The second half is underway for the WHL. For teams like the Wenatchee Wild, notable pieces are off at the IIHF World Junior Championship, whereas for teams like the Spokane Chiefs, they get to take advantage of temporarily weakened opponents.
Wenatchee Wild without key pieces
The Wenatchee Wild ended the first half in first place in the U.S. Division thanks in large part to the presence of top contributors Conor Geekie (ARI) and Matt Savoie (BUF).
But with the duo playing for Team Canada at the WJC in Gothenberg, Sweden, as well as Rodzers Bukarts playing for Latvia, the Wild are relying more on their depth pieces. But on nights like Wednesday’s 5-2 loss in Spokane, their absence is more than noticeable.
”We have significant players out right now,” Wild head coach Roy Sommer said. “When we have Geekie and Savoie in the lineup, it’s a completely different ballgame. Complete with Kenta Isogai, I think they’re the best line in the Western Hockey League.”
The Wild likely won’t do much around the deadline due to the scarcity of their draft choices but will be aided once Geekie and Savoie return from Sweden in a week or so.
Spokane starting to climb
The vibes are about the best they’ve been all season for the Spokane Chiefs. After concluding the first half by taking three out of four points from the Portland Winterhawks, the second half started on Wednesday with the Wild.
Taking advantage of Wenatchee’s depleted roster, the Chiefs pounced on Wild goaltender Daniel Hauser, putting in five goals from five different skaters on the night.
One of those goal scorers was Ben Bonni, who made a highlight reel play to beat Hauser. “I was planning on trying to get in the middle somehow,” Bonni said. “Then I saw [Hauser] was a little bit out, so I made a move and it went in.”
Ben Bonni on his own @TicketsWest Player Magnet giveaway night!
Hauser’s counterpart, Dawson Cowan, backstopped the Chiefs to the 5-2 win with 39 saves on 41 shots faced. Cowan is 3-0 across his past three starts with a .954 save percentage. He made some massive stops during Saturday’s game against Tri-City as well, including a minute and a half 5-on-3 penalty kill time to hold the lead and eventually pull away to a 6-2 win.
“For us, it was a momentum swing, and it killed the momentum for them,” Spokane coach Ryan Smith said of his team’s performance on special teams Saturday.
The Chiefs have points in four consecutive games for just the second time this season, propelling them over the Vancouver Giants into the final playoff spot as of today.
“Every night, points are always on line,” Cowan said. “Every game feels like a playoff game where we have to give it our all.”
With the trade deadline nearing, Spokane is in a good position with their draft capital to make a splash, though with the roster being on the younger side, there likely won’t be many trades from the active roster.
“The players understand that [the deadline] is looming,” Smith said. “If you play this game long enough, you’re gonna get traded, sat, scratched; that’s just the way it works.”
Spokane concludes 2023 with a rematch against Tri-CIty down in Kennewick,WA, before beginning a road swing through Alberta.
Player highlight: Berkly Catton
It’s no secret that Berkly Catton is destined to hear his name called early in this summer’s NHL Draft from Las Vegas. His offensive awareness and complete hockey instincts are exactly why most have projected him to go near the middle of the top 10, with some models projecting him as high as fourth overall.
Following the game on Saturday in which Catton assisted on four of Spokane’s goals, I asked coach Smith what makes his top-line center so dominant. “He has elite vision and playmaking, he can make plays that not many in this league can,” Smith said. “Whoever gets the opportunity to take him not only is getting a great player, but an even better person.”
“He’s got all the attributes you could possibly want,” Cowan added to coach Smith’s rhetoric. “No matter what team he’s on at the next level, I think he’s the type of guy who will dominate wherever he goes.”
Catton wrapped up the month of December with points in all nine games played, including eight goals and 19 points during that stretch. He currently leads the team in assists with 29, and points with 51.
Everett and Seattle kick off the trade deadline
It’s officially trade season. Making the first big splash was Seattle, as they began to sell pieces to regain draft picks they traded away over the past two seasons. On Wednesday, they traded away Gracyn and Lukas Sawchyn and Tracen Ashley for eight assets including a first-rounder in 2026, and two second-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
As for the Silvertips, they made a trade with the Regina Pats on Sunday, sending 20-year-old defenseman Ty Gibson and a 2025 second-round choice to Regina in exchange for another 20-year-old in Parker Berge. Berge has 10 goals and 36 points in 37 games with the Pats this season, ranking fourth in league for points by a defenseman.
Everett and Seattle will likely continue to scour the market before next Wednesday’s deadline. Tri-City and Portland did a lot of transactions earlier in the year, so they may be quieter.
The trade deadline is set for Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Header photo taken by Brian Liesse. Photo courtesy of Seattle Thunderbirds.
Here we go! The 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic festivities officially start Sunday, so we thought it was a good time to throw together a rundown of things you should know for this massive tentpole event being hosted on the West Coast for the first time ever.
The teams
Vegas Golden Knights
First off, the teams playing in the Winter Classic (12 p.m. PT on Jan. 1; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS) have been going in different directions recently. After a historic start to the season for the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights (22-10-5, second place in Pacific Division), they’ve struggled recently and have had goaltending woes sparked by an injury to Adin Hill.
Hill is on injured reserve, and Logan Thompson has had some rough games in his stead, giving up six goals to Carolina on Dec. 19 and five goals to Anaheim on Dec. 27. But after losing to the Ducks, he got another start the very next night at home against the Los Angeles Kings and bounced back to make 32 saves in a 3-2 Golden Knights win at home. That win snapped a four-game losing streak for Vegas, which has also lost five of its last seven (2-5-0).
Seattle Kraken
Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Kraken (14-14-9, fourth place in the Pacific Division) have turned things around dramatically since snapping a miserable eight-game winless streak that ran from Nov. 24 through Dec. 10. They’ve since ripped off points in eight straight (6-0-2) and have won four games in a row, including a dramatic 2-1 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.
The Kraken also have an injury in their goaltending department, with Philipp Grubauer having been on the shelf since Dec. 9. In Grubauer’s absence, Joey Daccord has stepped in and dazzled with a .949 save percentage in his last seven starts. Daccord is on fire, and that has allowed Seattle to win a bunch of low-scoring games of late.
T-Mobile Park
We had the incredibly good fortune of skating on the completed rink at T-Mobile Park on Saturday, and it was an unforgettable thrill. We are happy to report that although the fresh ice looks like it has cracks in it, it is in very good shape; much smoother than outdoor rinks we’ve skated on in the past, which makes sense, since the best ice makers in the world get brought in for these outdoor games. They have been helped in the build process by T-Mobile Park’s retractable roof, which has remained closed (we expect it to be open on game day).
We like the details the NHL has worked into the ice, including the rope design running up the blue lines and the compasses in the face-off dots.
Nautical theming is EVERYWHERE in T-Mobile Park, with a shipwreck in center field serving as the stage for musical acts Heart, Sir Mix-a-lot, and Nikhil Bagga. There’s also a boathouse in left field that will be the set for the TNT broadcast and docks that the players will walk down en route from the dugouts to the ice. The set pieces on the field are positioned in ways that will not restrict views for any fans in the stadium.
Practices
Both teams will practice Sunday at T-Mobile Park. The Golden Knights take the ice at 9 a.m. Pacific, and the Kraken will skate at 11 a.m.
The Golden Knights practice will be streamed on YouTube here.
One thing to know about outdoor hockey games is that sight lines tend to be quite bad. After going down to field level at T-Mobile Park, we can confidently say that if you’re sitting in the first few rows of the lower level on the first- and third-base sides or behind home plate, you will not be able to see much; just the top halves of the players floating around above the boards.
For fans seated higher up, you will be able to see the whole ice surface, but the players will be very far away. There really is no perfect seat for viewing, because there’s significant space between the playing surface and the stands. That’s just how it is.
Of course, regardless of where you’re sitting, you will be able to watch the game on the massive screen in center field, but it’s important to remember that the Winter Classic is about the ambiance and the experience of the day. It’s a real game, but we will be there to have a good time and celebrate the sport we love.
Transportation and bag policy
Here is the official verbiage we received about transportation to the game:
Free Transit GO Opportunity
Fans are encouraged to take public transportation to T-Mobile Park for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic. Transit GO is offering free reward points to all ticketholders to the New Year’s Day outdoor game.
Fans can download the Transit GO Ticket app and use the code Classic24 to claim and redeem 800 Rewards points for mobile tickets to the LINK Light rail and other public transit methods to use on game day.
Here is what we received on the bag policy at T-Mobile Park:
Bag Policy and Medical Device Bags
Bags must be 4” x 6” x 1.5” or smaller (the size of a small purse or clutch). Clear bags, backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, oversized purses, and other similar style bags as well as hard-sided coolers are NOT permitted in T-Mobile Park. Exceptions will only be made for diaper bags and bags containing essential medical equipment. All bags will be subject to a security screening. Please pay close attention to the prohibited items listed below.
Please note this is a change from the standard T-Mobile Park bag policy for Seattle Mariners games and other events at the ballpark.
Fan Village
The Enterprise NHL Fan Village is free and open to the public, regardless of if you have a ticket to the game. It is open both Sunday and Monday, but with varying hours. The event will be held in the lot just north of Lumen Field.
On Sunday, the fan village will start at the conclusion of the Seahawks game against the Pittsburgh Steelers (estimated 4:30 p.m.) and will run until 8 p.m.
On Monday, the fan village will be open pre-game from 9-11:30 a.m., and then again post-game from 3-7 p.m.
There will also be an all-day, open-to-the-public event at the Boxyard / Hatback Bar on Monday. This sounds like a pretty solid pre-game/post-game option, and it will also be a place to watch the game if you don’t have a ticket. This event is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Head and the Heart will perform at 10:45 a.m., and Fitz and the Tantrums will perform at 3:30 p.m. This event is also free. Learn more about the “Breakaway” event here.
LET’S DO THIS!
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.
If you told us on the morning of Dec. 12 that the Seattle Kraken would close the calendar year and roll into the Winter Classic on an eight-game point streak, a four-game win streak, and with a .500 record, we flat out would not have believed you. Things swung from the “lowest of lows” to the “highest of highs” seemingly overnight for this team, though, and with their 2-1 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, the Kraken moved back to within two points of a playoff spot.
“I think we’re just sticking with it,” said overtime hero Justin Schultz. “And guys are working hard, and we know it’s there, it just wasn’t coming for us. We believe in this group. We have almost the same group as last year so we know we can do it, and like I said, we’re heading in the right direction now. We’ve just got to keep her going.”
Joey Daccord was outstanding yet again, making 27 saves on 28 shots, including this early robbery on Sean Couturier to set the tone for another low-scoring game.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a huge 2-1 Kraken overtime win against the Flyers.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Good feelings for Justin Schultz
It’s been a rocky stretch for Schultz, a veteran of 13 seasons and 704 career games in the NHL. Since Ryker Evans was recalled from AHL Coachella Valley on Dec. 6, it has been Schultz getting scratched from the lineup most frequently, including the two games prior to Friday’s contest.
Against the Flyers, the defenseman got some vindication and made future decisions to scratch him tougher on the coaching staff. His game-winning goal came at 2:35 of overtime, as he got himself into the right spot on the doorstep next to Carter Hart. Oliver Bjorkstrand, playing his 500th career game, sent a high-to-low pass that Schultz simply redirected through the wickets on Hart.
“I just tried to come and help the team as best as I can,” Schultz said. “And we’ve got a great group here. It’s been doing a great job the last couple of weeks. So, it feels good to have two points tonight.”
You could tell there were a lot of good feelings in the dressing room for Schultz, who Dave Hakstol praised as a consummate pro. The coach spoke at length about the tough decision to take the veteran out of the lineup and what he has meant to the club.
“The decisions that are made are always what we feel is best for the team,” Hakstol said. “We’re pushing for success right now, but we’re also looking towards the future and future development, and those two things have to go hand in hand. Ryker’s here because he’s earned the opportunity to be here.
“You know, Schultz, he’s a guy that’s played in this league for a long time. And all you have to do is look at his performance tonight to know how good of a pro he is and how great of a teammate he is. I mean, when we talk about wanting to have team-first guys, selfless guys in this room… I’m sure it was very difficult for him, personally, to come out of the lineup. That hasn’t been the case many times for him in his career, yet, the way he handled that really pushes the group inside of this dressing room, the right direction.”
Takeaway #2 (John): Another low-scoring affair
The Kraken have averaged just 2.33 goals per game over their last six, boasting a record of 4-0-2 in this stretch. While the lack of scoring might typically raise concerns, it’s worth noting that they faced two of the most defensively sound teams in the league during this span. Winning games without consistently scoring four or more goals is crucial for long-term success in any season.
“We’ve been in some low-scoring games,” Daccord said. “I think we’re confident in our structure, and we have a blueprint for how we need to win games. And I think when we stick to that, and we have a full group committed to the team and in the structure that we’ve set up in our game plan, good things happen.”
Although goals are the ultimate measure of offensive performance, they occur relatively infrequently during a game and may not provide a comprehensive picture of the team’s overall capabilities. Against Flyers, the Kraken had an impressive 57 shot attempts, marking their sixth-highest shot attempt total of the season and the most since their 7-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 14.
While there’s a legitimate cause for concern regarding recent scoring struggles, the team continues to generate a significant number of shot attempts. It’s when these shot attempts become scarce that genuine apprehension should set in.
Takeaway #3 (John): Burky’s back
Andre Burakovsky returned to the lineup after another three-week stint on injured reserve. When healthy, Burakovsky is one player you can expect to chip in some goals. We discussed his imminent return on the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast, since his place in the lineup was not abundantly obvious.
Last night did not clear up where Burakovsky fits into the forward corps now that the team has been winning. He spent the first half of the game with Kailer Yamamoto and Tye Kartye on the fourth line, but the rest of the game, he bounced all over the lineup. By the end of game, he had roughly five minutes with Yamamoto and Kartye, another five with Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev, and the rest of his 14-plus minutes of ice time were spread across Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers, Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Eeli Tolvanen.
Hakstol seemed fine with Burakovsky’s efforts. “You know there’s gonna be a little bit of rust… He had the one shift in the first period where he generated a great offensive opportunity, and then the puck came off his tape for a breakaway against. But in all honesty, that’s probably the one mistake he made with the puck.”
Quite the sequence here… Yamamoto just misses a beautiful goal, but then Burakovsky turns it over to Farabee, and Joey Daccord makes another great save on the breakaway. pic.twitter.com/j3coLSOb3Q
Where Burakovsky lands in the lineup longer term is still to be determined, but it is great to see him back. Aside from that blunder at the blue line, he did have some excellent offensive plays and a positive night.
Other odds and ends
Prior to last Friday’s game, the Kraken were 0-6-4 in their last 10 games when the opposing team scores first. The Flyers scored first, but Seattle still won.
The last six games have been decided by one goal.
That was just the Kraken’s fourth win out of 13 games that required overtime this season and the first overtime win since their Tampa Bay game on Oct. 30.
It was the first game the Kraken have won this season when they trailed in the third period.
Friday was Oliver Bjorkstrand’s 500th career NHL game. He is sixth all time in NHL games played by a Danish national. He assisted on both of the Kraken’s goals.
What a night for Chris Driedger, who triumphantly returned to NHL action for the first time since May 1, 2022, and backstopped the Kraken to a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Seattle took a familiar route to victory in this one, getting heavily outshot but cashing in on a strong goaltending performance and a couple quick offensive strikes at key moments in the game.
“We were far from perfect tonight, but our effort was really good,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had some good individual performances, and that adds up to two very valuable points.”
Those two points were Seattle’s 11th and 12th in its last seven games (5-0-2). Here are our Three Takeaways from a 2-1 Kraken win over the Flames.
Takeaway #1: Chris Driedger night
If you were surprised to see Chris Driedger get the nod from Hakstol Wednesday, you were not alone. Joey Daccord has been on fire, and although he had started the previous seven games in a row, Seattle was coming off a three-day holiday break. So we too assumed it would be Daccord between the pipes once again.
But it was an unusual road game day, in which the team traveled to Calgary the morning of the game instead of its typical night before. Hakstol felt that with the odd day, it was as good a time as any to get Driedger into a game, so he pulled a Kansas City Shuffle. In went Driedger for the first time since tearing his ACL at the IIHF World Championship after Seattle’s inaugural season.
“Today’s not an easy day,” Hakstol said. “It’s not a perfect day by any stretch of the imagination. To wake up, jump on a plane, fly to a different time zone, a lot of different things involved. Bottom line is Driedgs was the guy to go today, and he was ready for the opportunity. He played extremely well.”
Driedger had been good in Coachella Valley this season before getting recalled on Dec. 10, but you never know how a goaltender is going to perform in these scenarios, especially after he had been watching Daccord from the bench for two-plus weeks.
The 29-year-old former Calgary Hitmen netminder did not disappoint in his return to his old junior barn and stopped 37 of 38 offerings by the Flames to earn a storybook win.
“It’s definitely some of the most adversity I’ve ever faced in my career,” Driedger said of his journey back to an NHL crease. “It’s been a long road, a lot of hours spent with the medical staff, putting in hours while the guys are skating and just kind of doing my own thing and watching from the stands. So to come out and finally get back in, it was pretty emotional.”
The Kraken skaters didn’t do a great job of easing him back in, either, allowing plenty of volume (a hallmark of every Flames/Kraken game, since Calgary is a high-volume team), but also significant quality. Driedger dazzled with 2.69 goals saved above expected and a .974 save percentage on the night.
“He did amazing,” Alex Wennberg said. “It’s been a while, but you can just tell how good of a goalie he is. I mean it takes a lot to actually come in—you play games down there [in the AHL]—but it’s a different game up here. And just making those big saves, I mean, he’s obviously winning that game for us.”
Here was Driedger’s best save of the night, a sprawling right-pad robbery on Elias Lindholm at the end of the second period.
This game had a similar feel to Seattle’s Dec. 20 win over the Los Angeles Kings, when the Kraken relied heavily on Daccord and used just enough opportunistic offense to get through to a 2-1 win.
On this night, the team got its goals on two elite plays, and those two plays proved to be enough in the end.
The first was Vince Dunn’s stretch pass to spring Kailer Yamamoto for an early icebreaker at 2:24 of the first period. Dunn was falling to his left in the corner of Seattle’s zone, yet somehow—in one fluid motion—found Yamamoto and whipped the puck 100 feet to hit the winger in stride.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨
The #SeaKraken strike early. It starts with a Vince Dunn outlet pass from deep in Seattle's end, and Kailer Yamamoto gets the finish.
Wennberg always takes flak from Kraken fans for not shooting enough (John Barr will have none of that!), but he chooses his spots wisely. In this scenario, the pass to Brandon Tanev at the backdoor was cut off, so after receiving the pass from McCann, he quickly snapped it into the smallest of openings in the top corner over Jakob Markstrom.
“It’s a great sauce pass, and I feel like Turbo was open on the back side,” Wennberg said. “[So maybe] the goalie was cheating a little bit on it, and I mean I didn’t really see where it went, but it was a good result for sure.”
That goal came at a big moment, too, six minutes into the third period.
Takeaway #3: Kraken officially rolling
For the first time this season, Seattle has won three games in a row, and now, since snapping an eight-game skid, has racked up points in seven straight. If they can manage another win Friday against Philadelphia, the Kraken will hit the .500 mark in the standings, which would also be a first for the current campaign.
“There’s got to be urgency, we’ve got to fight for each other, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” Wennberg said. “Tonight it’s not really a pretty win, but I mean we’re working hard, and we just try to find a way to win.”
With the latest victory, the Kraken jumped over the Flames and are up to fourth place in the Pacific Division. They are three points out of a playoff spot but still have plenty of work to do to get back into that bubble and have to leapfrog over three teams.
Even so, considering how dire things felt a few weeks ago, this team is finding ways to win even on nights when it perhaps should not. That goes a long way for a group’s confidence, which should be reaching higher levels with every passing victory.
Bonus Takeaway (John) – Scoring first
We had a little miscommunication on this edition of Three Takeaways, which resulted in John throwing together an extra one. You’re welcome.
The Kraken have scored first in six out of the seven games on the current point streak. Conventional wisdom suggests that a team scoring first has a better chance of winning the game compared to the trailing team. League-wide, statistics support this notion. Of the 541 games played this season, the team that scored first won the game 66.7 percent of the time. However, for the Kraken, this has not been the case for most of 2023-24 so far.
The Kraken scored first in 11 out of their first 20 games but managed to win just three of them. It is challenging to pinpoint what has changed, but they have recently bucked that strange trend of scoring first and then losing.
Playing with the lead enables teams to dictate pace and gameplay. It also provides the players, including the goalies, with the confidence to play more freely rather than worrying about making mistakes. This game against Calgary is how it’s normally supposed to go when Seattle scores first, so it was good to see the boys get rewarded with another win.
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.
The 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship kicked off Tuesday, and I thought it would be a good time for another Data Dump to see how this year’s rosters are constructed. For those that don’t know, the WJC is a best-on-best tournament for under-20-year-olds across 10 countries. The tournament is in Gothenburg, Sweden, and will run through Jan. 5.
This should help you understand how these teams are built and who you might want to keep an eye on in this year’s tournament. Enjoy.
Drafted World Junior players
There are 98 NHL-drafted players in the tournament this year, with most of those selected in the first round.
Team USA has the most drafted players on the roster with 21. Sweden is just behind them with 20. The United States and Sweden are considered favorites in this year’s tournament, but you can never count Team Canada, which has 19 drafted players on its roster. Canada also has Macklin Celebrini, who is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.
World Junior players by NHL team
The Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, and Arizona Coyotes have the most drafted players in this tournament with seven. The Seattle Kraken have six players in the tournament, the most they have sent to any one WJC tournament. Seattle had just three prospects in last year’s tournament.
The Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche are the only two NHL teams with no prospects in this year’s tournament.
Here is a detailed breakdown with all drafted players, separated by NHL team.
Roster breakdown by league
Next, let us look at what are the most common leagues in which these players are currently competing.
This seems like a particularly big year for NCAA players represented in the tournament with 31 players, although if you combine the three CHL leagues into one, there are still 60 players from Canada’s top junior league in this WJC.
Average age
Here is a look at the age distribution by team.
Canada versus USA
One thing that doesn’t change much from year to year is the roster mix of the Canadian and American teams, which showcases each country’s hockey development approach. Team Canada tends to select most of its players from major junior/CHL hockey, while Team USA leans heavily on the NCAA.
I hope this gives you a deeper understanding of the rosters in this year’s tournament. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments section.
The Kraken gave their fans a nice Christmas present by taking five out of a possible six points on their road trip and heading into a three-day holiday break on a high note. The latest win was far from perfect, and the Ducks had the better of the play for a lot of the game, but the Kraken got more outstanding goaltending and more opportunistic scoring and skated away with a 3-2 win.
Now, since its eight-game losing streak was snapped on Dec. 12, Seattle has grabbed standings points in six straight games (4-0-2) and is inching closer and closer to getting on the right side of .500 for the first time this season.
“We’re playing very consistent, so this doesn’t change how we feel about where we’re at,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Our guys are playing hard regardless of what our lineup may or may not look like. Whoever is available is going out, doing the job, working hard together. We’ve put a good string together here.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken win over the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: More solid play from Joey Daccord
It is no coincidence the Kraken heated up at the same time goaltender Joey Daccord caught fire. In nine games in December, Daccord has a .936 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average, and in his seven consecutive starts, he has posted a .920 or better in every game but one (the overtime loss in Dallas, where he had a .857 save percentage).
The win Saturday in Anaheim was more of the same from Joey, although in this one—unlike in the previous game against Los Angeles—Seattle’s defenders didn’t do a great job at keeping shots to the perimeter. In fact, in this one, the Kraken conceded 65.62 percent of the expected goals to Anaheim, their worst shot quality share in a win all season and their second worst in any game (win or loss).
The eyeball test and shot quantities didn’t give us the feeling that Joey “stole” the game (Daccord stopped 32 of 34 shots compared to Lukas Dostal’s 19 for 22), but those analytics tell us Anaheim deserved better, if not for the Kraken goaltender.
Daccord had several 10-bell saves on breakaways and odd-man rushes, including these two on Mason McTavish.
Eventually, Daccord will need a break, but for now, the games have been nicely spaced to allow Hakstol to continue rolling with the hot hand. Let’s hope Daccord can keep this stretch of outstanding play going for a while, because if he does, he just may help get the Kraken back into playoff contention.
Takeaway #2: That top line is cooking
Not to toot my own horn (toot toot), but I did call for a trade just like the one Seattle made for Tomas Tatar, and early returns have been very positive. So far, the man they hilariously call “Tuna” has fit in perfectly on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, who both were struggling tremendously before the veteran’s arrival from Colorado.
It’s easy to make comparisons to the impact Eeli Tolvanen had when he got claimed off waivers around this same time last season. Vince Dunn jumped right to those comparisons after the game Saturday.
“[Tatar’s] been great,” Dunn said. “I think you can probably relate it to the Tolvanen pickup; kind of a sneaky pickup that no one really sees coming, and then he comes in here and makes a statement just like Tolvy did. So, he’s been great for us. The chemistry he’s found with Ebs and Matty is terrific.”
To Hakstol’s credit, he hasn’t been afraid to throw the veteran right into the fire on Seattle’s top forward trio, and the decision has brought life to that line.
“Tuna comes in in a little different situation [than Tolvanen],” Hakstol said. “But equally, he was really excited and hungry to come in, and for a veteran player with that type of presence and the type of ability that he has, he immediately has found some chemistry now with Matty and with Ebs. And that’s a real positive when you see that happen on the front end of a guy coming into the lineup.”
The chemistry was again on full display Saturday, as the line contributed to two of Seattle’s three goals. When Vince Dunn scored his easy tap-in goal at 16:24 of the first period, it came off crisp passing from the forward line all the way up the ice.
Beniers stole the puck in the defensive end, passed to Eberle at the half wall, and he hit Tatar in stride in the neutral zone. Then Tatar made a quick little dish to Beniers, who was coming into the offensive zone with speed, and Matty made an elite pass to Dunn.
VINCE Winter DUNNderland! ❄️ 🚨
Two more huge saves by Daccord, then after the face-off, the #SeaKraken march down the ice. Sick sauce by Matty to Vince, who has an open net.
Tatar is taking full advantage of the newfound opportunity, after seeing his ice time sink to under 12 minutes per night with the Avalanche.
“It feels great to have that opportunity,” Tatar said. “Hockey feels right again, you know? I’m very grateful for the guys, how I came here to Seattle, it wasn’t easy to do. It was pretty fast, everything happening in a split of 48 hours. But it looks like me, Matty, and Ebs are building some chemistry, and I’m having a lot of fun.”
Takeaway #3: A big night for Vince Dunn
Dunn, by the way, assisted on both Oliver Bjorkstrand’s power-play goal and Tatar’s dazzling, dangling backhander that proved to be the game-winning goal.
Look how Dunn drops the puck to Tatar, then pretends to continue stickhandling and driving to the net, creating some subtle interference on Brett Leason.
IT'S THE FEAST OF SEVEN FISHES SO BRING PLENTY OF TATAR SAUCE! 🚨
What patience and what a goal for Tomas Tatar, his second as a #SeaKraken.
Dunn’s drive created the lane for Tatar to loop through the slot, and that was all he needed to sneak his second goal as a Kraken past Dostal.
The three-point night put Dunn back in front as the team’s leading scorer, one point ahead of Bjorkstrand.
“I think a lot of things went my way,” Dunn said. “And guys played really well as a group to make the plays happen. I think, obviously, you see on my goal, it doesn’t take much for me to put that one in.”
Bonus Takeaway: Trevor Zegras does some neat things
We must at least mention Trevor Zegras’s goal that got the Ducks back within one in the third period. In his first game back since suffering an injury on Nov. 7, Zegras was back to his old tricks. In full stride, he swung behind the net, scooped up the puck with just the toe of his stick, and threw it over the shoulder of Daccord.
Whoa. Trevor Zegras with a Goal of the Year candidate.
We saw people replying to us on Twitter and saying Connor Bedard’s lacrosse-style goal against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday was even better, but you know what? Both goals were pretty neat, and both could be Goal of the Year candidates.
Worth noting, both dazzling goals came in losses, as the Ducks lost 3-2 to the Kraken, and the Blackhawks lost 7-5 to the Blues.
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.
We’ve reached the unofficial halfway point of the 2023-24 WHL campaign, where five teams across the U.S. and B.C. Divisions remain within six points for the top spot in the Western Conference. Today, we’ll recap the teams in the U.S. Division and take a look ahead to the second half.
Wenatchee Wild: 21-11-3-0 — 45 pts (1st)
Wenatchee has hit the ground running in its first season in the U.S. Division thus far. Leading the way for the Wild have been their two stalwarts, Conor Geekie (ARI) and Matthew Savoie (BUF), as well as Japanese import Kenta Isogai emerging at the top of the Wild’s lineup.
And with some key contributions on the back end from players like defenseman Graham Sward (NSH) and goaltender Daniel Hauser, they have all-around talent that overpowers the rest of the league. Sporting one of the top-ranking home records in the league at 14-2-0-0, the Wild have positioned themselves well to take the division crown in their inaugural WHL season.
Top performer: Conor Geekie with 20 goals and 29 assists
Everett Silvertips: 21-13-1-1 — 44 pts (2nd)
Everett’s story has largely been its home-ice advantage as well, going 14-3-1 in the first half at Angel of the Winds Arena. Having a similar build to Wenatchee, depth scoring from Dominik Rymon, Ben Hemmerling (VGK), Teague Patton, and Austin Roest (NSH) gives the Silvertips a plethora of attacking opportunities. As well as boasting one of the better goalie tandems in the WHL in Ethan Chadwick and Tyler Palmer (CGY), the Silvertips combine that balanced presence and awareness that most teams need to go deep into the playoffs.
Top performers: Hemmerling with 12 goals and 31 assists; Rymon with 18 goals and 25 assists.
Portland Winterhawks: 20-10-1-1 — 42 pts (3rd)
When the Winterhawks score, they score in bunches, as 15 out of their 20 wins on the year have been by a margin of three or more goals. Despite losing two starting netminders in Jan Spunar and Justen Maric to injuries, Portland has gotten goals from all around their lineup, including Josh Davies (FLA) and James Stefan, who each have 23 goals on the year. Once healthy, Portland will boast one of the more complete lineups in the Western Conference.
I spoke with head coach and general manager Mike Johnston following Portland’s game in Spokane last week. “This year’s team is a veteran group with some good playoff experience,” Johnston said. “This team’s depth will probably be what carries us going forward.”
Top performer: Gabe Klassen with 17 goals and 41 assists.
Tri-City Americans: 15-14-1-1 — 32 pts (4th)
Tri-City was a very active team in making roster adjustments in the early parts of this season, most notably when the team traded for goaltender Kyle Kelsey from Red Deer. His partner, Lukas Matecha, has been one of the better goalies in the league this season, with a 9-7 record and a save percentage at .920. While the Americans sport a middling record, numerous glimpses of success against Wenatchee has me thinking of them potentially upsetting one of the higher seeds in the playoffs.
Top performer: Jordan Gavin with 16 goals and 20 assists.
Seattle Thunderbirds: 12-15-2-0 — 26 pts (5th)
A far cry from the year before for the defending champs, the Thunderbirds haven’t had much to write home about in the first few months. Despite starting the season at 7-1-0-0, since Oct. 24, Seattle plummeted with a 5-14-2-0 record. The T-Birds are currently last in the entire league in goals scored with 78, 10 worse than the next closest team. Their leading scorer is a defenseman, Jeremy Hanzel (COL).
One of the only things that has kept the T-birds afloat and still in playoff contention has been timely performances from goaltender Scott Ratzlaff (BUF), who—despite a few blowout starts—has kept Seattle in the playoff conversation.
Top performer: Hanzel with eight goals and 18 assists from the blue line.
Spokane Chiefs: 11-16-3-0 — 25 pts (6th)
Not much has gone right for the Chiefs to start the year, losing seven straight just before the break, dropping Spokane to last in the division. Berkly Catton (draft eligible) and Connor Roulette have carried the majority of the offensive weight for Spokane, each respectively tripling the next closest teammate in goals. While their battles with Portland so far this season have shown they aren’t in complete dire straits, the red flags are waving.
Top performer: Catton with 22 goals and 24 assists.
Player of the Half: Conor Geekie (WEN)
20 goals, 29 assists and a +21 for Geekie leads the first-place Wenatchee Wild.
Top Goalie: Tyler Palmer (EVT)
With a 13-6-1, 2.54 goals-against average, and a .912 save percentage, Palmer leads all U.S. Division goaltenders (min. 20 starts).
Important dates:
Transactions are currently closed for teams during the holiday break, re-opening on Dec. 27. Teams will then have until the trade deadline on Jan. 9 to make any final adjustments. The playoffs are set to begin in mid-March.
Header photo courtesy Brian Liesse, Seattle Thunderbirds.
That was a huge 2-1 win by the Seattle Kraken over the Los Angeles Kings, extending their point streak to five games (3-0-2) since snapping out of their miserable eight-game skid.
Joey Daccord was outstanding, but his teammates did a fantastic job of keeping the Kings’ shots primarily to the perimeter. Still, you can only win in that fashion if your goalie plays great, and Daccord did just that on Wednesday, tying his own franchise record for saves in a game with 42.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an impressive Kraken win over the Kings.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): The old formula
The Kraken did the damn thing against a very good Kings team, and they did it using a time-tested formula; solid goaltending, team defense, and opportunistic scoring.
Daccord did bail out his mates a few times, like on the below save against Matt Roy in the waning moments of the first period. But for the most part, he was able to see the many shots the Kings threw his way from afar, and he did his part in gobbling up those shots.
When the Kraken got through the first period with a 0-0 tie, despite a 20-8 shots-on-goal disadvantage (more on that in John’s Takeaway #3), we had a feeling they would be the ones that got on the board first in the second period. Sure enough, Brandon Tanev scored his first goal since Nov. 22 at 5:19 of the second, and that put Seattle in the driver’s seat for the rest of the night.
O TANEV-BAUM! 🚨
Right off the face-off, Tanev goes to the net, gets his own rebound, and then throws the monkey off his back after his first goal since Nov. 22.
Playing the way they played can work. Bend, but don’t break, keep as much as possible to the outside, and strike when the opportunities present themselves.
Once Jordan Eberle took advantage of a breakaway chance created by a sick pass by Matty Beniers in the third, the game was on the rails.
JORDAN ELF-ERLE! 🚨
GREAT stretch pass by Matty Beniers, who finds Eberle at the offensive blue line. Eberle just stays onside and scores on the breakaway.
That line is continuing to show chemistry this game…
Of course, there was that gaffe by Justin Schultz to give Blake Lizzotte an easy goal, and there were two late penalties, but this one was NEVER A DOUBT!
Good job sticking to the structure and the gameplan. Big win.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Aggressive penalty kill delivers again
Once a source of concern for these Seattle Kraken, the penalty kill unit has played very well of late. Entering Wednesday’s game in Los Angeles, the Kraken penalty killers had held their opposition to just one goal in the last 19 man advantage opportunities dating back to the beginning of the last home stand–a 95 percent kill rate.
How have they managed it? The Kraken have played well in front of their net suppressing high-quality chances and have blocked outside looks at a high rate. Most important from our vantage, though, has been increased aggression pressuring the puck carrier when the puck reaches vulnerable areas of the ice.
A prime example of this aggressive play came at a critical moment in Wednesday’s game. At 12:40 in the third period, with the Kraken leading 2-1, momentum had swung to the Kings’ side following Lizzotte’s shorthanded goal. Justin Schultz took a dangerous boarding penalty on Carl Grundstrom. (On that point, we’re thankful that Grundstrom got up and skated away, and that Schultz wasn’t hit with a major penalty or worse.)
Anze Kopitar won the ensuing face-off for the Kings in the left circle. After a few passes, Kevin Fiala sent a low-angle centering pass that was blocked and bounced back towards the corner. Sensing a strategic opportunity, Adam Larsson pressured Fiala in the corner, and the other strong-side Kraken player, Alex Wennberg, attacked in unison farther up the boards. Their coordinated work led to a clear that killed off an additional 20 seconds of the power play.
Seattle used repeated efforts like this one to post yet another shorthanded shutout Wednesday, killing four out of four Kings power play opportunities. Seattle allowed just two shots on goal in 6:29 of shorthanded time Wednesday–less than a shot every three minutes. (By way of comparison, the Kings had 39 shots in 46:29 of five-on-five time–which equates to a shot every 1:11 of game time.)
And this work was all the more impressive because the Kraken were facing a hot power play unit. Los Angeles’ power play had scored a goal in six straight games entering Wednesday’s contest.
The Kraken penalty kill was too passive earlier in the season and was rightfully maligned as a poor-performing unit based on the shot quality it was conceding. Over the last few weeks, however, the Kraken have adjusted their approach to killing penalties and the changes have worked.
Takeaway #3 (John): Minimizing quality shots against
The Kraken were outshot 20-8 in the first period, and if it was not for a brief push by Seattle, the gap would have been more extreme. Getting outshot by a two-to-one ratio is not a recipe for success but as pointed out by Eddie Olczyk and Brian Boucher on the TNT broadcast, the Kraken did an outstanding job at limiting quality opportunities.
Suppressing high-danger shots over the last five games has been one of the keys to the Kraken’s success as of late. I pointed it out in Monday Musings, and the theme has continued over the last two games.
Here is an updated chart of high-danger shots against.
The shot count ended 43-30 in favor of the Kings on Wednesday, but Seattle had seven high-danger shots to the Kings’ six. Meanwhile, both Seattle Kraken goals were on high-danger shots. The goaltending has been great, but as I am sure Daccord would acknowledge, limiting high-danger opportunities is one of the contributing factors. Let’s see if the Kraken can keep it rolling in Anaheim on Saturday.
With the Winter Classic just 11 days away, we have now seen *almost* all of the gear that will be donned by Seattle Kraken goalies in the NHL’s premier tentpole event, set to be held on Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park.
The only piece of equipment we haven’t yet seen is the mask of Chris Driedger, who wasn’t expecting to be included in the event until Philipp Grubauer went down with a lower-body injury on Dec. 9. It’s becoming more and more likely Grubauer will miss the event, and the fact Driedger has now gotten custom leg pads, glove, and blocker from Vaughn further solidifies our theory that he is expecting to still be with the Kraken on New Year’s Day.
With the exception of that Driedger mask, here is a compilation of all the Kraken goalie gear that we’ve seen, plus my own thoughts on each setup (spoiler alert: I like all of it).
Philipp Grubauer
Let’s start with Grubi’s pads and gloves, which I worry won’t end up seeing the light of day, other than the practice sessions in which he’s already worn them.
Oh, hello Philipp Grubauer’s Winter Classic setup! 👋
Grubauer went with a primarily brown True setup with deep sea blue, ice blue, and red alert trim in the knee rolls and around the logo plates on the gloves. It’s barely visible in the pictures, but on the outer sides of the pads and on the back of the gloves, Grubauer went with a lighter hue of brown that’s closer to the cream color in Seattle’s Winter Classic jerseys.
I like the look in general, but the real showstopper here is Grubauer’s mask, painted by DaveArt.
Here’s Philipp Grubauer’s #WinterClassic mask. Shoutout to @AlisonL for holding the mask. Outstanding work.
It’s a similar layout to Grubauer’s default mask that he has worn for much of the last two seasons, but it’s far more colorful than his mostly white lid he often uses. My favorite part of this mask is the offset “Seattle” word mark, which emulates but doesn’t directly copy the lettering on Seattle’s Winter Classic crest.
I’m on record stating that I’m over the brown look for outdoor hockey games, and in fact, I stated that on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, only for Grubauer to show up at practice THE NEXT DAY wearing an all-brown setup.
BUT… I will make an exception on this set. Seeing it all in person, this is a sharp look. The pops of color give just enough modernity to make this setup clean and unique.
Joey Daccord
Joey took a slightly different tack in designing his gear, going with a more modern look and a simple variation from his typical setup. Effectively, he took the same True layout he normally wears, but replaced the white sections with the cream color that will be featured on the Kraken Winter Classic jersey.
I’m thrilled to see how this plays with the full stripey getup on the ice. I think this is a fantastic blend of classic coloration in a modern scheme.
Again, it was Daccord’s mask that really blew us away. Painted by his usual artist, Shifty, Daccord opted to place images of six baseball cards of Seattle Mariners players from various eras. On the left, Mariner legends Ichiro, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Edgar Martinez are pictured, while the right side shows images of current players J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodriguez.
How Shifty managed to make those cards look so lifelike is beyond comprehension.
There are a couple nice subtle touches on the mask, too. On the side with past players, there’s a faint, old-school trident ‘M’ Mariners logo at the top, while on the side with the current players, there’s an ‘S’ logo with a compass that is more commonly used by the team now.
As always with Daccord’s masks, Sparky, the mascot of the Arizona State Sun Devils, is hiding in the paint job. In this case, he is peaking out from behind the mountains that are prominently displayed on the top of the mask.
Again, we don’t know what Driedger will end up doing with his mask for the Winter Classic, but he did reveal his pads and gloves on social media, and they are stunning.
There are so many touches with this gear that takes me back to several of the first sets of equipment I wore when I was first learning as a goalie. For example, the very first blocker I wore had those holes all over it that made it look like a waffle iron. I still to this day have not figured out why equipment manufacturers used to put those on blockers, but it’s a neat touch here.
The strapping across the shins is completely superfluous, but again, this is what I had on my early sets of gear, when straps went all the way through the pads and buckled behind the leg.
The toe caps, the red stitching, the use of bold colors… it’s all just… [chef’s kiss]. While I haven’t yet been able to speak with Driedger about his setup, I have to think this order came together relatively quickly. Even so, what he and Vaughn came up with here is truly unique and—in my humble opinion—superb.
—
The Kraken goalies have all crushed it with their gear setups for this event. Mix in some elite jerseys, and Seattle’s netminders are guaranteed to dazzle with their looks on the ice on New Year’s Day.
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.
