The Seattle Kraken split two games over the past seven days, with a loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday and a thrilling overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night. The win broke their four-game losing streak and marked the first time the Kraken have defeated the Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena. In the post-game press conference, coach Dan Bylsma described it as the team’s best game of the season—not because it was perfect, but for the way they battled through to come back and win in overtime.
The win against Vegas also gives hope that this team has the skill to make the season interesting. If you want to understand how some fans were feeling, just read the comments from last week’s musings. I’m not prepared to say one win puts this team back on track for the playoffs, but it did showcase its potential. I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: this season’s team is better than last season’s, which should put Seattle in a position to play meaningful games in March.
The acquisition of Daniel Sprong
In case you missed it, the Seattle Kraken re-acquired Daniel Sprong on Friday. Sprong is expected to bring a much-needed offensive boost to the lineup, and hopefully, he can recapture the scoring magic he had during the 2022-23 season with the Kraken, when he put up a career-high 21 goals. Darren provided an in-depth breakdown of how Sprong will fit into the team if you need more details. When the trade was made, it seemed likely that Tye Kartye would be the one to come out of the lineup for Sprong, but Kartye had a strong game against Vegas, and his line was one of the best on the ice Friday night. I’m also not sure Sprong would be an ideal fit with those two, so I imagine there could be further line adjustments when he joins the group.
The acquisition of Sprong also creates another issue that will need to be addressed down the line: salary cap compliance. For now, there’s no issue with the Kraken’s cap situation because they’re using the cap relief from Vince Dunn being on long-term injured reserve. During the Kraken pre-game show on Friday night, general manager Ron Francis mentioned that Vince Dunn is about three weeks away from being activated, which delays this issue a bit.
Once Dunn is activated, they’ll need to clear $970K of cap space, which complicates things since Sprong carries a $975K cap hit. Assuming they want to keep Sprong on the roster when Dunn returns, simply sending Josh Mahura down won’t be enough to resolve the issue.
Another option is to make a trade, which I believe has been on the table since the beginning of the season.
Adjusted goal differential
One topic I’ve discussed in the past is adjusted goal differential. This metric measures the difference between goals scored and goals allowed, excluding empty-net goals on both sides. The takeaway from this analysis is that teams close to an even goal differential have about a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs. The more positive the goal differential, the more likely a team is to reach the playoffs.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the Kraken very close to the even mark, currently with a goal differential of negative two.
It’s not a perfect science, but it underscores that this is a competitive team capable of contending for a playoff spot. I’m sure many people will point out the team’s flaws, but I don’t believe those flaws are as significant as they seemed during the losing streak.
Other Musings
I’m embarrassed to admit how much better I feel the day after a Kraken win compared to a Kraken loss. It’s not that I’m grumpy after a loss—I just feel like bouncing off the walls when they win.
The Kraken’s overtime-winning goal on Friday night was fantastic, but check out Jared McCann’s subtle stick check on Jack Eichel that caused the turnover, leading to McCann’s breakaway opportunity.
Friday night’s win was the Kraken’s second victory of the season after falling behind by two goals—a feat they didn’t accomplish even once last season.
Shane Wright logged his lowest ice time of the season on Friday, which raised concerns among some fans online. Shane is still adjusting to the NHL’s speed and physicality, so give him time. Quinten Byfield, for instance, didn’t hit his stride in the NHL until his fourth season after being drafted. This is Wright’s third year since his draft.
Yanni Gourde has been playing great, but is there any player more snakebitten than him? It feels like he’s hitting a post in nearly every game.
(Lost) face-off goal alert:
TURBO TIMES ✌️! 🚨
Great work by Kartye to keep the play alive and get it to Tanev for his second of the game.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have now won three games in a row.
I know there were some challenges with the “Meet the Team” event over the weekend before the Super Skills Competition, but several people I spoke with absolutely loved the event. It was a chance to see the players loosen up and showcase their personalities, something we aim to capture on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast when we host Kraken guests. Plus, it was fantastic to see so many kids there!
I loved this feature from KING5 on Kraken play-by-play announcer John Forslund. Even before he joined the Kraken, I thought he was the best in the business. We’re lucky to have him calling our games.
Player performances
Berkly Catton (SPO/SEA) – The Kraken’s first-round pick from the most recent draft posted eight points over Spokane’s three games this week.
Caden Price (KEL/SEA) – The Kraken’s 2023 third-round pick notched two goals and two assists over the weekend, including this beauty against Spokane.
Nathan MacKinnon (COL) – Ever heard of this guy? He tallied nine points in three games over the last week, including five assists against the Kraken last Tuesday. He continues to be one of my favorite players to watch—when he’s not playing the Kraken.
The week ahead
If the Kraken have a shot at getting back into the playoff picture, they need to take advantage of their remaining November schedule, with six of their 10 games this month against Anaheim, Chicago, Columbus, and San Jose. They absolutely need to start gaining ground on the teams ahead of them.
This week, the Kraken host Columbus, Chicago, the Islanders, and a tough matchup against the New York Rangers. There are no gimmes in hockey, but the first two games of the week should be easier than the last two. Four points seem like the minimum, with at least five as the target. Columbus comes in having lost four of their last five games, averaging under two goals per game in that stretch.
How are we feeling out there? Has the win against the Golden Knights turned that frown upside down, or are we still anticipating a challenging season?
Hoo boy, did the Seattle Kraken ever need that win against the Vegas Golden Knights. It was anything but easy, and it almost slipped away from them. But in the end, the Kraken came out with two points against one of the top teams in the NHL, snapping their four-game losing streak.
“I don’t want to say it was a complete game from minute 1 to minute 63,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “But it was our best game, really [in terms of] competing the way we want to and need to compete.”
Brandon Tanev scored twice, while Oliver Bjorkstrand and Tye Kartye both made an impact after being scratched last game, and Jared McCann clinched the overtime game-winner.
Here are Three Takeaways from a thrilling 4-3 Kraken OT win over the Golden Knights:
Takeaway #1: The fourth line was cooking
Just before the game, the Kraken announced a trade to bring back Daniel Sprong, the scoring fourth-line winger who netted 20 goals in a season the last time he played for Seattle. However, Sprong wasn’t in the lineup Friday and likely won’t be for a couple more games until his work visa is processed.
So, what did the current fourth line—Tye Kartye, Yanni Gourde, and Brandon Tanev—do with that news? They went out and led the way for the Kraken, generating offensive chances on nearly every shift and rewarding Tanev with two goals.
“For the better part of the 15 games that we’ve played, they’ve been physical, they’ve been fast,” Bylsma said. “They played in the offensive zone, they were determined, and they get opportunities because of it. And they put the other team on their heels with how they play as a line and as a group.”
Indeed, that trio has had some strong performances this season, but remember, we’re only one game removed from Bylsma scratching Kartye from the lineup. Could there have been a little extra motivation for him and the rest of the line knowing that more roster competition is on the way?
Perhaps, especially considering that Seattle will again be tight on cap space once Vince Dunn returns from injury (still a few weeks off, according to Ron Francis on Friday). When Dunn is back, if the team is otherwise healthy, there won’t be room to keep extras after adding Sprong. So, for a player like Kartye—who could theoretically be sent down to Coachella Valley (requiring waivers)—or even Gourde or Tanev, both on expiring deals, strong performances are now crucial.
In the first period of this game, things looked like they might go sideways quickly. The Kraken allowed a power-play goal on a 5-on-3 and then gave up a second goal at even strength three minutes later on some questionable defending. But Tanev intercepted a Brayden McNabb pass at the Kraken blue line, raced in on a breakaway, and fired it off the post and in.
TURBO TIME! 🚨
Tanev gets the steal at the #SeaKraken blue line and scores on the breakaway.
That goal really seemed to settle the Kraken, and Kartye made a great play seven minutes into the second. After Gourde lost an offensive-zone face-off, Kartye stole the puck back and set up Tanev for his second of the night.
TURBO TIMES ✌️! 🚨
Great work by Kartye to keep the play alive and get it to Tanev for his second of the game.
“It’s nice to see [Kartye] come back into the lineup tonight,” Tanev said. “I think he, Yanni, and I have been playing some good hockey as a line, and he made a great play on my second goal. I think without his effort to get that puck and make a possession-poised play, I don’t think I have an opportunity in front of the net. So he did some great things tonight, and I think as a line, we played really well.”
Takeaway #2: Welcome back, Oliver Bjorkstrand
Bylsma’s decision to scratch veteran winger Oliver Bjorkstrand from the lineup against Colorado on Tuesday was still a storyline in this game. At morning skate, Bjorkstrand acknowledged the message, saying he needed to be “more engaged, finding a way to hold onto the puck, winning battles, getting scoring chances.”
Bjorkstrand didn’t necessarily stand out in this game, and he only got 12:35 of ice time. But he did make an impact by crashing the net at a key moment. With the game tied 2-2 three minutes into the third, Jaden Schwartz took a slap shot from the top of the right circle. Adin Hill stopped it and then dove to try to poke the puck past Bjorkstrand, but it hit him and popped into the open net behind Hill.
“It was good. I would have been ready in Colorado, but I thought I was ready tonight,” Bjorkstrand said. “I kept it somewhat simple, I feel like I played well with the puck, and was able to create some chances. So I think the key now is just to build on that.”
Bylsma seemed pleased with Bjorkstrand’s response.
“I thought his game in particular was a great bounce-back game for him,” Bylsma said. “And he’s a talented, skilled player that has a great shot, scores a lot of goals. And I thought his compete was at a great level for him to have success in the game. And it’s not just the evidence of going to the net and scoring a dirty goal, but on the wall in the first period, the face-off also in the first period, the battle on the wall in the second period right in front of our bench, I thought it was great.”
Takeaway #3: A big win for the psyche
It hasn’t been a good stretch of hockey for the Kraken, who entered the game having lost seven of their previous eight. Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights have been on a roll this season and are known for their resilience. Plus, Seattle had never defeated the Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena.
So, when Alex Pietrangelo got a favorable bounce off Adam Larsson’s skate in a 6-on-5 situation with 1:22 left in the third, it definitely felt like Seattle was about to let this game slip away.
But the Kraken responded well in overtime. McCann made a fantastic play to strip Jack Eichel of the puck at the defensive blue line, then received an indirect pass from Brandon Montour in the neutral zone and flew in for the breakaway goal.
It’s a desperately needed win for the Kraken over a strong Golden Knights team, and one that hopefully sets the tone for this crucial homestand.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
*Note: This story was updated following Ron Francis’s press conference Friday evening.*
DING DONG! IT’S DANIEL SPRONG (again)! The Kraken announced that they acquired the Dutch winger in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, sending only “future considerations” back the other way.
“Obviously, we’ve been struggling to score some goals lately, so we were looking at that,” general manager Ron Francis said. “I had a conversation with [Canucks general manager] Patrik [Allvin] the other day, and Daniel’s name came up. Obviously, with us, he had a good season, scored 20 goals with us, 18 last year. He knows our team, our locker room, and we thought it was a low-risk gamble to give him a shot.”
With the trade, Sprong, 27, returns to Seattle for his second stint. The winger spent a season and change with the Kraken after being acquired almost by accident at the 2021-22 trade deadline when Francis sent Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals for two draft picks. Sprong, who was then on an expiring contract, was effectively a throw-in from Washington, and Francis even indicated that he was a player the Capitals “wanted” Seattle to take back in the deal.
Sprong played out the year with Seattle, then returned to Kraken training camp the following season on a pro tryout. He earned a contract and made the team out of camp and helped drive the fourth line to become one of the most effective in hockey, racking up 21 goals and 25 assists in 66 games during the 2022-23 campaign.
He left as an unrestricted free agent after the season, opting to sign a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings, where he again produced offensively with 18 goals and 25 assists.
Despite consecutive (very) productive seasons, Sprong was again on the move this summer, ultimately signing a one-year deal worth $975K with the Vancouver Canucks on July 20.
Now, after playing nine of Vancouver’s 12 games and scoring one goal and two assists, Sprong has found himself back in Seattle for a second go-round with the team where he had his most successful NHL season. He re-joins players and staff with whom he’s already familiar.
“We’re not playing the way we think we’re capable of playing, and we’re trying to find our game,” Francis said. “And hopefully this gives us a little jolt to get things going in the right direction.
“The guys are excited and happy to have him back.”
Sprong keeps moving
It’s interesting that despite his ability to score in a league where goals are so hard to come by, Sprong continues to quickly wear out his welcome in various cities. The knock on him has always been his effort at the defensive end of the ice, and former Kraken coach Dave Hakstol called that out on several occasions.
But from my view, when Sprong was on the ice, he put opposing teams on their heels with his speed, stickhandling, and heavy shot. During his time with the Kraken, Sprong’s fourth line with Morgan Geekie and Ryan Donato usually had the puck and didn’t spend much time defending anyway.
I have been… pardon the pun… ringing the bell for Seattle to bring Sprong back ever since he left. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that the Kraken’s depth scoring went belly-up last season without him and his linemates, who had all departed the summer before. There’s been no offensive punch from the bottom of the lineup since then, and surely Francis and his staff are hoping to recapture some of that magic.
Although I always had positive interactions with Sprong, something about this player causes him to wear out his welcome (almost) everywhere he goes. Whatever that may be, it didn’t deter the Kraken enough to keep them from wanting him back. Worth noting: I believe Sprong received an offer to return after that 2022-23 season, but he opted to join Detroit as a free agent instead.
Here is Francis’s take on why Sprong has moved around so much: “I know when we first got him, it took a while to get to know him, and sort of build that trust and relationship. I think even when he left, it wasn’t like he left on bad terms with us. It was basically him coming off of 20 goals and playing on our fourth line, we didn’t have the money to pay him at that point. So, we said, ‘Go and test the market,’ and good for him. He ended up getting a couple million dollars, and that’s why we couldn’t keep him.”
How he fits
With the Kraken in an early season rut, having lost seven of their last eight games and four in a row, the organization is looking to jolt the lineup. With Vince Dunn still on long-term injured reserve, they are able to exceed the cap temporarily, though not for long. According to coach Dan Bylsma, Dunn is progressing well and could return as early as next week. When he does, the Kraken will need to make room by either sending someone to Coachella Valley or executing another trade.
I would expect Sprong to slot back into the fourth line, perhaps initially replacing Tye Kartye, who appears to be in Bylsma’s doghouse, given his healthy scratch Tuesday in Colorado. We shall see.
Francis expects that due to Veterans Day on Monday, Sprong’s work visa will not come through in time for him to join the Kraken on Tuesday. Instead, expect that the earliest we will see Sprong in the lineup would be next Thursday when the Chicago Blackhawks come to Seattle.
Welcome to Down on the Farm, your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. In each post, we feature a player in the Kraken system, provide few additional notable updates, and then get you all of the statistics you can handle for the prospect pool’s past week and season to date.
One thing I have long promised to add to the series is a prospect question each week, but ongoing behind the scenes work (more on that soon?) has made my Kraken coverage life quite busy. That said, I just couldn’t let another week pass without addressing a question, so I “cheated” a bit. We’re featuring Jagger Firkus this week and, as part of that, I’ll focus on the first question posed to me after I sent out the call. Andrew S. asks: “How is Jagger Firkus adjusting to the increased size and physicality of the AHL?” Let’s get into it.
Featured Kraken prospect: Jagger Firkus
Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL) | RW | Age: 20 | 8 games played | 2 goals | 3 assists | 0.63 PPG
Kraken prospect Jagger Firkus filled the stat sheet during his final junior season last year. He scored 61 goals and added 65 assists during the 2023-24 regular season, en route to winning the CHL scoring title and CHL Player of the Year award. His scoring drove success for his junior club too, as his Moose Jaw Warriors won the WHL and competed for the Memorial Cup.
We noted in our in-person junior hockey viewings that Firkus didn’t really “dominate” play but would instead pop up at just the right moment for a key shot or pass to put Moose Jaw over the top. Firkus views this play style as a feature rather than a bug. When asked by Judd Spicer of the Fire & Ice Podcast this week whether he would swap out for a 6-foot-3 frame if he could, Firkus answered: “I think the style of game I play, it doesn’t really suit a 6-foot-3 player… I’m kind of a guy that just tries to sneak away and get in the small areas and play with my hands in the small areas. And I don’t think it really works in a [bigger] body.”
All the same, Firkus is the first to recognize that his overall engagement and physicality would need to take a step forward to succeed in the professional ranks. “(Professional hockey) is a different animal,” Firkus said, as reported by Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times over the summer. “If I want to make the jump, I’ve got to make some movement in the gym.”
The Kraken development staff echoed those sentiments. “It’s gonna be a learning curve for him for sure,” Director of Amateur Scouting Robert Kron said after the draft. “Any time you have an undersized guy, who’s not 6-foot-2, they have to show that their speed and their strength can go against pros as well,” Director of Player Development Jeff Tambellini added.
From my vantage, he elevated his engagement level through the playoffs last season, playing some of his best hockey during the WHL Finals against Portland. (The video above is from that series and is probably the best all-around junior performance I ever saw from him. It’s worth a watch.)
The challenge was to carry that quality, detailed play over against professional competition. “[As] a first-year pro, you don’t really know what it takes… the first couple of games,” Firkus said on the same podcast this week. “You just try to get your feet wet and understand what it’s like to be a pro hockey player and the daily lifestyle that you live in… It’s been a blast. It’s been something that I feel like I can play in. So I just get my confidence better and better each game, I’m trying to grow each game.”
Asked about what he thinks he can bring to the Firebirds, Firkus said he’s “an offensive player that likes to have a puck” but more important is playing the right way as a team—”just buying in to being a team player. That’s kind of the biggest thing…. You can tell if a team is [bought in], that can get you the farthest.”
By that standard, Firkus’ acclimation to the AHL has gone about as well as it could have so far. The scoring touch and play-making skill are still there in flashes. But the details have been even more impressive.
In the clip below from Wednesday’s Firebirds game against the Colorado Eagles, Firkus takes a pass at the offensive blue line, senses approaching pressure, and gets the puck deep. When his teammate doesn’t cleanly retrieve it, he sprints across the ice to the spot where he anticipates the next challenge could happen. He checks an Eagle to the boards separating the puck and contesting possession. The Eagles briefly get possession, but Firkus wins it back with a nifty steal and helps get the puck back in the offensive zone with control. He then goes straight to the net front drawing coverage and opening space for his teammates. This is the type of hardworking forecheck that can take a skilled junior player and make him an NHLer.
Later in the first period of this game, Firkus took a loose puck at the defensive blue line and broke it up ice with enough strength to draw a penalty in transition. The tenacity and “want to” is there with Firkus, and he’s starting to play with enough power to win these kinds of advantages.
His high-level instincts really show up in the offensive zone. In the second period clip below, Firkus gains the zone on a controlled entry, passes to a teammate, and anticipates where he needs to get to (below the net) to take the return feed. He draws in pressure, circles the puck to space for his teammates, and immediately goes to the front of the net to draw coverage again. Due in no small part to Firkus’ detailed and instinctual play, the Firebirds got a high-quality look.
But nowhere was Firkus’ sixth sense for offense more evident than on a rush chance about five minutes later. He was in support alongside (Firkus’s Coachella Valley roommate) David Goyette and Brandon Biro. He constantly adjusted his angle so that if the puck made it to him he would have the best possible chance. When a rebound did squirt loose to him, he was in the perfect position to knock it home.
“We don’t expect [Firkus] to run anybody over, but he can dart in and dart out,” Coachella Valley head coach Derek Laxdal said following rookie camp this summer. “I think a great example for him is Brayden Point with Tampa. That should be a player that he models his game off of. [Firkus is] fearless. He goes to those hard areas.”
We saw all of those attributes in the clips above. The most important area for improvement in Laxdal’s eyes is on defense: “For these players to play in the National Hockey League, to get a chance to play, they have to be able to survive defensively in the game.” Laxdal noted that he has seen forward progress from Firkus in that regard, but there is certainly still work to be done.
For example, in Wednesday’s game both Firkus and Goyette flew the zone a little too early during a contested puck situation late in the second period in the Firebirds’ end. This is commonly called “cheating for offense,” and it’s risky because if the player’s team doesn’t get control and successfully outlet the puck, you’ve put the team in a shorthanded position in the defensive zone. This is precisely what happened in the Eagles game, leading to an extra Colorado shot attempt that may not have happened if Firkus (or Goyette) focused on defensive support first.
All told, though, I’m impressed by the small things Firkus has been able to do so far in the AHL—maximizing his speed and strength with tactical positioning and a fearless mentality. It’s very early, and he has a development road left to traverse, but he’s showing the attributes necessary to be an NHL contributor.
Notes on three more Kraken prospects
Carson Rehkopf
Brampton Steelheads (OHL) | F | Age: 19 | 14 games played | 8 goals | 20 assists | 2.0 PPG
Carson Rehkopf continues to rack up points playing alongside top draft prospect Porter Martone and another talented player in Luke Misa on the Brampton Steelheads’ top line. On Sunday he had two goals, including a late third-period game-tying goal in a game the Steelheads would ultimately win. Overall he had seven points in three games since our last update. For the second week in a row, though, his sterling effort is overshadowed by another for the Prospect of the Week award.
Some good news (which may interest you right now): Rehkopf did pick up another point, scoring the game-tying goal in an eventual Steelheads win.pic.twitter.com/Ib94Y6K7v8
Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL) | F | Age: 22 | 8 games played | 2 goals | 2 assists | 0.5 PPG
Roed’s transition to the pro game is going very smoothly from my vantage. He has very good (almost elite) speed in a professional frame. And he combines that standout trait with a hard-charging mindset both on the forecheck and back-check. He’s always contesting possession and getting to the front of the net if the play calls for it. It’s getting harder and harder for me to envision a future where Roed doesn’t contribute as a checking player at the NHL level in future seasons.
Ben MacDonald
Harvard Univ. (NCAA) | F | Age: 20 | 1 game played | 1 goal | 0 assists | 1.0 PPG
Two-way forward Ben MacDonald welcomed Harvard to the hockey season by scoring the Crimson’s first (and, thus far, only) goal of the season last Friday. He’ll look to keep the scoring going in two games this weekend.
As mentioned above, Rehkopf had seven points in three games this weekend. Berkly Catton topped that with eight points in three games. And, even still, neither will take home the coveted Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week award. That honor goes to Clarke Caswell, who piled up seven points in just two WHL contests. Last week’s featured player is driving play for the Swift Current Broncos right now.
Ryan Winterton had a four-point game for the Firebirds early in the week, which made him a clubhouse leader for Prospect of the Week, but his NHL recall threw a wrench into those plans. Back with the Firebirds now, I expect the trend line to continue upwards for Winterton.
Overall, Andrei Loshko continues to lead the organization in goal scoring with nine. Caden Price, Lukas Dragicevic, and Tyson Jugnauth all rank within the top-10 among WHL defensemen in points. And, for their part, college prospects Justin Janicke and Barrett Hall just keep scoring. If they can keep up the pace for another month or two, it’ll be time to start watching them much more closely.
Niklas Kokko had two starts and two wins for the Coachella Valley Firebirds over the last seven days, while posting a tidy .919 save percentage. He was in the running for Prospect of the Week.
Kim Saarinen had one Liiga start before departing to play for Team Finland at the U20 Five Nations Tournament—a World Juniors tune-up event. He started Finland’s first game, a 6-5 overtime loss to Switzerland.
Visa Vedenpaa still hasn’t played since mid-October.
Kokko is likely to draw the start Friday for the Coachella Valley Firebirds with Ales Stezka up in Seattle as a backup during Philipp Grubauer’s (hopefully brief) absence. If Grubauer’s situation is as minor as it seems to be, I would expect Stezka to be returned to Coachella Valley after the Kraken game and start Saturday’s Firebirds game.
Victor Ostman’s play has been solid overall for the ECHL Kansas City Mavericks. I’d expect him to start tonight (Friday) with Jack LaFonataine elevated to Coachella Valley as the backup.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Berkly Catton: 1
Previewing the week ahead
According to a report out of Sweden, Oscar Fisker Mølgaard may return to the lineup this week after missing all but one game of the season with an injury. Mølgaard’s team, HV71, takes the ice again next Thursday.
Zeb Forsfjall’s SHL club Skelleftea has one game on the schedule this week, but, like Saarinen, Forsfjall is with his national team at the Five Nations Tournament right now. He had a slick overtime game-winning goal at the tournament this week.
Beyond that, the week ahead has a couple WHL prospect matchups on tap. Caden Price and the Kelowna Rockets host Berkly Catton and the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday, while Julius Miettinen, Kaden Hammell, and the Everett Silvertips welcome Ollie Josephson and the Red Deer Rebels to Angel of the Winds Arena on Monday.
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
The Seattle Kraken are back at home after an atrocious and concerning road trip in which they went 1-4-0, with the four losses coming consecutively to close out the journey. The players returned to Kraken Community Iceplex on Thursday for practice, staying upbeat, with the dressing room mood remaining quite positive.
A few items of note have popped up over the past few days, so I thought some sort of book for those items of note… a “Notebook” if you will… felt appropriate.
About that Oliver Bjorkstrand healthy scratch…
Head coach Dan Bylsma made headlines and raised eyebrows by scratching Oliver Bjorkstrand from the lineup Tuesday in Colorado. The Kraken’s lone representative at the All-Star Game last season played all 82 games for Seattle last season and missed just one game the year before for the birth of his son. He has scored 20 goals in each of the last two seasons and has five points (3-2=5) in 13 games this season. So, although he hasn’t been racking up huge numbers, he has contributed intermittently.
I hypothesized on the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast that perhaps the scratch was more about getting a message through to the team that nobody is immune to being pulled from a game if they don’t perform and that Bjorkstrand was being used more as an example. But after talking to Bylsma about it on Thursday, it sounds like he has been underwhelmed by Bjorkstrand’s play for some time now.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with Oliver over the past six games, and so I think he was quite clear on the expectations and his play,” Bylsma said. “And I think we’re going to have a great response from Oliver because of it.”
It’s also a gutsy move by Bylsma, and a lever that we never saw the previous regime pull. Dave Hakstol would often use the healthy scratch shakeup as a way to try to get the team producing, but he never sat core veteran players; it was always members of the frequently rotating fourth line that would get the pressbox treatment. Now we’ve seen that Bylsma is not afraid to do something like this if he thinks a player is not doing what he needs him to do.
So how did the rest of the team receive that message?
“From the team standpoint, I think if we go with the status quo, then I don’t think we’re going to move to where we think we can get, what we think we can be,” Bylsma said. “And so, I think there was a team message there as well in Oliver not playing in that game.”
The sense I got from the dressing room was that the players understood the move and were not upset about it, but they also will back each other up. They know that they need to execute better to start winning games and avoid having more of these kinds of messages delivered.
You can bank on Bjorkstrand returning to the lineup Friday when Seattle welcomes the high-flying Vegas Golden Knights to Climate Pledge Arena. He was back on a line with Eeli Tolvanen and Shane Wright at practice, and as of the writing of this story, the Kraken are carrying no extras to insert into the lineup after they reassigned John Hayden, Ryan Winterton, and Cale Fleury to Coachella Valley on Wednesday.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer was mysteriously absent from the skate, with EBUG Michael Henrichsen stepping in. Bylsma said Grubauer had suffered an “unfortunate accident at home,” but it didn’t sound like anything too serious and indicated Grubauer would be back on the ice in the next few days.
Grubauer will not be available to back up on Friday, though, so the Kraken recalled Ales Stezka on an emergency basis.
Vince Dunn progressing
I do not think it is a coincidence that the Kraken’s struggles began when Vince Dunn’s injury forced him right back out of the lineup after he played just four games. This team took a nosedive last season when it traded Alex Wennberg to the New York Rangers at the Trade Deadline, and then Dunn had a season-ending injury soon after. With that in mind, I’m beginning to think this team simply can’t survive without Dunn.
With Vince Dunn’s long-term injury status starting on Oct. 17, he’s technically eligible to return on Nov. 12, when the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town. However, with how the Kraken have handled injuries in the past, I would have expected to see Dunn on the ice by now if he was planning to play in that game. He was not there Thursday, but Bylsma indicated that the aforementioned timeline is still within the realm of possibility.
“He’s not on the ice yet,” Bylsma said. “He’s in a rehab workout phase off the ice, and he’ll be progressing to the ice in a few days… I’ll say in the four-to-seven-day range.”
The Nov. 12 game is only five days away, but even so, Bylsma said Dunn’s return for that game is “not unlikely,” but also hedged that it could take a few more days beyond that Columbus game before we see him in game action.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
As we close the chapter on a tough five-game road trip, and the team prepares for a six-game home stand starting Friday night, it seems like a good time for a first look at macro trends in the Seattle Kraken play data. We’ll start with team-level information before highlighting Kraken player-level results. The goal here is to trigger further thought and inquiry, rather than deep dive in any particular area. Any one of these data sets could be an entire article. Unless otherwise noted below, the data is from Natural Stat Trick or NHL Edge.
Before getting to it, it is important to note that the Kraken have played just 14 of 82 games. This is a solid sample (17 percent of the season) but still on the low end for drawing meaningful conclusions. For example, analytics outfits like Evolving Hockey tend to publish their models only after accruing 15 to 20 games worth of data. I think there is plenty we can learn here, but let’s keep the salt shaker on the table for now. Particularly with a new coaching staff, it is quite possible this picture shifts in important ways by the time we do another one of these check-ins around the 30-game mark. OK, let’s dive in.
Seattle Kraken lag in the standings and shot quality metrics
It may be “early” in the data world, but the first 14 games of the season have had very real consequences for Seattle’s playoff prospects. Sure, as of Nov. 7, Seattle is only “four points out,” but five teams separate the Kraken from that last wild card spot—several of which have games in hand on Seattle.
On a standings points percentage basis, Seattle is fifth-worst in the league and third-worst in the conference. And this position is fully “earned” because, as of now, no team has fared worse in generating overall shot quality than the Seattle Kraken at only 41.69 percent expected goals for (xGF).
For those requiring a bit more explanation, expected goals (xG) is a metric that estimates the likelihood of a shot attempt resulting in a goal based on shot location and type. Expected goals for percentage (xGF %) compares a team’s total “xG for” with “xG against.” For example, if a team has taken three shots worth .1 xG total and given up one shot worth .05 xG, the team’s xGF% is calculated .1/(.1+.05) = 67%.
Seattle’s poor xGF% is likely overstated somewhat by the amount of time Seattle has played with the goalie pulled in recent games. That said, even if the fairer figure is slightly more generous to the Kraken, the team’s expected goal share would still be near the bottom of the league.
Seattle’s struggle has been both on offense and defense. On a production basis, Seattle’s 2.79 goals scored per game ranks 21st in the league, and its 3.21 goals against per game also ranks 21st. Pivoting back to shot quality, Seattle has been well below average generating quality looks for itself and in suppressing opponent shot quality.
The chart above does not separate out performance on special teams, so it is worth a short detour to look for takeaways on those units. As shown below, Seattle has been slightly above average in drawing penalties, but slightly below average in converting those opportunities into goals.
As for the penalty kill, the Kraken are taking more penalties than average and suffering the commensurate consequences, conceding more goals with a player disadvantage than average.
These substandard real-world results may be a bit “lucky” and present an artificially rosy picture of the team’s performance, though. In terms of shot quality, we see that Seattle is below average in creating quality looks on the power play and perhaps the worst in the league in preventing opponent shot quality on the penalty kill. The goalies may be the team’s best penalty killers so far.
Kraken skater data reflects broader team struggles
Shifting focus to individual data, there are few true “positive” indicators in light of the team’s overall weakness. Nonetheless, there is plenty of interest when evaluating how the coaching staff has deployed the players and in comparing the players against each other. First, let’s take a look at overall deployment and individual offensive engagement (via shot attempts).
Brandon Montour has been a workhorse on the blue line—leaned on all the more heavily with Vince Dunn out for the last 10 games. Despite missing the Toronto game, he still leads the team in ice time by a wide margin. Chandler Stephenson stands out as the only forward deployed as much as any of the top-four defensemen. As we will see in a moment, the coaching staff certainly views him as an all situations stalwart.
The data shows Stephenson doesn’t shoot much—but we knew that already. It is more notable to see Shane Wright so low in total shot attempts too. The team should consider putting him back in a better line context to get more out of him and the offense overall. (Worth noting, Wright was back with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen at practice on Thursday.)
What explains Josh Mahura and Tye Kartye’s light overall usage? As shown below, Mahura and Kartye have not found a home on special teams. (Given the penalty kill unit’s struggles to create pressure, I wonder whether there may be an opportunity to incorporate Kartye’s aggression there. He has practiced as a penalty kill forward.)
Speaking of deployment, NHL data reports provide information on a player’s “zone starts”—meaning the zone (defensive, neutral, or offensive) where the puck was when the player jumps on the ice. With enough sample size, this can provide insight on coaching preferences. Is the play pinned in the offensive zone? Send out Player X because he can keep the offensive pressure up. Need to win a key defensive-zone draw? Tap Player Y because he can win face-offs and defend.
In the chart below we see that no player is deployed in a more difficult ice position context than Adam Larsson (followed by Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and Jamie Oleksiak). On the other extreme, we see Josh Mahura (and would see Cale Fleury if he met the games played minimum) as players “sheltered” with many more offensive-zone starts.
Beyond this “zone start” stat, NHL Edge now gives us another layer of information by providing data on the time each player spends in each zone. This allows us to compare a player’s zone starts against his time spent in each zone to get a rough understanding of whether he is—on balance—maintaining/improving his team’s ice position or losing ice position. For instance if Player Z was deployed in the offensive zone 70 percent of the time but nonetheless spent 55 percent of his time in the defensive zone, we could conclude that he contributes to substandard play driving the puck toward the opponent’s goal (a negative “ice position” impact).
Setting aside neutral-zone starts and time, we can compare the ratio of offensive- to defensive-zone starts (horizontal axis on the chart below) against the ratio of offensive- to defensive-zone time on ice (vertical axis). Indicative of the team’s overall struggles, only two players have spent more time in the offensive zone than the defensive zone—Montour and Mahura. This is to be expected for Mahura since he’s deployed so much more in the offensive zone. This is not so for Montour, who sees only a 45.2 offensive-zone start percentage. Beyond Montour, the players indicated in blue also move play back toward offense, while the players indicated in red have had the opposite impact.
Turning from deployment to goal-scoring production and Natural Stat Trick‘s shot quality metric, we see that the two leading scorers on the team, Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann, are not there by accident; they also lead the team in expected goals. Matty Beniers is third on the team in shot quality, earning almost exactly his three goal total. The fourth-ranked skater on the team is a somewhat surprising one—Brandon Tanev. That said, Tanev has always been able to create transition looks. The challenge for him is handling and finishing those chances.
Next let’s take a look at the team’s overall scoring (via goals scored for percentage) and shot quality share (via expected goals for percentage) with each player on the ice. Across a big enough sample, if a team is not generating surplus goals or quality shots with a player on the ice, it tells you about that player’s offensive and defensive contributions beyond just the box score.
As of Nov. 6, the Seattle Kraken have only one player with a 5-on-5 xGF% above 50 percent—Shane Wright. Everyone else is underwater in that shot quality metric. That said, usual suspects Brandon Montour, Jordan Eberle, and Jared McCann have been able to drive positive real-world goal impacts. That group is joined by Ryker Evans, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Matty Beniers as the “plus” players on the team.
At the other end of the spectrum, Stephenson and Andre Burakovsky have struggled to contribute to goals and shot quality. (That said, I should note that these two combined for perhaps their strongest effort in the team’s last game against Colorado. So there may be a glimmer of optimism there.) Eeli Tolvanen’s on-ice impacts have been weak too, but he does have four goals, so he’s contributing in that department.
Finally, NHL Edge data also allows us to supplement the “eye test” with a quantifiable measure of how “fast” a player is playing at even strength. In the early going, Shane Wright has topped Matty Beniers as the team’s player who skates the fastest average speed. He also has the fastest individual burst on the team this season at 22.54 miles per hour. The chart below pairs that speed data with shot attempts each player has taken off the rush. It’s no surprise that the four centers skate the fastest on average, since the center has to cover all 200 feet of the ice and often needs to push harder to get to the appropriate spot.
For the Kraken, rush offense and play speed have not been closely correlated. To the contrary, of the four players to take four or more rush shots, three are defensemen. This also implies that much of Seattle’s rush success to date has been due to the activation of defensemen (and, perhaps, a result of other teams sleeping in coverage).
The goalies perform differently but have been solid overall
Lastly, shot location data provides some interesting insight regarding the contrasting production of Seattle’s goaltenders.
Joey Daccord has drawn eight of 14 starts, posting a .915 save percentage and 2.75 goals-against average. According to Natural Stat Trick‘s metric, he has saved 4.8 goals more than expected in his starts, which is sixth-best in the league. He’s done it by being a brick wall on shots he “should” save. His save percentage on shots Natural Stat Trick classifies as “low danger” is .991, best in the NHL among all goalies with at least four starts. He has saved 4.16 more goals than an average goalie on these types of shots. By contrast, his high-danger save percentage is slightly below average at .767. He has allowed approximately two more high-danger goals than average on these shots. This confirms the “eye test” that high-danger cross-seam passes have been the best way to beat Joey early on.
Philipp Grubuaer has six starts, with a .876 save percentage and 3.27 goals against average. His -3.08 goals saved above expected is below average, but there may be reasons for optimism. His save percentage on high-danger shots is .795. This is actually better than Daccord’s mark and approximately league average. He has also been solid with his rebound control early in the season, allowing approximately two fewer rebound shot attempts per game than Daccord. In contrast, he has struggled on low-danger shots, posting a save percentage of only .909 on those shots. There may be some bad puck luck or luck with screens affecting his early season numbers. Only time will tell whether this weakness on perimeter shots persists.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
*Editor’s note: This is not a new article. This is the same seating guide that was published in December, 2023, but it has been updated with some new information for the 2024-25 season.
The admittedly biased answer to the question of where to sit at Climate Pledge Arena (CPA) is section 3, row L, seats 1-2—my season seats! But the real answer is that there isn’t a bad seat in the house. No matter where you’re seated in CPA, you’ll have a great view of the ice and a fantastic game experience.
For the 2024-25 season, we’ve refreshed this guide with the following updates:
Updated ticket pricing to reflect standard admission rates.
Added a Tips and tricks section, featuring discounted student tickets and a bathroom line navigation hack.
The King 5 broadcast desk has a new home in the Space Needle Lounge.
The Red Alert band has been dissolved, and references to the band have been removed.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through each major section in CPA, highlighting the pros and cons of each area to help you find your perfect seat.
How to use the Kraken seating guide:
If you’re unsure where to begin when choosing your seats, you’re in the right place! The Kraken seating guide below will help you find your ideal spot. Use the table below, and click the link in each area for an overview of each section.
Consider these key factors as you choose:
Budget
End seats vs. side seats (do you prefer being behind the net or seeing the action from the sides?)
Proximity to the action vs. full-ice perspective
Section benefits and amenities
Reviewing each of these factors will help you zero in on the sections that best suit you and your group for an unforgettable game experience.
Budget
Ticket prices at CPA vary widely, with face-value seats starting around $50 and going up to $750. This Kraken seating guide breaks down seating into approximate price ranges, with most options falling between $100 and $250. These prices reflect standard admission rates, as resale prices fluctuate based on factors like team performance, the opponent, and the game night. Typically, expect lower prices for a Tuesday game against a struggling opponent and higher prices for a Saturday night matchup against a top team or Original Six team.
End seats vs. side seats
As in any sport, seats closer to center-ice (field, court, or pitch) tend to be the most desirable. In hockey, protective netting behind each goal keeps those powerful slap shots from hitting fans. When sitting at the ends of the ice, you’ll be viewing through this netting, which, while noticeable at first, often fades from perception during the game. Along the sides of the ice, you’ll have an unobstructed view, as no netting is present. Watching from the sides offers a left-to-right view of the action, while end seating provides an up-and-down perspective. Keep in mind that when sitting at the ends, the action feels distant when at the opposite end but intensely close when in front of you.
Proximity to the action vs. full-ice perspective
This choice comes down to personal preference. Sitting higher up gives you a view of the entire rink, making it easier to see plays and strategies unfold. Being closer to the ice immerses you in the speed and intensity of the game as players battle it out near your seat. Both options are exciting, but for newcomers, sitting higher can offer a broader perspective and better understanding of the game—and usually at a lower price.
Benefits and amenities
Most amenities are available in the club sections. Club seats feature options like exclusive food, club-specific restrooms, mixed drinks in your seat, and private entrances to CPA. The private club restrooms are a notable perk, as restroom lines outside the club areas are generally longer, especially during intermissions.
Going to your first game?
If this is your first game, you can’t go wrong with any seat—just choose a spot within your budget and get ready to enjoy the experience. I recommend arriving about an hour early to check out the team store and watch the warmups. Take a stroll through a few sections you might consider for future games to get a sense of how they compare to your seats.
If you’re reading this seating guide, you might also be a new fan of the Seattle Kraken. Sound Of Hockey has you covered with our Seattle Kraken: New fan’s guide – 2024 edition, helping you get up to speed on your new favorite team and sport.
Just want a quick Kraken seating recommendation?
Just get me in the building?
Opt for the 200 Level. Aim for sections opposite the press box—like 224, 225, 226, 201, 202, 203, and 204—rather than 211-217. In the higher rows (H and above) of 211-217, the “Twins” (dual scoreboards) are obstructed by the pressbox. Although there are TV screens for provided for these rows, seeing the scoreboards is part of the experience.
Best mix of value and views? There are a few great options
Kraken-shoot-twice sections in red, Visitor side (Kraken-shoot-once) sections in black
00 Lower Bowl
All lower bowl sections at CPA are numbered 1-26. Entrance to CPA is on the upper level, with an escalator ride down to the lower bowl, which is considered the main concourse (LL2). This level includes The Lair (team store) and the Living Wall. Sections 3-12 are on the Kraken’s offensive side, where they shoot twice per game, while sections 16-25 are on the visitor’s side, where the Kraken-shoot-once. The arena has two club areas: the Symetra Club (sections 26, 1, 2) and the WaFd Club (sections 13-15).
These sections sit right on the face-off dot within the offensive zone and are the only non-club, Kraken-shoot-twice sections in front of the goal line. Positioned as close to the club areas as possible without being in them, they provide a fantastic view. A railing separates these sections from the club seats on the side closer to center ice, making it impossible for people to enter or exit from that side—a benefit for those seated along the railing, as they won’t be interrupted during the game. Sections 16 and 25, on the visitor-shoot-twice side, mirror sections 3 and 12.
View from “Kraken-shoot-twice – corners” section (Photo/Brian Liesse)
The corners are rumored to be a favored vantage point for hockey scouts evaluating minor and junior players. While the Kraken-shoot-twice end is viewed through protective netting, the opposite end offers a mixed view. Seats in the first 10 rows are around $210-$240, providing a close-to-the-action experience. These corner sections offer a balanced blend of side and end perspectives. Sections 17, 19, 22, and 24 on the visitor-shoot-twice end mirror sections 4, 6, 9, and 11.
Unless you’re within a few rows of the glass, your view in these sections will always be through protective netting. Most seats are around $180, with row C (on the glass) closer to $285-$350, and rows D-J approximately $220-$240. Note that row C is the front row in these sections, offering direct glass access. It’s a popular spot to watch the visiting team warm up. If you arrive during warm-ups, feel free to join the crowd along the glass for a closer view, then settle into your seats once the crowd clears. Sections 20 and 21, on the visitor-shoot-twice end, mirror sections 7 and 8.
The top of most lower bowl sections features bar seats.
Pros:
These seats offer a great view of the ice at the lowest price in the lower bowl.
The elevated bar stools have seat backs and are not connected to the floor, so you can stand during the game if you prefer.
A small table in front of you provides space for food and drinks.
Cons:
You won’t have a view of the Twins (dual scoreboards), but there are TV screens mounted for viewing replays. Some extra stats on the Twins aren’t shown on the TVs, but it doesn’t not take away from the enjoyment of the game.
Your view may be blocked if the people in front of you stand during an exciting moment, though most fans remain seated during the game.
Getting in and out of these seats can be a little awkward, but it’s manageable.
Both Symetra Club and WaFd Club offer similar experiences, located on opposite sides of the ice. Symetra Club is on the same side as the player benches, while WaFd Club is on the penalty box side.
Buying club seats is about two things: premium seats and added benefits. Located between the face-off dots, with the most expensive seats at center ice, they provide an unimpeded view of the game without the need to look through protective netting.
Each club has its own private area with exclusive food and drink options, as well as bathrooms reserved for club ticket holders. Additional perks include the ability to have mixed drinks in your seat, coat check, larger, more cushioned seats, and occasionally a free appetizer spread. There are also a limited number of bar seats in the club sections (sections 1, 15, 26), which offer the same benefits and are priced around $195. For more on bar seat experiences, see the lower bowl section.
Pros:
Premium seat views and exclusive benefits.
The Yeet the Fish tradition, where plush fish are thrown into the stands after Kraken wins, typically end up in lub sections since there is no protective netting.
Season ticket holders get a 25 percent discount on concessions.
Cons:
Expensive pricing.
Access to the club areas requires scanning your ticket each time you enter, meaning your friends without club tickets are not allowed to join you in the club area.
The Loge Level is located at street level, meaning when you enter CPA, you’ll already be on the correct level. Sections numbered in the 100s are considered the Loge Level. The following sections are included in this area:
101-104, 111-114 – Kraken-shoot-twice side, sections range from center-ice to the corners.
115-117, 124-126 – Visiting team side, sections range from center-ice to the corners.
105-110 – Kraken-shoot-twice end of the ice.
118-123 – AMEX Club, visiting team end of the ice.
The Loge Level provides excellent views of the entire ice surface from any seat. With a steeper sightline compared to the lower bowl, you’re able to get a good perspective of the action. However, if you find yourself behind a taller person, it can be challenging to see clearly. Overall, these seats offer great sight lines for an immersive experience.
These seats run along the sides of the ice and are not obstructed by the protective netting. Pricing is comparable to lower bowl seating. Row A ensures you have an unobstructed view, although a metal-topped protective glass barrier might slightly interfere with your sightline. Being higher up, these seats offer a broader perspective of the game, allowing you to see plays develop more clearly. However, they feel a bit farther from the ice compared to the lower bowl.
Pros:
Great views of the ice to see plays development.
Easy access from CPA entry points, allowing for a quick exit after the game.
Cons:
Pricing is similar to lower bowl seats, so not much of a discount.
The concourse can feel narrow and congested during intermissions, as it serves both the 100 and 200 Levels.
Bathroom lines can be long, contributing to the congestion.
The steeper sight lines may result in people blocking your view if they lean forward, so don’t be surprised (or offended) if someone asks you to lean back.
Bar seats (~$130):
Bar seats on the Loge Level offer a full view of the Twins and a great perspective of the ice. However, the narrow walkway (~four feet) behind these seats means you’ll experience people walking behind you during the game.
These seats offer great value while still providing an exceptional view of the ice. If you’re familiar with the EA Sports NHL video game series, the view here is similar to the classic up/down perspective. The sections span both the 100 and 200 Levels. There are three price points in this section: Row A (~$150-$200), middle rows (B-H, ~$110-$125), and upper rows (J-P, ~$85-$95). For reference, row H aligns with row A of the 200 Level.
All views from these sections are through the protective netting.
Pros:
There is not a bad seat in this area, and these seats deliver on value and view.
Easy access to the Alaska Airlines Atrium, making it simple to get in and out of CPA.
Cons:
The seating is at the same level as the Twins, so you may occasionally find yourself watching the game on the Twins if you are not paying attention.
Food and drink options are limited to small stands, and lines can get long.
Bathroom lines can be an issue in this section as well.
Despite being in the 100s, many of the seats are at the same height as the 200 Level.
These seats are a mirror of the Loge Level Kraken-shoot-twice end of the ice seats (Sections 105-110), with a few notable differences:
Located on the visitor-shoot-twice end of the ice
Sections extend lower than the Loge Level, with row A in line with the suite level
Rows A-C offer larger seats similar to the Symetra/WaFd Club seats
Row F is in line with Loge Level row A; row N is in line with 200 Level row A
Private entrance for AMEX Club members
Access to the AMEX Club, from other parts of the arena, is via the suite level
Private food and drink options available
Private bathrooms for club members
This section is all about the extra perks balanced with the cost. The height in this section ranges from as low as the suite level to as high as the 200 Level, offering three price points:
Row A-C (~$220-$250)
Middle rows (D-P, ~$160-$195)
Upper rows (Q-V, ~$130-$150)
Pros:
Extra benefits over regular seats, including private food and drink options.
Mixed drinks allowed in your seats.
Private bathrooms and a private entrance for club members.
Cons:
Price can be steep for the additional perks.
While getting to the main sections of CPA is not difficult, being located on the suite level can create some separation from the rest of the arena, which can make it a little harder to get to other areas of the arena.
The 200 Level sections run along the sides of the ice. Sections 201-204 and 224-226 are on the players’ bench side, while Sections 211-217 are on the same side as the penalty boxes and the press box. These sections offer the best value, providing a good view of the ice at a lower price point than other areas in the arena. Row A, being the front row, will be the most expensive (~$150-$170) in these sections.
It’s important to note that the higher seats on the press box side are positioned behind the press box. While you can see the full ice surface, you won’t have a clear view of the Twins (dual scoreboards). Instead, you’ll see TV screens mounted on the back of the press box.
The 200 Level offers an excellent vantage point to watch the game, with views that allow you to follow the play as it develops. Access to this level is the same as where you enter CPA. Like the Loge Level, you may encounter some congestion in the concourse and bathrooms during intermissions. If it’s your first time at CPA or you’ve never explored the main level (lower bowl), be sure to take a walk down to see The Lair (team store) and Living Wall.
The 200 Level offers upper-deck seats with a full view of the ice. Sections 201-204 are located on the Kraken-shoot-twice side, while Sections 224-226 are on the visitor-shoot-twice side.
Pros:
Great value with excellent views at the lowest price.
Seats are near the entry points, making it easy to exit CPA quickly before the fans in the lower bowl have time to take the escalator back to the street level.
Full view of the Twins (dual scoreboards).
Cons:
Hallways can get congested, and bathroom lines are often long.
Steep sight lines can be challenging; people leaning forward or tall individuals may block your view, though you can usually shift left or right in your seat to find a clearer view.
These sections mirror the 200 Level players’ bench side but with a key difference: Rows F and above are positioned behind the press box, which blocks the view of the Twins (dual scoreboards). To address this, TV screens are installed so you can still see what’s displayed on the Twins, similar to the bar seats in the lower bowl.
You’ll have an unobstructed view of the ice without the protective netting in your line of sight for the entire game. However, the press box design does slightly muffle the arena’s sound, creating a subtle sense of separation from the crowd. Occasional movement in the press box gangway may also distract you from the game. If you prefer a view of the Twins, aim for rows A-E, which are below the press box.
Pros:
Cheapest seat option at CPA with a clear view of the ice.
Although not specifically designed for this, these sections are not as loud, so if crowd noise is a concern, this might be a section to try.
Cons:
Concourse congestion and long bathroom lines.
The press box can be a minor drawback if seated in row F and above, as it blocks the view of the Twins.
While CPA offers excellent views from nearly every seat, these seats rank lower in value due to their pricing. Originally, they were intended as 21+ seating with exclusive access to the Space Needle Lounge. However, now that the lounge is accessible to all fans, the premium pricing for upper-deck seats feels less justified. These sections sit above Sections 105-110 and can only be accessed through the Space Needle Lounge.
Pros:
Space Needle Lounge stays relatively empty during games, so it’s easy to grab a drink and enjoy it in your seat.
These seats flank “The Deck,” where in-game announcements and prize contests happen. Buoy, announcers, and occasional celebrities frequent The Deck, making it easier to get pictures and interact with them from here.
Bathrooms on the Space Needle Lounge level are easily accessible from these seats, allowing you to avoid long lines.
The King 5 Broadcast desk has a new home here, where you can watch Alison Lukan and Ian Furness during intermissions.
Offers a bird’s-eye view of the ice.
Cons:
The high price is steep for upper-deck seating, especially since the lounge, bathrooms, and broadcast desk are now open to all fans.
These seats are the ultimate experience for glass-level viewing. Accessed via elevators to the event level (LL4), Cove seating requires ticket holders to show their tickets when exiting the elevator, as this level also houses the players’ locker rooms. While there are no food vendors on this level, food and drinks can be ordered directly to your seat via mobile phone—a convenient perk that means you don’t have to leave your seat, even mid-period.
Buoy, the team mascot, often visits the Cove sections, making it easy to get a photo. These seats provide an up-close, intense view of the action at your end of the ice, but views of play at the opposite end are limited, often requiring you to check the Twins (dual scoreboards). However, the Twins are almost directly above, so you may need to crane your neck or look to the opposite side for a clearer view.
Cove seating locations
Cove 4 and 11 – On the Kraken-shoot-twice side. Cove 4 is beside the visiting team’s bench.
Cove 17 and 24 – On the visitor-shoot-twice side. Cove 24 is next to the Kraken bench, allowing views of players heading to their dressing room during intermission.
Cove seating overview
Each Cove has two rows: Row AA (~$530-$750) and row BB (~$430-$550). Row AA seats are on the glass, offering the closest proximity to the action. However, row BB, can give you a hard time viewing the ice, as the seats are usually not elevated, so you are looking through people in row AA. There is an exception to this in Cove 11, where row BB seats 1-10 are elevated.
Pros:
Unmatched view of the action directly in front of you—ideal for any hockey fan to try at least once in their lifetime.
Food delivery directly to your seat.
Best location to watch warm-ups and potentially catch a souvenir puck from players.
Cons:
Limited view of action at the far end of the ice.
Row BB can have obstructed sight lines from row AA.
If you’ve made it this far in the guide, you’ve probably noticed a trend: bathroom lines can get long in many sections. Here’s a tip I learned from an interview with the Seattle Kraken Ice Breakers: ice scrapes happen during TV timeouts, and there’s a set schedule for them. The first stoppage after the 14:00, 10:00, and 6:00 minute marks of the period gives you two minutes before play resumes—just enough time to sneak out for a quick bathroom break. For the full schedule details, check out the Ice Breakers interview.
Student Rush
The Seattle Kraken are working to make NHL hockey more accessible by offering last-minute tickets to students. Tickets cost $35 for upper bowl seats and $55 for lower bowl seats. To be eligible, you’ll need to register, and more information can be found on nhl.com.
Conclusion
My goal is to encourage fans to attend as many games as possible and feel confident about their seating choices. I hope this guide helps you find a seat you’ll truly enjoy. Having experienced each area firsthand, I can confirm—there’s no bad seat in the house!
Coming off a 1-4-0 road trip, we assemble to discuss the state of the Seattle Kraken in a dark hour. What has gone right? What has gone wrong? How did we get here? Where do the Kraken go from here? Can it improve?
We dive into those questions and more in an early season Sound Of Hockey Roundtable Discussion.
Let’s find a positive
Curtis Isacke: Let’s start on a positive one. What has gone right for the Kraken so far this season? Darren, as our resident optimist, why don’t you go first?
Darren Brown: A positive… A positive… Hmm…
Well, I think goaltending has been pretty good in general, so that’s nice, but without goal scoring, it’s fairly moot. So, I’ll go in this direction: it’s still relatively early in the season, and winning streaks can happen in the same way that losing streaks do. There are ups and downs in every campaign, and perhaps Seattle is just in a rut right now that they will break out of in the relative near future.
The fact of the matter is that the 2022-23 team never had a losing streak of greater than three games, and the Kraken just surpassed that with their fourth straight ‘L.’ So, that stings and makes me wonder if this team is actually closer to the 2023-24 team than I originally thought.
Having a rut like this happen at this stage–if this just ends up being a blip on the radar and a relative low point in the season–is better than having it happen later on. The Kraken remain right in the thick of things in the Pacific Division for now, but it is true that they need to start winning some games.
John Barr: I will talk about the goaltending. I’m not prepared to say the goalies have been outstanding, but I think they have been very solid—solid enough to win games. Joey Daccord appears to have established himself as the starter with a .915 save percentage. Philipp Grubauer’s numbers don’t look as strong, but he has still played well. Even in the most recent game against Colorado, where he allowed five goals, they were all quality goals, with three coming on the power play. Sure, you’d like to see him steal a game now and then, but goaltending isn’t the reason they’re losing right now.
Curtis: I agree, John, the goaltending situation looks as stable as it has ever been during the four years of the Kraken. Last year, Daccord had a very strong run of games, but there were questions about the health and productivity of the backups during that time–and about wearing Joey out. Right now I think both goalies are giving the team a chance to win and neither should get overused.
I’ll add to that the play of the young cornerstone centers, Matty Beniers and Shane Wright. The production hasn’t quite been there yet, but they’re both playing fast and with strong, subtle contributions. Wright hasn’t been put in a favorable offensive context recently, but my enthusiasm for him hasn’t dampened. And Beniers looks much more decisive and agile through the neutral zone this year, which has allowed him to weaponize his puck-handling skill with more regularity.
Blaiz Grubic: The Kraken have dominated against weaker opponents, decisively beating Montreal, Philadelphia, and Nashville by a combined score of 21-9. They’ve proven they can score (depending on the night)—and score in bunches. With a relatively easier remaining schedule ahead in November, these offensive surges are something they can build on.
Tough road trip
Curtis: This recent road trip through Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and Colorado was a tough one, with Seattle taking only the first game against the Canadiens. Is there one factor that stands out as the primary reason Seattle went 1-4-0 on the trip? John, you’re up first this time.
John: I’ll leave the scoring topic for someone else, but I want to point out that the team has often been trailing early in games. When a team is struggling, giving up the first goal can feel devastating, forcing them to play from behind. Colorado’s first goal against the Kraken on Tuesday marked the 10th time this season—leading the league—that the Kraken have allowed the first goal.
Curtis: Again, good point, John. When you add in the manner in which the first goals were scored–late in the period or on relatively low-danger looks–the psychological challenge associated with coming back builds. Which brings me to another point: I don’t think the team has responded particularly well in the immediate wake of getting scored upon. I thought the team was competitive through the first period in Toronto and then gave up a goal with 4.7 seconds left, came out flat to start the second, and gave up a second goal quickly. A similar dynamic played out in Boston–the team really flatlined after giving up the first point shot goal. It’s hard to win if you’re letting a negative shift affect your next.
Darren: I’ll take the bait on scoring. I keep talking about two seasons ago, but this team has not consistently recaptured the offensive magic that it showed in 2022-23. That year, it seemed like a different player or line would step up (almost) every night and get the crucial goal when Seattle needed it.
Of course, it took the 2022-23 group a while to build that confidence, so maybe this current iteration is still getting there. And, to be fair, Seattle currently ranks 21st in the NHL in goals for per game (improved from 29th last season), but that’s still not enough production, and a lot of the goals have also been lumped into a few high-scoring victories.
It was good to see them get a few against Colorado after scoring just one total goal in the previous three games, but they were again chasing throughout, as John pointed out. They need to figure out how to spend more time possessing the puck, and less time chasing other teams around the ice.
Blaiz: Head coach Dan Bylsma often talks about “connected play,” but from the eye test, the Kraken have looked very disconnected in their recent losses. They seem rushed to make passes, with no one nearby to receive them, leading to frequent turnovers. When they do manage to set up in the offensive zone, they keep the puck near the boards and struggle to get it into high-danger scoring areas. According to moneypuck.com, the Kraken are 31st in the league with only 31 high-danger shots; only the Detroit Red Wings have fewer, with 27.
On the power play, while the Kraken have players positioned in the bumper and at the net front, they still rely heavily on getting the puck to the wings for their preferred shot. Shane Wright has consistently been in the bumper spot but has zero high-danger shots on the power play. That’s not due to a lack of shooting, but because the Kraken aren’t getting the puck inside.
What’s gone wrong?
Curtis: Assuming the Kraken have fallen short of your expectations so far, what has gone wrong more generally? Or are things more-or-less what you expected?
I’ll take this one to begin. Of course, the inability to generate quality looks on offense when other teams effectively take away rush chances is glaring. But I want to introduce defense into the conversation. The team’s continued defensive lapses, particularly net front, have been concerning because I don’t see a talent-level explanation for it. I counted at least five instances on the trip where both defensemen (or both defensemen and the center) get caught on one side of the ice in the defensive zone, leaving a backside player unchecked for a chance. These mistakes could be covered by a collapsing winger, but the defensive awareness just isn’t there.
Bob Woods’ defenses in Minnesota succeeded by shrouding the middle and forcing the opponent to stay outside, but this defense feels like it’s always chasing and opening holes for attack.
Likewise, the penalty kill has been bafflingly conservative to the point of stagnation–posing little resistance in the defensive zone as the opponent works to get into its preferred look.
Blaiz: Yes, they have fallen short, but their overall point total isn’t far off the pace for a playoff team, as I’ve been tracking in the Strive for 95 (points) posts. The Kraken’s performance against the top tier (“Playoff Bound”) has been 0-6-1. In seven games against this tier, they’ve managed just 10 goals. The Kraken need to find a way to generate offense against the league’s top teams.
John: It may sound cliché, and you often hear players describing their play this season in similar terms, but the team needs to deliver more consistent 60-minute efforts. Even in losses, there are moments when they seem to be skating well and keeping pace with their opponents, but an early lapse or a period where they come out flat can doom them. We saw this clearly in the season opener against St. Louis: the Kraken dominated for 55 minutes, but the Blues scored three goals in under three minutes during a key lapse.
Darren: I agree with all of you. All of those things have gone wrong.
Playoffs? We talkin’ about playoffs?
Curtis: As of Wednesday morning, MoneyPuck has the Kraken playoff odds at 10.7 percent. Before the Colorado game, HockeyViz had Seattle projected to finish 12th in the West and miss the playoffs, and The Athletic had the team in a longshot bracket to make the playoffs at about a 10 percent chance. Do these numbers jive with your view of the team right now? How do you view the team’s playoff prospects? Or do you reject the idea of playoff odds discussion 14 games into the season?Blaiz, you get this one first.
Blaiz: It’s still too early to make a definitive call after only one month of play. In the Strive for 95 (points) posts, I’ve assigned point percentages for how many they should rack up against each team tier: Playoff Bound = 45 percent, Bubble = 58 percent, and Tankers = 75 percent. Based on this formula, the Kraken are currently on pace for 91 points. In the last 10 full seasons, 91 points has secured a playoff spot 40 percent of the time. November brings an easier schedule: the Kraken will face six Tanker teams, four Bubble teams, and just one Playoff Bound team. With the season’s longest homestand starting Friday, it’s a prime opportunity to turn things around and build some offensive confidence.
Darren: Yeah, I tend to not worry too much about what national rankings say, because they don’t pay attention to the Kraken like we do. I think they’re better than they’ve shown so far, but eventually they do need to start proving it to make anyone–locally or nationally–start believing they can make it. I still think they’re a playoff team, but I’m less certain of that now than I was a week ago.
John: It feels like a long shot—not because public sites have done the math, but because the team hasn’t shown the consistency and effort you’d expect from a playoff team.
Curtis: I came into this question prepared to suggest that Seattle’s season may be on the line in November, but Blaiz, you convinced me it’s true. The Kraken need to make headway in the standings in the upcoming favorable context. As of Nov. 6, Seattle is 13th in the West by points percentage. The Kraken are just four points out of the playoffs, but there are five teams between them and a spot. I’d put the end-of-month benchmark at just two teams between them and the playoffs. If they can get to that position or better, we may yet get a real hockey season.
Reasons to believe there will be improvement
Curtis: Looking for silver linings at this low point, is there something that has you feeling optimistic about the team moving forward? Darren, back to you.
Darren: Well, they were looking pretty good before Vince Dunn went out, and his injury last season also seemed to be when things took a permanently negative turn. In theory, he is eligible to return on Nov. 12, which would give the Kraken back their two-headed offensive defenseman monster of Dunn and Brandon Montour.
BUT… Aside from the Kraken reassigning Cale Fleury, John Hayden, and Ryan Winterton to Coachella Valley on Wednesday (I believe this is just a salary cap move), I haven’t seen any indications that Dunn is preparing to return in six days. Put a pin in that.
Curtis: A couple things. First, the true talent level of this team is better than they are showing right now. It’s not this bad. They “should” be able to defend well, and there is enough skill to get closer to league average on offense if the coaching staff can push the right buttons. Add in the solid goaltending, and this team ought to be competitive most nights. Second, I’ll circle back to the promise of young forwards Beniers and Wright. Based on what I’m seeing right now, I’m confident their production will trend upwards for the balance of the season. If you can add in blue line production from a healthy Dunn to complement the excellent Montour, things could look much better two months from now. The question is, will the team still be in it by then?
Blaiz: I have two reasons for optimism. First, the November schedule should help a lot—playing Columbus, Chicago, Anaheim (twice), and San Jose (twice) gives them a good chance to turn things around. Second, while I don’t like seeing Oliver Bjorkstrand as a healthy scratch, I love the message the coaching staff is sending. It didn’t get them points against the Avalanche, but it sparked their offense to three goals after being shut out in the previous two games, which is something they can build on.
John: Blaiz nailed it. November. Not only are there some favorable matchups ahead, but potentially getting Dunn back should help create more scoring opportunities. Either way, we should know by the end of the month whether this team has any real chance.
After an emotional roller coaster of a day, you’re surely thrilled to read about a fourth straight Seattle Kraken loss and the end of an abysmal road trip. In this one, the Kraken at least found the back of the net a few times, but the end result was the same: a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Once again, the Kraken fell behind early, and were forced to chase the game against the Avalanche. They did get back to level at 1-1 and 2-2, thanks to goals by Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann, but both times, the Avalanche responded and scored the next goal to regain the lead.
Admittedly, I have been quite distracted on this particular game night, but I’ll do my best here.
These are Three Takeaways from a 6-3 Kraken loss to the Avalanche.
Takeaway #1: What happened on that offside challenge?
A big turning point in this Kraken-Avalanche matchup came when Mikko Rantanen appeared to give Colorado a 4-2 lead at 9:11 of the second period with a one-time power-play ripper off a Cale Makar pass.
BUT WAIT!
The Kraken challenged for offside for the second game in a row, and a rewind showed that Artturi Lehkonen had entered the zone well before the puck crossed the blue line and landed on his stick. So, the officials announced that the play was, indeed, offside.
BUT WAIT!
Colorado coach Jared Bender called the official over, had a conversation, and suddenly the review continued. The additional review showed that Yanni Gourde’s shot had missed the net, rattled around the glass, and went all the way through the neutral zone to the waiting Lehkonen.
And so, the officials overturned the successful challenge AND THEN ruled that it was, in fact, a good goal, which ALSO meant that the Kraken got a penalty for the failed challenge.
You don’t see that every day. The #SeaKraken had successfully challenged for offside, but then Jared Bednar argued and played an UNO Reverse card. Because it was a Kraken shot that led to the offside, it’s NOT offside.
“The linesmen, I guess, looked at it again after… I don’t know… After they had called it offside,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “They looked at it again, and I think there’s an interpretation of the rule whether we intentionally played the puck back. But we were the last team to touch the puck before [it came] back, and that’s what they ruled.”
The rule reads, If a player legally carries, passes, or plays the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the offside shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.
Based on the writing of the rule, it doesn’t really matter if it was intentionally played backward. Based on that, they also got the right call in the end, but it was all kind of shady. Did Colorado challenge the challenge?
I’d also like to re-raise issue with the fact that the Kraken got the penalty for the failed challenge after EVEN THE NHL ITSELF was initially fooled into negating the goal. But I digress…
Takeaway #2: An interesting shakeup
Bylsma sent a strong message to his veteran core on Tuesday, benching Oliver Bjorkstrand—Seattle’s only All-Star last season—as a healthy scratch, along with Tye Kartye and Josh Mahura. The Kraken recalled Ryan Winterton earlier in the day, and Bylsma inserted him, along with John Hayden, into a game for the first time this season.
Bylsma indicated after morning skate that the decision to take Bjorkstrand out was a message for the whole group that everyone needs to be better. But it can’t feel good for Bjorkstrand, who has scored 43 goals since joining the Kraken before the 2022-23 season and had previously missed just one game for Seattle.
I concede that I haven’t been closely watching Bjorkstrand’s game lately, but he hasn’t struck me as the central problem for the Kraken. So, he probably wouldn’t have been the guy I would have benched, but it is nonetheless an interesting move by Bylsma and something the previous regime never did (that I can recall), taking a prominent player out of the lineup.
The shakeup also came with changes to the blue line, with Brandon Montour playing the left side for the first time next to Adam Larsson.
The big mixup didn’t work in this game, but doing something like sitting a veteran in the pressbox can have lasting implications, both positive and negative. I’ll be curious to see how things go for Bjorkstrand and other veterans moving forward.
Takeaway #3: What a terrible road trip
Following last Tuesday’s high-flying 8-2 Kraken win over the Canadiens, optimism about this team’s direction was easy to muster. But Seattle came back down from that high with a thud, dropping four straight over the rest of the trip in Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and finally Colorado.
Now, I’ve said it a couple times that I worried after the 8-2 win that some bad habits may have crept in during that contest, because that tends to happen after a game when the goals come a little too easily. But did I think things would turn this badly? No, I certainly did not.
On what he hopes the team has learned from the trip, Bylsma said: “I hope we get a clear understanding of how we have to play and how we have to compete on an every-night basis to have success. I mean, each game is probably a little bit different lesson, but that should be the overall riding theme. And it’s the time of year to learn the lesson now, not wait for later in the year to try to learn the lesson.”
Indeed, at this stage in the season, Seattle can right the ship and will at some point, but points matter now just as much as they do in March. The Kraken need to find their game quickly, and their don’t seem to be any easy answers.
The players showed their frustrations at the end of this game, which harkened back images of some rather low moments in past seasons. Schwartz got hit with a Larsson shot that stung him and took it out on the Voodoo Ranger IPA ad in front of the Kraken bench.
Jaden Schwartz gets stung by an Adam Larsson shot and breaks his stick over the boards.
Hopefully, there will be no supplemental discipline after that one.
Thankfully, this pitiful road trip is finally over. Now it’s up to Bylsma and the Kraken to turn all this frustration into positive change.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
There’s no sugarcoating it—the Seattle Kraken are struggling right now. After scoring eight goals against the Montreal Canadiens last Tuesday, the Kraken have managed just one goal in their last three games, all losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, and Boston Bruins. Before this stretch, the Kraken had never scored fewer than two goals over any three-game span in franchise history. For the first time ever, they’ve been shut out in back-to-back games.
Playing from behind
The Kraken have allowed the first goal in each of their last three games, a pattern that’s troubled them all season. So far, they’ve given up the first goal in a league-leading nine games and managed to win only three of those—a concerning stat that underscores a consistent struggle to gain momentum. Playing from behind puts teams at an immediate disadvantage, and in the Kraken’s case, it’s led to them trailing for 49 percent of their total game time, ranking third worst in the league in this category, just ahead of Nashville and St. Louis.
This uphill battle impacts both offensive and defensive dynamics, with players forced to take more risks in order to equalize the score. Such a style is not only physically draining, but it also creates vulnerabilities that opponents can exploit. The Kraken’s inability to score first means they’re playing with added pressure early in the game, which affects everything from line changes to defensive schemes. When a team chases the game, it can disrupt their typical rhythm and put a strain on key players, leading to higher ice time for the top lines and greater fatigue by the final period.
The third period in particular presents a steep challenge. NHL teams with a lead tend to enter “lockdown mode,” shifting to a defense-first mentality that emphasizes structure, discipline, and careful puck management. These teams actively push opponents to the outside, preventing high-quality scoring chances from dangerous areas in front of the net. For the trailing team, cracking this defense can be incredibly tough, requiring clean entries, strong puck possession, and often, an extra effort to get to the net and create traffic in front of the goalie. But with the pressure mounting, shots often become less selective and are taken from the perimeter, which rarely beats a well-structured defense.
Struggling to get inside
The Kraken continue to struggle with generating high-danger scoring chances, a challenge that also plagued them last season. Despite offseason personnel improvements, they’re finding it difficult to penetrate defenses and create the kinds of opportunities that lead to quality shots on goal.
This inability to consistently get inside to the net-front area forces them to settle for perimeter shots, which are far easier for opposing goaltenders to save. Finding ways to improve puck movement, quick passes, and player positioning near the net could be key in transforming these struggles and helping the Kraken turn their offensive potential into goals. Alison Lukan wrote a great article that sheds some light on what it takes to create net-front offense. You can check it out here.
Other Musings
The Kraken have the same number of points at this stage in the season as they did last season.
As bad as these last three games have felt, I don’t for one second question the team’s work ethic. The Kraken continued to work and fight to claw back into the games. Though the team is slumping, it continues to feel very different than last season, and I believe Seattle will turn it around.
While the loss to Boston could be chalked up to a “schedule loss” on back-to-back games, the Kraken should also capitalize when playing a team in the second game of a back-to-back. Saturday night’s game was the Senators’ second in as many days.
John Forslund had an excellent line during one of the Ontario games, saying something to the effect of, “Eventually, ‘early in the season’ becomes ‘the season.’” We’re getting close to that point, and I typically use the 20-game mark as a benchmark.
The Kraken had just three shots on goal in the first period on Sunday against the Bruins—their lowest shot total in any regulation period this season.
Shane Wright is averaging less than 12 minutes of ice time over the last four games. I’m not sure what’s behind his low ice time, but I was hoping for more from him. In Coachella Valley last season, he had a knack for getting into scoring areas. I’m still optimistic about Shane, but the team could use more production from him right now.
Yanni Gourde is due for a goal. He’s been generating more shot attempts lately, and many of those chances are coming from prime areas. He’s exactly the type of player who could help pull this team out of its slump. He had a golden opportunity with a 2-on-1 at the end of the second period against the Bruins, but was stopped by Jeremy Swayman.
Congratulations to Ty Nelson and David Goyette for scoring their first professional goals over the weekend with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Here’s your weekly reminder to check out a WHL game if you haven’t already. This past weekend saw some exciting games: on Friday, the Edmonton Oil Kings defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-4 in a shootout, and the Tri-City Americans outlasted the Everett Silvertips in a 6-5 thriller in Kennewick.
Last week, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced plans to open the door for expansion as early as next season. This is excellent news for hockey overall, but it may be a while before we see the potential for a team here in Seattle. The league will likely want to expand gradually, clustering teams regionally. Seattle’s chances will increase once Calgary secures a team.
As for a PWHL team in Seattle, there’s still the question of where they would play. Arenas in Everett or Kent would be a good size for a women’s team, but I believe it’s important for the team to play in Seattle or Bellevue. It’s a long shot, but I’d love to see a 5,000- to 10,000-seat arena built that could also host future University of Washington Division I hockey programs and a PWHL team.
Player performances
Ryan Winterton (CVF/SEA) – The Kraken prospect notched two goals and two assists in the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ 5-2 victory over the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday. Carson Rehkopf (MIS/SEA) – The Kraken’s 2023 second-round draft pick recorded seven points across three games for the Mississauga Steelheads in the OHL, including a four-assist night on Friday against the North Bay Battalion. Rehkopf now has 28 points in 14 games. Clarke Caswell (SC/SEA) – Caswell had an impressive weekend, tallying seven points in two games for the Swift Current Broncos. On Friday night, he contributed two goals and three assists in their 9-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders.
Goal of the week
There’s talk about changing 3-on-3 overtime, but doing so could eliminate exciting sequences like this one:
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 4, 2024
The week ahead
The Kraken have only two games over the next eight days, and they’ll need to salvage at least a point in Colorado to prevent this road trip from being a complete disaster. The Avalanche, who have lost three straight games heading into Tuesday’s matchup, have allowed five goals in each of those losses. Colorado has already beaten the Kraken once this season, so it won’t be an easy game, but the Avs are also decimated by injuries, so it’s a good time to catch them.
The other game this week is Friday at home against the Vegas Golden Knights, who currently have the best record in the Pacific Division and rank second in the league in goals per game at 4.92. Adding to the challenge, the Kraken have yet to beat the Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena in their history. It’s a tall order for the Kraken in their current form, but stranger things have happened—and I hear they’ll still play the game. 😊
How are we feeling? Anyone else starting to panic?
