Kraken goalie and friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, Joey Daccord joins us to walk us through his goalie gear for the first ever video version of a Goalie Gear Corner that features an NHL netminder.
Enjoy!
SEATTLE – Kraken prospect Ryker Evans grew up in Calgary, Alberta, watching the Flames and defenseman Mark Giordano. Thursday morning, Evans found himself checking Giordano during quick passing drills on the first day of an NHL training camp.
Later, the two would play together.
“Out there being a D partner with him, it’s surreal,” Evans, 19, said. “I was just soaking it in and learning off of him.”
Learning is the reason Evans is at training camp with the Kraken.
Seattle selected the defenseman during the second round, with pick No. 35, of July’s NHL Entry Draft. Playing in training camp is a valuable experience for Evans as he prepares for his final year in junior hockey with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.
“It’s been cool so far,” Evans said. “Just kind of soaking everything in, learning from those older guys. It’s a good pace out there. It was competitive and obviously that’s what makes it fun.”
With Regina last season, Evans led all WHL defensemen in assists with 25 in 24 games. He is poised for another big year with the Pats once he is inevitably sent back by the Kraken.
While he’s practicing against players that are bigger, stronger, faster, and more experienced than he is, this is not completely new territory.
“In the summer we skate with a lot of those pro guys so it’s not too big of an adjustment,” Evans said. “But you’ve just got to give them a bit more respect because they know what to do.”
Evans played half the season last year with budding hockey superstar Connor Bedard. The 15-year-old Bedard was the first player to be granted exceptional status in the WHL, which allowed him to play a year earlier than every other player. He responded by leading the league in scoring until he left to play for Canada in the U18’s where he would set more scoring records.
Seattle’s scouts liked the fact that Evans meshed with Bedard. Playing with superstar players isn’t easy, and not only did Evans see the game in a similar fashion as Bedard did, he had more assists and points after Bedard left for the U18’s.
“He’s obviously a great player and it just came across easily,” Evans said. “We’re both offensive guys and just reading off each other we had a great team and a lot of success.”
For the rest of camp Evans is going to take in every moment, learn from the pros, and go back to Regina to finish his junior career off with a run he hopes will lead to a championship.
He isn’t the only 2021 Kraken draft pick in training camp this week. Third-round pick Ryan Winterton and fifth-round pick Jacob Melanson are soaking up the action with Evans.
The intensity of camp picked up a notch Friday as the Kraken took part in a number of battle drills that included one-on-one action, defensive zone work, and more hitting.
“It was more competitive,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said. “But, you know, there was still a combination of systems and teaching within it.”
There was some hitting, more players knocked to the ice, and at one point Morgan Geekie and Giordano got tangled and crashed into goalie Philipp Grubauer in a moment that got everyone’s attention. All three skated away unscathed.
Going hard against teammates can be tough, but the Kraken managed through without any bad blood bubbling to the surface. The play was hard, it was intense, and it showcased the competitive nature and style the team possesses.
“There’s a boundary that you have to have, and maybe other teams or other camps, you see some fights or whatever, but you don’t want to expect that,” defenseman Vince Dunn said about the Kraken remaining calm. “But, at the same time there’s guys that need to solidify certain roles.”
The ramped up intensity of Friday’s training camp sessions were possible thanks to the work put in during the first day. A great deal of day one was spent on systems and because the team was comfortable, they could add the physical aspects to those systems.
Seattle is going to be a tough team to play against once the regular season kicks off on Oct. 12 in Vegas. One player referred to Friday’s camp as ‘hard,’ which suggests the Kraken may already be a tough team to play against.
Don’t expect the club to go backwards moving forward, as it’s safe to say that intensity will only rise from here on out.
“I mean we’ve been skating together for a couple of weeks,” defenseman Jamie Oleksiak said. “A lot of us [have], and it’s been a lot of scrimmaging and obviously not too physical. And now that we have a system, we kind of know what we’re doing in the D zone and we can ramp it up a little bit more and play a little more structured. So, I think it’s been a good camp so far and you know we just got to keep up that mentality moving forward.”
Hakstol made a point Thursday of pumping the breaks on lines but did hint that they are beginning to put some combinations together to see how they mesh.
“I want to try to give most of the combinations that we’re starting with an opportunity,” Hakstol said Friday. “Not just one day at a time, that’s not enough to see the ups and downs. So, we’re trying to give each and every combination… a few days together, and maybe one or two exhibition games to really see how it comes together.”
For the second day, Jared McCann was centered between wingers Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz. They played well and showed some chemistry, especially between the two wingers.
On Thursday, Eberle spoke on the connection the two have off the ice thanks to growing up near each other and common connections through their respective brothers. Schwartz echoed those connections on Friday.
“A lot of familiarity there and a really, really smart hockey player ever since he was young,” Schwartz added. “[Eberle is] skilled and sees the ice well, always knows where guys are and always finds a way to get to those open areas so just an easy guy to read off of when he has the puck.”
During the morning session the team went through one-on-one battles in the offensive zone.
At one point Haydn Fleury’s stick got in the feet of Adam Larsson’s skates, dropping him to the ice. It was a clear trip.
Despite no refs on the ice, the penalty was still called as the remainder of the team yelled, raised arms, and called tripping.
The Kraken will be back on the ice at training camp Saturday as the team will play a full scrimmage in preparation for Sunday’s preseason opener in Spokane against the Vancouver Canucks.
…And what a day it was! Get caught up on everything that happened at the first day of the first-ever Seattle Kraken training camp with this very fun video that features two very fun Sound Of Hockey Podcast hosts.
Enjoy!
SEATTLE – For the first time ever, the Seattle Kraken skated on the ice together as the team opened its inaugural training camp Thursday.
It was just day one, but the event brought out a throng of eager fans dressed in all the latest Kraken gear and jerseys. The media was in force with cameras and recorders three or four rows deep during post-session scrums.
Day one is not about icing a finely tuned group of players. It’s about building. “You can’t do everything all in one day,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said.
That’s true, you cannot, but Hakstol started to build during this first day. The team was split into two groups, white and blue – although both groups had players wearing dark blue, sky blue, and white practice jerseys – for separate practice sessions that consisted of a lot of uptempo drills.
These weren’t drills for the sake of drills, however. They were the building blocks to what Hakstol wants to ultimately turn into his systems.
“Day one is (about) balance,” Hakstol said. “We have to take advantage every day and get as much detail as we can. We have to build systems from the ground up, but really on day one, as big a piece, or maybe every piece is just getting out and making sure that we’re at the right competitive level, playing with pace and pushing one another.”
Hakstol added that Thursday’s drills were to add to systems for both the defensive and offensive zones.
With a new team how long will it take for those systems to be built in?
It shouldn’t take long. While Hakstol certainly has a way he’d like to play in every situation on the ice, it won’t be completely foreign to the players. It will come quick.
“I think at the end of the day it’s about how we want to play,” defenseman Mark Giordano said. “The other stuff, we’ll learn quickly. Most forechecks and pace of play and all that stuff for me is similar, but there’s little tweaks in each team’s system so we’ll learn those quickly.”
Pace was not an issue Thursday. The practices were fast and intense.
Here are some of the highlights from day one of Kraken training camp:
Gourde, wearing a red no-contact jersey, was on the ice for the second session of the day. He is recovering from offseason shoulder surgery that looked like it would keep him out into December.
While he skipped some drills, he flew around the ice when he was allowed to. Clearly, there was no lower body injury here.
“I consider him to be ahead of schedule,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said at the end of the day.
Getting Gourde back early would be a coup for the Kraken as he figures to be a fixture in the team’s top six and most likely would slide into the team’s number one center position.
Blackwell, whom the Kraken selected from the New York Rangers at the Expansion Draft, did not skate on Thursday due to what Hakstol said was a lower-body injury. Hakstol added that Blackwell is considered day-to-day.
Hakstol did keep certain lines together during practice, but it’s way too early to start writing out the lineup for Game 1 on Oct. 12 in Vegas. Sill, although Thursday’s lines may not mean much, who is playing where will start to show some significance soon.
“We’ve only got a certain amount of time so what we would like to do is put some combinations together.” Hakstol said. “See what that chemistry looks like in order to see that you have to give it two or three days to build together, possibly even leave it together through one exhibition game. Then we have the opportunity to look at a different combination. We just want to make sure that everything we’re doing has some sense of reason to it.”
There have been many questions about how the Kraken would come together. How would a bunch of random players who have not played together before be able to push in the same direction to make the Kraken move?
Turns out, it isn’t that hard.
“All the guys were here earlier than I’ve seen groups and other teams come in,” Jordan Eberle said. “We’re all here for two weeks in advance of camp so I think that was just everyone wanting to get here, get settled. Being new and getting a chance to meet the guys, joke around in the locker room and start some camaraderie within the group to me was good.”
While Thursday was the first official practice with coaches on the ice, the team had skated prior.
Daily, the Kraken Community Iceplex saw Kraken players skating. As more players trickled into town the informal skates – known as Captain’s Skates – gave the roster a chance to not only learn each other on the ice but bond off of it.
The skates helped set up a productive first day of camp.
“Those (skates) are great for timing,” goalie Chris Driedger said. “Everyone out there is at the NHL level. When you’re skating in the summer during your goalie oriented skates it’s more technique, footwork stuff. You don’t really get the timing of reading the releases and stuff like that. Those skates are huge and it’s just nice to get in a little bit early and kind of get settled in the city.”
Already famous for his wide-eyed team photo, Kraken forward Brandon Tanev sported an interesting look at training camp Thursday.
Skating in the afternoon group, Tanev either took extra care to tape his shinpads or was looking for some unique hockey fashion.
You decide.
The Seattle Kraken will be back on the ice for day two of training camp Friday, starting at 9:30 am.
It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here [insert “Michael Scott ‘It’s happening!’” gif]! The first-ever Seattle Kraken training camp is upon us. Thursday morning, Seattle’s players take the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex to practice in a split-squad format with their coaches present and calling the shots for the first time.
There will be a lot of excitement over the next few weeks as we build closer and closer to opening night in Vegas on Oct. 12. But before that day comes, a lot of questions need to be answered for Seattle.
The most common debates during just about every NHL training camp ever have revolved around which bubble players will break camp with their respective big-league teams and which players will instead be put on waivers and/or assigned to the AHL.
Being that we’ve never seen this group play together, there may be more question marks around this particular roster than we will ever see again. And with 44 total players in camp, there are a lot of decisions that will need to be made by head coach Dave Hakstol and his staff to get the group down to 23 in the next three weeks.
Trying to keep track of all the players and their performances could make your head spin, so we’re going to whittle this down to help you focus on a few key battles in the first Seattle Kraken training camp.
Here are the players that we are certain have a spot on the team. Some combination of Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg, Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann, Yanni Gourde, and probably Calle Jarnkrok will make up the scoring lines, though Gourde will miss time as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery.
Beyond those six, there are Brandon Tanev, Joonas Donskoi, Marcus Johansson, and Mason Appleton who clearly will play significant roles, though probably not in the top six.
On the blue line, the obvious top pairings will be made up of Mark Giordano, Adam Larsson, Vince Dunn, and Jamie Oleksiak.
We’re calling this group “the probables,” because they’re all bona fide NHL players, so we fully expect them to end up with spots on the roster. The thing about this group is that it isn’t totally clear who from this lot will dress each night and who will watch from the press box.
Donato and Sheahan are in similar boats here, so one could imagine a world in which they are battling one another for a spot in the lineup. Still, we believe they will both be on the roster when camp ends.
That brings us to “the battlers,” those players that are fighting for a spot on the NHL roster when the Kraken break training camp in October. Based on our math—assuming that Gourde isn’t included on the initial 23-man roster and that we are correct with all of our above predictions—there are two spots left to fill. “The battlers” are the players that have a chance to fill those spots but will have to really perform well these next three weeks.
Here’s a curveball to consider, though. Let’s also assume that everyone previously mentioned (except Gourde) stays healthy all the way through to opening night. It generally makes more sense to carry two extra forwards and one extra defenseman, and we’ve listed seven defensemen above, so there is already going to be an odd man out from that group.
Based on this logic, unless one of those seven defensemen gets injured, anyone listed on the blue line below is likely destined to start the season in Charlotte. Still, they need to make a lasting impression, and nothing is written in stone, so these guys will all be competing hard regardless of their position.
Much like line projections, these training camp conversations always need to be taken with a grain of salt. Seattle could play one game, have an injury, and then need to call a guy up that doesn’t make the initial roster out of camp, rendering all of our impassioned debating moot. Still, it makes for some fun competition over these next few weeks as players look to solidify roles with the inaugural Kraken team.
Which bubble players make your initial roster?
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.
It was hard to believe when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced in December of 2018 that the league was granting Seattle an NHL expansion franchise. It started to feel more like this was actually happening when the team hired Ron Francis as general manager the following summer. Then there was the name and logo reveal and the hiring of Dave Hakstol as head coach this spring. In July, we met the first players at the Expansion Draft. All those events helped build momentum, but it’s going to finally become real when Kraken players step onto the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex to open the franchise’s first training camp on Thursday.
NHL hockey is officially in Seattle.
There are questions facing Francis and Hakstol, which will be answered over the next three weeks as the team prepares for its Oct. 12 season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights. Camp is going to move fast as the team will play its first preseason game Sunday in Spokane against the Vancouver Canucks.
Portions of camp will be open to the public and for the first time ever, hockey fans in Seattle will watch their NHL team skating.
What will those fans see? What should they be watching for?
Here are some storylines to consider at Kraken training camp.
We know who the Kraken players are, but we don’t know how the lines or defensive pairings will look.
While Hakstol isn’t going to give us an answer on day one of camp, we can start to get a sense of who looks good together. We think the top line will be Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg, and Jordan Eberle, but nothing has been finalized, and lines are always subject to change even when the season gets under way.
Over the course of camp Hakstol will put players together in different configurations. The same goes for the preseason games and over time we should see lines and defensive pairings start to emerge.
It’s important not to jump to conclusions at practice though. Hakstol will want to see everybody and at one point you can expect a number of combinations on the ice for scrimmages and drills. Take it all with a grain of salt.
The Kraken have some tough decisions to make at forward and on the blue line.
Up front there are 26 forwards in camp with 13 defensemen and five goaltenders. The top of the lineup – top six forwards and top four defensemen – seem somewhat predictable but what about the rest? If the team keeps 15 or so forwards and seven or eight defensemen on the roster, decisions are on the way.
How players perform in camp and in preseason games will determine who stays, who gets sent to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, and who gets outright let go.
Keep a close eye on guys like Morgan Geekie, Alexander True, and Carsen Twarynski up front, and Cale Fleury, Will Borgen, and Dennis Cholowski on the back end, as those players will be battling to make a lasting impression.
Practice will play a huge role in determining how someone is performing but so will preseason games. There are roster spots available which should lead to great competition on the ice. With this first camp, it’s one of the more intriguing questions.
There is little question on the goalie front. Philipp Grubauer will be the number one after signing a six-year, $35.4 million contract during free agency in July. The 29-year-old is coming off his best NHL season to date and was nominated for the Vezina Trophy after guiding the Colorado Avalanche to the Presidents’ Trophy.
Grubauer is locked in, and training camp is where he’ll add the fine points in his game to prepare for the regular season.
Backing up Grubauer – or the 1B goalie – is Chris Driedger. The Kraken selected him from the Florida Panthers and signed him during the Expansion Draft. Driedger, 27, inked a three-year deal with Seattle for $3.5 million a season and is secure in his spot on the roster.
What to watch in camp is how the depth goalies look.
Most notable is Joey Daccord whom the Kraken picked from the Ottawa Senators during the Expansion Draft. With a ton of upside, Daccord, 25, is most likely AHL bound but is expected to be knocking on the NHL door in no time.
The Kraken players have been on the ice participating in informal ‘Captain’s Skates’ for the past couple of weeks. Those skates were important in building some team camaraderie and to get their hockey legs back under them.
The action was akin to a pickup game at times, and while fun, there was no contact and intensity was lacking. That should change starting Thursday morning.
Jobs are on the line in camp and that means players are skating with a heightened purpose and drive. There will be contact. That intensity and physicality will carry into the preseason games.
Practice at camp will consist of a lot of drills along with some scrimmaging mixed in.
Hakstol will want to install his systems and ensure they become rote for the new team. Hockey coaches have systems for all occasions. There will be neutral zone systems, forecheck systems, break out systems, and more. What’s the system if you lose the faceoff in the offensive zone, or defensive zone, or neutral zone? These will all be worked on during camp.
The players should pick this up quickly.
Hockey is hockey and while Hakstol has an idea on how he wants to play, his players have seen it before. They’ve either played in similar systems in the past, or against them.
Special teams are key in the NHL and will play a role from game to game and over the course of the regular season. Over the next couple weeks, Hakstol will begin to learn who he’ll rely on to perform on the power play and penalty kill.
There are some obvious answers here.
We can expect players like Mark Giordano, Eberle, and Schwartz to be on one of the power play units. But who else? Will Vince Dunn be on the point for one of the two groups? Will Wennberg be on the penalty kill? Will Adam Larsson?
Special teams most likely won’t be worked on day one, and maybe not even in time for the first preseason game in Spokane, but by the end of camp we should know who we’ll expect to see on special teams once the season starts.
With the opening of training camp fully in sight, the Seattle Kraken made one more move to bolster the forward depth on their inaugural roster last week, signing 25-year-old Ryan Donato to a one-year, one-way contract worth $750K.
It’s an intriguing signing for a couple of reasons. First, Donato is coming off of a two-year contract that paid him $3.8 million in total, so with that in mind, he could end up being a bargain if he excels in a potentially elevated role with the expansion franchise. Second, the Kraken have signed a plethora of middle- to bottom-six forwards on one-year contracts this offseason, and the addition of Donato to that group creates more competition for some of the players that may have already been on the bubble to make the NHL roster.
Donato joins the Kraken after a season and a half each in Boston and Minnesota, then one season in San Jose. His best year came with the Wild in 2018-19 when he played much of the year on a line with Mikko Koivu and Ryan Hartman and posted 14 goals and nine assists in 62 games. In all, Donato has 35 career goals and 42 career assists in 180 regular-season games.
How Donato’s role gets defined when Seattle breaks camp will certainly be worth monitoring, as will the fates of players like Morgan Geekie, Alexander True, and Carsen Twarynski, to name a few.
Ryan Donato’s father, Ted, retired from a long NHL playing career in 2004 and quickly became the head coach for the men’s team at his alma matter, Harvard University. Ted Donato had been behind the Crimson bench for a decade when Ryan matriculated and joined the team as a freshman for the 2015-16 season.
College hockey in the Boston area is special. Four major programs inhabit the city, along with the Bruins at the NHL level, making the area a hotbed for the sport. Those four major college programs get together annually for the Beanpot, a nationally covered tournament for bragging rights that pits Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College, and Boston University against one another at a packed TD Garden. Youth hockey players across the region dream of one day playing in the tournament, regardless of where their collegiate allegiances lie. Donato was one of those kids.
Playing for his father, Donato helped the Crimson do something they hadn’t done in 24 years by winning the prized Beanpot championship in 2017. He calls the tournament something he “always wanted to win as a kid,” and he played a big role in pushing Harvard past a BU team that featured the likes of Jordan Greenway, Clayton Keller, Kieffer Bellows, and Jake Oettinger. Donato scored a highlight reel goal to help seal the Beanpot final (at about the 5:45 mark of the below video).
That Crimson team also advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four for Harvard’s first appearance since 1994, but lost 2-1 to Minnesota Duluth in the semifinals. In his third and final year at Harvard, Donato was a Hobey Baker Award finalist and the Ivy League Player of the Year after posting 43 points in just 29 games.
The impressive ride through the amateur ranks didn’t end at Harvard for Donato, though. With NHL players being held out of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, he got the call to play for Team USA before vaulting right into the Bruins lineup later that season. “Participating in the Olympics was a complete— man, it was a blessing, it was unbelievable, it was a great experience,” Donato said. “And then, in the NHL, I got to play for my home team, which was nice and the team that I grew up watching in Boston.”
He was able to draw some similarities between playing in those Olympics and joining an expansion franchise in its first season. “We basically were all new guys playing on different teams that met up when we had two or three weeks, and then we were playing in the Olympics,” Donato recalled. “So I think that’s similar in the sense that you’ve got a group of guys that don’t really know each other. You might have played together in the past or played on different teams against each other, but now you’re all coming together. And, you know, you got to have that team chemistry right away, which really isn’t that easy to form that fast.”
If you’re scratching your head to figure out how all those players on one-year deals can slot into the Kraken lineup, you’re not alone. Donato himself isn’t sure where he fits yet, but he believes that if he gets an opportunity, he will contribute, as he has already shown he can do on his previous NHL teams.
“I think, personally, I just have the confidence. I know that any time that I’ve been put in a position to succeed, I’ve done well with it,” Donato said. “And it’s just a matter of keeping that position.”
It has been a pattern that Donato’s ice time has dwindled later in his tenures with his previous NHL teams. On whether or not he feels he should have gotten more time in higher roles in the past, he thinks he probably deserved more, but to him, that’s just the nature of a professional hockey player. “I think if you ask any player if they deserve more ice time, I think they would say yes,” Donato said. “Every guy in every organization on every team thinks that they deserve more, it’s just a matter of proving it.”
Donato knows that he does still need to prove to Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol and his staff that he can do the little things on the ice that help the team win. “When I do those things, the coach is more willing to give me those opportunities that I succeed with. So I think it kind of goes both ways. You know, you’ve got to earn those responsibilities, but whenever I’m given those responsibilities, I usually do pretty well.”
The challenge for Donato is that for much of his NHL career to this point, he has played bottom-six roles, where the focus is more on stopping the opposition from scoring than it is about producing offensively. But he’s a shoot-first player that was clearly bred to put up points, as demonstrated by his eye-popping numbers at Harvard and by his performance at the PyeongChang Olympics, where he tied for the tournament lead in goals.
The lasting question for him as an NHL player is whether he can be successful enough playing on lower lines to get extended opportunities on top lines. Still, as far as Donato is concerned, wherever he ends up in Seattle’s lineup, he believes he can contribute. “I’m not too sure where exactly I’m going to slot in, but for me, I know I’m confident playing in any position in any part of the lineup.”
After a summer of uncertainty about where he would play this season, Donato is ready to get started with the Kraken and has so far been impressed with what he’s seen from the fledgling organization. “Everything has been top notch. I mean from getting to know the guys and communication between players and coaches and staff and the equipment guys, the medical staff, trainers, the food, just everything has been top notch.”
Donato also raved about the new Kraken Community Iceplex, where the team has been holding informal practices in the lead-up to training camp. “The new facility, obviously, is unbelievable. I mean, it’s kind of an understatement to say that, but it really is unbelievable. They’re really trying to set us up for success here.”
Will Donato himself be set up for success? If he gets opportunities to show that he can produce, Seattle could end up getting great value out of Donato. But Donato also needs to seize those opportunities to rise above the bottom-six logjam that now exists on the Kraken roster.
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 – Monday night the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex’s Starbucks Rink was filled with local beer league and amateur adult skaters. Nine of them were goalies. This wasn’t a rec league game or a practice but rather an evaluation skate held by the Seattle Kraken as they searched for a few goalies to serve as the team’s emergency backups during the season.
It was a chance for these nine netminders to live out childhood dreams of the big leagues.
The emergency back-up goalie (EBUG) is a unique feature to NHL hockey. No other sport sets up a situation where a guy off the street can step into a regular season game. If all your quarterbacks get hurt in the same NFL game you can’t call to the press box for a former high school star to step in.
In the NHL, you can do that exact thing if both your goalies go down during the same game.
“It’s about community,” Kraken director of hockey strategy and research Alexandra Mandrycky said of Monday’s skate.
Mandrycky organized the event by reaching out to the local hockey community last week to identify some goalies that might fit the bill. Emails went out Friday for a Monday try out.
It was a quick turnaround but didn’t assuage the excitement of the invitees.
“It was a totally surreal email that came out of the blue,” EBUG hopeful Tyler Zetting, 32, said. “I’m finishing up work, checking my email and I see that email come through and it’s just, you know, it’s like you blackout. And then you come back and it’s honestly almost tears.”
The NHL requires its clubs to have an emergency back-up in attendance at every home game just in case either team loses both of its goalies to injury or illness.
While the likelihood of an EBUG having to suit up and get into the game is extremely low, the EBUG has an interesting history in the NHL. On several occasions there have been games with one goalie injury which forces the emergency backup to get dressed and sit on the bench.
Getting a great view of the game is one thing, but actually playing is another.
In 2018 the Chicago Blackhawks saw starter Anton Forsberg get hurt during warmups. His backup, Collin Delia, would then get injured in the third period leaving the team with no healthy goalies. In stepped 36-year-old accountant Scott Foster. The EBUG played 14 minutes that night and made seven saves without allowing a goal to the Winnipeg Jets.
Foster would be outdone in 2020 when 42-year-old Zamboni driver David Ayres served as the EBUG in Toronto as the Maple Leafs hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes built a 3-1 lead but suffered injuries to both James Reimer and Petr Mrazek. Ayres entered the game midway through the second period, and while he gave up goals on the first two shots he faced, he made the next eight saves and became the oldest goalie to record a win in his NHL debut.
Ayres became an instant celebrity after the win and a hero to beer league goalies everywhere.
“That was great,” 41-year-old goalie Tom Marcella said Monday. “I have a Google alert for EBUG so I get it every time they just get someone to dress up and sit in the locker room. The times they get on the ice, it’s pretty hysterical.”
Ayres enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame but some in the league didn’t like the optics. The league would discuss the EBUG policy during league meetings but ultimately decided it was such a rare occasion that the rule didn’t warrant any changes.
Marcella and his fellow goalies were not alone on the ice Monday. Kraken goalie coach Andrew Allen was skating and evaluating the talent pool. The team also invited a group of 20 skaters, made up of men and women who play locally to take shots on the prospective goalies.
The NHL does not allow professional or former professionals to serve as an EBUG, so the nine goalies on the ice were guys whose ‘careers’ ended prior to making it to the pro ranks, and they came in all shapes and sizes.
“If you were an ex-NHL goalie living in Seattle, you could not be our main backup emergency at the game,” Mandrycky added. “A lot of these guys have some junior experience. These goalies are never going to be NHL goalies or at the AHL level or the ECHL level. If they were, they would be in a different profession right now. Ultimately, we’re just looking for someone who is willing and will have a good attitude about stepping in.”
The evaluation started with Allen putting the nine hopefuls through some agility drills to see how mobile and quick they are. Some were more mobile and quick than others. That was followed by the skaters firing shots at them from about ten feet away, one at a time.
To finish off the night the group played an informal three-on-three cross-ice game. The action was non-stop with goalies and skaters changing on the fly. There was little to no defense played allowing for plenty of top-notch scoring chances.
“You got the adrenaline to push you through,” Zetting, who’s hockey career reached as far as Junior A in the BCHL with the Burnaby Express, said. “But yeah, you’re just trying to control what you can control. Don’t worry about who’s looking, you know, don’t worry about the other guys, you just play your game. Honestly, it’s all about just soaking in the experience, and just enjoying the moment, because how often do you get to be out here for this?”
Mandrycky and Allen will compare notes and see if there was anyone worthy at the skate. They will have a rotation of EBUGs ready to go by the home opener on Oct. 23. Mandrycky added that there were probably good local goalies who weren’t there and they may hold future evaluations to find them.
Once selected, one EBUG will attend Kraken home games and sit in The Climate Pledge Arena press box waiting and wondering if their time will come.
And if their time does come, and they watch two goalies go down?
“Just enjoy the moment and just realize you’re in a once-in-a-million opportunity,” Zetting said. “It’s just so crazy to me. There’s no other professional sports thing where an average Joe can come off the street and jump into a professional game. It’s just wild and I love it.”
The goalies were on the ice Monday for the love of hockey and to take advantage of a fun opportunity. One chance to maybe, just maybe, live out those long-lost childhood dreams of playing, or suiting up, for an NHL game.
There’s no pay in it for the eventual roster of EBUGs but that doesn’t matter.
“They’re amateurs,” Mandrycky reminded. “I think they get the game worn jersey and some good memories.”
This very special BONUS EPISODE of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is an instant classic. John, Andy, and Darren agree that Seattle Kraken netminder Joey Daccord is truly one of their favorite guests to ever appear on the show, so they hope you’ll feel the same after listening.
This episode is dedicated entirely to that interview, which runs longer than most guest segments, as the guys first dig into Joey’s viral interview after his first-ever NHL win, then get into his hockey journey, his experiences at Arizona State, and his first impressions of playing for the Seattle Kraken. Darren can’t help himself but to ask goalie-to-goalie about Joey’s mental processes that he uses to perform consistently, and… of course… his gear.
Here is the link to view Joey’s mask, which he discusses in detail during the interview. If you’re wondering, the hidden “Sparky” image he discusses appears behind the holes where Daccord’s left ear would go. A tentacle is pointing at the small, subtle caricature.
SUBSCRIBE! ENJOY! REVIEW!
This very special BONUS EPISODE of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is an instant classic. John, Andy, and Darren agree that Seattle Kraken netminder Joey Daccord is truly one of their favorite guests to ever appear on the show, so they hope you’ll feel the same after listening.
This episode is dedicated entirely to that interview, which runs longer than most guest segments, as the guys first dig into Joey’s viral interview after his first-ever NHL win, then get into his hockey journey, his experiences at Arizona State, and his first impressions of playing for the Seattle Kraken. Darren can’t help himself but to ask goalie-to-goalie about Joey’s mental processes that he uses to perform consistently, and… of course… his gear.
Here is the link to view Joey’s mask, which he discusses in detail during the interview. If you’re wondering, the hidden “Sparky” image he discusses appears behind the holes where Daccord’s left ear would go. A tentacle is pointing at the small, subtle caricature.
SUBSCRIBE! ENJOY! REVIEW!
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