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.
It’s roughly a nine-hour flight, spanning over 4,400 miles, from Skelleftea, Sweden, to Seattle. That’s the distance Seattle Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson traveled to join his new team at the Kraken Community Iceplex to prepare for the upcoming season.
Larsson, 28, figures to be a key player on the Kraken blue line but first needs to acclimate to the time zone, something he says he is just now getting used to.
“It’s been a couple of nice days here,” he said last week after an informal skate. “I’m still trying to figure out the city a little bit and everything around.”
A right-shot defenseman who routinely logs 20-plus minutes a game, Larsson is a veteran of 603 NHL contests with the New Jersey Devils and the Edmonton Oilers. It’s that experience and leadership that will be counted on as Seattle tries to meld together a group of players both young and old.
After being selected by New Jersey with the fourth overall pick during the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Larsson would be traded in the 2016 offseason to the Edmonton Oilers for former first overall pick Taylor Hall. That trade garnered a lot of attention and forced Larsson to adapt to a new team.
Larsson signed with Seattle as a free agent during the NHL Expansion Draft and is adapting to a new organization once again. Only this time, the entire roster has to adapt to each other quickly.
“It’s different, maybe the outside of hockey part is a lot different,” he said of the transition to Seattle. “Nobody really knows where to live or where to look and stuff like that, but most of these guys are regulars in the NHL. They know what a training camp is like and know what the NHL is like. We’ll figure it out pretty quick, but obviously it’s teammates who have never played together before so it’s gonna be an interesting training camp. We all got 25 new friends now. So, yeah, it’s fun.”
He spent five seasons in Edmonton and the decision to leave wasn’t easy. The Kraken were afforded the ability to talk and negotiate a contract during their exclusive 72-hour free agency window prior to the Expansion Draft. Larsson would eventually sign a four-year contract at $4 million a season with Seattle.
“It was obviously looking and seeing what they built here and being part of something new is always fun,” he said of his decision. “It’s always exciting and I think the right people are running it. I was jumping on this opportunity right away when I knew they wanted me here.”
Larsson has been on the ice with the Kraken since he arrived in town. The team has gathered at the Iceplex for informal skates, referred to as ‘Captains’ Skates,’ to begin the preparation for the season.
These types of skates, which are free of coaches per NHL rules, are not unique to the Kraken. They occur throughout the league, but in Seattle, they’re more critical as the 25 new friends get used to each other on and off the ice.
“I think it’s more important to get to know each other and kind of build a team environment and the friendships that we need to be successful. We’ve had some good practices,” Larsson said.
Adam Larsson the player
Larsson is not going to fill up the stat sheet with a ton of goals and assists.
He’s never topped the four-goal mark in any season and his career high in points is 24, recorded with the Devils during the 2014-15 campaign. But goals and points are not where Larsson’s value lies.
Playing at both ends of the ice, he is the quintessential two-way defenseman. He can retrieve the puck, is a good passer, and plays a physical game while not being afraid to initiate contact with the opponents. He hasn’t played a ton of minutes on the power play but will see the ice for crucial penalty kills.
Edmonton valued his defensive play last year and of his 418 on-ice starts 147 were in the defensive zone and 204 were in the neutral zone compared to just 67 in the offensive zone. Most importantly for the Kraken is that he’ll eat up minutes for head coach Dave Hakstol no matter where he starts on the ice.
Adam Larsson will give the Kraken a ton of minutes on the ice this season. (Brian Liesse photo)
Larsson is quick to point out that it is too early to say where he’ll play in the lineup or who his defensive partner will be. It’s safe to say that he’ll be in one of the top two defensive pairings for the Kraken, and there has been a lot of speculation suggesting he’ll play with fellow veteran Mark Giordano on the top group.
The two have never played together but are quite familiar with each other, having squared off in the Battle of Alberta over the past five seasons. There is no love lost between Calgary and Edmonton but there is respect.
“I felt like I played him 400 times last year, so I know him pretty well,” Larsson said of his rival turned teammate. “I think it’s everything (that makes him good). The way he plays with the puck, without the puck and he leads the team the right way. That’s why he was the captain of the Flames so long. He’s a very important piece on this team as well.”
Giordano is the more offensively minded of the duo which suggests an intriguing pairing. While Larsson is more of a two-way player, he’s not going to weigh down Giordano but rather compliment him. Where the two play will be one of the items to watch as training camp and the preseason kick off this week.
Training camp will move quickly. The Kraken open camp Thursday, just a handful of days before their first preseason game Sunday against Vancouver. Don’t be shocked if the veteran Larsson gets plenty of ice time.
“I like the preseason,” he said. “It’s the way to get the timing, the touches, the battles and everything. Even with these Captains’ Skates, you’re still battling against your own teammates, so it’s not the same.”
Will Larsson represent the Kraken and Sweden at the 2022 Winter Olympics?
He’s never played in the Olympics but has represented Sweden before in prestigious tournaments such as three appearances at the World Junior Championship – 2009, 2010, 2011 – and at the IIHF World Championship in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Will he be hearing the Olympic march this February?
“I think every hockey player would love to play in the Olympics,” he said. “It’s obviously pretty far away right now. I think everybody is focusing on training camp coming up and the NHL season to start, but I think you will see the league kind of ramp up closer to Olympics.”
Sweden boasts some high-end defensemen when it comes to an Olympic team. Most of those players, like Tampa Bay Lightning stalwart Victor Hedman, are elite offensive blueliners but there is room for a solid, two-way defenseman such as Larsson.
“We’ll see if I even fit in there,” Larsson added with a chuckle.
The Olympics are a nice carrot down the road, but for now, Larsson and his Kraken teammates are going to continue to get skates in this week. Then it’s training camp, preseason, and the inaugural voyage of a Seattle hockey team that has been a long time in the making.
“I think everybody will be super excited,” Larsson added. “All the fans, players to coaches, the whole organization and the city. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Earlier this week, the Walt Disney Company and Turner Sports announced their US NHL TV schedules for the upcoming season. Disney will air 103 NHL games across their platforms of ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu, and ABC, while Turner will air 50 games on TNT. In this week’s data dump, we dig into some of the numbers in the schedule.
Increase in televised games
This will be the first year the NHL will have two TV partners with Disney and Turner sharing the duties, which has created the opportunity to have more games televised nationally.
The most interesting component of the national TV schedule is the ESPN+/Hulu piece of the Disney contract. For those that don’t know, ESPN+ is a standalone streaming service that does not require a typical MVPD subscription.
ESPN+/Hulu will air 75 games, the most of all the channels airing national games this season. Turner will carry the most games in the traditional TV space (i.e., cable, satellite, and IPTV).
Seasonality of the national NHL TV schedule
Here is a look at how games are spread throughout the season.
The schedule is predictably light in the first several months because of all the football programming that tends to suck up sports media airtime in the fall. The large drop in February is due to the Olympic break in the NHL schedule.
For those of you that like to build routines in your schedule and might want to dedicate a certain night of the week for watching the nationally televised game, here is how the games are distributed by day of the week.
Looking at it by day of the week is where you can really see the impact football has on the schedule, as there are no Thursday or Sunday NHL games aired until January. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are clearly the most common and consistent night for nationally televised games, and it will be fun to see if Disney and Turner do any unique shoulder programing or intermission shows on those nights.
NHL TV schedule by team
Here is a look at how many nationally televised games each team will get this coming season.
It’s amazing to see the Kraken with 13 nationally televised games this season. The Vegas Golden Knights only had three nationally televised games scheduled in their inaugural season. Canadian teams like Calgary, Ottawa, and Winnipeg have traditionally not had any US nationally televised games, so it is no surprise they do not have any games on the schedule.
What is refreshing to see is Carolina and Florida have eight games each. Both clubs are fun and exciting to watch but traditionally get de-prioritized as small market teams. In 2019-20, the Hurricanes and Panthers had just one game each on the NBC/NBCSN schedule, so it is exciting to see that Disney/Turner are giving these teams the national stage they deserve.
Kraken national TV games
As noted above, the Seattle Kraken will have 13 nationally televised games this upcoming season. Here is a list of those games.
The ESPN+/Hulu games will be a different experience for hockey fans, since they will require an app/login if you are new to that platform. ESPN+ will also get you the out-of-market NHL games that will replace the NHL.tv package.
It should be an exciting time for NHL fans as the partnerships with Turner and Disney could push the game into new levels of exposure and coverage. If you have any questions or thoughts about the TV packages, drop a note in the comments.
Look, we’re pretty sure we’ve mentioned this about a thousand times in the past as we have inched closer and closer to training camp, but we really mean it this time… KRAKEN HOCKEY IS ON THE HORIZON!
The team officially opens camp in less than a week—Thursday, Sept. 23, to be precise—and will play its first preseason game next Sunday in Spokane. Literal, actual, honest-to-goodness Seattle Kraken hockey is just over a week away [insert “Dr. Phil Having Panic Attack” gif or “Overweight Cat Breathing Heavily” gif here]!
It… is… happening.
Seattle Kraken news
Kraken sign Ryan Donato
The Kraken have seemingly done their darndest to add as many middle-six or bottom-six forwards on one-year deals as humanly possible this offseason. This week, the club added Ryan Donato to that group with a one-way contract worth $750K. It’s an interesting addition to an already crowded corps of depth forwards, so how he slots in remains to be seen.
The fact that he would have to be paid his NHL salary even in the AHL indicates that the Kraken do intend on keeping Donato in the Emerald City when the season gets underway. And while Donato has proven that he is an NHL player, he has yet to show as a constant producer offensively, which has in turn caused his minutes to decrease as past seasons have worn on. On a $750K deal, Donato could end up being a steal if he can get some decent minutes with good linemates.
Said general manager Ron Francis of the former Harvard Crimson standout and Team USA Olympian, “Ryan’s hockey sense and ability to contribute on the scoresheet are two ingredients we are excited to add to our forward group. We like his offensive potential and believe he can add scoring depth.”
Apparently Seattle fans really were excited to get their hands on the team’s new jerseys. Home and road sweaters officially went on sale this week, and at the newly opened Kraken Community Iceplex, the third rink was temporarily turned into a jersey-focused megastore. Lines at times stretched out the door and down block, as Seattle faithful clamored for their first beloved sweater with the mean and mysterious ‘S’ on the chest.
The jerseys being sold at the megastore and at the Kraken Team Stores in Chandler’s Cove and Bellevue Square Mall feature an “Inaugural Season” patch on the right shoulder. If you’re like me and want the jersey to maintain a bit more of an evergreen look beyond this season by not having that patch, you can apparently buy them sans the patch here. That’s just a little pro tip for you.
As an aside, speaking of the Kraken Community Iceplex, I had the good fortune of playing hockey at the facility this week, and it truly is unlike any other arena in the greater Seattle area. It is a fantastic place to play.
Training camp tickets now available to members of The Depths
The heading of this section pretty much says it all, but if you’re a member of “The Depths,” you now have access to purchase tickets to training camp. Orders are limited to two tickets per member and can definitely sell out (the KCI isn’t that big), so get ’em while they’re hot!
Chris Driedger reveals goalie gear
We will have a lot more Kraken goalie gear content in the coming weeks, but for now, we wanted to make sure you at least saw Chris Driedger’s new setup from Vaughn, which is truly a work of art. Behold.
Driedger hasn’t revealed his mask just yet, but a little birdie tells us it will feature a certain villain who lives at the bottom of the sea and prefers that debts owed to him are settled with souls.
Matty Beniers named alternate captain at Michigan
Seattle’s top prospect and No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Matty Beniers, was named an alternate captain for the University of Michigan for the upcoming season.
Introducing your 2021-22 Michigan Hockey Captains!
He joins a five-man leadership group for the Wolverines, made up of Beniers, Nick Blankenburg, Jimmy Lambert, Nolan Moyle, and Mike Pastujov. Those other four players are all entering their respective senior seasons, while Beniers is only a sophomore, a huge credit to the leadership skills that he possesses.
Beniers will be a key cog in the machine that will be the Michigan Wolverines, as he, Owen Power, Luke Hughes, Kent Johnson, and Brendan Brisson set out on their odyssey for an NCAA championship. Shoutout to @Bouldergrad41 on Twitter for referring to that group as “The Frozen Fab Five,” which is a pretty solid moniker for a Michigan team.
National television schedule announced
The NHL’s new national broadcast partners, ESPN and TNT/TBS, announced their schedules for the season. The Kraken are among the league leaders with 13 nationally televised games.
Number of US National TV games this season by team (exclusively on ABC, ESPN, TNT, Hulu/ESPN+) – BOS, CHI, COL, LAK, MIN, NYR, PHI, PIT, SEA, STL, TBL, WSH all have the most with 13 – CGY, OTT, WPG have zero (0) All out of market games to be streamed on ESPN+ from local telecasts pic.twitter.com/GINw93rNlf
Seattle will be featured as part of a season-opening ESPN double-header on Oct. 12, when the Kraken play at Vegas for their first game ever. The home opener against Vancouver will also be carried nationally on ESPN+ and Hulu on Oct. 23.
Around the boards
NHL Media Tour
The NHL is currently holding its two-day National Media Tour in Chicago, which is being attended by Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer and forward Jordan Eberle.
As a goalie, I always like to point out that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to me. But sometimes, just one player makes a really obvious mistake, and it’s a big enough mistake to cover for the other four.
This is a tough moment for Mikhail Mamkin of Spartak Moscow in the KHL, who not only whiffs on the outlet pass, but then follows it up by stepping on the puck, falling down, and sliding it right onto the tape of a wide-open Andrei Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko then finds Anton Burdasov for an easy tap-in.
Remember those Southwest Airlines commercials that ended in “Wanna get away?” This blooper could be one of those commercials. The spot would need nothing else, just this clip with the narrator asking that question at the end.
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.
On the latest Sound Of Hockey, John and Andy recap their day at the grand opening of the Kraken Community Iceplex, then John and Darren share their experiences of playing at the arena. Then there’s plenty of other Kraken news to cover, including:
Ryan Donato signs one-year UFA contract
Helmet stickers revealed
ROOT Sports has a streaming partner
After Kraken news, Andy gives a WHL Update. Then John hits Andy and Darren with a tough but fun Let’s Get Quizzical.
On the latest Sound Of Hockey, John and Andy recap their day at the grand opening of the Kraken Community Iceplex, then John and Darren share their experiences of playing at the arena. Then there’s plenty of other Kraken news to cover, including:
Ryan Donato signs one-year UFA contract
Helmet stickers revealed
ROOT Sports has a streaming partner
After Kraken news, Andy gives a WHL Update. Then John hits Andy and Darren with a tough but fun Let’s Get Quizzical.
Whether it was Dominik Hasek dominating at Nagano in 1998, or T.J. Oshie’s shootout prowess at Sochi in 2014, or the amazing 1980 Miracle on Ice, the Winter Olympics have provided us with some of hockey’s most memorable moments. With the September announcement that NHL players would be returning to play during February’s 2022 Olympics in Beijing, we could be treated to more big moments, and for the first time ever, there just may be some Seattle connections as the Kraken have players who will fight for medals.
Seattle isn’t loaded with Olympic hopefuls, but it does have players that will be in the Games and others who are in the mix to represent their countries. Who are those players and what nations’ jerseys will they be sporting during the Beijing Olympics?
Here’s a look at which players to keep an eye on during the leadup to the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Kraken locks to play in the Olympics
Philipp Grubauer – Goalie – Germany
Granted there is not a lot of NHL competition for the German net at the Olympics, but Grubauer would be the top choice even if there was. The only other active German goalie in the NHL is Thomas Greiss who played 34 games with the Detroit Red Wings last season.
No slight on Greiss, who could make a nice veteran back-up for Germany, but Grubauer is better and coming off a season that earned him a nod for the Vezina Trophy.
Grubauer has not played in the Olympics before but has a long history of playing in international tournaments for Germany. He started back in 2006-07 when he played for the German U16 team and has since suited up in the black and gold for his country in the U17’s and U18’s in 2008 and the World Junior Championship in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Since turning pro he’s played in the World Championship and with Team Europe during 2017’s World Cup of Hockey.
Last season in Colorado was one of Grubauer’s best and the Rosenheim product boasts a career save percentage of .920 in the NHL. Sorry Thomas Greiss, it’s going to be Grubauer.
Germany has not fared well in the Olympics historically but has medaled three times and is the reigning Olympic silver medalist after 2018’s second-place finish in Pyeongchang – a year that NHL players were not involved in the Games. Germany also had bronze finishes in 1932 at Lake Placid and 1976 at Innsbruck. Can Grubauer extend their medal streak to two?
Alex True – Center – Denmark
How can a player who has played 19 NHL games, as True has, be a lock to play for his country in the Olympics? Well, while Denmark is an emerging hockey country, there aren’t a ton of Danes flooding the NHL.
Denmark qualified for the Olympics at the end of August and is appearing in the Games for the first time ever. The nation does boast a handful of NHL regulars, led by Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers, who was huge in this summer’s qualifying rounds. True, who is Ehlers’ cousin, is on the NHL bubble but has played for Team Denmark at every high-level tournament the Danes have played in recently. That includes the U16’s in 2012-13 where he scored eight points in 11 games. His international play also includes two appearances in the World Junior Championship in 2014 and 2015, and for the latter of which he was team captain.
Seattle’s Alex True should continue to represent Denmark at the Beijing Olympics. (Brian Liesse Photo)
This past spring, he played for Denmark in the World Championship, scoring a goal and an assist in seven games. The former Seattle Thunderbirds import player has been a regular with Denmark, and there’s no reason to think he won’t get the invite for Beijing in February.
Kraken who could be in the mix for the Olympics
Adam Larsson – Defense – Sweden
The 28-year-old Larsson has some competition in making a Swedish team that is one of the power nations when it comes to international play. He has represented Sweden before, including at the World Junior Championship in 2010 and 2011. Larsson has not made an Olympic appearance but has participated in three World Championships – the latest was in 2019.
Larsson is not a scoring defenseman but plays a solid two-way game and is a right-handed shot which might get him a look. International teams like to load up on offense which might hurt Larsson’s chance, but there is still room or a guy who takes care of his own end.
Sweden has some outstanding defensemen to choose from led by players such as Victor Hedman, Erik Karlsson, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. It could be tough for Larsson to crack the top seven or eight Swedish blueliners, but he has a shot and a hot start with the Kraken would go a long way to helping his cause.
Joonas Donskoi – Forward – Finland
The 29-year old Donskoi is a player who keeps getting better each season. Last year he was on pace to top the 20-goal mark for the first time in his NHL career by scoring 17 times in 51 games. Seattle selected the winger from the Colorado Avalanche, and he can be penciled into the Kraken top-six forward group.
Donskoi has played for Team Finland in the past. He represented his country once at the U16’s and twice in the U17’s. Along with that, he made three appearances – 2010, 2011, and 2012 – at the World Juniors for Finland.
Finland shows strongly in international tournaments like the Olympics, and Donskoi does have some NHL competition for a spot on the roster. The Finns feature guys like Florida’s Aleksander Barkov, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, and Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen at the top of their lineup. But Donskoi doesn’t need to beat those guys to make the team. Of all the active Finnish forwards in the NHL, Donskoi has scored the ninth-most points. That feels good enough to put him in the Olympic running.
Calle Jarnkrok – Forward – Sweden
Making Team Sweden could be a long shot for Jarnkrok, but it’s not impossible. He has played for Sweden in the past including a couple of U18 appearances in 2009 and 2010, a World Junior Championship run in 2011, and two times as a pro in the World Championship.
Seattle Kraken Calle Jarnkrok will have to start well to solidify a spot on Team Sweden in the Olympics (Brian Liesse photo)
Jarnkrok is a two-way forward with some offensive upside and could very well end up in the Kraken top six this season. He’ll need a good start to be selected along with Swedish locks like Gabriel Landeskog, Nicklas Backstrom, Mika Zibanejad, and others.
That might be an uphill battle for Jarnkrok, but the Swedes could do worse for a bottom of the order winger who can play at both ends of the ice while providing secondary goal scoring.
The long shots
Yanni Gourde – Center – Canada
Team Canada is loaded. When aren’t they? No matter what the international tournament, Canada is among the favorites with rosters that resemble all-star teams.
The Olympics are no different, and while Gourde is a strong player, there may be too many players ahead of him. The 29-year-old won his second-straight Stanley Cup last year with Tampa Bay but also suffered a torn labrum which required offseason surgery. He is the stereotypical 200-foot player who has offensive pop and can play in every situation for you.
But the Olympics, right or wrong, is a short tournament that is tailored for the big stars and big scorers. If it were a long tournament, Gourde’s value would rise. It also hurts him that he’s going to miss that start of the year while his shoulder recovers.
Also hurting Gourde is that he’s never played for his country in an international tournament and had not been in Hockey Canada’s system. He would need to be healthy and off to an explosive start to seriously be a threat to crack Canada’s roster.
Matty Beniers – Center – United States
Ok, so techincally Beniers is not a member of the Seattle Kraken yet. But he is a Kraken prospect after the club selected him second overall, so we are including him on this list.
His chances of making the U.S. Olympic team? It’s pretty slim but the 19-year-old University of Michigan star not only helped the Americans win gold at this past winter’s World Junior Championship, but he played for the U.S. along with pros at the World Championship this spring.
Beniers played well in both tournaments. The United States is now one of hockey’s power countries and can ice a contending roster without throwing a bone to the young Beniers. On top of that, the Olympics are in February at a time when Beniers and Michigan will be ramping up for the NCAA Tournament. So, Beniers won’t play for the U.S. this winter but don’t rule out future Olympic appearances for the Kraken’s top prospect.
Training camp is just a week away, and it’s time to put a bow on the offseason. This feels like a good time to look back and consider some of Seattle’s biggest moves in preparation for its inaugural campaign. Here’s our best attempt to assign superlatives to all the Kraken’s roster-building moves this summer.
Most important free agent signing: Jaden Schwartz
Goaltender Philipp Grubaer is another option here, but due to the Kraken’s scarcity of options up front, Schwartz is my pick.
Schwartz, who signed a five-year $27.5 million contract with Seattle in the offseason, is defensively sound on the wing, but isn’t as consistent offensively as some would hope. The 29-year-old’s best years in the league, 2014-15 and 2017-18, came with shooting percentages above 15 percent, but those seasons were followed with a lack of production.
Schwartz was an integral member of St. Louis’ Stanley Cup-winning squad in 2018-19, notching 20 points in 26 games during the playoffs. The Kraken will likely need that version of Schwartz to show up in 2020-21 to produce enough offense in their inaugural season.
Most important Expansion Draft pick: Yanni Gourde
Impactful centers aren’t easy to find, but the Kraken selected one from Tampa Bay that can be the franchise’s cornerstone in year one and beyond.
Gourde, 29, is a two-way center that forechecks like hell, kills penalties, and can chip in offensively. His presence in the lineup will be instrumental in a successful first season.
Unfortunately for Seattle, Gourde will miss the start of the season, after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. The Kraken’s ability to weather his absence could make the difference between a winning season and a losing one.
Most intriguing Expansion Draft pick: Chris Driedger
Driedger’s case is more intriguing due to his fit on the roster than his actual play.
The 27-year-old netminder was fantastic for Florida in a split role with Sergei Bobrovsky last season and figured to be Seattle’s top goalie after his selection in the Expansion Draft. That changed when the Kraken inked Grubauer to a six-year $35.4 million contract in the offseason.
Kraken general manager Ron Francis said plans changed when they realized Grubauer was an option in free agency, but how Driedger is handled will be fascinating. Will he be in a true tandem split with Grubauer or will be used more sparingly? Can he produce similarly to how he did in Florida? Is he frustrated with being second fiddle to start another season?
It will be an interesting situation to monitor.
Most intriguing Free Agent signing: Ryan Donato
Donato, a recent Kraken signing, has had a turbulent career since breaking out with the Bruins in 2017-18 with nine points in 12 games. But since then, Donato has struggled with inconsistency.
At just 25-years-old, Donato is an interesting low-risk, high-reward bottom-six forward that can chip in offensively.
Most intriguing player with local ties: Morgan Geekie
Alexander True is another good option here, but Morgan Geekie, a former star with the Tri-City Americans, will be an interesting player to watch.
The Kraken’s choice from Carolina never developed more than just a bit role with the Hurricanes, but the 23-year-old forward was enticing enough for his former GM Francis to take him over Jake Bean — another former Americans star, who many believed would be Seattle’s pick.
Best breakout candidate: Vince Dunn
Jared McCann is a trendy choice for this distinction, but Dunn is my pick here.
Regarded as an analytics darling with the Blues who was never trusted with playing top-tier minutes, Dunn, 24, should see an increased role with the Kraken. The big question is: Can that efficiency carry over when he’s entrusted with more minutes? That’s the million-dollar question on what’s already shaping up to be a sturdy defensive unit in Seattle.
With the NHL season less than a month away, we thought we should revisit the Seattle Kraken schedule to see how it stacks up with the rest of the league across a few different metrics. Specifically, we are going to look at total travel distance over the season, the number of road trips, and the number of back-to-back games the Kraken will face this year compared to their NHL counterparts.
Travel distance
Being that Seattle is in the corner of the United States, there is room for concern that the Kraken will be traveling quite a bit in a typical NHL Season.
The Seattle Kraken will travel the eighth-most miles in the NHL this season with 49,566.
Another way to look at this is to consider how the Seattle Kraken travel compares to that of their divisional rivals and how the other divisions stack up against one another.
It is interesting to see the Pacific Division has the tightest cluster of travel distances by team. This bodes well for the Kraken, as they will be on a relatively level playing field with their closest rivals in this respect.
Also, this is unrelated, but it is interesting to see Washington as such an outlier in the Metropolitan Division.
Number of road trips
Distance is one aspect of the travel schedule, but we should also look at the quantity of road trips a team might have on the schedule.
In the number of road trips category, Seattle has the second-fewest trips behind only the Vancouver Canucks. This should be a good thing for Seattle Kraken players, although it will mean a few long stretches away from home, including to start the season.
Back-to-back games
Finally, we need to consider back-to-back games, as this ends up being a factor for every NHL team.
Playing on consecutive nights can be tough on teams in general, but the biggest impact is on goaltending. It is quite rare for the same goalie to play both games of a back-to-back scenario, so it is important for a team to have a strong goalie tandem should they have a lot of back-to-back games.
In Seattle’s case, they have 15 back-to-back game scenarios. It is a good thing the Kraken have one of the best goalie tandems in the league in Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger. Additionally the third goalie, Joey Daccord, has proven he can play in the NHL should there be a an injury to Grubauer or Driedger.
Bonus content
Because I had access to the data, I thought I would share this distribution of road trips and home games throughout the season.
Down the stretch, the road trips and homestands are shorter than those of the first half of the season. This should have a positive impact on the team’s performance on the ice as they hopefully make a push for the playoffs.
Success in the regular season has a lot of variables and constraints beyond the challenges of the schedule, but we will continue to monitor the team performance based on some of these scenarios.
Hope you enjoyed this different perspective of the 2021-22 Seattle Kraken schedule.
Things are getting very real, Kraken fans! The Kraken Community Iceplex is open, players have arrived and actually skated in front of media on Thursday, and Kraken training camp is officially set to open on Sept. 23. Oh yes, things are definitely getting real.
Here’s what you need to know from the hockey world for this past week.
Seattle Kraken news
Iceplex grand opening
The Kraken Community Iceplex had its grand opening on Thursday. As part of the event, a group of Kraken players including Jaden Schwartz, Philipp Grubauer, Alexander Wennberg, Calle Jarnkrok, and many more took the ice for an informal practice and played a scrimmage. Check out Andy Eide’s story on the event here, which features lots of great photos of the event from Brian Liesse.
We know you’re wondering, and yes, we did get a good look at Philipp Grubauer’s Kraken goalie gear.
Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer was on the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex Thursday (Brian Liesse photo)
He has gone with a mostly white True setup, with deep sea blue and ice blue accents, while his mask is heavily branded with team logos. It’s a pretty typical setup for Grubauer and isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s clean and tastefully done, and it’s certainly cool to see the team’s star netminder already donning his Kraken-specific equipment.
Training camp set to open Sept. 23
Have you heard the news? Training camp is set to open Sept. 23! By my math, that’s just 12 days from now. Fans will be able to procure tickets for the event if they are members of The Depths, the online club that was recently introduced by the team to give access to pre-sales, exclusive content, and several other benefits.
Fans ages 12 and older will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID in order to attend training camp, which will be held at the Iceplex.
Kraken requiring vaccinations
Speaking of proof of vaccination, you will need to be fully vaxxed if you want to attend games or concerts at Climate Pledge Arena.
This is a pretty big deal. Other pro sports teams wanting to show that they are taking seriously the fight against the ongoing pandemic have required either proof of vaccination or a negative test. But the Kraken—always progressive in their approach to social issues—will give only one option to fans wishing to attend, and that is to get the shot.
The team will also require proof of vaccination for its three preseason games in Spokane, Everett, and Kent.
A year ago, going to an arena of 17,000-plus screaming fans would have been a non-starter for most. But now, there will be a way to attend with relative peace of mind that everyone in the building has taken the necessary steps to stop the spread of this still scary and still very dangerous disease.
Kraken sign Dennis Cholowski
The last of the restricted free agent dominos fell for Seattle this week, as defenseman Dennis Cholowski was signed to a one-year, two-way deal worth $900K. The 23-year-old was selected by the Kraken in the Expansion Draft from the Detroit Red Wings.
Cholowski was born in Langley, B.C., and spent a year in the WHL, splitting the season between Prince George and Portland. He had a strong rookie season in Detroit in 2018-19, when he played 52 games and notched 16 points. Since then, he’s been up and down between the NHL and the AHL, and last season only got 16 games with the big club.
He’s a two-way defenseman with upside, but he also will be competing in Kraken training camp for a spot on a deep blue line and is on a two-way deal, meaning there’s a good chance he spends time in Charlotte this year.
NWHL re-brands to Premier Hockey Federation
The National Women’s Hockey League is officially changing its name to become the Premier Hockey Federation before the upcoming season. Per the league’s official announcement, the move is meant to eliminate gender inequities by lifting the word “women’s” from the name, while also providing a more inclusive environment for all of its athletes.
Ditching six years of work to build up the NWHL into a recognizable brand had to have been an enormous decision for the league and relatively new commissioner Tyler Tumminia. And while we certainly don’t doubt that inclusivity is at the heart of it, we can’t help wondering how the decision was impacted by the existence of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.
The PWHPA’s membership features some of the world’s best players, many of whom have been vocal against the NWHL in the past. Could the change to PHF have anything to do with trying to win back some of those players? Time will tell.
Around the boards
Winter Classic jerseys revealed
The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues unveiled their respective Winter Classic jerseys this week.
As a native of Minnesota, I can tell you that Wild fans gave a big, collective “uffda” at the revelation of these busy, excessively striped, elbow patched uniforms (yes, they have elbow patches).
St. Louis, meanwhile, played it a little safer and came up with a pretty clean, simple look that should play well on TV.
Speaking of St. Louis, David Backes got the one-day contract treatment from the organization that drafted him and employed him for 10 NHL seasons. So, he officially retires as a member of the Blues, after spending time in Boston and Anaheim the last couple years. Backes, 37, scored 248 goals and 313 assists in 965 career regular-season games. He was given quite the sendoff when he made his last visit to St. Louis as a Duck last season, so his decision to officially hang up the skates was not a surprise.
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.
