Our long national nightmare (the NHL’s Christmas break) is over. With the omicron variant of COVID-19 spreading like wildfire through NHL locker rooms, the league and its teams stumbled into what ended up being a prolonged break from action, as team after team shut down with too many players in protocol to compete. With seemingly no other choice, the NHL reluctantly decided to give players a longer-than-expected hiatus. Now, the NHL is back after what feels like [insert “Old Lady from Titanic saying ‘It’s been 84 years’” gif here], so we thought it would be a good time to take stock in what the Seattle Kraken have going on and their outlook for the rest of the season.
Short-term obstacle: COVID absences
Defense situation looked temporarily dire for Kraken
First, we will look at the state of the team in the immediate. The Kraken were certainly one of the clubs running on fumes as they entered the break, with defensemen Jamie Oleksiak, Carson Soucy, and Adam Larsson all testing positive in three consecutive days. Upon returning from the break, Ryan Donato, Mason Appleton, and Vince Dunn were added to that list.
Along with the three blueliners already out, Dunn’s exclusion from the lineup made things appear for a moment like Seattle would not be able to field a full defense corps as it returned to game action.
Thankfully, Soucy and Oleksiak returned to practice on Tuesday, and neither seemed to have been impacted too dramatically by their respective bouts with the virus. Larsson could be cleared to return in the coming days as well.
“Almost a little better timing for me, not really having to miss a game,” Soucy said on Tuesday. “Kind of just come back in when the team comes back. Would have liked maybe one or two more skates, but it’s a good way to get back into it with a copule games in a row here.”
Soucy’s point about timing rings mostly true for Oleksiak and Larsson as well. If Larsson can return in the next couple days, the extended holiday break really will have saved the Kraken a lot of man-games lost on the blue line. Thanks to the extra time, it appears coach Dave Hakstol will have at least three pairs of defensemen available to him for Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, assuming nothing changes throughout the day.
Some COVID challenges remain for forward group as well
There are also issues up front for the Kraken. In the short term, Donato—who had scored in three-straight games prior to the break—is in protocol, as is Appleton. Colin Blackwell and Riley Sheahan are back to fill depth roles, but Blackwell indicated that COVID took a lot out of him, so it may take him some time to get back up to speed.
One big positive (from being COVID negative) is that Yanni Gourde is expected to see his first game action since Dec. 9 on Wednesday. Obviously, getting one of the team’s top two centers back should give the Kraken a lift.
Long-term obstacle: no Turbo
The long-term picture got more murky over the break, as fan favorite and heart-and-soul winger Brandon Tanev was diagnosed with a season-ending ACL injury.
When Tanev was hit by William Lagesson in the closing minutes of Seattle’s Dec. 18 game against Edmonton, he was essentially carried off the ice and down the tunnel, putting almost no weight on his right leg. He was seen flexing his knee as his teammates propelled him toward the bench, and in that moment, you could just tell that it was something serious.
The team then played it even more coy than usual with announcing any kind of timeline, so the result was unsurprising. Still, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept the idea that the forward who has endeared himself to fans more than any other player will not don a Kraken uniform again this season.
Tanev’s absence will be felt in a lot of ways. Players like Blackwell, Sheahan, Alexander True, and Kole Lind, who have all been in and out of the Kraken lineup at times this season, will be expected to help fill the void left by Tanev. None of those players do the things that Tanev does, though, with his lightning-quick speed and unrelenting forecheck, so Turbo’s absence will require an adjustment from the entire team.
State of the Seattle Kraken
Even before Tanev’s injury, the Kraken were in last place in the Pacific Division going into the break. They trailed the Vancouver Canucks for seventh place by seven points, and they were a whopping 13 points out of the playoff picture.
Can Seattle get back in the playoff race?
Pessimists and believers in simple math would say no, they most likely cannot. As of Wednesday, the Kraken were down to a 0.1 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to MoneyPuck.com, the lowest percentage of any team in the NHL, while HockeyViz has them at 8.2 percent. As Lloyd Christmas once said, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.”
Heck, even the fact that the Canucks are still in seventh place despite being on an active six-game win streak is telling of just how hard it’s going to be for Seattle to get back in this thing.
Optimists will remind you of the St. Louis Blues in 2018-19, when that club went from last in the NHL on New Year’s Day to Stanley Cup winners in June. What happened for that group was a coaching change (no, we are not recommending Seattle make a change in its inaugural season) and a revelation in the goal crease, as Jordan Binnington burst onto the scene and carried his team to glory.
But the circumstances were quite different for that Blues team. They were a veteran club that had made the playoffs six of the previous seven seasons and had added Ryan O’Reilly in the offseason. The Kraken, on the other hand, are a young expansion team.
Goaltending improvement could turn this around
A Blues-esque goaltending improvement is what could actually unlock sustained success for the Kraken, but it would have to come from their existing netminders. It’s no secret that Kraken goaltending has been among the worst in the league through December in most metrics. With those struggles came visible slumps in play from Seattle when soft goals would go in practically every night.
We’re still hopeful this can turn around, however, and we still believe that the Kraken have an excellent tandem in the crease. Chris Driedger played well in games leading to the holiday break, and Philipp Grubauer, who took a long time to adjust when he first arrived in Colorado in 2018-19, will figure it out. He has played well below his career numbers to this point, so improvement for him is bound to happen.
With their netminders hopefully recharged after a long pause, will that improvement come now? We will get a good idea in the coming days, as Seattle dives back in head first with three games in four days to turn over the calendar year.
The 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship began on Sunday and will continue over the next week. Among the many eyes on the tournament are the eyes of the Seattle Kraken who have two prospects competing.
The most notable prospect is first-round pick Matty Beniers who is an alternate captain with Team USA, but Seattle also will be watching fourth-round pick Ville Ottavainen who is playing for Team Finland.
There might be some Kraken players tuning in as well, as 14 current players at one time represented their countries at the World Junior Championship.
Jordan Eberle represented Canada twice, first in 2009 when he won gold, and then again in 2010, when Canada earned silver.
“As a Canadian kid I grew up watching the World Juniors,” Eberle said. “I still love watching it, to me it’s some of the most exciting hockey. It’s passionate and you watch these kids going and flying around there… for me it’s a Christmas tradition since I’ve been a kid. I always dreamed of playing in it and obviously got to live that.”
Eberle isn’t alone. Joonas Donskoi played twice for his home country Finland and put up some points. He played 13 games over the two tournaments and scored five goals and 11 points.
“I was in World Juniors twice and have a lot of good memories,” Donskoi said. “I think for a young player that’s probably the biggest stage then you can play on and obviously getting ready for NHL draft too for a lot of those guys. There’s a lot of scouts and everything so a lot of good memories.”
Donskoi came off the ice after practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex Monday and was aware that Finland had just completed a 7-1 win against Austria. He said that he tries to watch as much as his hockey schedule and newborn baby allow him to.
Eberle’s magic moment
Of all the Kraken players who made an appearance at the World Juniors, none come close to matching Eberle’s moment in the 2009 tournament. His Canadian team trailed Russia 5-4 in the semifinals and time was winding down.
Canada pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and Eberle was able to find the puck in front of the net and score a backhand goal to tie the game with 5.4 seconds left. The Canadians would go on to win in the shootout – and yes, Eberle converted in the shootout – and then ultimately take home the gold medal.
Eberle scored six goals for Canada that tournament, but the one that tied the game with Russia was the biggest. It’s a goal that inspired a generation of Canadian stars that followed.
Last year, Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Beckman was invited to a stacked Team Canada World Junior camp to try and crack the roster. He had been playing for the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs and had no trouble recalling his favorite World Juniors moment.
“I have quite a few memories,” Beckman said. “The most excited I’ve ever been is Canada playing Russia in the (2009) semifinal. They were down with like 20 seconds and Jordan Eberle had the puck and ripped a backhand. They ended up winning in the shootout.”
Despite leading the WHL in scoring the season prior, Beckman, who was a second-round pick, was sent home.
Beckman isn’t alone. Ask any prospective young Canadian player and they’ll fondly remember watching that game and that moment, inspiring dreams of becoming the next national hero.
“I think at this point it’s certainly made me feel old,” Eberle said when asked about younger players remembering his goal. “When they say that, I kind of get goosebumps, and that’s their childhood memory. It kind of makes me laugh a bit and ages me but at least it’s a very fond memory.”
The World Juniors are being held in Red Deer and Edmonton this year. Last year they were played in the Edmonton bubble with no fans and this year are facing reduced capacity in both cities for COVID precautions.
While we may see another Eberle like moment in this year’s World Juniors, it won’t come with the same noise level of his big goal.
“It’s just a shame that obviously there’s not full capacity the last couple years and they don’t get that experience that I had with the Canadian crowd behind them,” Eberle said. “But nonetheless, it’s a great tournament to watch.”
All of the 2022 World Junior games will be carried live on the NHL Network.
The IIHF World Junior Championship kicks off this week as the best players under 20 years old across 10 countries take the ice in Alberta for a two-week tournament. It is the pinnacle of hockey for this age group and quite literally will put the NHL’s future on full display.
I took a deep dive through the rosters to provide more context on how these teams are built and who you might want to keep an eye on in this year’s tournament. Enjoy.
Drafted World Junior Players
There are 106 NHL-drafted players in the tournament this year, with 28 of those players selected in the first round. For comparison, last year there were 114 players drafted with 44 of them being first round draft picks.
As usual, Canada and the US have the highest number of NHL-drafted players on their teams, but this year Sweden is tied with the US for the second-most drafted players.
Last year Canada had 24 drafted players, USA had 23, and Sweden had 18.
World Junior players by NHL team
Carolina leads all NHL teams with 10 prospects in this tournament, followed by Detroit with eight. The Seattle Kraken have two drafted prospects playing in this year’s tournament, in Matty Beniers (USA) and Ville Ottavainen (Finland).
Only the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lighting have zero prospects playing in the tournament.
Here is a detailed breakdown with all drafted players, separated by NHL team.
Roster breakdown by league
Next, let us look at what are the most common leagues in which these players are currently playing.
Canada versus USA
I always enjoy looking at the contrast of the roster mix of the Canadian and US teams because it showcases each country’s hockey development approach. Team Canada tends to select most of its players from major junior/CHL hockey, while Team USA leans heavily on the NCAA.
Here is a breakdown by CHL league and NCAA conference.
I hope this gives you a deeper understanding of the rosters in this year’s tournament. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment section or connect with me on twitter.
Watching the IIHF World Junior Championship is one of the most exciting non-Stanley Cup Playoff hockey moments of every season. If you are unfamiliar with the WJC, it is a 10-country/team tournament for hockey players under 20 years old. It starts on Dec. 26 and wraps up around Jan. 5 every year. This year the World Juniors will feature two Seattle Kraken prospects.
Here is background on these Kraken prospects along with other key players to watch and a few local connections in this year’s tournament.
Seattle Kraken prospects
Matty Beniers – USA – University of Michigan
This will be the second World Junior Championship for Matty Beniers, the No. 2 overall pick of the Kraken at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, after winning gold last year. At the 2021 tournament (this upcoming tournament is called the 2022 WJC, since it ends after the calendar turns), he played more of a depth defensive role while Trevor Zegras and Alex Turcotte drove the scoring. This year, Beniers will help drive the offense for USA and therefore will be getting top-line minutes.
Beniers is considered an excellent two-way forward, so look for him to get matched up against other teams’ top lines. As usual, the Americans have one of the stronger teams in the tournament, and a medal is expected. Beniers will get a lot of ice time and play a critical role in the outcome for Team USA.
Beniers had a beautiful assist on Brett Berard’s goal against Finland in a pre-tournament game on Thursday.
Ville Ottavainen – Finland – JYP (Liiga)
Ville Ottavainen was selected in the fourth round by the Kraken at the 2021 draft. He has been playing full-time on JYP in Liiga, the highest pro hockey league in Finland. He has nine points in 30 games this season and at 6-foot-4, he is the tallest defenseman on the Finnish roster. Finland is a strong team, but their weak spot is their defense. For Finland to have a chance at gold, Ottavainen will have to have a strong tournament.
Ottavainen scored the tying goal against USA in Finland’s pre-tournament game on Thursday.
Zellweger was a second-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and is expected to get top-pair minutes partnering with Owen Power for Team Canada. He had an excellent U18 World Championship last spring and has not looked back, averaging 1.2 points per game for Everett this year. Zellweger is a fun player to watch and is not afraid to join the rush to contribute offensively.
Ronan Seeley – Canada – Everett Silvertips
Seeley looks like a steal as a seventh-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He has improved quite a bit since July and could probably be drafted in the third or fourth round in a hypothetical re-draft. His development has been great, but he is still a depth defenseman on this stacked Canadian team. Making the team was a huge accomplishment, but his ice time might be limited unless he gets paired up with Zellweger to get some of that Silvertip magic going.
Michal Gut – Czechia – Everett Silvertips
Gut was undrafted last summer but some analysts forecast that he could be selected in his second year of eligibility as a 19-year-old. The World Juniors stage will provide a forum for scouts to evaluate what they might have missed last season. Gut is an excellent puck handler and distributor with 25 assists in 23 games for Everett this year.
Samuel Knazko – Slovakia – Seattle Thunderbirds
Knazko recently joined the Thunderbirds after playing much of this season in a top Finnish junior league. He has only played five games for the Thunderbirds but already has three points to show for it. This will be one of Slovakia’s stronger teams to date and could be a sleeper to knock off one of the powerhouses in the crossover games. If that happens, Knazko will be one of the primary contributors.
2022 draft eligible players
Logan Cooley – USA – Notre Dame
Cooley is projected to be a top-10 draft pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He was a late addition to training camp where he would eventually land a spot with the team.
Joakim Kemell – Finland – JYP (Liiga)
Kemell is having an outstanding season playing pro hockey in Finland. He has 12 goals in 21 games for JYP which is good enough for top 10 in the league despite missing some games due to injury. He continues to move up analysts’ draft boards and a good World Junior performance could move him to become a top-five draft pick.
Marco Kasper – Austria – Rogle BK (SHL)
Austria is projected to have a rough tournament, but a bright spot is Marco Kasper. Kasper has been playing pro hockey in Sweden and is having a decent season. He is projected to be a first-round draft pick in July, so it will be interesting to see how he performs against more players his own age.
Shane Wright – Canada – Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
Wright was the projected No. 1 draft pick for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft going into the season, but a slow start has some draft analysts questioning if his first overall projection is a sure thing. A strong World Junior Tournament could quiet the criticism that is out there.
Other top-end players
Owen Power – Canada – University of Michigan
Owen Power was drafted first overall in 2021 and has continued living up to the hype in his sophomore year so far at Michigan. Power could easily be the best player in this tournament and will be fun to watch.
William Eklund – Sweden – Djurgardens IF (SHL)
Eklund played nine games with the San Jose Sharks before being loaned to Djurgardens IF of the Swedish Hockey League. He will be slotted on the top line for Sweden and is expected to put up big offensive numbers. Kraken fans should expect to see Eklund coming back to play in the NHL Pacific Division as early as next year.
The tournament kicks off this Sunday, Dec. 26, with four games nicely staggered throughout the day starting at 11 a.m. All games will air on NHL Network.
A quick disclaimer, the guys recorded on Sunday night, and lots of COVID-related news broke on Monday, so some of what’s said in this show has already changed. In line with that, Darren opens this episode of Sound Of Hockey by calling it Episode 186, but he’s just trying to keep you on your toes (it’s actually Episode 168).
Though it had only been a few days since the last episode and only one game had passed for the Kraken, there was still a fair amount of Kraken news to report, as Jamie Oleksiak and Carson Soucy went into COVID protocol and Brandon Tanev got injured. So, John, Andy, and Darren discuss the Edmonton game at length and break down how those pieces of news broke.
They then discuss what is happening in the hockey world as a whole from a COVID perspective and get into some conspiracy theories about why Paul Maurice resigned as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets.
Next, Andy gives a WHL Update, which leads nicely into a World Junior Championship primer. That tournament gets underway later this week.
Segments this week include Goalie Gear Corner, You Don’t See That Every Day, Bad Boys, and Three Stars.
There’s always a little mental dance being done in warm-ups, as we watch carefully to try to determine if any Kraken players are missing. Absences typically reveal themselves during line rushes, which come about five minutes into the pre-game skate. When those line rushes start, we take inventory. Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson, check. Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Joonas Donskoi, got it. Haydn Fleury with Mark Giordano, ok. Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz… WAIT A MINUTE! Giordano and Fleury?! Where’s Jamie Oleksiak? That pretty much sums up what went through our minds as the Kraken prepared to take on the Oilers Saturday.
What a strange week this has been. As Giordano said, it felt like the beginning of the pandemic all over again, as news was breaking almost by the minute that more players, coaches, and staff had been added to COVID protocol, and more teams were being shut down. Even up until game time on Saturday, we still weren’t entirely convinced that the Kraken and Oilers would play.
Not that the pattern has changed in the past couple of days but since they've broken 100… pic.twitter.com/zwVCtYksf2
But play they did, even as Edmonton dressed fewer than the usual 20 players. With five guys in COVID protocol and more injured, the Oilers were out of cap space to fill their roster, so they played with 19.
Seconds after we noticed Oleksiak’s absence, Kraken public relations confirmed that he was in COVID protocol. After seeing how things have transpired around the league with such rapid transmission throughout teams, the news felt heavier than the previous times Seattle has made such announcements this season. With two games already postponed—Sunday’s game against the Maple Leafs and Thursday’s game in Calgary—the Oleksiak revelation felt especially ominous.
You probably aren’t here for a bunch of COVID talk, though, because you’re certainly getting plenty of it elsewhere, so let’s get to our Three Takeaways from a 5-3 Kraken loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Takeaway #1: Turbo Tanev injured
Adding injury to viral infections (is that the saying?) William Lagesson of the Oilers hit Kraken fan favorite, Brandon Tanev, hard into the boards behind the Edmonton net late in the third period. It was a good, clean hip check and looked innocuous. As the play went the other way, though, Tanev didn’t get up.
Our initial hope was that it was a bad Charley horse, and he would shake it off. But he stayed down on all fours until the training staff came and looked after him. He was then helped to the bench and down the tunnel putting minimal or no weight on his right leg.
Coach Dave Hakstol did not have an update after the game, but from our vantage point, it didn’t look good. Here’s hoping for a Turbo-speed recovery.
Takeaway #2: The structure was there, but the possession was not
This was a different type of loss for Seattle from what we’ve seen in previous defeats. The team didn’t make too many glaring mistakes, it got good goaltending from Chris Driedger, and it had opportunistic scoring. Goals by Donato, Jared McCann, and Carson Soucy came despite Seattle not throwing that many pucks at Stuart Skinner, who looked shaky early on but made some huge saves as the game progressed.
The problem on Saturday was simply puck possession, which isn’t a typical difficulty of the Kraken. Edmonton took a hair over 70 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts in the game, which indicates an enormous share of the possession time. Unsurprisingly, the Oilers more than doubled the shots on goal of the Kraken, registering 41 to Seattle’s 17.
Those numbers would also paint the picture of an utterly dominant performance by the Oilers, but it really didn’t feel like that. The Kraken did have pretty good structure, limited odd-man rushes, and kept most shots to the outside, but when you allow that many shots to get to your goalie, some of them are eventually going to find the back of the net.
The best example of what can happen when teams throw a bunch of shots at your net came on Warren Foegele’s controversial game-winning goal.
Evan Bouchard shot from well out, as was the case so many times on Saturday. Driedger made the save, but the rebound popped up in the air. Giordano leveled Foegele, but he did so right into his goalie and also propelled the puck into the net. It was waived off for goalie interference, but an Edmonton challenge was successful and brought the game to 4-3.
The Kraken don’t really make a mistake on this play. The shot comes from the perimeter, and Giordano is clearing the bodies out from the front of the net, exactly like he’s supposed to do. But again, if enough pucks get through, eventually a team gets a bounce, and it goes in.
Takeaway #3: Ryan Donato keeps producing
We thought we should close this one out with a slice of positivity because there’s just too much doom and gloom in the world right now. So let’s talk about Donato scoring goals in three consecutive games and playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with a young fan during warm-ups.
We wondered aloud in our preview for Saturday’s game if Donato’s move to the third line was a direct result of him scoring goals in two games in a row. Donato and Donskoi (Donnie and Donnie) moved back to a trio centered by Geekie. Geekie is more offensively dangerous than Alex True, who had been centering that all-former-Shark line, so we thought it might be a sign that Hakstol was trying to give Donato a chance to build on his offensive success.
“Yeah, you know, Donnie scored again tonight,” Hakstol said. “He also had a real good chance in the third period. We put that group back together because of the familiarity that they’ve had and some of the production that they’ve had together.”
Ok, so maybe that’s not quite the “we were rewarding Donato” answer we were looking for there, but Hakstol is at least saying that he hoped the trio would show some of the production that they’ve shown in the past. Regardless of the reasoning, Donato cashed in early in the first period, when Geekie dropped him a pass and he pulled the trigger from distance, slipping it through the wickets on Skinner.
It really is great to see Donato scoring goals and playing with confidence. He has worked hard, been a healthy scratch at times, and done everything asked of him in third- and fourth-line roles. “It just starts going in and you just got to continue to do the same work that you’re doing,” he said Saturday about the confidence he’s showing. “I mean, if you kind of take your foot off the gas, I think those opportunities and those chances don’t really come your way.”
He does need to work on his Rock, Paper, Scissors game, though.
Ryan Donato just lost a game of rock, paper, scissors for a puck. Delivered it through the camera hole.
Said Donato, “When you can do something like that, I mean, it’s so simple and easy, and it can make a kid’s day. I’m all for it.”
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.
Seattle Kraken versus Edmonton Oilers 7 p.m. Pacific Time Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington TV: ROOT Sports, CBC, SportsNet Radio: AM 950 KJR
The Kraken are set to play the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday… we think.
The COVID situation around the NHL has predictably gotten worse. In response, the league and the NHLPA released a set of enhanced protocols on Saturday morning, which call for daily testing (except on off days), more masking and social distancing, and stricter rules for players and staff while they are traveling. So far, there has been no indication that a league-wide pause is coming, but it remains a possibility, as more and more players are entering COVID protocol and more teams are being temporarily shut down.
One team that has had its games suspended is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were supposed to be Seattle’s opponent on Sunday. That game has been officially postponed with no makeup date announced so far.
As of the writing of this story, we’re still expecting the Kraken to play the Oilers on Saturday, but even that has felt tenuous. The team sent an email shortly after 1PM confirming that the game would go on.
Jesse Puljujarvi went into protocol on Saturday, bringing the Oilers to five players on the COVID list, plus head coach Dave Tippett. They delayed their flight out of Edmonton on Friday while they awaited test results. They then came to Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday morning, got tested again for COVID, and left without holding a morning skate.
Keep your expectations managed, just in case, but signs are still pointing toward a contest happening on Saturday. So, with that in mind, it’s Kraken game day!
Chris Driedger gaining trust?
The Kraken did hold morning skate on Saturday, but it was optional. In all, 10 skaters were on the ice, along with netminders Chris Driedger and Philipp Grubauer, who left Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Anaheim early due to a minor injury. He returned to practice in full on Friday and apparently avoided missing any time, saying the malady was, “Nothing crazy, just kind of an awkward hit.”
Grubauer gave up another tough goal against the Ducks, one night after Driedger played great in a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks. That’s three wins in three starts for Driedger, who looks like he is moving beyond some early-season hiccups. Grubauer, meanwhile, has shown flashes of what we believe he will be for this team long-term, but there’s no question there have been some questionable goals along the way.
Coach Dave Hakstol had continued to stick with Grubauer for the lion’s share of starts, but we’re wondering if this is starting to shift as Driedger is commanding more time. Remember, Driedger got two starts in a row in Florida and Buffalo, and now gets the only start of the weekend with the postponement of Sunday’s game.
Ryan Donato’s role increasing
Since Saturday’s morning skate was optional, we’re predicting the Kraken lines and defensive pairs based on what we saw Friday at practice (see our projection below). During that session, the Triple-J line of Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann, and Jordan Eberle remained intact, as did the Marcus Johansson, Alex Wennberg, Mason Appleton line. Ryan Donato looks like he has moved up from the all-former-Shark fourth line that he had been skating on and has ascended to the third line with Morgan Geekie and Joonas Donskoi.
We try not to read too much into these types of things because line shuffling happens all the time on every NHL team. But we’ve always wondered what it is about Donato’s game that leads him to healthy scratches and fourth-line minutes, as has been the case on his previous teams as well. Donato’s biggest strength is his shot, so he needs to be using it and scoring goals to earn more significant roles. He scored in each of his last two games, and lo and behold, he’s now on a more offensive-minded trio with Geekie and Donskoi.
Last time Kraken played Oilers was unforgettable
There was a decent amount of hype locally before the last contest between these two teams, back on Dec. 3. It was the first visit for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Oilers, and they were fighting for first place at the time. A thrilling 4-3 Kraken win that night launched a miserable skid for the Oilers. Edmonton lost six games in a row and dropped all the way to fourth place in the Pacific Division before stopping the bleeding with a 5-2 home win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday.
In that Dec. 3 game, both Draisaitl and McDavid scored and were together on the ice for practically the entire third period, as the Oilers tried desperately to level the score. Even so, Seattle did a good job of minimizing the damage caused by the dynamic duo that night by working together as a five-man unit to take away space from the two superstars.
Interestingly, McDavid hasn’t scored a goal since that last visit to Seattle. Draisaitl scored twice against Boston on Dec. 9, but has also been held goalless otherwise.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Puljujarvi, Duncan Keith, Ryan McLeod, and Devin Shore are all in COVID protocol for the Oilers. Zach Hyman is day to day with an injury, and Mike Smith and Kris Russell are on IR.
Stuart Skinner is expected to start in net. He looked quite shaky in the last matchup between these two teams, so let’s see if Seattle can get to him early.
Thrilled to be back in BarrDown Studios, things go a bit haywire on this latest episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. Darren, John, and Andy start off well, exuberant about being back in the same room. But the show hits the fan toward the end, when Andy notices that a certain important weekly segbit has been completely skipped. Hilarity ensues.
The guys start this episode by discussing the Kraken’s controversial foray into NFT’s, before meticulously breaking down the games that have passed since the last show.
When they’ve gotten through all the Kraken news, the guys discuss the firestorm of COVID around the NHL and what it means. They then give a WHL Update before some World Junior Championship discussion. They eventually move on to segbits, and that’s where things go sideways.
Segbits this week include (sort of) Get Off My Lawn, Goalie Gear Corner, Three Stars, and eventually Weekly One-Timers.
Prior to an early season Kraken game at Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle Seahawks running back DeeJay Dallas stood on a balcony high above the arena to hype up 17,000 hockey fans.
You couldn’t tell by his excitement that night, but the 23 year old was stepping outside his comfort zone a bit. He’s normally on the football field with the crowd looking down on him. But this time the roles were reversed, and the fans were all looking up.
“I’m kind of shy, a little bit,” Dallas says. “When I have my helmet on all the time the fans don’t really bother me, but when I have no helmet on and you can see my face then I’m just like ‘Oh, man.’”
Dallas wasn’t at the game for a promotion opportunity nor was he there jumping on the bandwagon of Seattle’s newest professional team.
He was there for the game. He was there because he’s a hockey fan.
“I like hockey,” Dallas said. “Hockey is fast and physical and reminds me a lot of our game.”
The Seahawks brought Dallas to Seattle in 2020 when they made him their fourth-round pick in the NFL Draft out of the University of Miami.
He’s in his second season with the Seahawks and has run for 172 yards on 51 carries with three touchdowns. Dallas can play on passing downs and has added 210 yards and another touchdown with 31 catches so far. He’s also a regular returning kickoffs for the Seahawks.
Thrashers, Penguins, and Kraken
Growing up in Brunswick, Ga., Dallas discovered hockey at a young age by going to Atlanta Thrashers games. He says those games helped him to learn to enjoy the sport and become a fan.
“The Thashers left when I was six or seven, maybe a little bit later than that,” he says. “But once they left I became a Penguins fan. Sidney Crosby is the beast and they had [Marc-Andre] Fleury and everybody.”
He missed a chance to get to the game last Monday when the Penguins, and Crosby, were in town due to meetings with the Seahawks. But he was there the next game, sitting on the glass with his wife and son, cheering hard as the Kraken played the former Thrashers, the Winnipeg Jets.
Dallas was a Penguins fan, but he’s adopted the Kraken and gets to as many games as he can.
“I finally have a team that I didn’t inherit,” he says. “Like I feel like I can be a part of this team. I’m living in Seattle now being a part of the Seahawks. You always want to support the hometown team. So, I’ve become a Kraken fan and I think I’ll probably be a Kraken fan forever… it’s just so exciting to watch the guys. Me and some of the players have become friends and I just tell them all the time like ‘Man, y’all fly’ and it’s just amazing to watch.”
You might know him as the @seahawks running back, but to us he’s the resident leader for the Brandon Tanev Fan Club.
Dallas has not been on skates before, although there has been some talk of him doing something with the team where he does get out on the ice. That will undoubtedly be entertaining content. For now he’ll stick with being a fan, attending games, and supporting the club on Twitter.
When asked what type of player he would be, he quickly says he’d be a defenseman like Jamie Oleksiak who Dallas refers to as a ‘beast.’
He may want to be a defenseman, but it’s a certain forward that he’s adopted as his favorite Kraken player.
“[Brandon] Tanev is my guy, that’s my favorite player,” Dallas says. “He plays with what I like to bring to football. He plays with passion. Every night he steps on the ice he brings it, and I like to say he has that about him. He flies, he hits people, he takes no shit and that’s what I like to bring to football.”
No word yet if his Seahawks teammates will start calling Dallas ‘Turbo,’ but watching him run the ball, there is a similarity.
Dallas says he’ll continue to attend Kraken games, sitting on the glass, when his football schedule allows for it. He appears on the team’s intro video each night and is part of the deafening din of Climate Pledge Arena.
“Kraken fans remind me a lot of the 12’s and the fan bases probably overlap,” Dallas says. “The fans from Lumen Field and Climate Pledge are a lot of the same people. It’s exciting.”
