Regardless of the playoff picture, I still enjoy watching the Kraken right now, especially when they win. The Kraken completed their California swing with wins against the Sharks and Ducks and a loss to the Kings in between. Sure, the victories were against two of the weaker teams in the league, but wins are wins, and you certainly wouldn’t want to see them lose to those teams, would you?
Shane Wright looks good
In my limited viewing of Coachella Valley Firebirds games and discussions I’ve had with people inside the Kraken, Shane Wright’s development has been very positive this season. The 20-year-old center has looked impressive since being called up on March 31, though I understand it has only been a few games. While I am excited about Shane, I remain cautious with prospects, knowing there’s an inherent bias in valuing something you possess. Nonetheless, we can appreciate what we’ve seen from him so far.
He scored a goal in his first game against the Sharks and added two against the Ducks on Friday night. However, his contributions extend beyond goal scoring. Wright plays sound defense, delivers quick, creative passes, and consistently positions himself well for scoring. He did make a few mistakes in his three games so far, but these should serve as learning opportunities.
When he was called up for three games in November, Wright appeared competent but cautious, often opting for the safe play to avoid errors. Although he wasn’t on a line with Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz that time, which might have altered his current role with the big club, he now exudes more confidence and poses a greater threat on the ice than before.
Tremendous give and go between Wright and Schwartz in the neutral zone and then another that ends in a royal road feed from Eberle to Wright for the goal pic.twitter.com/pn3bs2wj9I
When evaluating Shane Wright’s development, I often compare it to the development path of Quinton Byfield, the Los Angeles Kings’ centerman. Their paths are not identical, but Wright and Byfield share similarities. Byfield, drafted second overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, was an OHL player. Due to the pandemic, he was allowed to spend his draft-plus-one season in the AHL and began playing most of his games in the NHL from the 2021-22 season onwards. However, it wasn’t until this season, four years after his draft year, that Byfield began to hit his stride at the top level, just as pundits were speculating that he might be a bust.
Shane is currently in his draft-plus-two season and, by all indications, will become a regular in the NHL next year, his draft-plus-three season. If he follows Byfield’s trajectory, we might not see his full capabilities in the NHL until 2025-26. The broader point is that we still need to be patient. What we should look for is progress in his development, which we have undoubtedly observed since he joined the franchise.
Other Musings
Friday’s win against the Ducks was Seattle’s eighth regular-season win against Anaheim since the inception of the Kraken, the most wins they have posted against any one team. The Kraken have the chance to beat the Sharks for the eighth time on Thursday in Seattle.
Logan Morrison and Ryan Winterton were scratched from games this week, a strategy often deployed when developing players to provide them with a different perspective of the game. This allows them to apply what they have learned from the handful of NHL games they’ve experienced at ice level and observe it from above. We would expect the duo to get another game or two at the NHL level before being sent back to Coachella Valley.
I would not pencil Morrison or Winterton into the lineup next year. Both show promise, but I am not convinced they will be ready to be regular NHLers next season.
Congratulations to Lleyton Roed on scoring his first professional goal on Sunday, just a week after signing his first professional hockey contract.
— x – Coachella Valley Firebirds (@Firebirds) April 8, 2024
After experiencing lots of challenges this season, Matty Beniers has been finding the net more often, with goals in four of his last six games. Below is his 10-game moving average of goals scored per game, which shows his scoring trend over 10 games at a time.
The IIHF Women’s World Championship kicked off last week, and one of the marquee games of the opening round is Canada versus USA at 7 p.m. PT, airing Monday on the NHL Network. Check it out if you are so inclined.
Speaking of international tournaments, it will be interesting to see how many Kraken players will participate in the men’s version of the IIHF World Championships in Czechia, which kick off in May. One player expected to represent Denmark is Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Mølgaard. I’ve discussed him extensively this year, but this will be an opportunity to see how he fares against a number of NHL players.
The Kansas City Mavericks, the Seattle Kraken’s ECHL affiliate, clinched the Brabham Cup over the weekend, an award given to the top team of the regular season. In full transparency, I had never heard of the Brabham Cup before.
We alluded to it last week, and now it has been confirmed: Jani Nyman is joining the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The Everett Silvertips closed out their first-round series against the Vancouver Giants on Sunday. They will face the Portland Winterhawks in the second round, which kicks off on Friday in Portland. The Winterhawks won six of the eight regular-season games between the two teams.
Player performances
Niklas Kokko (PEL/SEA) – Since last Monday, the Kraken goalie prospect won a decisive Game 7 in the opening round of the Liiga playoffs and then won the first two games of the semifinal matchup against his former team, Karpat. He has a .925 save percentage in those two games.
David Goyette (SBY/SEA) – The Kraken’s second-round selection from the 2022 NHL Draft had nine points, including four goals, in the Sudbury Wolves’ first-round series win against the Mississauga Steelheads. The Wolves won the series in five games and will now face Ty Nelson and the North Bay Battalion in Round 2.
Shane Wright (SEA) – We’ve talked about him a lot lately, but he has four points in his three games with the Kraken since he was called up.
Goal of the week
The goal of the week comes from the semifinals of the SHL playoffs, Växjö Lakers vs Rögle BK.
The analytics community has long understood that outhitting an opponent in a hockey game does not necessarily lead to more wins. The overarching idea is that if you’re outhitting an opponent, it likely means you don’t have the puck. Recently, I’ve noticed a broad group of media outlets highlighting hitting as if it were a key component of success on the ice. This has made me somewhat uneasy, so I decided to investigate how well the Kraken perform when outhitting opponents versus being outhit this season.
When the Kraken are “close” with their opponent in terms of the number of hits delivered, or they deliver at least four fewer hits than their opponent, their winning percentage is significantly higher.
The week ahead
The Kraken will play their last two home games this week, taking on the Coyotes on Tuesday and the Sharks on Thursday. Despite the challenges of the past six weeks, I’ll be sad to see the season end. I still love watching the team play, and if it weren’t for the unrealistic expectations created by last year’s team, I would have been content with this season. The Kraken are laying the groundwork to become a perennial playoff contender, rather than a team that gambles too early and risks having to rebuild. In short, while I would have been thrilled to see them in the playoffs, I appreciate the direction they’re heading.
I have a personal backlog of offseason analysis and investigation, but please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to focus on as the season winds down.
Sadly for the Seattle Kraken, their win in Anaheim on Friday marked the last time they will play the Ducks this season. Seattle went 4-0-0 against Anaheim and put a cherry on top of that sundae with a 3-1 victory that featured two goals and three points for top prospect, Shane Wright.
After some sloppy play to start the game, Wright’s deflection of an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot at 16:08 of the first period got Seattle on track, and it was all uphill from there. Wright went on to add a second marker and an assist, factoring on all three of Seattle’s goals, while Philipp Grubauer was solid with 16 saves on 17 shots.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-1 Kraken win over the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: Shane Wright Night
We’ve talked quite a bit over the past week about how different Wright has looked, both at the AHL level and now at the NHL level, compared with how he looked in training camp and in his first call-up this season. His skating stride looks more powerful than before, he’s battling to get to the front of the net, and he’s more willing to hold onto the puck (though there are still moments where he’s throwing it away too quickly).
Friday was a big night for the 20-year-old center, who got two goals and briefly thought he may have had his first NHL hat trick. Replay revealed, though, that his pass to the top of the crease in the second period deflected off Matty Beniers’ skate and through Lukas Dostal, so Wright would settle for two goals and an assist. Ho hum.
Wright doesn't score but he gets a point as he sends the puck net front where Beniers is in perfect position to redirect it in. 13th PPG against Anaheim in the past two seasons pic.twitter.com/Q5ejIkUUcM
“He was a confident player tonight,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “I thought he was a confident player with the puck, and he definitely did a good job on the defensive side as well.”
Wright is showing good chemistry with his veteran linemates, Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz.
“Each and every game, we’re always talking,” Wright said. “We’re always kind of growing that chemistry and talking on the bench after shifts, what we see out there, what we think we can do better. And yeah, each game that chemistry is going to grow. And hopefully we can keep rolling here.”
They showed that chemistry on Wright’s second goal Friday when Schwartz set up the youngster with a quick pass, and Wright one-timed it home.
Here, we see one of the attributes of Wright’s game that makes him such a touted prospect. His ability to get the puck off his stick in a flash is what made him a prolific scorer at the junior level and should give hope that he can be a consistent scorer in the NHL.
And the points on this night were nice, but there were also several plays Wright made that didn’t show up in the boxscore that supported Hakstol’s “confident player” statement.
Exhibit A, check out this pass Wright made to Eberle:
Exhibit B, watch this sliding block Wright made on William Lagesson with six minutes left in the game:
Takeaway #2: How about Cale Fleury?
It brought joy to our hearts to see Cale Fleury finally get some game action on Friday, and he performed well in his first NHL contest of the season.
Fleury has had a very strange tenure in the Kraken organization, spending almost two full seasons as a healthy scratch before finally getting passed through waivers to go to Coachella Valley at the start of this season.
He’s shifted from the perpetual healthy scratch to being the guy Seattle calls as insurance, in case one (or more) of its regulars can’t go, which has resulted in him being recalled from Coachella Valley… well… we actually don’t know how many times, but it has been a lot of times, only to be either healthy scratched again or sent right back before a game was even played.
Heck, on NHL Trade Deadline day, Fleury was recalled in case Seattle moved a defenseman, flew to Seattle in time to participate in morning skate, and was sent back down to the Firebirds before the Kraken played the Winnipeg Jets that night.
Finally, with Vince Dunn out Friday (that’s very concerning, being that he only returned from a 12-game hiatus two games ago) and Adam Larsson away for personal reasons, Fleury got a chance to play.
“Cale Fleury’s game tonight may not get a lot of mention, but I thought Cale was really efficient,” Hakstol said, unprompted. “I thought he moved the puck well, I thought he was really confident on the offensive blue line, so he went in and did a good job.”
We noticed Fleury making a lot of positive plays in his 13:30 of ice time, and he even made a couple punishing hits, including one on Isac Lundestrom in the third, making the Ducks forward pay the price for driving to the blue paint.
Fleury’s game was a reminder that he is a totally capable defenseman when called upon at the NHL level. Good on him for showing that.
Takeaway #3: Matty hits 100 points
It hasn’t been an easy season for reigning Calder Trophy winner, Matty Beniers, who has had some painfully slow stretches. Giving hope that he can return to his productive self next season, the 21-year-old center has come alive in the last few weeks and has four goals in his last six games.
After Wright banked a pass in off his skate on the power play Friday, Beniers hit the 100-point milestone for his career.
“He’s working through it, right?” Hakstol said. “I mean, we’ve seen the ups and downs of Year 2, and he continues to work. I think tonight’s goal is indicative… of that evolution he’s had net front, and one goes in off his skate. So offensively, that’s really important. It’s a continual learning process with and without the puck in this league, and Matty’s a guy that continues to learn and listen to the guys around him and continues to get better.”
While Beniers has had long times of quiet this season, there’s still no doubting his skill and hockey IQ. If he can add some size to his frame this summer (he’ll have a full offseason to train, which he didn’t have last year) and get off to a good start to next season, we think he can take a big step toward becoming a feared young centerman in the league.
“There’s a lot of games, and you can’t really worry too much about what happens in each game,” Beniers said. “You’ve just got to grow and try to build off it and build momentum, get better every day. I think those lessons apply to every year of hockey, but especially in the NHL when you’re playing that many games. It’s a lot about mindset, a lot about physicality and taking care of yourself.”
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.
With the Seattle Kraken loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, and the Kings defeating the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Kraken have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. If the Kraken were to win out the rest of the season, they would top out at 89 points, and the Kings currently sit at 91 points. The Kraken have seven games remaining, and with that 89-point maximum, Seattle has been mathematically eliminated.
How the Kraken did this week
Mar. 30 — 3-0 shutout loss to the Stars
Apr. 1 — 4-2 win versus the Sharks
Apr. 3 — 5-2 loss at the hands of the Kings
As mentioned in last week’s playoff update, if the Kraken lost two games this week, that would be enough to eliminate them from playoff contention. Seattle did just that this past week, going 1-2-0. Both losses came against teams currently in playoff position, but the Kraken did not look like they belonged in either of those contests. The win against the lowly Sharks did feel good, and the Kraken dominated the play for a lot of the night but drooped in the second period to let San Jose back in the game.
The Kids
Shane Wright was called up from Coachella Valley this week. The 2022 No. 4 overall pick centered a line with Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz. In the game against the Sharks, Wright scored on a 2-on-1 rush with Eberle.
In the two games Wright has played during this current call-up, he has looked improved and has averaged over 15 minutes of ice time and two minutes of power-play time per game. The only nitpick I had on Wright’s game was that there were three occasions where he made a pass, only to look up and realize nobody was there. Two of those passes were to the front of the net, though, so I was glad to see him trying to get the puck off the boards and to the center of the ice.
Overall, Wright looks good, and we expect him to make the big club full time next year.
Logan Morrison and Ryan Winterton also have remained with the club. Morrison has played in three games and Winterton in four. Neither forward has registered a point yet, and both were scratched against the Kings. Still, they are getting valuable time in the NHL to adjust to the speed of the game. It has been fun watching them play on the fourth line with Tye Kartye and generate some offensive chances.
At times, Ryker Evans has been on the ice with the fourth line. It has been amazing to see four players on the ice at the same time that are working their way through the Seattle Kraken development path. Morrison and Winterton do not have guaranteed roster spots on the Kraken next year. Development Camp should continue to get more and more competitive as these players push for spots.
Returning to Coachella Valley
At some point the “kids” will be sent back to Coachella Valley for the AHL playoff run. Wright can play four more games before burning a year of his entry-level contract. If Wright plays one more game for the Kraken, he would not be eligible next year for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s rookie of the year, but this is probably not a big item on the mind of general manager Ron Francis.
Morrison and Winterton are not eligible to have their contracts slide this year, as both are over 20 years of age. So, there is no rush to send them back to the Firebirds. There is a possibility they will stay with the Kraken for the rest of the season before going back down and contributing to the Firebirds’ playoff run.
Kraken Games this coming week (Apr 5-11)
Apr. 5 — Kraken @ Ducks
Apr. 9 — Coyotes @ Kraken
Apr. 11 — Sharks @ Kraken (last home game of the year and fan appreciation night)
The Kraken have a pretty easy week playing against three “Tanker” teams. The Kraken have a combined record of 5-1-2 against the Ducks, Coyotes, and Sharks. With 75 games played, the Kraken have a .500 points percentage, earning 75 points. This week is against lower-quality opponents, so a winning record can be expected. After this week, the Kraken will finish up their season with a four-game road trip against some tougher competition (Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Minnesota).
Paint the Ice
Just a side note here, as the Kraken have been eliminated from playoff contention, there is an end-of-season event to look forward to called the “Paint the Ice” event. This event is for season ticket holders and requires a ticket, but it far exceeded my expectations last year. I highly recommend going if you have the option. “Paint the Ice” is scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 13, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Here are the results from the last year’s event at Climate Pledge Arena.
Please leave any comments or questions below and follow me @blaizg
Everett Silvertips fans, as well as hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest in general, should become acquainted with the name Landon DuPont.
The Everett Silvertips won the Western Hockey League prospects draft lottery last Wednesday and will pick No. 1 overall in May’s WHL Draft, thanks to the first-round pick they acquired in the trade that sent Olen Zellweger to Kamloops last season.
The consensus top prospect is DuPont, a defenseman from Calgary, Alberta. He is considered a generational prospect.
“This is a player that can perform at a high level but also make everyone else around him better. When that starts to happen, you start to build a real window (of contention),” said Joel Henderson, the director of scouting for Puck Preps and a WHL scout for FC Hockey.
“He does so many things well. … He’s mobile, he’s fluid, he’s smart.”
This lottery could net the winner maybe the second player ever granted exceptional player status in the WHL. Landon DuPont is that good and HNLive has been along for part of his ride with @edgeschool at U15 and as an underage U18 player. Where does he land!? #landonduponthttps://t.co/sYH48ZtwKApic.twitter.com/xCtDpFN844
DuPont hasn’t decided yet if he’ll play in the WHL or go the NCAA route. Regardless, Zoran Rajcic, the Silvertips’ chief operating officer, told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that the Silvertips will take DuPont No. 1 overall, calling it “a no-brainer.”
“I don’t know any player who is a top player in any draft that wouldn’t look at every option. I would be surprised if DuPont and his family didn’t do their due diligence,” Henderson said. “I can’t speak to anything in particular, but if I’m betting money, he gets exceptional status, and he’s in Everett’s lineup next year.”
“Exceptional status” is a designation given out by Hockey Canada that allows players to play in the Canadian Hockey League before they turn 16. Only seven players total have received it, including Kraken prospect Shane Wright.
If given exceptional status, DuPont would be the second WHL player to receive it, with the first being Connor Bedard.
“I think it would be a disservice (to his development) if he doesn’t get exceptional status,” Henderson said.
Landon Dupont could be going to Tri-City, Everett, or Kelowna.
Here are some quick facts on how dominant DuPont has been this past season
His 62 points (19 goals and 43 assists) were third among all players and first for defensemen in CSSHL U18. Worth noting, DuPont is still just 14 years old, playing in a U18 league.
It’s the most points all time for a defenseman his age in CSSHL U18, and it’s not particularly close – Wild prospect Carson Lambos is second with six points in 2017-18.
His 2.07 points per game trails just Bedard and Matthew Savoie among players of that age in CSSHL U18.
DuPont is the No. 1 ranked player in North America, according to PuckPreps. For the WHL draft in particular, the No. 1 pick is the grand prize.
“With no disrespect to any of the players in this draft … the dropoff from Landon to No. 2 is significant and the dropoff from No. 2 is significant as well,” Henderson said.
Publicly, DuPont is drawing comparisons to Cale Makar due to his offensive skill set. For Henderson, there’s shades of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram in DuPont’s game.
“By all metrics he’s ahead of where Bowen Byram was at this point pretty substantially,” Henderson said. “But he’s that type of player who can quarterback an offense, he can move the puck consistently, he’s really smart with his decision making, he’s got powerful, smooth, skating strides. … He’s a really unselfish player. If anything I’d want him to be a little more unselfish.”
DuPont and Everett are an excellent marriage, according to Henderson.
“There aren’t too many landing spots in the WHL that suit Landon’s playing style better than the way Everett plays,” Henderson said. “Everett’s going to really enjoy him.”
This is a nice, quick little episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, with plenty of discussion about the Kraken “kids” that were called up recently from the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
On this one, you’ll get a breakdown of recent games, plus an update on what’s been happening for Kraken prospects in the European leagues.
With the season winding down, I figured it was a good time to take another look at attendance figures from across the NHL for the 2023-24 season. I always caveat that there is no intent here to take shots at any specific team’s fan base or paint the league in a bad light. Additionally, these are attendance numbers reported via NHL game reports. To my knowledge, the league has never provided a definition of ‘attendance’ but I have come to believe it is ‘tickets distributed.’ It’s not tickets sold, not butts in seats, it’s tickets distributed.
League-wide attendance
League-wide attendance is pretty much at pre-pandemic levels. It is slightly off of the 17,451 peak in 2013-14, but two things impacted these numbers: 1) the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Mullett Arena, and 2) the Seattle Kraken joining the league. Mullett Arena only has a capacity of 4,600, while Climate Pledge Arena’s capacity is 17,151. Both numbers bring down the league average in terms of how many people can physically attend a game.
If you exclude Coyotes and Kraken games, the average attendance across the NHL is 17,719, which would be a new high at this point in the season.
Team-by-team change in attendance
When we look at an individual team’s change in attendance, we see some different themes emerge:
Florida is getting a significant pop from their Stanley Cup Final appearance last season, and the Panthers are backing that up with very good performance on the ice this season.
The Blackhawks are getting a Connor Bedard bounce, despite having a worse record than they had at this time last season.
Like the Florida Panthers, the Devils have seen an increase in attendance thanks to their playoff appearance last season and the emergence of elite, young talent like Jack Hughes.
On the bottom of the graph, you can see the Winnipeg Jets with a drop of close to 5 percent, season over season. If you recall from last year, the Jets were the last wild card team to qualify for the playoffs and made a quick five-game exit with a series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1.
The Capitals and Flames are seeing drops, likely due to missing the playoffs last season (though the Capitals are right on the bubble for qualifying this season).
Overall, there tends to be a one-season lag between on-ice performance and impact to attendance. So, by struggling last season, teams have seen drops, and vice versa.
Attendance versus sellouts
One of the challenges with looking at the changes of average attendance in the NHL is that most games are virtual sellouts, which limits how much attendance can actually increase due to capacity restrictions. Additionally, there has been a growing theme of reducing capacity, as arenas remodel to accommodate more space for exclusive experiences. To address these issues, we can look at the number of games that have sold out.
As the graph shows, the percentage of games that have sold out increased from 62 percent last season to 67 percent this season.
Here is the quantity of sellouts by team, which shows the year-over-year change from this same point last season.
Note that figuring out capacity is a manual process that varies from season to season. Some teams have a hard capacity number, such as Boston, where the Bruins consistently have 17,850 reported attendance for every game. Other teams have an inconsistent number, and some arenas have standing room that increases their attendance above a listed capacity. For classifying games as sellouts, I do not include standing-room only.
Game by game for each team
It is not the easiest visual to comprehend, but here is a look at game-by-game attendance for each team this season. For fair comps, I have excluded international and outdoor games.
There are natural ebbs and flows based on a team’s performance, and except for the Coyotes’ temporary facility, the NHL is in a healthy place from an attendance perspective. It is important to note there is limited analysis that can be done with the “reported attendance” numbers, but directionally, it starts to tell a story. Other factors such as weather (yes, weather) and obviously ticket prices impact attendance, but that data is challenging to come by for the general public.
Please let me know if you have any questions or insights into any of this analysis. Sometimes, you need to be in a particular market to know what is going on with a specific team, so feel free to share your own comments on the topic below.
There were several positive storylines in this Seattle Kraken 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Shane Wright returned from Coachella Valley and scored his second NHL goal.
Vince Dunn returned to the lineup after a 12-game injury hiatus.
Jordan Eberle registered his 700th career point.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th goal of the season, hitting the milestone for the third year in a row.
Yanni Gourde returned to the game after taking a Dunn slap shot to the nether regions.
The list goes on and on.
Seattle came out flying in this one and had a chance to put the game out of reach by the end of the first period. The Kraken let the lowly Sharks hang around and get back in it in the second period, but they did batten down the hatches when things started to get hairy and allowed just six shots on goal in the third.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: Tolvanen/Beniers/Bjorkstrand line is cooking
The trio of Eeli Tolvanen, Matty Beniers, and Oliver Bjorkstrand has been working quite well together since Beniers replaced Yanni Gourde as the pivot on that line. They struck twice in the first 11:26 of this game, and each temporarily had two points on the scoresheet before the official scorers took away the second assist from Beniers on Bjorkstrand’s goal.
Beniers got Seattle on the board very early, ripping it home after Bjorkstrand and Tolvanen did the hard work on the forecheck.
🚨 MATTY MAGIC! 🚨
29 seconds into the game, Bjorkstrand with the setup, Matty with the finish.
It’s one of those where Beniers deserved the point after he kept the play alive and jarred the puck loose to Tolvanen, but officially, it came off a San Jose stick. So, Beniers will have to wait on career point No. 100.
While Seattle’s offense has generally struggled to find consistency, this line has looked very good together on most nights since it was assembled a couple weeks ago. All three players have been contributing, and Beniers has looked more effective in the offensive zone than he has for a lot of this season.
By the way, that’s a pretty goal by Bjorkstrand, who found about three inches worth of space over Mackenzie Blackwood’s shoulder for his 20th tally of the season.
Takeaway #2: Nice night for “the future”
Logan Morrison didn’t play in this one, but all the other “kids” on the Seattle Kraken were noticeable at different moments in the game. Of course, the headliner here is Wright, who played his first NHL game since Nov. 13 and scored his second NHL goal on a beautiful setup with Jordan Eberle, who also registered his 700th point on the play.
Vince Dunn (more on him in a bit) started this play in the defensive zone with a breakout pass to Wright. Wright then passed to Jaden Schwartz in the neutral zone and smartly followed his own pass to support his linemate. Wright made a good second pass to Eberle, and then went hard to the net and made himself available.
Having seen Wright in person in Coachella Valley last week, we thought he looked different than he did in Seattle’s training camp and in his earlier stint this season. He has a little pop in his skating stride now that wasn’t there before, and he’s getting the puck off his stick in a flash, as we saw Monday. He’s clearly getting stronger and more confident, and the (almost) full season in the AHL is doing him good.
“I definitely felt comfortable out there, for sure,” Wright said. “I definitely felt like I belong there, and obviously, playing with [Jaden Schwartz] and Ebs, it’s pretty easy playing with two guys like that. But, yeah, I felt really good today, and obviously happy with the result as well.”
As for the other youngsters, Beniers (as we mentioned) had the early goal, and Tye Kartye also scored what would have been his second goal in three games, but that was negated when a coach’s challenge uncovered that Brandon Tanev was several feet offside on the zone entry.
Finally, how about this little sequence from Ryan Winterton? He wins a board battle and advances the puck out of the zone, then recovers a loose puck and springs Jared McCann for a breakaway.
One thing we’ve heard about Winterton is that the organization likes the way he plays against the wall (we talked to Winterton about that on our recent Sound Of Hockey Podcast interview with him). This was a fine example of why that’s important.
Indeed, it was a good night for the kids.
Takeaway #3: Vince Dunn is back
We do not think it’s a coincidence that this Seattle Kraken season went down the toilet after Vince Dunn took a cheap shot from Martin Pospisil on March 4 and was forced out of the lineup for 12 games.
Seattle’s top defenseman finally returned Monday, and while he looked rusty at times and made some turnovers, he also gave us glimpses of what the Kraken have been missing.
We loved the below shift from Dunn toward the end of the second period. In the clip, he’ll bounce in and out of the frame, but every time he touches the puck, it helps create offense. That starts with Dunn’s first little transition play at Seattle’s blue line and ends with his forecheck below the goal line.
Dunn being back in the lineup is a sight for very sore eyes.
Bonus Takeaway: Poor Yanni
We’ve all experienced some level of getting hit “in the mid-section,” and none of us want to experience it again. We felt this, Yanni.
It was good to see Gourde return to the game after this one.
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.
Imagine being a 21-year-old hockey player, battling it out in the American Hockey League, and you get called up to the NHL for the first time in your career. Now, imagine you get that news you’ve been dreaming of your entire life, and you also find out that one of your best friends and roommates is making the trip up to the big club with you. That’s what happened to Logan Morrison last week, who has played his first three NHL games on a line with his close pal, Ryan Winterton. For his part, Winterton played his fourth, fifth, and sixth NHL games with the Seattle Kraken.
Morrison and Winterton go back several years, having played together with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL before reuniting with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
“We hang out a ton,” Morrison said. “It’s not one of those roommate things where you don’t really hang out and talk, we’re always together, we’re always making fun of each other. We have a pretty good relationship, tons of golf together, going out for dinners, and pretty much everything you can think of we do together… So to be called up with him was pretty special.”
The “kids” line with Kartye and the two recent call-ups from Coachella Valley, Winterton and Morrison, looked good in its two games against Anaheim and one against Dallas. Morrison did make a mistake on the second goal against in the Thursday game against the Ducks, handing the puck over to Jakob Silfverberg at the offensive blue line to create a partial breakaway. But coach Dave Hakstol had Morrison right back out there on the next Kraken power play (of which there were 10 that night), and the rookie center did not miss a shift for the mishap.
“It depends on what we’ve seen up to that point in the hockey game from any one player,” Hakstol said on whether he has more patience for missteps from youngsters getting their first taste of NHL hockey. “Those guys were some of our most reliable players, not only [Thursday], but over the past couple of nights. So yeah, absolutely, they’re going right back out.”
Morrison and Winterton joined a growing group of players that have spent time developing with the Firebirds before making the jump to the big club. Kartye has been with the Kraken for the entire season after getting his call-up during the playoffs last season, while defenseman Ryker Evans has remained in Seattle for most of the season, though he has been scratched at times. Meanwhile, goaltender Joey Daccord, who backstopped the Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals last season, has emerged as a bona fide NHLer.
“[Morrison and Winterton] have worked super hard to get here and earn the opportunity, so it’s pretty cool to be here with them to experience that,” Evans said. “I mean, they’re great kids off the ice, super laid back, and I love hanging out with them.”
A script for a buddy movie
Off the ice, Morrison and Winterton’s relationship has only grown since they decided to live together, along with fellow OHL alumnus Tucker Robertson. Winterton said the trio has done a good job of sharing the housework, like washing dishes, and that they all manage as best they can at cooking meals for themselves.
“Tucker is probably the best at cooking,” Winterton said. “Me and Mo kind of just get by, eating the same things every night, mostly steaks, but it’s been good.”
Morrison following Kartye’s path
Morrison is the second Kraken player to reach the NHL after signing as an undrafted free agent, following Kartye, who joined the organization in March of 2022 after a stellar career with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL.
The successes and quick ascensions of Kartye and Morrison are reminders to young players that even if they don’t get drafted, they still can make it to hockey’s highest level, and the Kraken organization is a great potential landing spot for players in that situation.
Morrison implied it was an easy decision to sign with Seattle.
“I think just talking to [director of player development] Jeff Tambellini and how much he liked me and what he was telling me about the organization, and I talked to Ron Francis too before signing, and it just seemed like everything was so first class.” Morrison said. “And it has been, so I couldn’t be more happy with choosing Seattle.”
The Guelph, Ontario, native said that reaching the world’s best league after getting passed on in multiple drafts has only added to the experience of the past couple weeks.
“It kind of makes it a lot more special, honestly,” Morrison said. “The fact that I had to grind a lot to get here, and being passed up three times, it’s something you don’t want to deal with. But I think looking back now, it’s kind of the best thing that happened for me to be able to kind of choose where I wanted to go.
“And Seattle has been unbelievable, everything about it… Coachella… everything’s been great. So yeah, looking back it wasn’t easy at the time, but I think it was the best for me in the long run and to be able to say I’m in the NHL not even a year after signing is pretty crazy.”
Shane Wright also back with the Kraken
When Winterton made his NHL debut with Seattle on Nov. 9 in Colorado, he had fellow youngster Shane Wright with him to show him the ropes. On this current stint, Winterton has been paying it forward to Morrison.
“It was Shaner showing me what to do and making me feel kind of more calm out there [when I made my debut],” Winterton said. “But this time it was me for Mo. But he’s played awesome, and he was ready for it, so there’s not much to tell a guy like that.”
Now, in an interesting twist, Wright is also back up with the Kraken, giving this late-season version of the team an even younger look. If Matty Beniers, Evans, Winterton, Morrison, Wright, and Kartye all play Monday, Seattle would have six players age 22 or younger in its lineup.
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.
It’s been two weeks since the last installment of Monday Musings, and while I won’t delve into the details of each of the seven games that have since passed, it’s safe to say it’s been quite the roller coaster ride. We witnessed some lackluster performances against the Sabres and the Canadiens, hard-fought battles versus the Coyotes and Golden Knights, two victories against the Ducks, and a game where Seattle showed heart but ultimately fell short against the Stars. Emotionally, I’m coping a bit better with the losses now, but there’s no denying the joy that comes with the wins, regardless of their significance in the grand scheme of things.
Player signings and timing
The Seattle Kraken recently inked one of their second-round selections from the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Lukas Dragicevic, following the conclusion of the Tri-City Americans’ season. This aligns with the Kraken’s strategy of signing many of their draft picks a season after their selection. Likewise, we anticipate Oscar Fisker-Mølgaard to follow suit over the next couple of weeks, now that HV71’s season has ended.
HV71 secured its spot in the SHL for next season after a crucial Game 7 victory, sparing themselves relegation against IK Oskarshamn. Mølgaard, another second-round pick from the 2023 draft, showcased his talent with an impressive season in the SHL. While we anticipate Mølgaard’s signing, unlike Dragicevic, we don’t foresee him joining the Coachella Valley squad for the remainder of the season.
European prospects typically make the transition to North America at the end of their respective seasons if the Kraken intend to have them play in North America the following campaign. Our projection suggests Mølgaard will spend another year honing his skills in the SHL before potentially making the move across the Atlantic.
Similarly, Jani Nyman wrapped up his season last week when his team, Ilves, bowed out to KalPa in the Liiga quarterfinals. Nyman showcased his talent throughout the season, tallying an impressive 43 points in 48 games, earning him the under-20 scoring title and the coveted Red Bull helmet. Having signed his standard entry-level contract (ELC) last year as part of the 2022 Kraken draft class, there’s speculation about his future plans. While nothing is certain, there’s a growing anticipation that he may transition to North America for the upcoming season, potentially joining the Coachella Valley Firebirds to finish out the current season.
Here is a look at the status of all the Kraken draft picks by year and round.
In addition to Mølgaard, I would anticipate Carson Rehkopf to sign whenever the Kitchener Rangers season is complete.
Forecasting the draft picks
I recently received a thought-provoking question from a friend: How many players drafted by the Kraken will become regulars on the team in three years? It’s the kind of inquiry that tends to surface when your team finds itself out of playoff contention.
The data reveals an intriguing reality: only 80 percent of first-round draft picks manage to accumulate more than 100 games in the NHL. For second-round picks, that number drops to 50 percent, and it dwindles to less than 20 percent for those selected beyond the third round. Despite our enthusiasm for some of the draft picks, the odds remain steep for most of them to secure substantial NHL playing time. Assessing which players will succeed and stick in the NHL involves applying probabilities to all Kraken prospects. However, this method doesn’t offer a foolproof prediction of when they’ll make their NHL debut, and it’s worth noting that players may also be traded by the Kraken, further complicating matters.
Using a rough estimation based on the player’s draft round and potential, out of the current 28 drafted prospects, we project that approximately 8.2 will accumulate 100 games or more in the NHL. This rough proxy can help gauge the number of Kraken-drafted prospects likely to feature on the team in three years. While it may seem like the Kraken have excelled in drafting compared to other teams, this perception could be influenced by confirmation bias. To make a more definitive statement, we’ll need a few more years of data to validate this notion.
Shane Wright call-up
In case it slipped under your radar, the Kraken made a notable move on Sunday by recalling Shane Wright. This marks Shane’s second call-up to the Kraken this season, with his first stint occurring back in November for three games.
His performance in Coachella Valley this season has been impressive, fueling excitement about his potential at the highest level. From recent observations, particularly in terms of his two-way play, Shane appears to excel, demonstrating deft puck movement and a quick release, whether shooting or passing to teammates.
While I’d love to offer insights into how his skills will translate to the NHL, the reality is that there’s limited exposure to 20-year-old centers playing in the AHL. Nonetheless, my expectation is that he’ll remain with the team for at least five games, affording us the opportunity to witness his talents in action during the last two home games of the season next week.
Other musings
With the departure of Alex Wennberg and the absence of Vince Dunn, the power play has looked very different. There seems to be a greater emphasis on getting the puck down low for either a touch pass to the slot or sliding a pass across the crease. It seems to be working. The Kraken have a 22.2 power-play percentage since March 3. That is slightly better than the 21.2 percent they had prior to Wennberg’s departure.
One of the more noticeable elements of the power play recently is the change of shot location of Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jared McCann. They are still getting their shots; they are just getting it from different locations.
The Kraken goaltenders still have the second highest save percentage in the league since Dec. 1.
In case anyone missed it, the Kraken will be the only NHL team in the league without a home win on a Saturday this season, and I have no theories on why.
Goal scoring continues to be a challenge. The Kraken have scored two goals or less in seven out of their last nine games.
Alison Lukan beat me to it by five days, but the 10 power play opportunities against the Anaheim game on Thursday was a franchise record. The previous record was eight against Vancouver in the inaugural season.
The Ducks are far and away the most undisciplined team in the league, while the Kraken are one of the most disciplined.
The Kraken allowed their ninth goal of the season within five seconds of a face-off on Saturday. We commonly refer to these as ‘face-off goals against.’ They are second in the NHL at allowing face-off goals against this season. The second goal Dallas scored was nine seconds after a face-off.
I have watched a lot of Liiga (Finland) and SHL (Sweden) via their streaming platforms. The picture quality is so superior to footage of the AHL and most of the NHL Regional Sport Networks. Why can’t we get this kind of quality for North America? I understand why it might be a challenge for the CHL, but the other leagues have the money and viewers to make their products better.
Speaking of Scandinavian hockey leagues, Kraken goalie prospect Niklas Kokko will be playing an elimination game in the Liiga playoffs when his team, Lahden Pelicans, squares off against HIFK in a Game 7 matchup Tuesday evening in Finland. Kokko has a .935 save percentage and 1.58 goals against average in these playoffs. He just turned 20 years old.
Player performances
David Goyette (SBY/SEA) – The regular-season points leader in the OHL had a Gordie Howe hat trick in the Sudbury Wolves’ second OHL playoff game. The Wolves lead that series 2-0 and are headed to Sudbury for Games 3 and 4.
Joey Daccord (SEA) – posted a .951 save percentage over the last week with a goals against average of 1.01 in that stretch.
Visa Vedenpää (HER/SEA) – The sixth-round goalie selected in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft had a 39-save shutout on March 27 playing for Hermes in the second round of the Mestis league playoffs.
Goal of the week
Shooters shoot. Check out Goyette’s goal from a crazy game against Mississauga on Saturday.
Furthering the discussion about the Kraken draft picks, here is a look at the number of draft picks playing for the teams that drafted them. I leveraged the CapFriendly.com depth charts so there could be players not reflected in the data if they are currently out of the lineup.
What to watch for
Shane Wright. There are not a lot of obvious roster changes next season, but you can probably lock Shane into a spot right now. I don’t think we will be able to extrapolate much from this stint with the Kraken, but my hope is we see the strides he has made by developing in the AHL this season. It would be great to see a goal or two, but I am eager to see how he moves the puck and how he plays defensively. Hopefully, he gets some special teams opportunities.
We are getting close to offseason mode where we will be digging into the draft, prospects, what went wrong, and a host of other content ideas we have brewing. If there are areas you want us to dig into, please let us know.
If the Kraken were going to win that one against the Dallas Stars, it would have had to happen in a rope-a-dope, frustrate-the-pants-off-them kind of way. That’s an even better club than the one that knocked Seattle out in Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season and a true championship contender this season.
The Kraken hung in there for a while, but budding star (not “Star,” as in “Dallas Star,” but “star,” as in “star player”) Wyatt Johnston broke the ice late in the second period, and then Joe Pavelski took advantage of a five-minute power play to give Dallas breathing room.
“In order to generate against this group, you have to be willing to really… you’ve got to be committed to get to the bottom,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “If you don’t have an out-number situation, it has to go to the bottom, and you have to do the work.”
What Hakstol is saying is that if Seattle isn’t creating anything off the rush, which it wasn’t in this game, then the group has to be willing to win battles deep in the offensive zone to create opportunities, and that clearly didn’t happen enough.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-0 Kraken loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: The Stars are really good
Down to the last minute of the series between the Kraken and Dallas last postseason, we thought the Stars were beatable. This year, they’ve added some depth scoring in guys like Matt Duchene that has allowed them to rise to the top as one of the few teams that might have a real claim for the Cup in a couple months.
Interestingly, Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said at morning skate on Saturday that this version of the Stars is built a little more like last season’s Kraken team, though their higher-end talent is better than that of Seattle’s.
To get a win on this night and end Dallas’ six-game streak, Seattle needed some opportunistic scoring to go with a stout defensive effort. The Kraken did play well in their end and got solid goaltending from Joey Daccord, who made 27 saves on the night.
“Joey played a good game,” Hakstol said. “The first goal is a face-off goal, it’s a high tip, and that’s a real tough play for a goaltender, with where that’s tipped from. Obviously, the power-play goal against, we’re in our right spots, but unfortunately we give it right to the guy that’s very good in that area.”
But while the defense and goaltending was decent, the offense never came alive at the other end, and the Kraken managed just 0.95 expected goals, good for 24 percent of the shot quality.
Jake Oettinger has been rolling pretty well over his last five games, and when an all-world goalie like him is on, it’s going to take more than 17 shots to beat him.
Takeaway #2: Really? A game misconduct?
Adam Larsson’s hit on Chris Tanev 19 seconds into the third period earned him a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. The initial call on the ice was five and a game for boarding, and after the officials reviewed it, they changed the call to five and a game for elbowing.
Adam Larsson was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing on this play. It was initially called boarding, then reviewed and switched to elbowing.
Now, call us crazy, but we’ve watched this several times, and we really don’t see contact between Larsson’s elbow and Tanev’s head, which—to us—would be the only thing that would have warranted that steep of a penalty.
Tanev hustled down the tunnel after, clearly favoring his right arm or shoulder, which got pinned awkwardly between Larsson and the boards. But that doesn’t make it a major penalty. It’s especially puzzling because the referees reviewed the hit with video replay and still made that call, so clearly they saw something that we don’t see.
Hakstol was asked about the call after the game and declined to comment. It was an important moment in the game, though, because Pavelski quickly scored to pad the Dallas lead.
Once the officials made the initial call and reviewed it, they could have knocked it down to two minutes, but being that Pavelski’s goal came just nine seconds into the manpower advantage, the length of the penalty didn’t really matter in the end.
On the plus side, there’s no way Larsson gets supplementary discipline for this, right?
Takeaway #3: Oliver Bjorkstrand with the save of the game
Since there was no offense to speak of in this one for the Kraken, we’ll take this opportunity to admire this incredible save by Oliver Bjorkstrand, which earned him a rare “Save of the Game” honor for a player (i.e., not a goalie).
what save by…*checks notes*…..OLIVER BJORKSTRAND?!!
“I was just kind of there, and it bounced to the left of the goal,” Bjorkstrand said. “[It was] just kind of a desperation save, so yeah, lucky it hit me.”
Sure, it’s kind of lucky, but that’s also a great read by Bjorkstrand to recognize that Joey is beaten and to slide perfectly into the far post to rob Jason Robertson. That’s an outstanding save.
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.
