely. We have a limited amount of time to try things. There’re still one or two more things that we want to take a look at, there’s still competition at different positions. So, all of those three factors are going to be at play tomorrow night.”
Kraken waive two
During practice the team announced that Carsen Twarynsky and Alex True had been placed on waivers, with the team intending to assign them to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Twarynsky was picked up at the NHL Expansion Draft from the Philadelphia Flyers while True, a former Seattle Thunderbird, was selected from the San Jose Sharks.
Practice play of the day
During the power play drills, Geekie found the puck along the wall. He looked up and flung a seeing-eye pass, through a maze of skates and sticks, that found Jarnkrok who scored with a one-time slap shot.
Perhaps that wasn’t the outcome that fans in attendance at accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., might have wanted, but there were a lot of positives that came out of Saturday’s 4-1 Kraken preseason loss to the Calgary Flames.
Playing its last “home” game of the exhibition season, Seattle really put forth a solid all-around effort, but couldn’t finish offensively and had some bad bounces that found the back of the net behind Chris Driedger. In all, the Kraken allowed just 13 shots on goal and really didn’t give up much from the slot area.
Now there’s just one meaningless game left on the schedule, but before we get there, here are our takeaways from Saturday night’s loss.
Takeaway #1: A blueprint for Seattle’s game defensively
A lot has been made of the defensive depth that the Kraken are expected to possess on their inaugural roster. Although the team conceded four goals on Saturday, there were long stretches where nothing was getting through to Driedger, and when shots did make it on goal, they were typically from the outside. Two of the goals were deflected shots from the point, and two were of the “soft” variety, as Driedger indicated in his post-game presser.
“I thought we played an incredible game, kind of start to finish,” Driedger said. “They just kind of got a couple of nice bounces… I really like how we looked on the back end. We’ve got some big ‘D’ that can move the puck, and that’s kind of what you like to see as a goaltender.”
Driedger added that if the Kraken play like that more often than not, they will win a lot more than they lose. Pepper in a few Seattle goals each night, and that will absolutely be the case.
Takeaway #2: Who can score beyond the top line?
Seattle did get some chances to score. Kole Lind made a dazzling play early in the game to break a defender’s ankles at the blue line and rushed in uncontested against Dan Vladar. He put the puck right into the flaming ‘C’ on Vladar’s chest, though, as did Nathan Bastian on an open look in the second period. Meanwhile, Morgan Geekie had a few big blasts that he launched over the bar, and Alex Wennberg had a wide open net on a two-on-one, only to see the puck hop over his stick.
Moments like those leave you wanting and wondering who beyond the top line of Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann, and Jordan Eberle can score for Seattle. If it does evolve into a team that only has one line capable of putting the puck in the net, it will become very easy to check and neutralize that group, and the naysayers who have been asking, “Who can score for Seattle?” will quickly become justified in their pooh-poohing.
In the two preseason games the Kraken have played without that top trio, the team as a whole has scored one goal combined.
Still, we have yet to see what happens when the full roster is in on a given night. Hakstol implied in a recent press conference that Tuesday’s game in Vancouver could be a dress rehearsal for the full roster, so perhaps this issue will be put to rest then.
Takeaway #3: Playing games in WHL rinks was the perfect way to launch this franchise
Of course it would have been nice to play these three preseason “home” games in the new Climate Pledge Arena. But in a way, doesn’t it make opening night that much more exciting? This way, there’s still plenty of intrigue and interest going into that first home game on Oct. 23 against the Vancouver Canucks, as fans will show up without having ever been in the nearly billion-dollar facility.
We certainly saw glimpses into what the Kraken have up their many sleeves (one assumes a Kraken would have to wear a shirt with eight sleeves) from a Game Operations standpoint, and it does appear that “Lithium” by Nirvana is the goal song.
But we definitely have not gotten the full presentation at this point, and we have not experienced all the bells and whistles that a brand new, state-of-the-art arena will bring.
To the credit of Spokane, Everett, and Kent, the fans showed up in a big way for all three preseason games. All three had regular-season atmospheres, and all three were great representations of the rabid hockey fanbase that exists in the Pacific Northwest.
Hello from the home of the Seattle Thunderbirds, accesso ShoWare Center, in Kent, Wash., where the Kraken are set to take on Dustin Wolf and the Calgary Flames. Yes, we do expect Wolf to make an appearance tonight, which should be fun for the home T-Birds fans who surely heckled him the last four seasons while he was dominating the WHL in Everett.
We also expect to see former Thunderbird Alex True centering a line with Nathan Bastian and Kole Lind tonight. True, of course, scored the overtime series-winning goal in Game 6 of the 2017 WHL Championship. He will likely get a warmer reception than Wolf.
The Jordan Eberle/Jaden Schwartz/Jared McCann line, which has been so successful in its past couple appearances, is out tonight, so the all-Swede line of Marcus Johansson, Alexander Wennberg, and Calle Jarnkrok will have to shoulder more of the load on offense.
These two teams played a good, even game the last time they faced one another in this preseason, although the lineups looked a bit different that night. Seattle did come out of that one with a 4-3 shootout victory.
The Kraken got an exhilarating overtime win in Everett last night. What do they have in store for the city of Kent tonight?
Who knew preseason hockey could be so thrilling? In front of a jam-packed Angel of the Winds Arena (one Angel, two Winds) in Everett, the Kraken pulled goalie Joey Daccord for an extra skater late in the third, still trailing the Edmonton Oilers 1-0. Jaden Schwartz got his stick on a Mark Giordano shot and deflected it past Stuart Skinner, and the building erupted.
Then in overtime, Haydn Fleury drove hard to the net to draw a four-on-three power play, and Jared McCann one-timed a Jordan Eberle pass against the grain on Skinner to send the newly minted Kraken faithful home happy.
KRAKEN GOAL! KRAKEN WIN! 🙂
JARED MCCANN WITH THE ONE-TIME BLAST FROM THE RIGHT DOT!
2-1, and the Everett faithful can head home happy (after the exhibition shootout)!
Now, there’s no reason to get overly excited about a preseason victory, but also, there’s no reason not to get excited. After all, this is still just the fourth “game” in the history of this franchise, and getting some exhilarating moments this early in the process is a great way to energize a fledgling fanbase.
Here are our takeaways from a riveting 2-1 Seattle Kraken overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers.
Takeaway #1: The Kraken have a power play
We talked after last game about how good the trio of Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann, and Jordan Eberle has looked in the preseason and how they seem to be solidifying themselves as the team’s top scoring line.
On Saturday, with Alexander Wennberg in the lineup for the first time, we consistently saw a group on the man advantage that consisted of Schwartz, McCann, and Eberle with Wennberg and Giordano up top. That group looked excellent, and head coach Dave Hakstol agreed.
“That group was good tonight,” he said. “I don’t really judge it by zone time, but we did a good job in terms of creating possession, getting in the zone. I thought we did a good job getting pucks back and we created good scoring opportunities, so that unit tonight was pretty effective.”
Hakstol also implied that it will not be the last time we see that unit together.
“Does it have a chance to start together? Absolutely. But, I mean it’s Game 4 of the exhibition season, so we’ve got a long ways to go, but that unit did a good job and created opportunities.”
By the way, Hakstol said on Friday morning he doesn’t want to anoint the Schwartz/McCann/Eberle line as “the number one line,” but let’s be honest here; if they stick together, they are the top group, plain and simple.
Takeaway #2: Alex Wennberg does it all
In his first exhibition game in a Kraken sweater, Wennberg looked like he was ready to play regular-season hockey. Slotted between fellow Swedes Marcus Johansson and Calle Jarnkrok, he did create several offensive opportunities and was credited with four shots, while his linemates had five and six respectively. He also had the secondary assist on the last-minute tying goal by Schwartz.
But it was on special teams where Wennberg really showed his value. With the Kraken marching to the penalty box in the first period, Hakstol repeatedly turned to Wennberg and paired him with Jarnkrok to help kill. And later in the game, when the tides turned, there was Wennberg once again, making tic-tac-toe passing plays on the top power play unit alongside Giordano.
“My type of game is I like to play in both ends, so I take a lot of responsibility on the [penalty kill]” Wennberg said after the game. “So obviously there’s a lot new with the system and all, so I think it’s great to get a chance to practice it and try it, and same with the power play. I like when they put me out there and challenge me to play those spots, and then you just sort of make the best out of it.”
With this being Wennberg’s first appearance, there may have been some level of evaluation being done by Hakstol to see how effective the center could be in certain situations, but if so, he had to have passed most of those tests.
Takeaway #3: Seattle still has plenty of room for improvement
Hakstol noted in his post-game press scrum that Seattle spent some long stretches in the defensive zone, and it sapped a lot of their energy. If we were in the business of reading too deeply into what that means, being that the Kraken dressed a lot of their best players and the Oilers held out the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, we would be concerned. But we aren’t in that business, so we will show no concern here.
Hakstol himself wasn’t terribly concerned either, though he indicated that the roster didn’t bring the same pressure from top to bottom as he may have hoped.
“I take everything into account, I look at matchups, I look at the result of those shifts, and the bottom line tonight is that they were more ready coming out of the gates than we were,” he said. “And then there were several shifts in each period where they did a good job with possession. They didn’t get inside on us very much, but they won a lot of puck battles.”
And he’s right. If you look back at the opportunities, there are very few that jump to mind for the Oilers that one would consider “Grade A” chances.
Still, Hakstol was not shy in indicating that not all of the lines brought the same momentum generation as, say, the McCann line.
“If I take anything away from it, you know, I look at those things, and I’m going to look at the individuals that are involved in those battles and what the results are. That’s part of training camp. That’s what we’re trying to figure out here. We’re trying to figure out guys that can help us build shifts and build momentum.”
Five players dismissed from camp
On Saturday morning, the Kraken made five cuts from their NHL camp, placing Connor Carrick, Antoine Bibeau, Cale Fleury, and Gustav Olofsson on waivers and assigning Luke Henman to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
The team still has some decisions to make as it trims down to a 23-man roster before the opening of the regular season.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Back to the grind! The lineups will look a bit different for this matchup than they did the last time these two teams played each other, as we are not expecting to see Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl for the Edmonton Oilers. On the other hand, we are expecting to see Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Jaden Schwartz for the Seattle Kraken, along with Alexander Wennberg making his preseason debut.
So, Seattle seems to be bringing a formidable lineup to Everett tonight, although with only an optional morning skate and eight players participating, it was quite difficult to get a read on who would go tonight and who would sit this one out.
SEATTLE – In preparation for a pair of preseason games this weekend, the Seattle Kraken hit the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex Thursday for a practice session.
The team was split into two groups which offered insight on who the club views as being in the mix to start the season with the NHL group. Before the workout, a small group of about seven players worked out separately. That group included young players like Luke Henman, Cale Fleury, and Kole Lind.
While the groupings were notable, head coach Dave Hakstol hinted those things are far from settled.
“That was more a matter of function today,” he said after practice. “We want to do some different things in our practice, and going forward for the next two games, players from both groups will play.”
The lines on Friday looked familiar.
Jared McCann again centered what would be considered the team’s top line with Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle on the wings. Behind that group was Morgan Geekie centering a line with Joonas Donskoi and Ryan Donato. Alex Wennberg was back at practice after he had personal time off for the birth of his son. He was flanked by Marcus Johansson and Calle Jarnkrok. Riley Sheahan was centered between Brandon Tanev and Mason Appleton.
A so-called fifth line was also on the ice led by Yanni Gourde – still wearing his red, no-contact jersey – with Alex True and Carsen Twarynski on the wings.
Friday’s defensive pairings included Mark Giordano with Vince Dunn, Dennis Cholowski with Adam Larsson, Haydn Fleury with Jamie Oleksiak, and Jeremy Lauzon with Carson Soucy.
Seattle will play the Edmonton Oilers Friday night at Everett’s Angel of the Winds Arena before moving to Kent and the accesso ShoWare Center Saturday for a matchup with the Calgary Flames.
Wennberg and the Swedish connection
After missing all three preseason games, Wennberg was back and looking forward to playing Friday. He was all smiles when asked about being a father for the first time saying it was amazing and that “Life does a 360 on you there.”
Seattle Kraken center Alex Wennberg will make his preseason debut this weekend. (Brian Liesse photo)
Prior to training camp, Wennberg had expressed excitement to see fellow Swedes on the Kraken roster and during camp he’s found himself playing with two of his fellow countrymen. For most of camp he’s centered a line with Johansson and Jarnkrok.
We have yet to see the trio – dubbed the ‘Swedish House Mafia’ by The Athletic’s Ryan Clark – in a preseason game, but it should get its first action Friday in Everett.
“We obviously go really well together,” Wennberg said. “We’ve been really hitting it off… now to finally get a game to try it out, I’m super excited. I feel like we can really do something good so it’s a good test for us to go out there tomorrow and try it out and see how it goes.”
Kraken forecheck clicking in the preseason
One major constant through the Kraken’s first three preseason games has been the forecheck.
Hakstol hasn’t been shy to deploy an aggressive forecheck, often sending two players deep into opponents’ territory to force bad passes, steal pucks, and to generally cause havoc. The forecheck was key to the win in Calgary Wednesday and Hakstol has been happy with it, save for the 6-0 loss in Edmonton.
In that game, Hakstol felt that they couldn’t get into the forecheck enough because they were chasing the Oilers all game due to giving the puck back too easily. Forechecking is a skill and attitude and not every player is built for it, but the Kraken seem to have guys that are.
“There’s certainly a mentality to it and there’s an intelligence to it and we have a lot of guys that are able to get in, come up with pucks or create loose pucks.” Hakstol said. “It’s not just one guy it’s a five-man project so we’ve had some success.”
If you’re watching the games this weekend, keep an eye on how successful the Kraken forecheck is.
Kraken make some cuts
The group was smaller Friday as the Kraken returned their junior prospects and made some moves. In that group was 2021 second-round pick Ryker Evans and fifth-round pick Jacob Melanson. When Evans was selected there were some self-proclaimed draft gurus who felt the pick at 35 was a stretch, but the defenseman put a good showing forth at camp.
He showed a keen offensive skill set and instinct with no fear in making plays. Evans will now return to the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.
Also waived were Brent Gates, Tye Kartye, Ryan Lohin, Cole MacKay, and Frances Marotte.
The Sound Of Hockey guys are riding high for Episode 156, as they’re back in BarrDown Studios to record together for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and the Seattle Kraken are playing real (preseason) hockey.
There’s plenty of Kraken talk in this episode, as John, Andy, and Darren relive their experiences from the first-ever preseason game for the franchise, which was played in Spokane this past week. They discuss their own feelings from the day, the hints at what the Kraken Game Ops Department will do, and how the team looked on the ice.
Also in this episode, Andy and Darren chat with Chris Joswiak, the pro rep for Brian’s Custom Sports, because who doesn’t like a good Brian’s setup? Yes, things get a little heavy on the goalie gear in this conversation, but it’s a fascinating interview from which the guys think all hockey fans will learn.
Segments on this episode include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
