Welcome back to our series examining the systems and schemes that the Kraken have employed throughout this inaugural season. In part 7, I wrapped up my look at the team’s even-strength scheme by diving into a few of the Kraken’s offensive zone plays. In this part 8, I analyze how Dave Hakstol and his staff draw up the defense when killing penalties.
Hakstol’s philosophy: communicate and play connected
Tactics and approach take on exaggerated significance when a team is at a manpower disadvantage. In these scenarios, it is by definition not enough to win one-on-one. To the contrary, individual, improvised play can expose the defense by taking a player out of position. On the other hand, skilled opposing forwards will skate and pass through an over-determined, reactive penalty kill unit like traffic cones. The unit needs to play connected to cover for the absence of one or two teammates.
The specific coaching points on the penalty kill are myriad and include:
Protecting the slot from the highest-danger opportunities.
Prioritizing stick checks over physical play to thwart net-front passes and shots.
Conservative, straight-line pressure from the goal outwards, looking for a shot block when an opposing player has the puck in a shooting position high.
Aggression when the puck is loose along the boards or the opposing player doesn’t have the puck in a shooting position.
But, above all, the key is for the penalty kill units to communicate and develop chemistry. When one skater advances to create puck pressure, the others need to react in unison to maximize the chance of a takeaway and minimize the defensive risk.
On Feb. 14, the Kraken lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2. At the time, Darren Brown noted the dispirited effort as the nadir of the season. The Kraken appeared entirely outclassed, and nowhere was this more evident than on the penalty kill, which allowed the Maple Leafs to convert both of their two manpower advantages into goals.
At that point, the team had attempted multiple defensive-zone penalty kill schemes, including the triangle-and-one, the diamond formation, and others, but the schemes hadn’t been particularly effective at creating coordinated puck pressure or turnovers leading to breakaway opportunities going in the other direction. Of particular concern, the Kraken appeared static in their positioning.
Following the Toronto game, the team focused on improving on the penalty kill. Over the next six games, Seattle killed 16 of 17 penalties, while notching two shorthanded goals of their own for a remarkable +1 overall on the penalty kill. A couple days after a particularly encouraging five-for-five penalty kill performance against the Boston Bruins on Feb. 24, Dave Hakstol was asked about the improved play and alluded to scheme adjustments that I’ll dive into below. But he also emphasized the improvement of his penalty killers in playing connected hockey within the scheme. Communication and the ability to exchange positions when a player advances is key.
Source: Seattle Kraken on YouTube
Hakstol 5-on-4 neutral zone scheme: Same side pressure/1-1-2 formation
The goal of the neutral zone forecheck when killing a penalty is to deny controlled entry into the offensive zone. If the penalty kill can force a contested possession scenario at the defensive blue line or force a dump in, the defense can bleed time or gain possession and quickly clear the zone. The penalty killers will, of course, look to capitalize on a giveaway. But getting too aggressive on the forecheck can expose the team to a rapid strike off a zone entry.
Diagram 1. NZ 1-1-2 (same side pressure).
When the opponent has full possession at or near its own net, Seattle’s F1 (the top forward in the formation) will attempt token pressure that forces the power play to commit to a path of attack. F2 then supports from farther back looking to create a wall parallel to the boards with the F1, funneling the advance into half of the ice. D1 and D2 are positioned at the back near the blue line, prepared to deny entry if the rush has faltered or retreat into the defensive zone if a controlled attack has materialized.
Clip 1. NZ 1-1-2.
In this clip, Riley Sheahan (No. 15) is F1 at the top of the formation, supported by Joonas Donskoi (No. 72) as F2. Sheahan provides pressure, forcing the Blackhawks to advance up the far boards and is supported by Donskoi. This thwarts the advance, and the Blackhawks look to break pressure by sending the puck across the ice. Sheahan and Donskoi reform and similarly pressure the near-side advance. This time the Blackhawks achieve a controlled entry and the penalty killers assume their defensive-zone positioning.
This approach is sometimes called same-side forward pressure. It also resembles the team’s conventional 1-2-2 neutral zone forecheck but with one of the middle-layer forwards removed. Here is another example. And one more that shows the risk when the high token pressure gets caught too deep.
The Kraken’s current approach seems to be a slight a variation from what the team utilized early in the year, which resembled more of a 2-2 (sometimes called a “retreating box”) neutral-zone forecheck. In this version, after providing token pressure, F1 would typically retreat into a formation at the same level as F2.
Clip 2. NZ 2-2 (retreating box).
This forecheck is less aggressive and keeps F1 in position to rapidly enter the defensive zone. Here is another early-season example.
You will still see a neutral zone forecheck that resembles a 2-2 formation when the advance of the opposing power play has stagnated at center ice. But the team’s current default approach keeps F1 in a more aggressive position up ice.
5-on-4 DZ scheme: triangle and one
Once in the defensive zone, the Kraken deploy in a triangle-and-one formation. The two defensemen default to positions just above the outer edges of the crease (forming the base of the triangle) and a forward is positioned in the mid-to-high slot (completing the triangle). These defenders form the core of the defense and will look to thwart cross seam passes and scoring opportunities with active stick checks.
Diagram 2. DZ Triangle & One.
The second forward (the “and one” penalty killer) activates in a straight line from the goal toward the opposing player in possession of the puck. The player’s goal is to be in a position to block a shot and then either force the opposing player to concede possession or angle him to a lower-danger portion of the ice. The tactic of forcing an opposing player into a lower position for coordinated pressure is sometimes called the “Czech press.” The Kraken utilize this strategy when they can.
Diagram 3. DZ Triangle & One (forward exchange illustration)
The key to a successful triangle and one is communication and coordination because the “one” player can change at any time based on puck position. For example, if the “one” forward’s puck pressure at the near-side point causes the opponent to pass across to the other point, it is often the case that the forward at the top of the triangle will be in the best position to create immediate pressure on the other point. Accordingly, he immediately activates into the “one” position and the previous pressure forward rotates down to fill the vacated spot in the triangle. (See diagram 3.)
Clip 3. DZ Triangle & One.
Here Yanni Gourde (No. 37) starts as the “one” penalty killer but exchanges with Karson Kuhlman (No. 25) fluidly several times. This effective tandem work serves to create pressure without unnecessarily exposing the middle of the defense to prime scoring opportunities. Briefly at around :19 there is confusion between Gourde and Jamie Oleksiak (No. 24) about who would play where in the triangle. This leads somewhat directly to a moderate-danger chance and serves to underscore the importance of communication.
This clip further shows that exchanging is key not just for the forwards. Defensemen can activate out into the “one” position when there is controlled, threatening possession low along the boards. In this case a forward needs to crash down to protect the near side of the net and re-form the triangle. Here is another example showing defensemen stepping out into the “one” position to challenge low possession, leading to various exchanges within the triangle-and-one formation.
As Hakstol noted, this exchanging of positions was not nearly as fluid early in the season, causing Kraken pressure to come late.
Clip 4. DZ Triangle & One (early season).
This clip is from a Nov. 21 home tilt against the Capitals. You can see that the Kraken are deploying a similar triangle-and-one concept. But the penalty killers are just a beat slower in their reactions and exchanges, appearing uncertain at times whether the closer player will activate to become the “one” player. This leads to a more static triangle defense, often with one player chasing the play all over the ice.
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In addition to the base triangle-and-one scheme, the Kraken will deploy other schemes in specific defensive-zone scenarios. For example, when the puck is at or below the circles, and the opponent has not established puck possession, the Kraken will aggressively press that side in an attempt to win a puck battle and force a turnover.
Clip 5. DZ corner pressure.
The Kraken send up to two penalty killers into the corner, while the others cover the slot low and high, forming a box in the lower half of the ice where the puck is in dispute. The risk comes if this pressure is broken. In the clip above, the Flames break the Kraken’s corner pressure and force them to transition back into their base triangle-and-one defense. Before Seattle can get established, however, Calgary gets a clean shooting lane to the net and scores. Here is another example of the Kraken transitioning in and out of this tactic in connection with their base triangle-and-one scheme.
This current corner checking tactic also seems to be a slight variation on the team’s early-season approach. In the fall, it was not uncommon for the Kraken to send three penalty killers into a corner scum, leaving only one skater to protect the middle. There are obvious risks to committing three of four skaters into the corner, and the Kraken have seemingly moved away from this practice.
Finally, earlier in the season, the Kraken also used a diamond formation penalty kill at times.
Clip 6. DZ diamond formation.
This clip is from Seattle’s Feb. 1 game in Boston. In theory, the Kraken likely formed this way to get width near the circles in an attempt to derail the Bruins’ lethal weak-side one-timers. In practice, the Kraken looked static and uncertain and gave up that precise type of goal anyway. This was just a couple weeks before the penalty kill corrections Hakstol described above.
5-on-3 NZ and DZ schemes
When at a two-man disadvantage, the Kraken deploy similar, though inherently more conservative, concepts. Going up against a five-on-three power play, the team is very likely to concede controlled zone entries and exterior shots on the power play. Accordingly, the goal is two-fold: (1) limit the highest danger shots and (2) hold the opponent to one-and-done opportunities by recovering saved or blocked shots and quickly clearing the zone.
In the neutral zone, the Kraken retreat in a 1-2 formation. Compared with the five-on-four penalty kill, the Kraken remove the advance forechecking forward and play far more cautiously. The goal is to force zone entry toward the boards. This formation also allows for an easy transition into the similar defensive zone structure.
Clip 7. NZ 1-2; DZ triangle.
In the defensive zone, the Kraken typically employ a triangle formation when the opponent is in full possession high. Compared with the standard penalty kill, the additional “one” forward is removed. The top forward will at times look to create token pressure high, but will not extend as far as the blue line because this would risk breaking down the defense entirely. The goal is to disrupt shots and passes when they do happen rather than preventing them entirely.
Penalty kill possession and offense
When the puck ends up on a Kraken penalty killer’s stick, the player faces a decision point: clear immediately, possess and kill time, or attempt an offensive advance. Penalty kill offense is all about opportunistic transition play. So the calculation the player needs to make is usually one of arithmetic.
If there is a turnover in the neutral zone or a shot block or turnover high in the defensive zone, and the potential for an odd-man transition breakaway presents itself, the Kraken have been inclined to push the issue over the last few months. Gourde and Colin Blackwell were dynamic in tandem on these attacks.
The triangle-and-one can be a particularly effective scheme at creating turnovers high in the defensive zone that lead to breakaways, often led by the “one” penalty killer. For more on how the Kraken look to create offense on the penalty kill, check out this truly outstanding stuff from Alison Lukan.
That said, if the arithmetic is not in favor of a breakaway or the penalty killers are at the end of a long shift, Kraken penalty killers will prioritize possession time to bleed the clock, provided there is no risk of a turnover.
Scheme scorecard: Net improvement over early-season play
Overall the Kraken rank in the bottom third of the league in both goals allowed per sixty minutes on the penalty kill (ranking 30th out of 32 teams) and expected goals allowed per sixty minutes on the penalty kill (ranking 23rd out of 32 teams), per MoneyPuck.
And the team’s goal prevention alone has not improved markedly, even after the team’s mid-February adjustments noted above. Through the Feb. 14 Maple Leafs game, the team had allowed 31 goals on 123 opponent power play opportunities, for a kill percentage of just under 75 percent. Since that time, the team has allowed 20 goals on 84 opponent power play opportunities, for a kill percentage of just over 76 percent.
That said, the team’s improved coordinated aggression on the kill has facilitated more successful counterstrike opportunities while on the penalty kill. Again using Feb. 14 as our dividing line, the team had scored just 2 shorthanded goals in the 123 opportunities through the loss to Toronto. Since that time, the team has potted 6 goals in 84 opportunities.
On a net basis, the team allowed .235 goals per power play through Jan. 14, and has only conceded .167 goals per power play since that time. With this improved production, the Kraken now rank 16th overall in the NHL (approximately average) in expected goal differential on the penalty kill, per MoneyPuck.
The defensive zone production needs to improve, especially for a team that wants to make defense its calling card. But, with more time to work on their communication and chemistry, the trend is positive moving into next year.
Next: decoding Hakstol’s power play scheme
In part 9, I’ll look at how Hakstol and his staff scheme the power play to create scoring opportunities.
Walking into Climate Pledge Arena Wednesday, we found ourselves thinking back to some of the surprising home victories the Kraken pulled off earlier this season. Games that jumped to mind were the Dec. 3 win against Edmonton, when the Oilers came in cooking, and the Jan. 23 victory over the Florida Panthers, who now have 116 points in the standings.
The Kraken faced another team Wednesday that currently has 116 points, the Colorado Avalanche, and in impressive fashion held that high-octane group mostly at bay. Remember, this is the same team that came to Seattle in November and completely outclassed the Kraken with a 7-3 drubbing, then rallied in the third period to beat the Kraken again in January.
But Wednesday felt like it was going to be different from those other two meetings. The Kraken had played two good games in a row coming in, and seeing visions of surprising past victories felt like a real sign that something fun was going to happen.
And it did! Here are our Three Takeaways from an impressive 3-2 Kraken win over the Avalanche, giving Seattle its first three-game winning streak in franchise history.
Takeaway #1: Fast start spells success for Kraken against Avalanche
As they did against the Senators on Monday, the Kraken came out flying on Wednesday and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, taking advantage of a shaky Pavel Francouz. Kole Lind—scratched against Ottawa—got Seattle on the board first just 1:12 into the game with his second career NHL goal.
It came on a set play in which Will Borgen recognized that Lind had the jump on J.T. Compher and intentionally iced it. Lind beat out the icing call, picked up the rebound off the endwall, and made a nice move around Francouz.
Jordan Eberle followed that up with a snipe over Francouz’s shoulder at 5:23, and Yanni Gourde crashed the net on a Jared McCann shot that caromed off Gourde and in at 14:44.
JUST A DART.
Jordan Eberle's coming in hot with the Shot of the Night. 🥵
Congratulations to Eberle for winning the NHL’s “Jagermeister Shot of the Night,” which we previously did not know was a thing.
Though the Avalanche would get back in it with tallies late in the first and third periods, the three opening-frame goals were all the support Philipp Grubauer needed to knock off his old team.
Grubauer, who stopped 27 of 29 shots on the night, gave all the credit to the players in front of him. “We were just in shooting lanes, boxing guys out,” Grubauer said. “[The Avalanche] have the skill to make the play that’s not there or the play that doesn’t seem obvious. So, really good job by everybody being in the lanes [with good] sticks.”
Eberle, who has been trotted out to talk to the media after some miserable losses this season, was in high spirits after the victory. “Any time you go up 3-0 early, it’s a bonus,” he said of the team’s hot start. “At the same time, against these guys, you understand that they have the firepower to be able to just easily come back from that, but I thought we did a good job for the most part limiting their chances and trying to help Grubi out as much as we could. When things broke down, he was there to make saves.”
Takeaway #2: Shut down Slow down their stars
In the aforementioned memorable Dec. 3 win against the Oilers, Seattle did a very good job of limiting the damage inflicted by Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. Each superstar had a goal and an assist that night, but neither was able to really take over the game the way one might have expected.
The Kraken employed similar tactics on Wednesday, using a whole-team approach to defending against Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Again, both guys got on the scoresheet, as Makar scored a sick goal late in the first, and MacKinnon’s shot from distance led to Artturi Lehkonen’s goal in the closing minutes of the third.
But like in the game against Edmonton, the Kraken didn’t give Colorado’s biggest superstars too many opportunities. They were smart through the neutral zone, and when the Avs got set up in the offensive zone, Seattle did a tremendous job of keeping the puck on the perimeter.
“I guess we kept them for the most part off the scoreboard,” coach Dave Hakstol said of MacKinnon and Makar. “You just don’t shut those guys down. You’ve got to work hard, stay above [the puck], check out of the middle. … It starts with our first and second layers. They did a really good job. The forwards did a good job tonight, about as well as I would have hoped we could do in terms of deflecting and pushing some of that speed outside.”
That’s how you beat elite teams with elite players.
Takeaway #3: We’re going streaking!
As much as we (quietly) want to see the Kraken rack up a few more organic losses to really solidify a top draft pick, it is very fun to see this team winning games. They’ve been much better since the Trade Deadline, and witnessing them get their third consecutive win for the first time this season was neat, especially against a team like the Avalanche.
“I think the last three games we’ve played teams that are pretty skilled up front,” Grubauer said. “We kind of changed our mentality a little bit. Especially tonight, I think we looked like a playoff team. We did all the right things from in our zone, from the forecheck, and through the neutral zone. We were supporting each other. [We were] on top of the puck, PK, special teams did a really good job.”
It’s been a grind and a process to get to this point, but the Kraken do appear to be playing some of their most cohesive hockey of the season right now. Eberle, who has been on his fair share of both winning and losing teams over the years, had some interesting things to say on the topic.
“We’re learning,” Eberle explained. “I’ve always found that winning and losing is such a fine line in this league. I mean, when you’re on the losing side of it, you tend to think the world is ending, but you don’t understand how close you are to actually being there. And then when you finally start to get leads, and then you blow them, you’re just getting that much closer.”
The narrative earlier in the season was often that the team was finding ways to lose games it could have won, but it seems to be flipping that script of late. “It’s not a mystery. It’s hard to win in this league,” Hakstol said. “You have a new group that’s a little bit unsure, that’s all it takes, and all of a sudden a small crack turns into a pretty large chasm. So right now there’s not a lot of cracks there. Guys are working hard, guys are in sync, guys are trusting each other.”
Bonus Takeaway: Congratulations, Vaughan Rody!
At this point, you may have heard our podcast interview with Vaughan Rody or read our Q&A with him, but he did officially ref his last game Wednesday, closing out his 22-year career as an NHL linesman. The Kraken gave him a nice little video tribute early in the game, and the players stuck around to shake his hand after.
Kraken hang around and show some love for Vaughan Rody.
We asked Hakstol about Rody after the game. “He’s very good at what he does,” Hakstol said. “But more importantly for me, it’s just the way he goes about it. He’s first class. He’s one of the guys that’s— there’s always a time in the game when you have an opportunity to say hello, and I got a ton of respect for him in the way he does his job.”
Longtime Seattle resident Vaughan Rody will ref his final game on Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena
For Vaughan Rody, Hockey is “religion” in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Even when life led Rody to other places, he felt like hockey should be a part of his life.
His route to practicing his religion was through refereeing. It’s a journey that involved a giant leap of faith, a few lucky breaks, and some cherished memories for the longtime Lake Stevens, Washington resident.
Rody will officiate his final game in the National Hockey League on Wednesday when the Seattle Kraken take on the Colorado Avalanche at Climate Pledge Arena, concluding a 22-year career as a linesman.
“I started refereeing like most kids do for extra money, and really just to stay in the game.” Rody said. “Then I realized I was a good enough skater and had a knowledge of the rules and some ability. You quickly work through the ranks and get some people that really believe in you.”
Rody began officiating when he was 14, picking up youth hockey games while working a “fantastic job” as a site supervisor for the Forks Renewal Corporation as a City of Winnipeg employee. Life was good and stable, but it didn’t involve hockey.
Rody left that job when he was 24 to become a referee in the Western Hockey League, based in Seattle.
That didn’t quite sit well with his father.
“I know for a fact that my dad worked at the railroad for probably 30 years, and I was making more money than he was at the time,” Rody said. “His young kid gets this fantastic job and all of a sudden I’m deciding that I’m going to take a leave of absence to go try to find a job there’s only 35 in the world of, it didn’t really sit that well with him.”
The gamble to move not only to a different city, but to a different country, paid off.
To make ends meet with a meager WHL referee salary, Rody worked at Boeing in Everett as an inspector on the 777 program in the mornings and officiated WHL games at night. A common night involved Rody returning home from a game in Spokane at 1 a.m. only to wake up at 4 a.m. to clock into his shift at Boeing.
Rody made his NHL debut, and walked away from his job at Boeing, when he was hired as a full-time NHL linesman. He skipped a common step of officiating in the American Hockey League after graduating from junior hockey.
Now that his NHL officiating chapter has closed, Rody has an Amazon delivery franchise to tend to — one he became the owner of about a year ago — and still runs his Pro Edge Power Skating program that was founded in 2007.
Retirement won’t be too sleepy for the effervescent “kid” from Manitoba who walked away from certainty to make his dream a reality.
But Rody will still take some time to reflect on his gamble that paid off and the journey it sent him on in front of friends and family.
“I think with this game when you’re in this business for such a long time, you realize that this is all about your family,” Rody said. “And it’s all about the people that have had a hand in making me or allowing me to have this dream. … Those people [that support you], when they get a chance to share in your accomplishments and they get a chance to kind of share in your success and see what you do for work, those are the most meaningful moments.”
What’s it like seeing players and coaches show you so much respect in your final season?
VR: I think what happens is people see that in hockey we have a pretty amazing tradition at the handshakes, and when you’ve been in this league as long as I have, I don’t really know the what the whole thing is, but the bottom line remains that there’s a lot of respect from the players to you as an official. They do a tremendous job of kind of showing their respect through the handshakes and the little shows and gestures like that.
For them to take the time, to take a moment to reflect on your career and wish you all the best [feels great]. At he end of the day, you don’t make it 20 20 some years by accident. I think when they come over and shake your hand, they take time out of their schedule and in their day to do that, I think it’s just such a show of respect and I think it just legitimizes what they think of you in your career.
Is your route a traditional path to becoming an NHL official? How has that changed over the years?
VR: That’s really changed. You know, when I first started, the skillset was that you became a referee, and that’s changed over the last few years. Because now a lot of our young guys, they’re drafted, they’re playing in the American Hockey League, they’re not quite good enough to make it to the NHL, so their careers kind of fizzle out. But they’re great skaters, they’re great athletes, and then the NHL takes shine to them with the NHL training program.
That’s the big change over the last six-to-eight years. Previously you would play and then you would start refereeing at 15-16 years old. And then you would learn and hone the skill to become an official through time and that’s kind of how it was back then.
What’s the biggest difference between officiating a junior game and an NHL game?
VR: Oh, it’s huge. There’s a difference between dealing with kids and dealing with men. You’re dealing with adults in the National Hockey League and there’s a different way to communicate with them. There’s a different way to get along. There are a lot of people in hockey that think you can bully people around, but nobody’s intimidated anymore, yelling and screaming at each other doesn’t really work. I think the biggest difference between junior and pro hockey is simply communication.
When you say communication, that’s just a matter of being able to communicate like adults?
VR: When you’re dealing with pros, no one has to tell them to go and train or tell them to go to bed early. No one has to tell them to shut the TV off, shut their phones off. They’re pros at what they do for a reason. You don’t get to the NHL by accident, as a player, as an official, or as a coach. You don’t get there by accident.
I think you have to learn to become a pro. You have to learn the basic skills. What separates somebody from being good to being great? And no matter what those tangibles are, you’ve got to figure them out for yourself. It has to be something that you find within yourself.
The most important thing I think, in officiating between junior hockey and the pros is making sure you understand the difference between abuse and emotion. You’ve got to be able to sift through that and you’ve got to be able to work through that. You have to be to able to bark back at them and calm them down a little bit and then they have to trust that you’re going to do the right thing for the game. Because as officials, that’s our job. We serve the game.
What were the WHL games like back then to ref?
VR: They were a lot rougher. I can tell you. Even back in the day, they were probably a little bit more difficult to do than the pro style of hockey. I think that’s what gave us all of our experience. You would have line brawls, you would have fights, and you weren’t sure if guys were going to go in the stands and fight. You didn’t know. It was like a free-for-all back in the day. It was a different game. There was a lot more violence in the game back then.
And the game has changed. So the Western Hockey League, the way it was played, prepared you for anything. It prepared you for the NHL. People can’t really behave like that, you know, they’re called on the carpet. There’s an image that the NHL wants to portray. And the Western Hockey League, not that they didn’t have an image, but anybody could fight anybody at that opportunity or that moment. It wasn’t just heavyweight vs. heavyweight, there were 20-year-olds fighting 16-year-olds and that’s a huge age difference, size difference, and mentality difference between those two. You have to be aware because the game expected you to make everybody safe.
What’s the most meaningful game you’ve officiated?
VR: My most meaningful game is probably the All-Star Game in Nashville [in 2016]. I had a chance to bring probably 14-16 family members and friends to the game. The NHL is first class. They took care of everything. You get an opportunity to kind of showcase what we do for a business night in and night out to your friends. They really look upon the NHL as a really exciting place to be and then they come to work with you and they witness how cool your job is. They witness how first-class the organization is and how you’re treated and you get a chance to see their excitement through their eyes.
Those are my most meaningful games, that one and probably my 1000th game, but again, you don’t get to 1000 and you don’t get to game No. 1 without a group of people helping. You get a chance to share those moments with your family and friends. It makes it really, really memorable.
What’s it like raising a family as an NHL official?
VR: Well, it’s tough. I went through a divorce. It was a tough situation for my kids and a tough situation for my wife and a tough situation for me. You’re not home a lot and it’s tough on a family. I’m happily remarried and in retirement, part of my speech I’m going to thank my ex-wife, she’s the mother of my kids and she played a huge role in this and this doesn’t happen without her. There still needs to be an acknowledgement of her effort.
What’s next for you, Vaughan?
VR: When you’re from Canada and you’re in athletics, having the opportunity to work in the National Hockey League is and has been a tremendous honor. And I’m excited about it. I’m excited about my career. I’m proud of it. But now I’m owning a business, having $180,000 payroll every two weeks and having 80-some employees and running a business that’s doing $6 million a year annually. This isn’t my expertise.
That’s what’s next. I’m proud of the NHL, but I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished at Amazon and this new chapter of my life. I’m really proud to be a little kid from Winnipeg, Manitoba making it to the NHL, but I think I might be more proud of running this business because me being a pretty good athlete was kind of expected. This is a real new venture and it’s something I’m extremely excited about.
This is a fun one, folks! The Sound Of Hockey Podcast couldn’t have timed its interview guest any better, as NHL linesman Vaughan Rody will hang up his stripes after 22 years in the league following Wednesday’s game between the Seattle Kraken and the Colorado Avalanche. Rody has an incredible story to tell, and he lives locally in the Seattle area, so his connections to the Pacific Northwest run deep. He will definitely make you laugh a few times, too, so tune in for this one.
Also in this episode, John, Andy, and Darren do some more gushing over Matty Beniers, who now has two goals in as many home games, and they recap those two Kraken games in full.
After the interview with Vaughan Rody, the guys shift to their regular segments, which are plentiful this week, and cover such topics as fans covering Ryan Hartman’s fine for flipping the bird to Evander Kane and Dryden McKay accepting a six-month suspension for a banned substance.
You would think that after all the hype over the last week and a half, Matty Beniers scoring for the second time in as many home games would have been the big story on Monday. The 19-year-old rookie did pot another goal in a 4-2 Kraken win over the Senators with a high tip of an Adam Larsson shot-pass. The goal earned Beniers the No. 3 star of the night and his third point in just three NHL games.
But Beniers was overshadowed Monday by two other players that have only been on the team a short while, guys that are playing for contracts when this season ends. There will be plenty of Beniers talk to come, but this particular night belonged to Daniel Sprong and Victor Rask.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a second consecutive home win for the Kraken.
Takeaway #1: Sprong and Rask helped themselves Monday
This is a challenging juncture for guys like Sprong and Rask, who have both played on multiple teams this season, and who are both on expiring deals. The future is certainly murky for the duo, and they each needed a night like Monday to help their cases heading into the offseason.
At the Trade Deadline, Sprong was acquired as part of the Marcus Johansson trade to the Washington Capitals. After the deal, general manager Ron Francis made it sound like the Capitals wanted Seattle to take Sprong, indicating they weren’t particularly high on him. Rask, meanwhile, was acquired for nothing from the Minnesota Wild, who had passed him through waivers and sent him to the AHL.
Sprong burst onto the Seattle scene with three goals in his first three games as a Kraken, but had since gone quiet. He broke a seven-game pointless streak with his power-play goal to open the scoring against Ottawa, off a beautiful pass through the seam from… you guessed it… Rask.
Coincidentally, we had just asked coach Dave Hakstol about Rask and Sprong after practice on Sunday. He said good things about Rask, praising his smarts and his good stick. About Sprong, he implied that he hadn’t been thrilled with the Dutch forward’s two-way game, but he also said that the two had a recent conversation about it and that Sprong had shown improvement against the Devils on Saturday.
On Monday, even Sprong admitted that he had been struggling since his initial three-game outburst after joining Seattle. “After that—Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis—those three games, I got away from it a bit,” Sprong said of his two-way game. “I think I just started cheating a little, and then against Calgary I think I did the right things a little better, and then we had a good talk. It’s good when the coach communicates with you his standard of your game, and I think I responded really well, and I just want to finish off the season strong now.”
Sprong certainly can shoot the puck, and he looks like he was bred to shoot from the left circle on the power play. That’s probably not a coincidence, considering where he played previously. “I’ve watched the greatest goal scorer of all time for two years in that spot,” Sprong said, referring to former teammate Alex Ovechkin. “I learned a lot from him over that time, which I’m very grateful for. He was really good to me, talking to me about things like that, so I just know I’ve got to find that area, and then I know I’ve got a good shot, a good one-timer. I don’t need much space. Rask made a great play, and I had an open net.”
“That’s his spot,” Hakstol said. “He’s a shooter, and he can score from there. With Spronger the big thing—I talked to you guys about it [Sunday]—is the two-way game and his attention to detail there. He worked 200 feet again tonight, so a goal is… that’s what he does. We know he can shoot from that spot, and he did a good job. That was a big goal.”
Rask built off the outstanding pass in the first period and scored the eventual game winner in the second period. On a three-on-two rush, Alex Wennberg dished to Joonas Donskoi and then drove to the net, creating a nice passing lane for Donskoi. Donskoi found Rask on the other side of the ice, and before Anton Forsberg could get across, Rask had already fired it home.
“Rasky’s goal, that’s a good goal,” said Hakstol. “There’s a lot of pieces to that that make it a good goal. We skate and get some puck pressure, and then we’re able to transition quick on it. It’s a good play by all those guys and for sure by Victor to finish that off. That’s not an easy catch and shoot, across his body, but he got it, and he got it away quick. He’s a smart player, he has a good stick and good poise in all situations.”
Takeaway #2: The second period wasn’t fun… but then it was!
The Kraken—likely buoyed by Ottawa’s penalty woes—dominated the first period from start to finish, but only exited the frame with a 1-0 lead. They then entered the second and quickly frittered away that lead, coughing up two quick goals to give the Senators the lead.
“We gave them two easy plays. Just being honest,” Hakstol said. “We gave them two pucks; we gave them a puck in the neutral zone that ended up in the back of our net. We gave them another puck on a breakout that got out of the zone, but it turned around and came right back in the zone because we didn’t take care of it and make a good play with it on the breakout. And it’s in the back of our net in 15 seconds.”
On the first Ottawa goal, Will Borgen partially whiffed on a pass through the neutral zone, and Connor Brown easily picked it off, eventually leading to a Brady Tkachuk goal. On the second goal, Sprong got smoked and tangled up along the boards with Riley Sheahan, and the puck eventually got worked around to Nick Holden, who shot through traffic and beat Chris Driedger.
To Seattle’s credit, the Kraken quickly turned it around. “They just came flying out,” Rask said. “They didn’t have the greatest first period, but we battled through it and came back.”
“We did a good job pushing back on it,” added Hakstol. “The Beniers goal is an important goal to make us feel good and get us going in the right direction.”
After Rask scored at 16:15 to put the Kraken ahead for good, Alex Formenton took a big run at Carson Soucy behind Seattle’s net. Haydn Fleury, who hasn’t had a fight all season, jumped to his defense. Fists and gloves were flying immediately.
“That’s what you gotta do,” Hakstol said. “We’ve talked about that throughout the year. It’s probably not something he’s done a whole lot in his career, but there’s a time and a place, and that was the right time for him to step in and do what he had to do there… I love the fact that he was willing and able to do it at the right time.”
Like we said, it ended up being a pretty fun second period.
Takeaway #3: We learned something about video challenges
We thought Karson Kuhlman had scored a sick goal in the third period to put the Kraken ahead 4-2. Yanni Gourde batted down a puck, fought off a defender, and got it to Kuhlman, who made a dazzling move around Artem Zub and beat Forsberg over his blocker.
However, Ottawa challenged for… [checks notes]… “a missed game stoppage,” and to our surprise, the challenge succeeded.
Replay showed that Gourde had absolutely touched the puck with a high stick, but what confused us about the challenge was that the infraction took place several seconds before the goal. We always thought that challenges for things like a high stick could only come if the goal was, say, scored with a high stick.
We were apparently wrong, and now we’re left questioning everything. But hey, we learned something on Monday, and it’s neat to learn new things, though we would prefer to learn these lessons in less harsh ways.
“I actually said when [Gourde and Kuhlman] came back to the bench, ‘Awesome second effort,’” Hakstol recalled with a chuckle. “It’s like in life, right? You talk about second effort, usually things turn out your way eventually, and I thought it was a great second effort by both Gordo and Kuhly on that. Great play by Kuhly and finish, and unfortunately it came off the board, but it doesn’t take away the effort.”
The Kraken are now 1-0-0 with Macklemore and Marshawn Lynch officially members of the team’s ownership group.
Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena was one of several from this inaugural season that will stick with us for a long time. The Kraken gave up a goal to the Devils just 3:12 into the game, but bounced back thanks to the play of Beniers, Jared McCann, Philipp Grubauer, and others to earn a 4-3 shootout win.
Here are our Three Takeaways.
Takeaway #1: The legend of Matty Beniers grows
The legend of Matty Beniers grew tenfold on Saturday. Making his home debut with his family in the building, the much-hyped rookie registered his second point in as many games and banged home his first NHL goal.
With the game tied and the Kraken on a power play in the second period, Vince Dunn shot from the left point. Jared McCann deflected it past Nico Daws, and it hit the post before rattling around in the crease. Beniers jumped on it and authoritatively fired it it into an open net.
“It was a great feeling,” Beniers said. “I kind of just jumped into Canner’s arms after that.”
After leading the “fly-by” for high fives, Beniers returned to the bench and got a hearty round of congratulations from his teammates and coaches. And when the goal was announced in Climate Pledge Arena, the crowd gave a chill-inducing standing ovation that was among some of the loudest moments we’ve heard this season.
We asked Beniers after the game if he’s ever gotten such an ovation. “No, definitely not. No standing ‘O’ like that. It was pretty amazing. I couldn’t help but smile.” And the warm welcome from the home fans didn’t just come after Beniers scored. “When they were calling names of who started, they called my name, and they went nuts, and then after the goal, it was electric.”
While the goal was exciting because of the milestone and because it gave Seattle its first lead of the game, it was probably one of the easier ones Beniers has scored in his hockey career. More impressive were the plays that Beniers didn’t score on during overtime.
With just over a minute left in the extra period, Beniers rushed into the zone and down the right halfwall. He scooped up the puck with his stick blade, juggled it while skating around Pavel Zacha, then drove to the net and forced Zacha to take a penalty. Then, on the ensuing power play, Beniers tried to go between his own legs to score from the net mouth.
Neither play resulted in a goal, but a 19-year-old kid playing in his second career NHL game and pulling moves like that is something to behold.
It’s Beniers’ complete, two-way play that has coach Dave Hakstol most impressed, though. “Most importantly, as a centerman, he does a very good job in the defensive zone being in the right spots,” Hakstol said. “The creativity is there. As his confidence grows, we’ll continue to see more and more of that offensive creativity.”
Though we’ve seen him in practice, that’s the first time we’ve gotten to watch Beniers play a game in person. He did not disappoint. The obvious tangibles are certainly there; he clearly has the skill and speed to compete in this league. What really strikes us, though, is the poise with which he carries the puck, and the confidence he is clearly playing with right now, despite such a minuscule amount of time in the NHL.
Beniers finished his first home game with a goal on three shots, 18:14 of ice time, 2:19 of power play time, got two LOUD standing ovations, and was named the No. 1 star of the game. Not too shabby.
By the way, by earning the No. 1 star, Beniers also got to do his first career fish toss. We asked him how he thought he did. Initially, he said he thought he did a pretty good job, but then he rethought the answer and said, “I was aiming for a little kid, but I think I overthrew it a little bit. I didn’t see if he got it. I hope he did.”
We have video evidence proving that, in fact, the little kid did not get it. Still, it made a fan pretty happy.
“So, Matty, first you hold the fish up in the air to get the crowd going. Then, you yeet it.”
Takeaway #2: Jared McCann quietly had an awesome game
Beniers was the story Saturday, and with good reason. But if it weren’t for McCann, the Kraken would not have won the game.
Streaking into the zone, McCann received a pass from Yanni Gourde in the second period and quickly sensed that he had drawn the attention of all the Devils defenders. He spun and made a deft pass to Carson Soucy, who was left wide open in the slot. Soucy had all the time in the world to pick his spot and bury the puck behind Daws.
I would like to discuss this McCann pass…awareness and accuracy while going against the grain of the play. Finds Soucy with all kinds of space. Lovely.#Seakrakenpic.twitter.com/MZnjiGEp1W
“I look at the play that he made on the Soucy goal, in tight spaces, having the ability to find Souce coming down the middle in that soft area, I felt like that was one of the most important momentum swings of the hockey game,” Hakstol said. “Those are the kinds of plays that we need Canner to make.”
“We’ve kind of been better at just creating off the rush,” Soucy said. “Our forwards made some unbelievable plays tonight, even on [Will] Borgen’s goal too, driving to the net. I think just using their speed, just being a threat and then looking for the late guy if that’s an option. I think our forwards did a good job, especially McCann on that last play.”
And while Kraken fans were going gaga over Beniers’ first goal, it was McCann who actually got the puck past Daws by tipping Dunn’s shot off the post, before it ricocheted through the crease.
Again, we recognize that the night belonged to Beniers, and rightfully so. But we wanted to make sure McCann got some credit, because he was a big driver.
Takeaway #3: We can’t forget about Grubauer’s big save in the second
In the second period, the Devils got two power plays in a row when Dunn hooked Jesper Bratt at 7:51, then Jamie Oleksiak held Tomas Tatar at 10:55. The Kraken penalty kill did a good job, but they definitely needed the help of Philipp Grubauer, who came up big during that stretch and prevented the Devils from extending their lead.
After a point shot, Bratt swatted a rebound toward Zacha. Soucy took a swing at it but whiffed, and Zacha appeared to have Grubauer dead to rights. But the German Gentleman sprawled to his left and just got his toe on the shot, robbing Zacha and keeping the score at 2-1.
The second it happened, we thought that could be a turning point in the game, especially if the Kraken completed the penalty kill (they did). Sure enough, Soucy scored the tying goal at the other end a couple minutes later, and suddenly you could sense a Kraken victory on the horizon.
“Grubi’s game was really solid,” Hakstol said. “The first real good opportunity is a great shot that ends up in the back of the net. And that didn’t shake Grubi at all, didn’t rattle him. He played a real solid game all the way through the 65 minutes and then through the shootout, so kudos to him.”
In all, Grubauer stopped 23 of 26 shots, which doesn’t sound *that* impressive on paper, but he was an enormous part of the Kraken victory.
It’s been an eventful week for the Seattle Kraken and their fans, as No. 2 overall draft pick Matty Beniers signed his entry-level contract and made his NHL debut against the Calgary Flames. The news generated a ton of buzz around Seattle, and Beniers lived up to the hype in his first official showing. The Kraken have also played four games since the last episode, so John, Andy, and Darren break down those contests before moving to a rare “Mail Bag” segment, which got some great participation from listeners.
After closing the mail bag, Darren discusses the NCAA Frozen Four, which ended with Denver University as national champion. He also talks about the outcome of the Hobey Baker Award and what is happening with players leaving college to sign in the NHL.
Eventually, the guys shift to segments, which this week feature Bad Boys, You Don’t See That Every Day, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
It’s been an eventful week for the Seattle Kraken and their fans, as No. 2 overall draft pick Matty Beniers signed his entry-level contract and made his NHL debut against the Calgary Flames. The news generated a ton of buzz around Seattle, and Beniers lived up to the hype in his first official showing. The Kraken have also played four games since the last episode, so John, Andy, and Darren break down those contests before moving to a rare “Mail Bag” segment, which got some great participation from listeners.
After closing the mail bag, Darren discusses the NCAA Frozen Four, which ended with Denver University as national champion. He also talks about the outcome of the Hobey Baker Award and what is happening with players leaving college to sign in the NHL.
Eventually, the guys shift to segments, which this week feature Bad Boys, You Don’t See That Every Day, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
