The All-Star break is here for the Seattle Kraken, who had a rough last game before the long hiatus, losing to the lowly San Jose Sharks. The boys talk about what that loss meant and how the up-and-down week could impact the team’s playoff chances.
After lots of Kraken talk, the guys go Down on the Farm, then do some shaming.
They also talk about the disturbing allegations and the five Canadian players from the 2018 WJC getting charged.
Finally, segments include Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
Tuesday was a tough night for Kraken fans, who watched their team mostly dominate the first 40 minutes against the bottom-dwelling San Jose Sharks, but a scoreless first two periods left the Seattle faithful feeling uneasy. If you watched that game rooting for the visitors, you knew what was coming in the third period.
Indeed, Marc-Edouard Vlasic broke through with a seeing-eye shot from the left point at 7:27 of the third period, bringing devastation and big reactions from across Kraken Nation. In the end, Seattle sent 32 pucks toward goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, finding zero offensive success on the night and getting shutout for the fifth time this season.
It WAS a trap!
The Kraken should have listened to Admiral Ackbar.
Every indication entering this game pointed toward Tuesday being a trap game for the Kraken. It was the last game before a long break, and Seattle’s players surely had their minds at least partially wandering to the vacations they had planned (well, except Oliver Bjorkstrand, who famously had to cancel his trip to San Diego in favor of a visit to Toronto for the NHL All-Star Game).
Mix in an almost empty building, an assumption the Kraken would win, and recent memories of the last time Seattle played San Jose (a 7-1 bloodbath after which the Sharks left Climate Pledge Arena feeling embarrassed), and you just knew this game could go in the wrong direction.
Coach Dave Hakstol acknowledged after Seattle’s win over Columbus on Sunday that bringing full focus would be important for the game Tuesday, and we do think the players brought a decent effort. It wasn’t the best they’ve had all season, but it was enough to beat San Jose most nights. Still, they didn’t do enough to get inside and get Blackwood moving in his goal crease, and the result was an uninspiring offensive performance.
Sure, the Sharks are one of the worst teams in the NHL, but they’re also professional hockey players who came into Tuesday with a chip on their shoulder. They defended well and got great goaltending, and the Kraken didn’t have a strong enough performance to break through.
Stay the course
So what should we feel about this dreadful loss? Is it truly time to jump ship and call for an organizational fire sale? Should Seattle cut ties with players on expiring contracts and play the Shane Wrights, Ryker Evanses, and Ryan Wintertons of the world?
Our short answers to each of the three questions above are, “Angry for now, but move on,” “No,” and “No.”
Kraken fans should be incensed about the outcome of that game, but it is not yet time to jump ship, and it is not yet time to sell off veteran players for draft capital. The Kraken’s playoff chances are hanging by a thread, but one game (or even a handful of games) does not an 82-game season make.
As terrible as that game felt—and don’t get us wrong, it was terrible to lose to the Sharks on a night when the Kraken just had to have the two points—it didn’t do that much damage to the team’s playoff outlook. It was a massive missed opportunity because the Kraken could have jumped back to level in the standings with Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Nashville, who all have 54 points (worth noting, the Kraken and Predators have each played 50 games, whereas the Blues have played 49, and the Kings have played just 47). But, it certainly didn’t eliminate Seattle from contention, and a lot can happen in Seattle’s remaining 32 games.
We aren’t trying to sugarcoat the loss; it was bad, horrendous, painful… whatever negative adjective you want to use to describe it, it was that. But it didn’t cost Seattle the season.
Hakstol talked us off the ledge
Every now and then, Hakstol’s level-headed approach to media availability is just what Kraken fans and media need. Even I—a perpetual optimist about the team’s chances—was ready to throw in the towel after that loss.
But when asked if he wants his players to spend the break dwelling on this performance, Hakstol guffawed and put things into perspective. He said Seattle lost a hockey game to a group that worked their tails off and defended hard, and the Kraken were disappointed to have lost. But did he want the team to sulk about the loss during their time away from the rink?
“We’ve worked extremely hard over the last couple of months, digging in and doing some good things to put ourselves in a position [to compete for a playoff spot]… It’s a sprint to the finish from there. It’s a 32-game playoff hunt, and for that, I want our guys to wash this pretty quickly, get a little bit of rest, and come back with a great mindset.”
He also used the phrase “control our own destiny,” which the Kraken can still do, even after this inconsistent stretch of play since Seattle’s 13-game point streak ended on Jan. 15.
Post-break games are pivotal
So we aren’t ready to jump ship yet, and the Kraken front office shouldn’t be cutting any ties either. But… BUT… the games after the All-Star pause and bye week will be make or break. The Kraken need to get out of the gate hot after this hiatus, or the time to sell will creep up very quickly.
Thinking back to last season, the Kraken were starting to sputter, having won eight in a row, then dropping four of their last seven before this break. But they won the last game before the All-Star Game, 3-1 over Columbus and went away with good feelings.
They exited the break with a five-game road trip to the East Coast (similar to what they face starting on Feb. 10 this season) and stunk, dropping four of five on the trip and seven out of 10 from Feb. 7 to Feb. 26. If the Kraken do something similar after the break this season, they will be cooked. So, those games on the other side are critical.
How are you feeling, folks? What’s your response to Elmo?
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 Kraken have earned five out of a possible six points in their last three games and have a good opportunity to conclude the schedule before the break with two points against San Jose on Tuesday night.
The team has looked dominant at times over the latest stretch of games but has not put a complete effort together. Ironically, the best game of the three was probably against St. Louis, where the Kraken held a two-goal lead late in the second period but eventually lost in overtime.
Kraken lines
When Andre Burakovsky returned from injury, coach Dave Hakstol eased him into the lineup by placing him on the fourth line. He has been doing the same thing with Matty Beniers since his return from injury on Friday. It will be interesting to see how the lines shake out after the break.
Before the injury that forced him out for several games, Matty looked good on the top line, but the current top trio of Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Tomas Tatar has been humming. They have scored six goals over the last three games, roughly 50 percent of the Kraken’s goals over that span. I doubt Hakstol would change anything on the Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Eeli Tolvanen line, so that leaves very few pieces to shuffle in the lineup.
I have always liked seeing Alex Wennberg centering Andre Burakovsky. They look comfortable, but I have not noticed sustained offensive pressure from that line. Burakovsky has missed a lot of hockey over the last year and still hasn’t really hit his stride, but there have been moments over the last week where he’s looked close to breaking out.
Squandered a point or three
On the surface, the loss against St. Louis looks like a squandered point, but it was really a three-point swing. The Kraken dominated play for most of the game, but they kept the Blues around when they could have put them away earlier in the match. Had Seattle closed it out in overtime, the Kraken would have 53 points in the standings right now, and the Blues would have 52. Instead, the Kraken have 52 points, and St. Louis has 54. That is a three-point difference. And, heck, if they had closed the Blues out in regulation, St. Louis would only have 50!
Other Musings
Since convincing myself that face-offs do not matter last week, the Kraken have won the face-off battle in two out of the last three games. They won both of those games, but face-offs still don’t matter.
The Kings’ decline has been fascinating to see. They will turn it around at some point, but with a win Tuesday, the Kraken will tie the Kings in standings points.
There is a metric I look at from time to time called “net goals.” I define net goals as “goals for minus goals against, excluding all empty-net goals.” I looked at several seasons of data and determined that a team with a “net goals” value of zero for the season has a 60-percent chance of making the playoffs. Here is the running total of net goals for the season for the Kings and the Kraken.
The New York Islanders (.529) and Florida Panthers (.519) had a points percentage just below the current Seattle Kraken (.531) percentage at this time last season and both made the playoffs. This playoff hunt is going to be very stressful. I can’t wait.
This is the latest in a season the Seattle Kraken have a better points percentage at home (.542) than on the road (.520). Last season, they were better on the road than at home the entire season.
The Kraken could really do themselves a favor during the month of March by establishing a true home-ice advantage. They have 10 home games and four road games in the month of March.
Whenever I say anything critical about Tye Kartye, he goes out and scores a goal or two, so here it goes… Kartye has mostly met my expectations this year, but offensively, he has been cold of late. It would be nice to see him produce, especially with Matty as his center.
The loss of Jaycob Megna on waivers puts the Kraken in a little bit of a tough spot with no defensive depth other than Evans, who they would probably prefer to see playing games versus healthy scratch. Seattle does have right-shot Cale Fleury waiting in the wings if needed.
Evans has not played since Jan. 21 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. I would expect him to be sent down over the All-Star break and bye week. Coachella Valley plays three games in four days this week. What Seattle does with its defense after the break will be interesting.
We have talked about the Kraken’s pending unrestricted free agents a lot lately. Assuming he still wants to play in Seattle, I could see Jordan Eberle signing an extension before the season is done. He has a six-game point streak with nine points over that stretch.
Player performance
Jared McCann – Has six goals and 13 points over the last nine games. He has been a key contributor in the Kraken’s success as of late.
Shane Wright – Wright has nine points in his last eight games playing for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Maybe the Kraken brass knows what it is doing by letting him develop in the AHL this season.
Scott Ratzlaff – Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Scott Ratzlaff saved 96 of 100 shots he faced in back-to-back games this week, including 62 of 63 in a 3-1 win over the Everett Silvertips on Saturday. Math tells me that was a .960 save percentage. He was named the WHL Goalie of the Week. Ratzlaff was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
Chart of the Week
One of the keys to the Kraken’s success lately has been special teams (power play and penalty kill). They are not overly dominant on either of them, but they have been good in both categories. Here is a look at the team’s power play and penalty kill over their last 20 games.
What I love about this play is how quickly he gets his shot off.
The week ahead
There is only one Kraken game before the All-Star break/bye week, and that is Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. Seattle is playing relatively well right now, so the expectation is they will come away with a win, but any team can beat any team in the NHL.
The Sharks are tied for last in the league with 30 points in 49 games, but they have wins against Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and the New York Rangers. Coach Dave Hakstol seemed to know that the team could be walking into a trap in his post-game media availability after the Columbus game on Sunday night, saying “We have one game left before a long break, so we have to get our heads completely focused on that job and make sure that we are ready to go for a real competitive 60 minutes.”
A win against the Sharks will (at least temporarily) put the Kraken tied in points with at least one of the current wild-card teams.
With the break coming up, it is a great time to assign me some research work. If you have any suggestions for areas you want me to dig into, please leave your thoughts in the comments.
Phew! The Kraken made that one harder than they needed to, but they escaped with a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday and got themselves back within two points of a playoff spot with one game left before the All-Star break.
“We were disappointed to lose the point the other night [against St. Louis], but we came back and got the two points tonight that were critical,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Anything less, we’d be walking out of this building tonight not feeling very good about ourselves.”
Thanks to two goals and an assist by Jordan Eberle and a goal and an assist by Jared McCann in the first period, Seattle was able to squeak through a nerve-wracking third.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken win over the Blue Jackets.
Takeaway #1: Nice night for the top-line players
Since Matty Beniers got hurt the last time these two teams met, Jared McCann has been centering the top line between Tomas Tatar and Jordan Eberle and continues to do so now that Beniers is back.
That trio connected for the second goal of the game Sunday, after Tatar took advantage of a pinching Damon Severson at the defensive blue line, then hit Eberle with a stretch pass to create a 2-on-1.
MCCANN CAN! 🚨
It started with a steal inside the D-zone blue line by Tomas Tatar, who hit Jordan Eberle with a stretch pass to spring the 2-on-1. Jared McCann with a great finish.
McCann had two goals last time these teams played each other.
Tatar and Eberle have been great together ever since Tatar’s acquisition from Colorado, and Hakstol seems to really be liking the combination with McCann in the middle.
“They’re continuing to produce, especially on the offensive side,” Hakstol said. “They’ve done a pretty good job defensively, so we’ve liked the line and stayed with the line.”
In their last six games together (they’ve played seven in total, but we’re excluding that miserable 3-0 loss in Pittsburgh on Jan. 15), Eberle and McCann each have four goals and five assists, and Tatar has four points (2-2—4).
Now, with his hot streak continuing, McCann again has 20 goals on the season after scoring 27 in 2021-22 and 40 last season. Remember, the most he had ever scored in his career prior to arriving in Seattle was 19, so he has now topped that in all three seasons with the Kraken. It’s amazing what opportunity can do for a skilled NHL player.
“[Goals] come and they go, right?” McCann said. “You’re going to be hot one minute, and the next, you’re not. I’m just trying to be as consistent as possible, whether it be… do something defensively, or… it’s not always about scoring goals.”
As for Eberle, he too has heated up nicely after a dismal start to the season in which he notched just three points in his first 12 games. The veteran forward has been producing in spurts since then and has found the scoresheet more frequently of late.
“We need that offensive spark and production that he’s providing for us,” Hakstol said. “We would have loved to have it a couple of months ago, but we’re real happy to have it right now from him.”
Takeaway #2: Things got hairy
Here’s how the game played out:
First period, Kraken are in control.
Second period, Kraken are getting a little lackadaisical, but whatever, it’s still 3-0.
Third period, Kraken are no longer in control, and oh my God, what are they doing? They’re going to give this away, aren’t they?
Thankfully for Kraken fans, that last bullet didn’t quite play out in full, but there was an uncomfortable familiarity to this game after Yegor Chinakhov scored his second goal of the third period at 15:58 and pulled Columbus back within one goal.
“We kind of let the game slip away a bit,” McCann said. “We got on our heels and kind of let them take control of the game, and we can’t do that.”
Of course, this was one game after the Kraken dominated most of the second period against St. Louis and grabbed a 3-1 lead, only to fritter it away and ultimately lose 4-3 in overtime. So, alarm bells were ringing when the Blue Jackets got it to 3-2.
“I just thought we got a little sloppy,” Eberle said. “We started to give them pucks in the middle, and they started transitioning on us with great speed. That’s a good hockey team over there. I know that obviously everyone looks at the record, but they’ve got some healthy guys who’ve had injury problems all year. And they got some guys back and they’re rolling, and we gave them an opportunity to get back in this game.”
Indeed, there were mistakes made that led to the goals, like Vince Dunn sending a stretch pass onto the tape of Severson, which eventually gave Chinakhov his first goal (comically, we could hear Dunn yell, “F***!” after he turned it over). On his second, the Kraken won a neutral-zone face-off, but then Alex Wennberg and Jamie Oleksiak seemed to both think the other was going to pick up the loose puck, and instead, Chinakhov took it, cruised to the slot, and sniped.
Seattle got away with the letdown in the end, but Eberle was right that things needed to be tighter down the stretch of this game.
Takeaway #3: Holding on for dear life
The last few minutes of a one-goal hockey game are always so beautifully dramatic. In this one, Daniil Tarasov went off to give Columbus an extra skater with 2:26 remaining, and the next 2:13—until Brandon Tanev hit an empty-net goal to seal it—were hold-onto-your-butt intense.
With the 5-on-6 disadvantage, the Kraken did well to keep any shooting opportunities to the outside, despite Adam Larsson breaking his stick. And with the game on the line, Yanni Gourde came up with a massive, loud block on Severson.
“Yanni made a great play, obviously, to block that shot, and he’s been doing that for a long time,” McCann said. “So, yeah, he does the little things right.”
Added Hakstol on how the team closed the game, “We did a good job in that sense… 30 minutes before that, you’d like to affect the game so you don’t have to put yourself in that situation. But when push comes to shove, at the end of the day, the two groups that we used in the situation at 5-on-6… they did a good job. They did the things that we needed to have done.”
Now, with the All-Star break dancing in the heads of the players, the Kraken will head to San Jose for a game they simply have to win.
“The reality is we have one game left before a long break,” Hakstol said. “So we have to get our heads completely focused on that job, make sure that we’re ready to go for a real competitive 60 minutes.”
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 January nearing a close, Everett and Portland are continuing to solidify themselves as two of the teams to beat down the stretch in the WHL. The top teams in the U.S. Division are getting hotter and hotter, and with a little under two months left in the regular season, the time to be hot is now.
Everett Silvertips
What a second half it’s been for the Everett Silvertips so far, as they have gained sole possession of first place in the Western Conference, thanks in large part to their current eight-game win streak. It’s been a streak full of high-danger scoring chances and key players emerging at the right time.
One of their more notable performances of late was their match last Friday with Spokane, a night which saw the Silvertips put up 11 goals on Chiefs goalies Cooper Michaluk and Dawson Cowan, shooting a ridiculous 32.3 percent on the night. 13 Silvertips players tallied points, with Ben Hemmerling (VGK), Austin Roest (NSH), Dominik Rymon, Jesse Heslop, and Tarin Smith each notching three or more points that night. Hemmerling has thoroughly impressed over the last seven games, with six goals and nine assists, and him sporting a 17.1 percent shooting percentage.
The Tips have been simply dominant throughout this stretch, as they’ve outscored opponents 45-16, nearly doubling opponents in shots on goal with them averaging 44 shots a game, versus seeing only 23 shots against. They most recently extended their streak on Wednesday night in Kelowna where they took down the Rockets, 4-3 as Carter Bear scored in the final minutes to seal the victory.
This streak has turned some heads nationally, as the Silvertips made an appearance at No. 7 in this week’s CHL Top 10. Everett has a great opportunity to extend their streak even further, with their next five games coming against teams in fringe playoff contention.
Portland Winterhawks
Still racing with the Silvertips, and arguably just as hot as Everett, are the Portland Winterhawks, who are 8-1-1-0 over their last 10 games. Plenty of their success is due in large part to Gabe Klassen and James Stefan, combining for 29 points across their last 10 games.
Portland was aided by their deadline acquisition coming in hot, as Nate Danielson (DET) officially debuted as a Portland Winterhawk on Jan. 17. The ninth overall selection in 2022 immediately made an impact in his first game by tallying a goal and an assist against the Kelowna Rockets, showing off some of the flash that the Winterhawks were hoping to get out of him.
Danielson contributed yet again with an assist in Portland’s 3-2 win over Tri-City on Friday, and he now has points in each of his first four games with the Winterhawks thus far (2-3=5). Portland sits in second place in the U.S. Division, only four points behind division-leading Everett with four games in hand.
The Wenatchee Wild continue to be steady, even after their deadline overhaul, keeping pace in third place. A few marks behind them are Spokane and Tri-City. The Highway 395 rivals sit in eighth and ninth in the Western Conference, both within a point of each other for that final wild card spot. Then there’s Seattle who continues to be lackluster, going 2-8-0-0 over their last 10 games and sitting six points behind Spokane, good for last place in the U.S.
CHL Top Prospects Game
It’s always an exciting time of year when the CHL invites many of their top prospects, most of them ready to hear their names called at the NHL Draft this summer, to its showcase event at the Kubota CHL Top Prospects Game. This year, the event was held at Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick. A handful of players from the U.S. Division made the voyage eastward.
A couple goaltenders made appearances with Spokane’s Dawson Cowan (N.A. goaltenders: #5) and Tri-City’s Lukas Matecha getting invites (N.A. goaltenders: #9). Only two skaters from the U.S. attended the event, with Spokane’s Berkly Catton (N.A. skaters: #9) and Everett’s Julius Miettinen (N.A. skaters: #49) skating for each side. Catton served as captain for Team White.
The day before the game, the event featured a few on-ice tests for prospects to show off some of their skills. Catton did well in the agility drills they held, placing third among WHL attendees with weave agility with a puck, first in transition agility, and third in transition agility with a puck. Miettinen tested well with speed drills, most notably placing first in the 30 meter forward test.
Both netminders were solid in their half-game showings on Wednesday, with Cowan on Team White stopping 16 of 17 faced, while Matecha shut the door on all 19 shots he saw for Team Red. Matecha and Miettinen for Team Red wound up winning over Team White, 3-1. Miettinen had just one assist. Kelowna Rockets forward Tij Iginla won the game’s MVP.
Reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, the CHL plans to remake this event to include NCAA players, with them facing off against the CHL’s best.
CHL News – sounds like last night's CHL/NHL Top Prospects game will be the final one. Look for the event to be replaced with a two-game series between the best prospects in the CHL vs the best prospects in the U.S.
The Seattle Kraken went defense heavy in the later parts of the 2023 NHL Draft, as they looked to find more future offensive production from their back end. With 13 points in his last 10 games, including a goal and an assist in Wednesday night’s game against Everett, Kelowna defenseman and Kraken third-round choice Caden Price is starting to become that and more, as he’s making a name for himself as an elite first-pair defender in the WHL.
Header photo courtesy Brian Liesse, Seattle Thunderbirds.
It was right there. In arguably the biggest game of the season to date, the Seattle Kraken had the Blues on the ropes and could have delivered a knockout blow in the second period. But St. Louis fought back from 3-1 down, tied the game early in the third period, and defeated Seattle 4-3 in overtime on the back of Pavel Buchnevich, who scored both the tying and the game-winning goals.
“It’s a tough point to lose,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “We played hard, we played a pretty good hockey game. We obviously would like to capitalize on one or two good opportunities that we had, and that can maybe change the game when it’s a one- or a two-goal game.”
Getting one point out of the game is ok, but when you’re neck and neck with a team for playoff positioning, and you give yourself a chance to win the game, you need to win the game. That loss is a tough pill to swallow.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 overtime Kraken loss to the Blues.
Takeaway #1: It turned with a penalty
The Kraken dominated the first 13 minutes of the second period in a way we haven’t seen them dominate a period all season. The ice was tilted, plenty of shots were being fired at Jordan Binnington, and Seattle cashed in with two beautiful tic-tac-toe goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen.
BJORK-JAM! 🚨
That is, as they say, hockey baby.
Wennberg looked like he had run out of room, but shows his incredible vision to find Bjorkstrand in the slot. Power-play goal.
At that point, with the score 3-1 Seattle, we still had this sneaking suspicion that the game was far from over. Not to toot my own horn, but I said aloud, “They need to get one more here, while they’re dominating. It won’t last.”
The Kraken did not get one more, and indeed, the game turned on its ear with a penalty by Will Borgen at 13:17 of the second period. With star of the game Buchnevich driving into Seattle’s end, Borgen leaned on him and fell. Buchnevich stepped on Borgen’s stick and went down, drawing a tripping penalty.
Robert Thomas then tipped a Scott Perunovich shot on the power play, and suddenly St. Louis—which looked dead in the water for most of the period—had life.
“Obviously that’s a turning point,” Hakstol said. “They get back within one. Their power play is going pretty good right now, and we missed an opportunity at a clear. We had an opportunity to clear that puck with about 45 seconds to go in that kill, and we weren’t able to get the puck out and get it 200 feet [from our net].”
Seattle had another chance to bury the game with the score at 3-2, but Jaden Schwartz—playing in career game No. 700 against his old team—put his shot off the outside of the net.
OH! Schwartz got what looked like a sure goal, but he put it off the outside of the net. pic.twitter.com/8YPQQH0FXz
The Blues came out with a hard forecheck in the third period, and Buchnevich tied the game. He then got the winner in overtime off a cross-crease pass by Brayden Schenn.
Takeaway #2: Oliver Bjorkstrand had a big night
A big reason the Kraken were so dominant in the second (before the penalty) was NHL All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand. He was everywhere on the ice, and his reunited line with Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde was buzzing.
Bjorkstrand got the finish on Seattle’s stunning passing play off a power-play rush at 3:55 of the second, after a great setup by Alex Wennberg. He then created Tolvanen’s goal three minutes later by sneaking up behind Perunovich and lifting his stick to steal the puck.
The forward finished the night with a goal and an assist and five shots in 18:03 of ice time.
“When [Bjorkstrand is] hunting the puck the way that he is, his stick becomes so effective,” Hakstol said. “If he’s moving his feet on pucks… I mean, I don’t know how many strips he had tonight, but he had some big ones.”
Takeaway #3: The band is back together
With Vince Dunn and Philipp Grubauer both activated off injured reserve prior to Seattle’s 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, the Kraken inched closer to full health. Only Matty Beniers and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare remained out at that point, but we knew Beniers was getting close (Bellemare still has some distance to cover before he can return).
On Friday, all indications pointed toward a return for the reigning Calder Trophy winner, and indeed, he did return to the lineup against the Blues.
“He’s done all the work to be back in the lineup,” Hakstol said. “He’s worked very hard and taken all the necessary steps. If anything, we’ve taken an extra day or two, and that’s what you do in these situations to make sure a player is ready to come back. I liked his game tonight.”
Since Beniers went out, Jared McCann has excelled in Matty’s usual spot between Tomas Tatar and Jordan Eberle. Hakstol kept that trio together Friday and opted to ease Beniers back in on a fourth line between Tye Kartye and Brandon Tanev, though Beniers ended up with higher-than-fourth-line minutes at 15:37.
Every Kraken player was over 12 minutes of ice time Friday, which indicates Seattle is back to rolling four lines. That’s a good sign for the team moving forward.
Now, if only they can stay healthy…
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.
In a recent interview, Seattle Kraken content contributor and Emmy-winning journalist Alison Lukan asked Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis for his impressions about this year’s Coachella Valley Firebirds beyond what we could find on a stat sheet. Francis answered by pointing to a youth movement.
Probably the biggest thing I think is that we were one of the oldest teams in the league last year, maybe top three oldest teams in the league. This year, we’re one of the younger teams. (We have) a lot of young players. It’s a very good league and you start throwing 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids into that league and it’s challenging.
So the fact that they’ve not only been able to tread water, but excel has been exciting for us to watch.
In October, we noted that last year’s Firebirds team was the fifth-oldest team in the AHL according to data tabulated by Elite Prospects. At the time we eagerly anticipated the beginning of a youth movement with several 2022 drafted players (plus Shane Wright and Logan Morrision) arriving in the AHL for the first time. But we noted that it would be two more years before the “prospect pipeline” was full, and the team still projected to be 10th oldest in the AHL according to Elite Prospects.
At the midway point in the season, and in light of Francis’s comments, we thought it would be a good time to check in on Seattle’s young players in Coachella Valley and how the team’s depth stacks up against the rest of the league.
First, we looked at the average age of the players on all AHL rosters. We used age and game data from Elite Prospects to calculate an average roster age weighted by games played. We found that the Firebirds are the 15th-youngest team in the AHL, almost precisely in the middle of the 32-team league. The newly “independent” Chicago Wolves were (by far) the oldest team, as might be expected since they are not drawing on a prospect pool in the same way as other teams.
So, it seems the Firebirds aren’t one of the league’s youngest teams. But average age of an AHL roster is probably less indicative of whether the team is cultivating young talent than the number of games played by true developmental-age prospects–players young enough to still be on the ascent in their expected production curves.
For the purpose of this exercise I used “under 22” as my cutoff. (If a player was 21 at any point during the 2023-24 AHL season, I counted them as “under 22.”) This is a somewhat arbitrary cutoff, but it aligns with aging curves, as well as Francis’s reference to “19-, 20-, 21-year-old kids.”
Here are the Firebirds that qualify:
The list and production seems solid, headlined by Seattle’s No. 1 prospect, Shane Wright, but let’s put it in context. First, let’s take a look at how the games played by these players stacks up around the AHL (based on data pulled mid-week last week).
Here, we start to see what Francis was getting at. While the Firebirds are in the middle of the pack (tied for 13th) in terms of total number of U22 players with at least one game played, Coachella Valley has the fifth-most total games played by U22 players. Now, let’s take a look at where the team’s U22 players rank in terms of point production in the AHL.
The Firebirds have the fourth-most points scored by U22 players in the AHL. Broken down further to show goal scoring specifically, we see that the Firebirds’ young players have been racking up points more than all but a few teams.
In an effort to account for team context, I also calculated the percentage of a team’s total scoring point production that had been scored by U22 players. I found that Coachella Valley’s U22 players accounted for the fifth-highest percentage of a team’s total scoring. Another way of looking at this is to compare scoring points by U22 players versus the scoring points by the remainder of an AHL team:
Here we see that Coachella Valley’s 22-and-older players are scoring in the bottom half of the league, whereas, again, the young players are among the league’s most productive.
I was curious if the Firebirds’ young players skewed toward the older end of the U22 age range but found that the opposite was true. Among U22 players, the Firebirds group was the sixth-youngest on average.
Finally, I wanted to know how these young players were performing beyond just their scoring points. Unfortunately, the AHL does not make game event data available to the public, so play-related analytics are very hard to come by. One crude measure, on-ice plus-minus, is calculable though. It has many flaws as a statistic, but it does tell us something (at least directionally) about how these players are faring when they’re on the ice. The results are certainly interesting.
Here, we see that the Firebirds U22 players are right there at the top of the league in cumulative plus-minus. In other words, the Firebirds aren’t struggling while these young players are on the ice; to the contrary. In fact, if we compare U22 cumulative plus-minus against the cumulative plus-minus of the remainder of the team, we find that the young players are on the ice for much of the Firebirds’ positive play.
There are certainly confounding factors, such as quality of competition and quality of teammates that I’d like to analyze but can’t, given the available data. In any event, these results are at least consistent with the conclusion that Seattle’s U22 players are not only scoring, they are delivering a two-way game at the AHL level.
While the results are encouraging, we would caution against interpreting these results as a type of “ranking” of team U22 prospect pools, though. Of course, this doesn’t capture players playing in junior or foreign leagues. And, most importantly, it doesn’t capture the best U22 players who have already established themselves at the NHL level. For example, if Shane Wright had proven he was ready for the NHL last year, he likely wouldn’t be in the AHL and accumulating statistics as a U22 player for the Firebirds.
(As an aside, we tested what the production of each AHL roster would be if we assumed the highest-producing U22 AHL player on each team were on an NHL roster instead, and the Firebirds still measured up favorably. The Firebirds would have the third-most U22 points in the league in this counterfactual scenario.)
Nevertheless, as Francis said, there is certainly a youth movement afoot in Palm Desert. And there is reason to be excited about what those players might do in a Kraken uniform in the years to come.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
The dreadful Chicago Blackhawks were just what the doctor ordered for the skidding Seattle Kraken, who played a less-than-perfect game Wednesday but cruised to an easy 6-2 victory.
The win ended a four-game losing streak for Seattle, reignited its offense (at least for one night), and was even a step in the right direction in terms of the group’s health.
“You look at the game, and it’s not a clean game,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “But I liked some of the maturity that we showed at the right moments in the game.”
Added Jordan Eberle, “There are still little details that we need to fix, and Joey [Daccord] was there to make some huge saves today. They had more than enough [chances] to keep pace with us.”
With a leaky Arvid Soderblom in net for Chicago (he has lost 10 straight decisions, and the Blackhawks have not won on the road since NOVEMBER), 12 different Kraken players recorded at least a point, including two goals from Tomas Tatar, a goal and an assist from Jared McCann, and two assists each from Eberle and Justin Schultz.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 6-2 Kraken win over the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1: Joey comes up big
Just when it seemed like Joey Daccord might need a break, he was razor sharp from the jump in this game. It was a good thing, too, because after McCann and Jaden Schwartz each scored within the first 7:12 of the game, the tide turned, and the Blackhawks started pushing.
“I really liked our first 10 minutes, but we got too loose in the last half of the period,” Hakstol said. “As soon as we went up by two, the momentum shifted on Chicago’s power play… We didn’t throw a bucket of water on that quick enough.”
With Tye Kartye in the box, that aforementioned Blackhawks power play was Daccord’s first moment to shine on the night. He came up huge with a glove save on Jason Dickinson, and although Joey Anderson got one by him with a redirect a few minutes later, Daccord made 14 saves in the opening stanza to help his team get to the room with a lead.
JOEY! JOEY! ⛔️
A couple huge saves by Daccord, including a pretty glove save.
Then some shenanigans between Will Borgen and Friend of the Pod, Ryan Donato. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Irj9HL8433
Thankfully for the Kraken, the Blackhawks came out and scored on themselves 15 seconds into the second period, and from there, the game was on the rails.
While Joey’s save on Dickinson in the first was key, he also directly contributed to a Kraken goal in the third period by stonewalling former Kraken and Friend of the Pod™️ Ryan Donato on a 2-on-0 rush. Eberle retrieved the puck, hit Tatar with a stretch pass for a breakaway, and Tuna dashed in and scored his first of two third-period goals just 10 seconds after Daccord’s save.
“[Daccord] made some crucial saves, one on a PK, which was a great glove save,” Tatar said. “Then on the breakaway… he’s just very steady for us, which is awesome. He’s just giving us a lot of confidence.”
Takeaway #2: Tatar and Eberle working well
Where would this Kraken team be without the acquisition of Tomas Tatar from the Avalanche on Dec. 15? Down on his luck in Colorado, Tatar cost general manager Ron Francis practically nothing to bring him in, and the veteran winger has proven to be a perfect fit for Seattle.
Since the day he arrived, Tatar has had obvious chemistry with Eberle, and together with Matty Beniers for a stretch and now McCann, the duo has worked together like spaghetti and meatballs.
“I mean, he’s a smart player,” Eberle said of Tatar. “He sees the ice well, he hangs onto it, he makes little plays, creates space that way. He’s had a ton of chances to score. It was nice to see him get a couple tonight. So hopefully that keeps it going.”
We agree with Eberle’s sentiments entirely. It’s fascinating to think about what a change of scenery and more opportunity can do for a player sometimes, and Tatar is another prime example of that after Eeli Tolvanen wrote the book on the topic last season. In 27 games with the Avs, Tatar scored only one goal, which came in his second-to-last game before being traded, and averaged just over 11 minutes of ice time.
Since moving to Seattle, Tatar already has five goals and four assists in 16 games and seems to really be enjoying his time in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s been wonderful,” Tatar said. “Since day one, I could feel the support from my teammates and the fans, and I just really feel good and welcome, which was… good for my confidence.”
The boost he’s received from playing with top-liners (and particularly Eberle) has been mutual, as Eberle too has drastically improved since Tuna’s arrival.
“Ebs is a very experienced player,” Tatar said. “He’s played in the game for a long time, he’s very successful, and the great part about it is we are talking a lot on the ice, off the ice, which helps a lot to be and know where we’re at and what we have to do better. We’re not shy to talk about what to do. If something’s wrong, we want to be better every day, and that’s just I think what’s making it so good.”
Takeaway #3: A healthier group
We’re writing this last Takeaway while simultaneously knocking on wood. The Kraken are starting to get healthier. The illness that permeated through the locker seems to have run its course, Vince Dunn and Philipp Grubauer returned Wednesday, and we believe Matty Beniers is very close to returning.
The recent spate of injuries and illnesses certainly contributed to the Kraken’s four-game losing streak and frankly came at a bad time. The team was on such a roll, and then just didn’t have the energy to get through their six-game road trip with positive feelings. Now, things seem to be turning again, and just in time for a weak series of opponents.
The Kraken did apparently dodge a big bullet Wednesday, though, when Dunn blasted a slap shot off Schwartz’s ankle that sent the winger tumbling to the ice in a heap. After crawling for a bit, Schwartz got up and hobbled to the bench and down the tunnel, putting no weight on his left leg.
Welp…
Jaden Schwartz takes friendly fire from Vince Dunn on the left ankle.
