There are no moral victories in the NHL, but… One could argue that there were some moral victories for the Seattle Kraken in their first-ever game Tuesday, a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.
We at Sound Of Hockey came into the game cautiously optimistic, especially when we learned that Marcus Johansson, Jamie Oleksiak, Jared McCann, and Joonas Donskoi had remarkably cleared Covid protocol and arrived in Vegas in time for the game. But the cynical side of SOH was also bracing for a crushing defeat, because frankly, Vegas is good. Seattle could end up being good as well based on the small sample of exhibition hockey we had seen, but a successful preseason does not a regular season make.
So, like we said, we were bracing.
We braced even harder when the Kraken found themselves down 2-0 just 6:36 into the first period and then down 3-0 before the midway point in the second. To Seattle’s credit, it battled back, and in the end lost by one very questionable goal.
“I saw what I saw,” said coach Dave Hakstol of Chandler Stephenson’s game-winning goal, and what he saw was a distinct kicking motion propelling the puck past Philipp Grubauer.
Losing on a goal that probably shouldn’t have counted after the Kraken battled back from being down three is a real… kick… in… the… tentacles.
Takeaway #1: Better starts needed for Seattle
We saw this a couple times in the preseason as well, where the Kraken come out making sloppy plays with the puck and quickly find themselves in a deficit. That is exactly what happened on Tuesday, after an immediate 30-second buzz from McCann’s line that led to a power play.
Once that game-opening penalty ended, the Kraken were getting decent zone time and some pucks through to Robin Lehner, but it was Vegas that got higher quality chances in the first 20 minutes and went to the dressing room with a two-goal cushion.
We try to avoid making excuses, but Seattle did have a frenzied 36 hours leading up to Tuesday’s contest and was playing the first game in franchise history in one of the most hostile buildings in the NHL on opening night.
So if ever we were to make an excuse for a slow start, this might be the opportunity to do so. There was a lot happening off the ice for Seattle before this one.
Captain Mark Giordano said before the game that the team wasn’t looking for excuses, though, so let’s stick with that line of thinking. No excuses. Seattle needs better first periods moving forward.
Takeaway #2: Morgan Geekie can shoot the puck, allegedly celebrate
A wise man once said, “You can’t out-pizza the hut.” That wise man was Morgan Geekie in a press conference while he was still with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Geekie’s theory looked to be holding true 12 minutes into the third period Tuesday when he took a pass in the neutral zone and skated up the right side. He looked for a teammate to pass to, but learned he was all alone on what would surely turn out to be a nothing play, right?
Recognizing he was all alone with nowhere to go, the 23-year-old center loaded up and fired his heat-seeking missile of a snapshot from the top of the right circle. Vegas netminder Robin Lehner looked caught off guard by how quickly the puck got to him. It beat him cleanly over the glove, hit under the crossbar and went straight down to level the score at 3-3.
We didn’t see the celebration (we were tweeting in all caps), and ESPN did not capture it on the broadcast. SinBin.Vegas did see it, and said it was akin to the stick twirl and sword sheathing that Geekie did when he scored against Vancouver in Seattle’s first preseason game.
The Vegas bench noticed the celebration and apparently didn’t love it. With renewed vigor, the Golden Knights retook the lead 35 seconds later.
Hakstol responded Wednesday.
Dave Hakstol on how Vegas reacted to Geekie’s goal celebration: “I know Morgan really well and that’s not his personality… I looked at it on tape just to try to confirm or see it, and there's really nothing there. There’s certainly no intention, there never would be.”
So in a way, it turns out you can out-pizza the hut after all.
Takeaway #3: Control what you can and give nothing back
The “give nothing back” portion of this takeaway title is superfluous, but there was a very Pirates of the Caribbean flavor to a lot of the Vegas game presentation Tuesday, and we wanted this one to sound as plunderous as possible.
The “control what you can” chunk refers to the fact that the Kraken may have gotten hosed (depending on your bias) by NHL officiating for the first time in franchise history, a true milestone in the journey.
One thing newer hockey fans will learn as we go is that the sport is inherently chaotic. Some nights the puck will bounce your way, and some nights it will not. Similarly, calls will sometimes go your way, but usually they will not.
All you can do is work to be the better team every night, and when you do that, you will win more often than you lose, chaos be damned. Seattle showed tenacity by climbing out of a 3-0 crater, but Vegas had the better of the chances in a sloppy first period for the Kraken and dominated the beginning of the second.
Even with that tenacity, every bounce and every call had to go Seattle’s way in the second half of the game for the Kraken to come out on top. That surprisingly almost happened, but chaos ultimately reigned supreme.
Control more of the game and limit the impact of the chaos, because the chaos will be be ever-present.
Bonus Takeaway: What a night
I’m switching to first-person mode here, because I need to tell you about my own experience from Tuesday’s game.
I will never forget it.
I will never forget being on the plaza outside T-Mobile Arena before the game, surrounded by hundreds of partying Kraken fans, as Seattle’s players and coaches slowly trickled by en route to the arena. Seeing them react with surprise and appreciation as the revelers called out their names and urged them on was special to witness.
Inside the building, 18,000 jaws hit the floor when a three-dimensional Kraken rose out of the ice and was eventually burned back to the depths by a heroic knight in a show that locals called the best production ever by a franchise known for its over-the-top theatrics.
The gameplay was riveting. The atmosphere was intense. The night was unforgettable. Now imagine if Seattle would have completed the comeback.
That’s Game 1 out of 82 (and hopefully way more). Welcome to the NHL, folks.
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.
The first step is often the most difficult and the Seattle Kraken took a strong, yet clumsy, first step Tuesday night in Vegas against the Golden Knights. Seattle dropped the opener 4-3 thanks to slow first steps during the first and second periods.
After an early shift flurry right off the opening faceoff, the Kraken got sloppy defensively.
It led to goals by Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Marchessault just over a minute apart and before the season was seven minutes old the Kraken found themselves in a 2-0 hole. It could have been nerves or adrenaline, but the Kraken and goalie Philipp Grubauer looked out of sorts early in the period.
Seattle settled down after the two scores and carried the majority of possession the rest of the first period. Despite being down two, the Kraken led Vegas with shots on goal by 9-6 and by shot attempts at even strength by 19-12. Overall, the Kraken would hold a 51-43 shot attempt advantage on the night.
But the second period started much the same way the opening 20 started. Seattle took two penalties in the first three minutes and was on its heels. The Kraken killed off both penalties – ending the night 3-for-3 on the kill – but Pacioretty would score his second shortly after the second power-play to build an imposing 3-0 Golden Knights lead.
Twice in the preseason the Kraken came back to win games and it looked like they might do it again on Tuesday.
Ryan Donato would score for Seattle just after the midway point of the period to cement himself in franchise history with the first goal. More importantly, it gave the Kraken energy and life. Just over a minute later, Jared McCann would score after a slick passing play from the top line.
Heading into the third period, down one, the Kraken would tie the game on a Morgan Geekie snipe. The play looked rather benign as Geekie glided into the Vegas zone alone while his teammates changed behind him. Rather than dump the puck in and skate off the ice, he unloaded a deadly wrist shot that found the net over Robin Lehner’s shoulder.
The Kraken had come back to tie at 3-3.
Any momentum from that goal created was sullied 35 seconds later and it came with a bit of controversy. Off the rush, Vegas center Chandler Stephenson scored to put the Golden Knights ahead. Immediately, Seattle players looked to the officials and complained that the puck was kicked in.
It was reviewed and called a good goal as the replay judges ruled that while Stephenson turned his skate to have the puck deflect off it, he did not do it with a distinct kicking motion.
That would prove to be the game-winner and the Kraken fall to 0-1-0.
The good from the Kraken on opening night
There were things to like out of Seattle’s game Tuesday.
Erasing a 3-0 lead against a top team on the road is impressive. The Kraken aren’t built with dynamic scorers and falling behind by a trio of goals is tough to come back from. Seattle didn’t panic. They stuck with their systems and were able to walk the Golden Knights down. Early results indicate that this could end up being a resilient team.
The comeback was even more remarkable considering the club went through a COVID scare over the previous 24 hours. On Monday five players were put into the NHL’s COVID protocol and it was unclear if they would play. The players, including McCann, Jamie Oleskiak, Joonas Donskoi, and Marcus Johansson, were cleared with just enough time to get to Vegas and play.
After a shaky start, Grubauer found his legs and kept the Kraken within striking distance. Specifically, during the two early Vegas power plays in the second period. The Golden Knights had some of their best looks and Grubauer made six huge stops. He would end with 18 saves on 22 shots.
Seattle needs to find some secondary scoring and got it Tuesday. The top line with McCann, Jaden Schwartz, and Jordan Eberle did their thing to score but the Kraken also got goals from Donato and Geekie. It’s a great start for those two and the Kraken will need them as contributors.
Another potential source of secondary scoring played very well. Seattle’s second line centered by Alex Wennberg with Johansson and Donskoi logged 9:16 of ice time together at 5-on-5 and dominated. They were on the ice for 13 Kraken shot attempts and three from Vegas. Their expected goals (xGF) percentage was 89. They didn’t score but that kind of puck possession moving forward will lead to scoring.
What the Kraken need to clean up
Seattle struggled at times to manage the puck. Vegas’ second goal, scored by Marchessault was the result of a turnover by Vince Dunn deep in the Seattle end. The Golden Knights first goal was helped by a poor read on the forecheck by Nathan Bastian. Pacioretty’s second goal that made it 3-0 came after the Kraken threw it away in the neutral zone.
Giving the puck away not only leads to chances but results in Seattle chasing. When the Kraken chase, they can’t get into their forecheck which is a vital part to their attack.
Expect that to be a point of emphasis for Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol over the remainder of the opening road trip.
By the numbers
Defenseman Mark Giordano, who was just named team captain, led the Kraken with 23:20 of ice time. Jaden Schwartz led Seattle forwards with 20:20.
Donato will go down in history as the first goal scorer, but Vince Dunn will forever be known as the player with the first assist as he set up Donato’s goal.
Vegas had 10 takeaways to the Kraken’s five. Seattle led in giveaways 7-6.
The Kraken led in hits 33-26.
Up next for the Kraken is a Thursday night tilt in Nashville against the Predators.
Seattle Kraken at Vegas Golden Knights 7 p.m. Pacific T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada TV: ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here! Opening night for the inaugural season of NHL hockey in Seattle has finally arrived. It’s been an unbelievable journey to get to this point, and it really was surreal to be sitting in T-Mobile Arena Tuesday morning, watching Seattle Kraken players (specifically those who aren’t in Covid protocol) going through their morning drills and preparing to take on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vegas is arguably the toughest Pacific Division test under normal circumstances, so to have five players in Covid protocol as recently as Monday feels a bit unfair to an organization that has worked so hard to prepare its roster and its players for this moment. But as newly named captain Mark Giordano said Tuesday morning, the players in the locker room aren’t looking for excuses. They are ready and eager to go, and some players are going to get opportunities that may not have expected them.
UPDATE: Jared McCann, Jamie Oleksiak, and Joonas Donskoi all cleared Covid protocol and will play. We spotted Oleksiak walking into the arena, so we figured there could be some changes coming from what we were projecting earlier. Apparently when Dave Hakstol said the lineup was a “work in progress” Tuesday morning, this is why.
Very slick, Mr. Hakstol! Very slick indeed!
#SeaKraken forwards Jared McCann and Joonas Donskoi plus D-man Jamie Oleksiak have all arrived in Vegas, confirms GM Ron Francis. Let's go, Game 1 puck drop in 90 minutes.
One other bit of welcome news in all of the chaos of the last 24 hours was that Marcus Johansson was cleared from Covid protocol just in time to make the team flight on Monday evening. He said he did not test positive, but he was a close contact, so he had to wait for clearance to be able to take the trip to Vegas.
Jamie Oleksiak, Jared McCann, Joonas Donskoi, and Calle Jarnkrok remain in protocol, though, so they were not allowed to make the trip, and coach Dave Hakstol gave no prediction for when they might be able to join the team.
So, what the Kraken have is what they get to work with tonight. They did claim Alex Barre-Boulet off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, and he is in Las Vegas but didn’t make it in time for the morning skate. Hakstol didn’t indicate whether or not they’d put him right into the lineup having never even skated with the team, but he is available. Our *guess* is that they’ll go with their more known quantities, but we shall see.
Vegas Golden Knights
All reports indicate that the Golden Knights had a lousy preseason and lost 4-0 to the Sharks in their last exhibition game, which was the team’s “dress rehearsal” for opening night.
Still, you know T-Mobile Arena is going to be electric on Tuesday, and the players will come ready.
Interestingly, Vegas is expected to play Dylan Coghlan, a 23-year-old defensemen, on its fourth forward line, as the Golden Knights have remarkably already found themselves in salary cap hell. That’s a fascinating predicament for a team that just ran into this last season.
Here’s what our friends at SinBin.Vegas see as the lineup for Vegas.
Thus, this is a guess at the lines today (definitely wouldn't say this is confirmed)
Here’s how the team is lined up in warmups. This looks a lot better than what we were projecting earlier.
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.
Also, disclaimer… Darren apologizes for forgetting to turn the volume on his mic down when the guys welcome TIM LEIWEKE, CEO OF OAK VIEW GROUP, THE ORGANIZATION BUILDING CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA onto the show! The Seattle Kraken never would have happened if it weren’t for Tim, and he’s here to share his story. It’s a good one, so tune in for this. He will get you SO PUMPED for opening night at Climate Pledge Arena.
Plus, plenty of Kraken hockey talk to get you ready for the team’s first game in Vegas, a general (but focused) NHL season preview, and of course news from around the league.
Segments this week include Serious Business, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
With all the coverage and attention we are giving the Seattle Kraken these days, it is hard to believe there are other teams that play hockey in the NHL. To shed a little bit of light on the other 31 teams in the league, here are five non-Kraken NHL storylines that we are keeping an eye on for the 2021-22 NHL season.
2019 NHL Entry Draft class
The 2019 NHL Entry Draft class was loaded with talent and storylines. Some of the players have already been in the NHL for a while, but this is the year we can expect the 2019 draft class to make their presence felt. Jack Hughes (NJD) and Kaapo Kakko (NYR) have been playing in the NHL since they were drafted, but expect them to take a major step forward and showcase why they were drafted first and second overall.
The US National Team Development Program (USNTDP) had one of its biggest drafts in 2019 with eight players selected in the first round. Trevor Zegras (ANA), Cole Caufield (MON), and Spencer Knight (FLA) played limited NHL games last season and are a few of the preseason favorites for the Calder Trophy this season. All three of them are exciting to watch and even if they do not log a lot of minutes, they could show off some of their potential.
In addition to those three, keep an eye out for Alex Turcotte (LAK), Cam York (PHI), and Matthew Boldy (MIN). Those three might not start the season with their respective NHL clubs, but they are on the edge of breaking into the NHL.
There are also two Europeans from that draft class that are expected to be regular contributors to their respective teams this NHL season. There are huge expectations for Moritz Seider (DET) and Vasily Podkolzin (VAN) and both are expected to step in and contribute right away. The two played professional hockey in Europe and should have an easier time adjusting to pro hockey in North America.
We should also keep an eye on Alex Newhook (COL) who could center the third line on a very talented Colorado Avalanche team. He is exciting to watch and is my personal sleeper Calder Trophy candidate.
The Colorado goalie situation
It should be no surprise to Seattle hockey fans that the Colorado Avalanche lost their Vezina finalist goalie, Philipp Grubauer, via free agency to the Kraken this offseason. Enter Darcy Kuemper who was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes this offseason to fill the void left by Grubauer’s departure. Kuemper is a great goalie when healthy but has missed several games due to injury each of the last three years. If he goes down for any significant time, this could be an issue for the Colorado Avalanche who are a near consensus to win the Stanley Cup this year.
Pain for Shane
Shane Wright is the consensus first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and a couple teams have signaled they are going to tank this season to get a crack at him in the draft. Finishing in last place will not guarantee a team the first pick overall, but it will give them the best odds in the NHL Draft Lottery. Even for teams that don’t win the lottery, Ivan Miroshnichenko or Brad Lambert would not be bad consolation prizes.
The tank strategy seems to be in play in Arizona and Buffalo. Neither team added players of value this offseason and both teams got significantly worse in net. Buffalo is relying on the goalie trio of Craig Anderson, Aaron Dell, and Dustin Tokarski. Meanwhile, Arizona is going with the tandem of Carter Hutton and Karel Vejmelka. These teams are expected to be horrible.
What teams take a step back?
Some of the best teams in the past decade are due for a decline. The core players of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have been aging for a while without a lot of young reinforcements waiting in the wings.
In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby will be missing a few games to start the season, while Evgeni Malkin will miss a multiple months. Even when those guys are healthy, both are on the downward sides of their careers. Malkin and Kris Letang are also on the last year of their contracts and could be moved before the trade deadline to start the rebuild process in Pittsburgh.
The Capitals are facing a similar fate. The top-two goal scorers from last season, Alex Ovechkin and TJ Oshie are 36 and 34 respectively. Both continue to play well but Father Time will eventually catch up with them. They do have two young and promising prospects in Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre, but both need another year or two to make a real impact on the NHL team.
Chicago Blackhawks
As other teams step back, others will step up. The Chicago Blackhawks are primed to be one of those teams. The Blackhawks have not advanced beyond the first round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since they won the Stanley Cup in 2015. And apart from the expanded postseason of 2020, they have not qualified for the playoffs since 2017.
Last season they were without Jonathan Toews, and Kirby Dach spent much of the season on injured reserve. Both are starting is year healthy and ready to go. In addition to a healthy Toews and Dach, the Blackhawks will have the most recent Vezina trophy winner, Marc-André Fleury in net and elite defenseman Seth Jones on the blue line. This team might not be a Stanley Cup favorite, but they have loaded up to a point where they should be able to punch a ticket to the playoffs.
Every NHL hockey team faces adversity at some point in its seasonal journey. When it happens and the intensity with which it hits are the variables, because dealing with the unexpected is… expected. Adversity will happen. Of course, there’s the matter of how well the team can manage through those challenges. While adversity is always hiding around every corner, waiting to rear its ugly head, no coach expects to have it strike for the very first game in the history of a franchise. But that is what Dave Hakstol and the Seattle Kraken are encountering now, as five players have popped up on the Covid protocol list just one day before the team’s inaugural season opener in Vegas.
Five Kraken players in Covid protocol
Calle Jarnkrok had been missing from practice since Friday and was confirmed to be in Covid protocol. Since then, we began seeing more stringent procedures in place at the Kraken Community Iceplex. On Monday, when several more players were missing from practice, you just knew something was up.
Media availability after Monday’s skate was initially focused on the Kraken naming Mark Giordano as the first captain in franchise history, but the conversation was facilitated via Zoom—not in person—for the first time since the opening of training camp. Making things even more obvious that the Covid situation had worsened, the podium was being sanitized every time a player finished his availability.
When Dave Hakstol finally took his spot at the microphone, the first question was on the status of the players that were missing from Monday’s practice. That’s when he confirmed that Jared McCann, Marcus Johansson, Jamie Oleksiak, and Joonas Donskoi had joined Jarnkrok in protocol.
So, if you’re scoring at home, that’s five regular players in total that we don’t expect to be available for Seattle in its first-ever game Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Yanni Gourde and Colin Blackwell also remain unavailable due to injury, so the full-time NHL lineup that we expected to see for the first time Tuesday has been seriously impacted.
Hakstol indicated that the team had a lot of decisions to make, as it needed to determine which players to recall from AHL Charlotte on short notice. It’s also possible that Alex Barre-Boulet—claimed off waivers by the Kraken from Tampa Bay on Monday—could slot right in.
“We’ve already started working toward that plan,” Hakstol said. “Things happen quickly and sometimes at inopportune times. There’s different challenges you go through throughout the season. This is one of them for us, early on. We have some decisions to make as we go through the day. We’ll do that, and we’ll be ready to play as we get into Vegas [Monday night].”
We should have a better handle on who will and won’t play Tuesday morning, but for now, expect the roster for the very first game to have more of a preseason flair than we anticipated.
Simply fielding a whole roster for Game 1 was certainly not a hurdle Hakstol and staff expected to have to clear. We shall see how Seattle handles this remarkably early adversity.
Mark Giordano named captain, four players named alternates
Giordano being named the first captain in franchise history was supposed to be the biggest news on Monday. Yanni Gourde, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, and Adam Larsson being named alternate captains was supposed to be the second-biggest news. Instead, here we are halfway through the story before we’re even really touching on it, thanks to the Covid bombshell mentioned previously.
Now, this really is huge news in the grand scheme of things. All of the players earning letters indicated in their Zoom pressers that they expect to lead to the best of their own respective abilities, and the alternates all sang the praises of Giordano.
“I think for me it was an easy decision,” said Eberle about Giordano being named the team’s captain. “I’m from Calgary, and live there in the summertime, and a lot of people don’t know… Obviously they see the work he puts in on the ice and the leadership capabilities that he has. But being from Calgary, I know firsthand the leadership role that he has in the community, whether it’s charities or- the little things that he’s doing inside of Calgary. So we’re lucky to have him, and it’s an easy decision in my mind.”
Eberle was referencing the nine seasons that Giordano spent with the captain’s ‘C’ on his Flames sweater. So, this certainly isn’t Giordano’s first rodeo, but this time is a little different for the veteran blueliner, as he now comes into the role with experience.
“I think a captain of a hockey team has to be a guy who brings the guys together but relays the message from management and coaching to the players,” Giordano said. “So I’m looking forward to it. Again, it’s a great responsibility, but I can’t be more thankful to the organization for placing that trust in me.”
Giordano always felt like the no-brainer, slam-dunk candidate for the captaincy based on his impressive credentials, but one can’t help wondering how long it will last. After all, he is 38 years old and is in the final season of a six-year contract. Will he be with the Kraken next season? What about beyond the trade deadline this season?
Clearly, his captaincy is not expected to be one that lasts forever, but making Giordano the official leader for the inaugural year makes all the sense in the world… for now.
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.
The Seattle Kraken will make the playoffs in year one because the Pacific Division is weak. That’s the prevailing thought about the Kraken’s chances of doing something special during their inaugural season.
Is the Pacific Division weak?
Despite the one-year realignment last season only the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers made the playoffs, and things aren’t looking that much better for the division this season.
We know what the Kraken have to offer. Up front they are armed with solid, two-way forwards. They don’t have a true elite center, but there is depth down the lineup which makes them competitive in the Pacific. Seattle’s top line with Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz, and Jordan Eberle has looked great during the preseason and will lead the way.
Down the lineup there are players who have 20-goal potential along with young players like Morgan Geekie who could be on the doorstep. All that and we have yet to see how the Kraken lineup looks with Yanni Gourde and Colin Blackwell in it.
On the back end, Seattle’s defense is solid, led by veteran Mark Giordano who will help with secondary scoring and man the top power-player unit. The defense is playing in front of a goalie tandem that may be the best in not only the Pacific Division but the NHL. Philipp Grubauer is coming off a season in Colorado that earned him a Vezina nomination and he’s been lights out during camp and the preseason.
How do the Kraken match up with their Pacific Division mates? Here’s a look:
Vegas Golden Knights versus Seattle Kraken
Forwards: Vegas has two of the more dynamic forwards in the league with Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. Last year the two combined to score 45 goals on the Golden Knights’ top line. Pacioretty has topped the 30-goal mark six times over his career while Stone is the ultimate two-way forward, adept at disrupting via the forecheck and stripping pucks almost at will.
The literal hole in the Vegas forward group last year was down the middle, and they still do not have a clear top-line center. Chandler Stephenson centered the top line and filled in adequately while William Karlsson played on the second line. In the playoffs the Golden Knights offense disappeared in part due to play down the middle.
They looked to add depth to their forwards in the offseason with trades for former Philadelphia Flyers high pick Nolan Patrick and also Evgenii Dadonov. Patrick will start at center and the bulked up third line gives Vegas a deeper and perhaps more consistent forward group. Advantage Golden Knights
Defense and goaltending: After a Vezina Trophy win the Golden Knights parted ways with Marc-Andre Fleury and traded him to Chicago this summer. He’ll go down as a Vegas legend after leading the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in year one, but they’ll now hand the net over to Robin Lehner full time. Lehner and Fleury took turns over the past two years and Lehner is a top goalie in his own right. There should not be a huge drop off, if any, for Vegas here.
Defensively, the Golden Knights are as strong as any team in the league. Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo are two offensively gifted defensemen and power-play quarterbacks. Theodore averaged .79 points per game last season which was only behind Stone and Pacioretty for Vegas. Those two are the flashy pieces on the Golden Knights back end, but Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb round out the group well. Advantage Golden Knights
Edmonton Oilers versus Seattle Kraken
Forwards: All conversations about the Edmonton forwards begin and end with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers two top centers are also two of the world’s top centers. McDavid is coming off a spectacular MVP season just a year after Draisaitl won the Hart Trophy. The trouble in Edmonton is that the Oilers don’t get much from anyone else up front.
Last season when the two were on the ice together at 5-on-5, the Oilers dominated in every possession number you look at and scored 33 goals for and allowed 17 against. When neither were on the ice, the Oilers were outscored 52-29. Edmonton is hoping to find more scoring depth from guys like Kailer Yamamoto, who has been inconsistent, and Zach Hyman who they brought in as a free agent from Toronto. While the Kraken may have slightly more depth, with the stars at the top of the lineup, it’s hard to bet against the Oilers here. Advantage Oilers
Defense and goaltending: As elite as the Oilers are at the front of the lineup, the back end has been a struggle over the past few years. The defense has been troublesome for Edmonton and it doesn’t help that perennial top-six blueliner Adam Larsson is now in Seattle. Darnell Nurse is at the top of their pairings and is a top-end guy in the NHL, but the roster gets slim after that. Edmonton brought in a well-past-his-prime Duncan Keith to help. Will it?
In net it’s the return of 39-year-old Mike Smith, who rebounded for a nice season last year, and Mikko Koskinen. The best way to describe both goalies is… inconsistent. Advantage Kraken
Vancouver Canucks versus the Seattle Kraken
Forwards: The Canucks are looking for a bounce back year, and if enough goes right for them, they just might do so. They are strongest up front, powered by the recently re-signed Elias Pettersson who is one of the brightest young stars in the NHL. They’ll need a better year out of J.T. Miller this season, but they also have Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser returning. To bolster their forward group they added Connor Garland and Jason Dickinson via trade and a promising rookie in Vasily Podkolzin.
They can throw three solid lines at you which should lead to a consistent offensive attack. Advantage Canucks
How do the Seattle Kraken match up with their would-be rivals the Vancouver Canucks? (Brian Liesse photo)
Defense and goaltending: In net the Canucks feature the talented and young Thatcher Demko. In his first season as the number one starter Demko was a solid .915 goalie but is a step behind Grubauer at this point in their careers.
It’s in front of the goalie where there are issues, though not with Quinn Hughes. Hughes, who also just re-signed with the Canucks, is already a star and the 21-year-old speedster is only going to get better and more dangerous. After that, the Canucks defense is sketchy. They brought in Oliver Ekman-Larsson in hopes he can bolster a top six that struggles in its own end. That’s a risk. Advantage Kraken
Los Angeles Kings versus the Seattle Kraken
Forwards: The Kings have been threatening with a rebuild for a couple years now, and they’ve collected young, impressive talent but still may be a season away from truly cashing in. The ageless wonder Anze Kopitar still leads the way as their top center along with winger Dustin Brown. They’ve added Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault which gives them a bit more veteran experience and production to their top six.
Los Angeles’ exciting forwards include Alex Turcotte (drafted fifth overall in 2019) and Quinton Byfield (drafted second overall in 2020) who have yet to impact at the NHL level but are certainly on the come. If those guys are ready, the Los Angeles rebuild is in full swing. Seattle has more depth in their forwards for the time being. Advantage Kraken
Defense and goaltending: Drew Doughty leads the Kings defensively again this year and at 31 years old is still productive. His best seasons are in the past, however, and Los Angeles has surrounded him with younger guys who will need to step up if the Kings want to make the playoffs this season.
Cal Petersen and Jonathan Quick are the goalie duo again this year and that is less than exciting. Petersen took the bulk of the starts last year as the 35-year-old Quick failed to get his save percentage above .900. The Kraken are much better equipped in net. Advantage Kraken
Calgary Flames versus the Seattle Kraken
Forwards: When you look at the Flames up front it’s a head scratcher as to why they weren’t better last season. Johnny Gaudreau can score and Matthew Tkachuk – who is still just 23 years old – make up a talented top line. Elias Lindholm centers a second line with Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane which has the potential to make up a tough top six.
After those guys it falls off a bit for the Flames. Will that younger second line step up enough to provide the Flames with one of the best groups in the Pacific? They’re going to have to. Advantage Kraken
Forwards and goaltending: Seattle stripped the Flames of their best defenseman when they selected Giordano at the Expansion Draft and Calgary has yet to replace him. Their top pairing could be made up of Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov who are two serviceable blueliners. Former Tri-City Americans star Juuso Valimaki has the potential to be great but at 23-years-old hasn’t shown it quite yet.
A season ago the Flames landed former Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom with a $6 million free agent contract. That got them 31 starts with an average .904 save percentage. Behind him the Flames have an inexperienced Daniel Vladar. Advantage Kraken
San Jose Sharks versus the Seattle Kraken
Forwards: The rebuilding Sharks aren’t devoid of talent up front. Their top six still contains players like Logan Couture, Timo Meier, and Tomas Hertl. Those three guys can score and will win the Sharks a few games. After those three however, the pickings are of the slim variety. They’ve added veteran Nick Bonino, who will help them down the middle, and still have the troubled Evander Kane, but it’s not enough to make this a playoff contending team.
San Jose drafted William Eklund seventh overall in July and the Swede is loaded with potential. He’s got a shot of sticking with the Sharks, but at 18, he’s not going to make a difference just yet. Advantage Kraken
Defense and goaltending: Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are as good a defensive group you could have asked for… five years ago. Now, they are declining in production, aging, and weighing down the Sharks with high-end contracts totaling just over $26 million for the three. That’s not a good situation and there’s no clear way out for San Jose.
In goal the Sharks picked up Adin Hill from the Coyotes, and he looks ready to get a shot at taking over an NHL net. The former Portland Winterhawk has yet to play more than 19 games in one NHL season but showed promise during his tenure with the Arizona Coyotes organization. He’s 25-years-old and will probably suffer some growing pains, but his future looks good. Advantage Kraken
Anaheim Ducks versus the Seattle Kraken
Forwards: The Ducks are in a serious rebuild and their best forwards are their youngest. Trevor Zegras is coming off a good AHL season in San Diego and a monster World Junior Championship performance where he scored nine goals. He played 24 games in the NHL last year and averaged .54 points per game which was second only to Maxime Comtois in Anaheim. The talent is there but at 20 years old he’s probably not ready to be an elite center just yet.
Ryan Getzlaf is back for another year with the Ducks, but he’s coming off a five-goal season and offers little more than leadership and nostalgia. Advantage Kraken
Defense and goaltending: Chosen sixth overall by the Ducks in the 2020 NHL Draft, Jamie Drysdale turned in an impressive season in the AHL last year. He’s 19 years old now but is the future for Anaheim’s top pairing. Cam Fowler and Kevin Shattenkirk are nice veteran pieces, but overall, the Ducks will struggle here.
In net John Gibson appeared to be the league’s next young goalie when he posted a .926 save percentage in 2017-2018. In the four seasons since he’s seen that number drop each year down to last season’s .903. Is it him or the team in front of him? Advantage Kraken
The inaugural slate of preseason games for the Seattle Kraken has been completed. Coming in, there were plenty of questions around how the team would shake out, at least for opening night, and on that front, there are still a few questions lingering.
But the discourse surrounding the franchise was never just about how the roster would look coming out of training camp.
Who will score? How are the goalies? Where does Yanni Gourde slot in? Let’s consider what questions the Kraken actually have answered and what still needs to be worked out.
Who will score for the Kraken?
This has been the biggest question asked by hockey pundits everywhere when they talk about the Kraken. Seattle will almost certainly take a score-by-committee approach, as they don’t have any obvious superstars that we expect to fill the net nightly.
One thing that became abundantly clear in the preseason, though, is that Seattle does have a solid top line featuring Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann, and Jordan Eberle. That trio has been excellent whenever it has been in the lineup, driving play and constantly creating scoring chances.
Those three players partially answer our “Who will score?” question, but scoring depth wasn’t terribly obvious in preseason. The top line had five goals, while all other forwards combined for just six.
To be fair to the rest of the lineup, we didn’t see the full complement of lines until Tuesday, and with them all there, the Kraken won 4-0 with Vince Dunn scoring twice and Nathan Bastian and Ryan Donato each scoring once. It was a promising development, because that’s secondary scoring on a night when none of the top-three forwards converted.
And while it’s possible Seattle won’t get enough production from the second line and below, the defense corps do look poised to pick up some of the slack, having notched four goals of their own during exhibition play.
Once we get into the regular season and coach Dave Hakstol starts rolling four NHL lines, perhaps we will start to see a little more secondary and tertiary scoring, as we saw on Tuesday. Still, this question has only been partially answered.
Is the defensive depth as good as people thought?
Yes, the defensive depth really is awesome. Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames showed just how solid this team can be in its own end, despite the four goals that were allowed. As Hakstol pointed out after the game, there was almost nothing coming from inside, and even the short-handed goal that Seattle yielded came from an outside shot.
Allowing 13 shots in an entire game is almost unheard of in the NHL, and doing so without dressing Mark Giordano is all the more impressive, even if Calgary didn’t have its best lineup that night.
How good can the goaltending be?
We still think the answer to this question is, “Really friggin’ good.” Philipp Grubauer has looked as solid as ever, especially on Tuesday when he stopped all 38 of Vancouver’s shots. Even in practice, he has been making dazzling saves, so as of now, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about from Seattle’s No. 1A.
It’s been a bit of an odd camp for the No. 1B, Chris Driedger, and he probably gave up more goals than he would have liked in the games. In fact, after the 4-1 loss on Saturday, he called two of the goals he allowed “soft.” And four goals on 13 shots is nothing to write home about, but man, what an awkward game to be in from a goalie’s point of view. He only faced two shots on goal in the first period, and one of those came through traffic, deflected, and somehow found its way into the back of the net. For a netminder, you need to be in the flow of the game, feeling the puck regularly, and that just never happened on Saturday. It’s almost as if the defense was too good.
And in the team’s first road preseason game, Driedger allowed five goals in two periods, but was completely hung out to dry with the Kraken trotting out a shell of its best lineup against the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Take his preseason results with a grain of salt, because Driedger is an excellent goalie who we don’t expect to have many games like what we’ve seen from him so far.
As for the Kraken’s third netminder, Joey Daccord? Well, we have a relatively small sample size to review, but he was outstanding in all his appearances. It’s comforting to know that if Seattle should lose one or both of its goalies to injury, there is another capable option waiting in the wings in Charlotte.
What happens when Yanni Gourde and Colin Blackwell return?
This one is difficult to answer, especially when considering how Hakstol will deploy Gourde. He can slot him in to center the second line and bump Wennberg down or put Gourde on the third line, but either move potentially pushes Geekie down to the fourth. We already know from past experience in Carolina that the fourth line is not the right fit for Geekie, and he’s shown that he has a skill set for a bigger role.
Blackwell’s presence creates a little less of a conundrum, because he can slot into the bottom six, where there’s less of a ripple effect. His inclusion does mean the exclusion of somebody like Riley Sheahan or maybe Nathan Bastian, though.
Getting a full roster with too much NHL talent is always a good problem to have. We will leave this question “outstanding,” but this will work itself out in due time.
Are the Kraken good?
Multiple advanced analytics models have the Kraken finishing in the 90’s for points, with Dom Luszczyszyn predicting 97.1 points. That should get the Kraken into the postseason.
We’ve seen flashes of brilliance in the preseason and enough skill and resilience to believe that Seattle won’t stink. But until it gets a few regular-season games under its belt with its full NHL lineup, we simply do not have enough data to say how this team will be with any level of certainty.
We’re optimistic, but we will leave this question in the “outstanding” category.
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.
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.
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.
