It’s the holiday season, and the Sound Of Hockey guys have gripes. So, in the spirit of Festivus, they air their grievances with one another and beyond on this episode of the SOH Podcast.
Thankfully, the mood around the Seattle Kraken has improved a bit since the team’s eight-game losing streak ended. Plenty of talk about the team’s trade for Tomas Tatar, plus a breakdown of the many injuries Seattle has faced lately.
Segments include Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
With the Winter Classic just 11 days away, we have now seen *almost* all of the gear that will be donned by Seattle Kraken goalies in the NHL’s premier tentpole event, set to be held on Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park.
The only piece of equipment we haven’t yet seen is the mask of Chris Driedger, who wasn’t expecting to be included in the event until Philipp Grubauer went down with a lower-body injury on Dec. 9. It’s becoming more and more likely Grubauer will miss the event, and the fact Driedger has now gotten custom leg pads, glove, and blocker from Vaughn further solidifies our theory that he is expecting to still be with the Kraken on New Year’s Day.
With the exception of that Driedger mask, here is a compilation of all the Kraken goalie gear that we’ve seen, plus my own thoughts on each setup (spoiler alert: I like all of it).
Philipp Grubauer
Let’s start with Grubi’s pads and gloves, which I worry won’t end up seeing the light of day, other than the practice sessions in which he’s already worn them.
Oh, hello Philipp Grubauer’s Winter Classic setup! 👋
Grubauer went with a primarily brown True setup with deep sea blue, ice blue, and red alert trim in the knee rolls and around the logo plates on the gloves. It’s barely visible in the pictures, but on the outer sides of the pads and on the back of the gloves, Grubauer went with a lighter hue of brown that’s closer to the cream color in Seattle’s Winter Classic jerseys.
I like the look in general, but the real showstopper here is Grubauer’s mask, painted by DaveArt.
Here’s Philipp Grubauer’s #WinterClassic mask. Shoutout to @AlisonL for holding the mask. Outstanding work.
It’s a similar layout to Grubauer’s default mask that he has worn for much of the last two seasons, but it’s far more colorful than his mostly white lid he often uses. My favorite part of this mask is the offset “Seattle” word mark, which emulates but doesn’t directly copy the lettering on Seattle’s Winter Classic crest.
I’m on record stating that I’m over the brown look for outdoor hockey games, and in fact, I stated that on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, only for Grubauer to show up at practice THE NEXT DAY wearing an all-brown setup.
BUT… I will make an exception on this set. Seeing it all in person, this is a sharp look. The pops of color give just enough modernity to make this setup clean and unique.
Joey Daccord
Joey took a slightly different tack in designing his gear, going with a more modern look and a simple variation from his typical setup. Effectively, he took the same True layout he normally wears, but replaced the white sections with the cream color that will be featured on the Kraken Winter Classic jersey.
I’m thrilled to see how this plays with the full stripey getup on the ice. I think this is a fantastic blend of classic coloration in a modern scheme.
Again, it was Daccord’s mask that really blew us away. Painted by his usual artist, Shifty, Daccord opted to place images of six baseball cards of Seattle Mariners players from various eras. On the left, Mariner legends Ichiro, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Edgar Martinez are pictured, while the right side shows images of current players J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodriguez.
How Shifty managed to make those cards look so lifelike is beyond comprehension.
There are a couple nice subtle touches on the mask, too. On the side with past players, there’s a faint, old-school trident ‘M’ Mariners logo at the top, while on the side with the current players, there’s an ‘S’ logo with a compass that is more commonly used by the team now.
As always with Daccord’s masks, Sparky, the mascot of the Arizona State Sun Devils, is hiding in the paint job. In this case, he is peaking out from behind the mountains that are prominently displayed on the top of the mask.
Again, we don’t know what Driedger will end up doing with his mask for the Winter Classic, but he did reveal his pads and gloves on social media, and they are stunning.
There are so many touches with this gear that takes me back to several of the first sets of equipment I wore when I was first learning as a goalie. For example, the very first blocker I wore had those holes all over it that made it look like a waffle iron. I still to this day have not figured out why equipment manufacturers used to put those on blockers, but it’s a neat touch here.
The strapping across the shins is completely superfluous, but again, this is what I had on my early sets of gear, when straps went all the way through the pads and buckled behind the leg.
The toe caps, the red stitching, the use of bold colors… it’s all just… [chef’s kiss]. While I haven’t yet been able to speak with Driedger about his setup, I have to think this order came together relatively quickly. Even so, what he and Vaughn came up with here is truly unique and—in my humble opinion—superb.
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The Kraken goalies have all crushed it with their gear setups for this event. Mix in some elite jerseys, and Seattle’s netminders are guaranteed to dazzle with their looks on the ice on New Year’s Day.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
For the second game in a row, the Seattle Kraken showed resiliency to battle back for a late tying goal, only to come up short in overtime, this time falling 4-3 to the Dallas Stars.
Seattle got off to a terrible start to the game but then turned it on in the second period and began their long fight to get back into it. The uphill struggle culminated with Eeli Tolvanen finding a loose puck with 21.8 seconds left on the clock and snatching the Kraken another loser point in similar fashion to Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings.
ELFIE TOLVANEN!!!! 🚨
WITH 21.8 SECONDS LEFT!
Incredible tenacity by the #SeaKraken with the 6-on-5, keeping the puck in and battling to create a chance.
Tolvanen’s goal came with Joey Daccord pulled for an extra attacker. The Kraken got extended pressure after Vince Dunn kept the play alive at the blue line, and Oliver Bjorkstrand eventually got the exact same look in the top of the slot that allowed him to tie the game against Los Angeles. This time, his shot didn’t go in the net, but it did create chaos at the net front, and that eventually turned into Tolvanen’s equalizer.
“I think it’s a big point for us,” said newcomer Tomas Tatar, who scored his first goal as a Kraken. “At the end of the day, we battled back from a few breakdowns in the first period, which cost us a few goals. But then we battled back, and I think we played well. I think we deserved the point. In overtime, we hit the post, and that’s how thin is the line between winning and losing.”
The injury-ravaged Kraken suffered a couple more blows Monday, with two key players missing the third period. More on that in Takeaway #3.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken overtime loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: An ugly start
Seattle’s execution in the opening 20 minutes was not good, and some bad reads by defensemen got the Kraken behind the eight ball very early in the game.
“The first period was really sloppy,” Tolvanen said. “A lot of misreads, I don’t think we were ready to play today. We gave them some odd-man rushes, 2-on-1’s, half-breakaways, that’s not a recipe against this team.”
The first shot the Kraken allowed against Daccord was a Grade-A scoring chance off a 2-on-1 rush between Matt Duchene (who had two goals and an assist on the night) and Tyler Seguin.
It started because Will Borgen pinched at the offensive-zone blue line without high support from his forwards. That led to the odd-man rush and an easy goal to get things rolling for the Stars.
That's generally not the type of shot you want to give up as the first show you allow.
Bad pinch at the offensive-zone blue line by Will Borgen, and Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin get a 2-on-1 the other way.
Borgen was involved in the second goal against as well, although this one was a little harder to pin on the defenseman. On this one, he tried to cut off a stretch pass to Roope Hintz in the neutral zone, but the two got tangled up and fell. From his knees, Hintz was able to keep the puck moving north, and that sent Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson on another 2-on-1. Robertson got the goal to make it 2-0.
Sheesh. Another odd-man rush for the Stars, and it's in the back of the #SeaKraken's net.
All three forwards were drifting up ice. Borgen fell down in the neutral zone. Jason Robertson got the goal.
On the second goal, we didn’t like the way all three forwards were drifting up the ice.
“We fed them with four or five real good out-numbered opportunities in the first period,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s not the way you want to start in this building against this team, for sure. There were a couple of guys tonight that didn’t start on time and it leads to some of those plays.”
Hakstol has wasted no time in getting Tatar top-six minutes. With Jordan Eberle surprisingly missing from the Saturday game with a lower-body injury, we didn’t get to see how Hakstol would deploy the new winger with Eberle in the lineup. We thought Eberle returning could bump Tatar down, but instead, the coach put the two wingers together on a line with Matty Beniers.
It’s no secret Beniers and Eberle have struggled tremendously for the first (nearly) three months of this season. They entered Monday’s game with just seven combined goals through 32 games, but both looked more dynamic against Dallas, skating on a line with Tatar.
Beniers ended up with a goal and an assist and also had two good looks in overtime that he created all by himself. The first was the one Tatar mentioned earlier that rang off the post, and the second was a wraparound that Scott Wedgewood just barely caught up with in time to thwart Beniers.
“There was a little instant chemistry there,” Hakstol said. “And between those three guys [with] Ebs, what you saw tonight is Matty playing with some speed and his linemates being able to find him with some of that speed from underneath… They had a good night. They worked hard, they generated some offense.”
Both goals scored by the line came off 2-on-1 rushes. Beniers perfectly executed the “pass off the pad” play 30 seconds into the second period, giving Tatar a prime rebound opportunity that he just squeezed through Wedgewood.
SNOWMAS TATAR! ❄️
Mistletoe Matty kisses one off the pad of Wedgewood, and Tatar squeezes the rebound through for his first as a #SeaKraken.
Later in the second, Tatar went for a home run pass that got partially intercepted, but Eberle stole it back and slid it to Beniers. Matty showed some of the finish that has been lacking throughout the season and scored his first goal since Nov. 28.
MERRY MATTY! 🎄
Jordan Elferle steals it just inside the blue line and gets it to Beniers, who now has a goal and an assist.
“He’s a very smart centerman,” Tatar said of Beniers. “He can distribute the puck, Ebs helped us a lot today. I think us three, we were close, supporting each other, and that was a lot of fun to play with those two.”
While Beniers and Eberle seemed to enjoy playing with Tatar, he too has looked good since joining Seattle. Interestingly, it took him 26 games to score his first goal as an Avalanche this season but only two games to score his first goal as a Kraken.
Takeaway #3: McCann and Bellemare injured
For a team that is already without Andre Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz, and Philipp Grubauer, and a team that just had Eberle miss a game, and a team that has seen Brandon Tanev miss significant time, the last thing the Kraken wanted to see was injuries to two more players on Monday.
But neither Pierre-Edouard Bellemare nor top goal scorer, Jared McCann, played in the third period, both suffering lower-body injuries.
The Bellemare injury happened on this shot block on Thomas Harley:
The McCann injury is a bit more mysterious. He was out for a power play with a few minutes left in the second period and looked like himself. He took one little cross check before leaving the ice, but it didn’t look like much. There really was nothing obvious in the shift that screamed “injury” to us.
After the game, Hakstol didn’t give much of an update on either, but he did say this about Bellemare: “Lower-body, again, not available [for the rest of the game]. We know a little bit more there [than on the McCann injury], but we just want to make sure we get it right before we disclose what it is. Looks like [Bellemare] might be a little bit longer period of time.”
So, if we’re correctly reading between the lines there, it indicates to us Hakstol thinks Bellemare’s injury is somewhat serious and will cause him to be out for a while, whereas McCann’s doesn’t sound as significant. Still, the Kraken can’t afford any more injuries, and especially not to their top goal scorer.
Bonus Takeaway: A “learning” moment for Ryker Evans
We have loved the play of Ryker Evans since he got called up on Dec. 5, but we would have liked to see him play the game-winning goal a bit differently. He stuck right with Harley to the far post, but with Harley a left shot and Evans positioned on his right, there wasn’t much he could do to take Harley’s stick away. Evans should have gotten to the other side of Harley and gotten underneath him to lift his stick.
“[Harley] was able to get his stick down and get it available,” Hakstol said. “And in those situations, the guy passing the puck—in that case, Duchene—is just looking for an opportunity when a stick is available on the ice. For sure, there’s a learning and a teaching moment there, and those are experiences that you have to go through.”
Indeed, these are things Evans has to pick up over time, but it’s a shame this lesson had to come on a game-winning goal.
Worth noting, the Kraken now lead the league with nine OT or shootout losses. A few more winners here and there would be swell, but we’ll take the standings point on this night. Since breaking their eight-game losing streak, the Kraken now have points in four straight.
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.
Despite falling behind twice in the third period on Friday in Spokane, the Portland Winterhawks found the answers they needed to force overtime, where they would eventually prevail over the Chiefs thanks to James Stefan etching the overtime winner.
Following the game, I caught up with the newest member of the Portland Winterhawks and Seattle Kraken prospect, Tyson Jugnauth, after he assisted on both the game-tying and game-winning goals.
He walked through his play to find Stefan open for the game-winner. “I had a good stick on the puck,” Jugnauth said. “I saw Stefan open in the high slot, so I tried to get it to him as quick I could, and he made a great play.”
The sequence was an example of Jugnauth’s offensive ability, which didn’t get displayed at the University of Wisconsin as frequently as he wanted. That’s part of the reason he recently changed courses and joined the Portland Winterhawks.
Acquiring his CHL rights just last week from the Kamloops Blazers, the price to get Jugnauth was not cheap for the Winterhawks, as they gave four future WHL Bantam Draft choices to the Blazers. Jugnauth had been playing for the Badgers in the NCAA, but he recently made the decision to leave the Badgers mid-season to join the Winterhawks, becoming one of only a handful of players to move from the NCAA to the CHL in recent history (Charlie Coyle and Jamie Oleksiak are two players that made that switch).
The Winterhawks have acquired the WHL playing rights to Seattle Kraken prospect Tyson Jugnauth (D-’04) from the Kamloops Blazers in exchange for four draft picks. pic.twitter.com/SP5TO0rlFy
As a sophomore, Jugnauth wanted more responsibility with the Badgers, but they weren’t meeting the needs he felt were best for his development. That left him feeling like he wasn’t a priority of theirs.
“Over time, I wanted to get a little bit more of a role and get more ice time with the team,” Jugnauth said. “But that just wasn’t happening.”
The lack of stable and sufficient opportunities led him to look elsewhere for playing time, and Portland was willing to give those opportunities to him.
“I didn’t know if those trends were going to change, so it was either stick it out there or come play in Portland,” Jugnauth said. “It all happened pretty quickly, but it’s been nice how it’s worked out so far.”
The 19-year-old defenseman from Kelowna, British Columbia, had just two assists in 13 games this season at Wisconsin, a total he has already more than doubled in his short time with the Winterhawks. He has five assists in five games played thus far.
Jugnauth was selected in the fourth round (No. 100) by the Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft, to which he added that the close proximity Portland has to Seattle helped him to readjust and re-acclimate himself with hockey in the Pacific Northwest.
“[The Kraken] played a huge part in my decision to play here, with also being closer to my hometown of Kelowna. They’ve been helpful with the transition here as well.”
While he may not be playing for the Badgers anymore, he’s still enrolled in classes at Wisconsin. He says he will begin a full transition to Portland’s education program during the new year. “It’s still going to take some time to get settled in here, but so far it’s been really good.”
The Seattle Kraken just played their best hockey of the season over the second half of this last homestand. Since the last Monday Musings, the team ended its eight-game losing streak and captured five of the possible six points available. This does not eliminate the challenging start to the season, but the Kraken are showing a lot of heart despite the injuries that have racked up.
What is going right?
The penalty kill has been outstanding as of late, and for the month of December, they have the fourth best penalty kill in the league. Here is how they have fared over the season by game.
Additionally, the Kraken are back to getting contributions from up and down the line up. The depth scoring was a big strength for this team last season, so it is encouraging to see it showing up recently. Kailer Yamamoto, Tye Kartye, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare have a collective seven goals over the last six games. Meanwhile, Oliver Bjorkstrand continued to do what he does with three points against the Chicago Blackhawks and this clutch goal on Saturday that forced overtime and locked in that point in the standings for the Kraken.
Finally, they are getting great goaltending from Joey Daccord since Philipp Grubauer went down with an injury during the Tampa Bay game. Over the last four games, Joey is averaging a .954 save percentage with a record of 2-1-1. A contributor to Joey’s success is the team’s ability to limit the high-danger shots against. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Kraken have averaged five ‘high-danger shots against’ over the last three games.
Adding depth Tomas Tatar
The Kraken added Tomas Tatar in a trade with Colorado on Friday. Tatar is a skilled forward that can move up and down the lineup as needed and will be a welcome addition with the injuries to Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky, and now Jordan Eberle. The Kraken got him for a fifth-round draft pick, so the price they paid was minimal. It is not clear how long Schwartz and Burakovsky will be out of the lineup, but Tatar will serve as a nice stopgap in the meantime.
The trade will also provide a great opportunity for Tatar. Before the trade, he was averaging just 11:17 of ice time per game with Colorado. He logged 13:47 on Saturday after landing in Seattle fewer than 24 hours before the game. Tatar signed a one-year deal with Colorado this offseason, so he is also showcasing his worth for a contract for next season.
Other musings
It was not a surprise to see Tatar jump out as one of the first three skaters in the shootout Saturday night. He has a shootout percentage of 30 percent over the last three seasons. That puts him second on the Kraken behind Kailer Yamamoto over that same timespan.
To put a finer point on why limiting the high-danger shots matter, against the Kings on Saturday night, the Kraken allowed six high-danger shots against. Two of them were the goals the Kings scored.
Joey has been great in net over the last three games, including his first career shutout against Florida, but eventually he will need a rest. I imagine we will see Chris Driedger for his 2023-24 debut in one of these three games before the Christmas break.
We saw a couple uncharacteristic and undisciplined penalties on Saturday night, but the Kraken remain one of the most disciplined teams in the league and are tied for the third fewest shorthanded opportunities per game (2.81).
Adam Larsson is set to play his 800th NHL game in his career Monday. Despite playing the fewest games with Seattle compared to the other teams he’s played for, Larsson has scored the most goals with the Kraken than he has with any other team.
In non-shortened NHL seasons since the shootout was instituted in the 2005-06 season, 10 teams had 28 points (Seattle’s current point total) at the 32-game mark of the season. None of them qualified for the playoffs in that season.
In my research for the times the Kraken have been shorthanded, I found that they have the fewest bench minors in the league. They are the only team with zero bench minors.
The IIHF World Junior Championship rosters are pretty much set. The Kraken will have five prospects playing in the tournament: Carson Rehkopf (CAN), Niklas Kokko (FIN), Jani Nyman (FIN), Zeb Forsfjäll (SWE), and Eduard Sale (CZE). I’m looking forward to early morning hockey and coffee during the tournament.
In case you missed it, Seattle Kraken’s fourth-round pick from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Tyson Jugnauth, left Wisconsin a little over a week ago to play for the Portland Winterhawks. Jugnauth has five assists in five games since joining the Winterhawks.
The Kraken and Seattle Thunderbirds announced their game against the Portland Winterhawks on March 17 will be played at Climate Pledge Arena. This is a great opportunity to see junior hockey in a pro venue… plus Tyson Jugnauth.
If you are looking for an authentic Seattle Kraken Winter Classic jersey, you are out of luck. They are virtually sold out, and it does not look like they will be getting any more.
Looking for a customization of a blank winter classic jersey? Those can be done relatively quickly, so long as you don’t want anyone with a “2” in their number. Apparently, there is a six-week backlog for 2’s.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have won four out of their last five games and got great goaltending from Jack LaFontaine with wins in both of his starts and a .914 save percentage in those two games.
In a losing effort, Goaltender Cale Morris made 43 saves on 44 shots in his Firebirds debut.
Player performance
Joey Daccord (SEA) – Posted his first career shutout against Florida and had a .964 save percentage over his three starts in the last week.
Kailer Yamamoto (SEA) – Had three goals in three games over the last week including the opening goal against Florida that would end up being the game winner.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨 #SeaKraken score the first goal of the game for the first time since Nov. 22.
The Kraken did get shutout last Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, but the overall team shooting percentage has been getting better as of late, another contributing factor in Seattle’s recent success.
Goal of the week
The goal of the week comes from the World Junior A Hockey Challenge. Kaden Shahan busts the goalie’s water bottle wide open with this goal.
Shahan is from Everett and played his youth hockey in the Seattle area. He will be playing at the University of Connecticut next season.
The week ahead
As I was leaving Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday night, I could not help listening to the excitement in fans’ voices as they left the arena. Four or five clusters of fans were explaining to each other what they had just witnessed. They were disappointed with the result but there was a sense of bewilderment on the drama and suspense of Seattle’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings. As the love for this sport continues to grow in this market, I couldn’t help but smile thinking about what a great game the fans in the building witnessed.
The Kraken have quite the hole to dig out of if they expect to contend for a playoff position, but in the meantime, I just want to see some good hockey. They have a tough little road trip here with a game against Dallas on Monday, L.A. on Wednesday, and then they will play their final game before the holiday break Saturday at Anaheim.
At this point, the Kraken need to consistently get two-thirds of the points available before we can even hint at contending for a playoff spot. They are playing their best hockey of the campaign right now, though, so let’s see if they can do it.
It is likely Monday Musings will take a brief hiatus with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Mondays this year.
That was close to exactly how we expected Saturday’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken to go. The Kings are known to be a good, structured team with a few star offensive players. They showed their defensive prowess against Seattle, only allowing nine shots through to Cam Talbot in the first 40 minutes, and 18 total in regulation.
“They are a very structured team,” Yanni Gourde said. “We knew that going in, and we saw that all night. I think they’re probably one of the best-structured teams we’ve seen all year. We find a way to get a point there, I just obviously want to win every game.”
The Kraken trailed 2-1 late but capitalized on a power-play opportunity and snagged a point from the jaws of defeat.
It took nine rounds of a shootout to decide this one, and although Kailer Yamamoto, Yanni Gourde, and Matty Beniers all had goals in the skills competition, every time Seattle beat Talbot, the Kings shooters would answer. Eeli Tolvanen missed in Round 9, and Carl Grundstrom scored to decide the game.
“We expect to win,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’re a good team in here too. We played hard from start to finish. One of the keys against that team is not becoming frustrated. They’re outstanding defensively, they play hard, they shut down the middle of the rink, they’re able to breakout with structure and beat your forecheck by a few feet here and there.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a tough-sledding 3-2 Kraken shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Takeaway #1: Another good night for Joey
With Philipp Grubauer on the shelf and the Kraken in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, the team really needed Joey Daccord to step up and play a stretch of solid games as the de facto starter. He has done just that, posting a .954 save percentage in four starts with a 1.25 goals-against average.
On Saturday, he made 36 saves on 38 shots and gave his team every chance—and we mean every chance—to get an unlikely win, but his teammates didn’t reward him.
“Joey did his job,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He played well, really well. I thought he played really well tonight and continued what he’s been doing, and that’s what we needed from him tonight.”
Daccord got peppered with 29 shots through the first two periods before things slowed down for him in the third. On the two goals he allowed, Seattle’s defense hung him out.
On the first, Trevor Moore ended up with the puck on his stick behind all five Kraken players, just a few feet above the crease. It developed quickly, so there wasn’t time for Daccord to slide back with LA’s leading goal scorer, and he was able to deke around Daccord.
On the second, with Will Borgen in the penalty box, Anze Kopitar was able to (again) sneak to the back post with no defensive coverage, and Quinton Byfield found him for an easy tap-in.
Daccord came up especially large in overtime, after Vince Dunn had taken a very undisciplined penalty (more on that in Takeaway #2). A 4-on-3 power play should almost guarantee a goal, but the Kraken’s killers made a bunch of blocks, and any puck that got through got gobbled up by Daccord. He made multiple saves on the manpower disadvantage sliding to his left to cut off one-timers that were heading into the net.
Hakstol seems content riding it out with Daccord right now, and Joey is rewarding him by standing tall nightly.
Takeaway #2: Undisciplined penalties
There were two penalties in this game that would make a viewer question Seattle’s discipline. We didn’t have a problem with the first one (we will explain momentarily), taken by Borgen, but it ended up costing Seattle. Kopitar made it 2-1 on the ensuing power play at 17:16 of the second period.
Borgen’s penalty was an immediate retaliation on Anderson for a crushing (but clean) hit in the neutral zone that flattened Tye Kartye. It happened right in front of Borgen, and his response was to dump Anderson.
This one is tricky, because we know the physical response from Seattle this season has been questioned many times, especially after Kraken players get hurt (Kartye didn’t get hurt on this one). Based on what we’ve seen the last few games, we’re willing to bet there have been conversations inside the dressing room about an immediate physical response when things happen on the ice.
This was a quick decision by Borgen to stick up for his teammate, and it ended up biting him. So, we didn’t dislike the choice to hit Anderson when it happened, although it did put Borgen in the box for two minutes, and Los Angeles made the Kraken pay for the retaliation.
The second penalty, though, a slashing penalty by Vince Dunn in overtime, was unacceptable. He had just been taken down by Drew Doughty in the offensive zone with no call from the officials, so he reacted by taking a big, looping swing at Phillip Danault. It was one of the more obvious penalties Seattle has taken this season.
With the delayed call coming, Dunn swung again at Kevin Fiala and then got his hands up and hit Fiala in the face (we would not be surprised if he gets a fine for the last one). He could have taken three separate penalties on the play, but the referees were kind enough to only give him one.
Oh, no, Vince.
He takes a very undisciplined penalty in OT and frankly could have gotten three penalties on the play. pic.twitter.com/hLeMdalbRo
“That’s out of a little bit of frustration,” Hakstol said. “I thought we took two penalties tonight that we’ll talk about internally, discuss it. There are the two penalties that we don’t want to take. Sometimes you get a little— there’s a frustration that builds when you see a couple of other calls or non-calls. I won’t get into which ones or what it is, bottom line is those things happen during a hockey game, so you have to step down to have the presence of mind to take care of the situation.”
Thanks to a huge penalty kill and some great saves by Daccord, the penalty didn’t end up immediately costing Seattle the game, but it certainly took two minutes of 3-on-3 time off the board, when the Kraken may have had an opportunity to get the win.
Takeaway #3: Power play comes up big
Man, we love the look of Ryker Evans quarterbacking the Kraken power play. In a game when 5-on-5 offense was so incredibly difficult to generate, Seattle needed its power play unit to break through in a key moment. So many times this season, with the Kraken chasing late in a game, they’ve gotten opportunities with a manpower advantage, only to come up empty and lose in regulation.
On Saturday, they broke through with an Oliver Bjorkstrand snipe from the top of the slot after exceptional movement and several chances. It was one of those power plays where it felt like a goal could come at any time, and sure enough, they eventually converted to snatch a standings point at 17:31 of the third.
“The PP went out and executed,” Hakstol said. “They did a nice job, and those are the things you talk about when you go into your power play meeting in the morning is you’re going to execute when it means the most in the game.”
It did mean a lot in that moment, and the Kraken did execute. It would have been better to get the second point, but on a night like that, when things aren’t coming easy, getting to the extra frame and stealing a point is a good consolation prize.
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 Seattle Kraken announced on Friday they had traded for veteran winger Tomas Tatar in a deal with the Colorado Avalanche, sending back a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
The native of Ilava, Slovakia, has played 810 career games with the Detroit Red Wings, Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Colorado Avalanche. Tatar, 33, was in the midst of a down year in Colorado, having posted just one goal and eight assists in 27 games.
But he is a capable winger who has scored 20-plus goals seven different times in his career, including last season with the Devils, when he racked up 48 points (20-28—48). Tatar’s ice time this season with the Avs had dwindled to an average of 11:16 per game, the lowest of his career other than 2010-11, when he was a rookie in Detroit and only played nine games.
Why it works on paper
This is exactly the type of low-risk trade I hoped to see when I officially hit the panic button after a painful 4-2 Kraken loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 4. The loss was—at that time—Seattle’s fifth loss in a row, a skid that would eventually balloon to eight games.
After seeing Seattle lose in such miserable, slow-starting fashion to the Habs, I was convinced something needed to change with the personnel. I wanted to see Kraken management start pulling some levers to get things moving in the right direction.
Sure enough, the Kraken have since called up defenseman Ryker Evans, who has made an immediate positive impact, and now they’ve brought in a guy from outside the organization who should (theoretically) help put the puck in the net and improve the team’s depth.
Even if coach Dave Hakstol utilizes Tatar in a top-six role, that still theoretically makes Seattle’s fourth line better, as a more-skilled player will trickle down the lineup.
A low-risk deal
Economically, it’s an easy dart to throw, too. Tatar’s cap hit is only $1.5 million, he’s on a one-year deal, and he only cost the team a fifth-round pick. So if general manager Ron Francis and his staff think there’s still a chance of getting into the playoffs this season—and Tatar can be that catalyst to help jumpstart the group—then why not pull the trigger on a deal like this?
The worst-case scenario is that Tatar doesn’t produce, even with the change of scenery, and then they don’t re-sign him this offseason. Heck, maybe he plays well for the Kraken, but they still don’t get back into playoff position. Is there a world where they trade Tatar at the deadline and even get a better return than a fifth-round pick?
Remember, last season, the Kraken had a lull around this time of year and made a waiver claim on Eeli Tolvanen (that came on Dec. 12). The day they put the Finnish gunslinger into the lineup was the first day of an eight-game winning streak and a jumping-off point for solidifying a playoff spot.
We aren’t saying Tatar will necessarily have that same impact on the Kraken (again, he hasn’t been performing very well this season offensively), but there is an opportunity for him to come in, get a good look at a top-six role to start, and get handed plenty of scoring opportunities.
Cap gymnastics
With all of Seattle’s injuries this season, the team has gotten itself close to the salary cap. To fit Tatar in, the Kraken intentionally pushed even closer to the $83.5 million limit by temporarily swapping Tye Kartye for Shane Wright on the official roster, then placed Jaden Schwartz on long-term injured reserve.
LTIR allows Seattle to go over the cap by the amount of Schwartz’s salary, minus whatever gap they had between the cap and their total cap hit. So, by getting right to the cap, then moving Schwartz to LTIR, Seattle opened an additional $5.5 million in usable cap space. $1.5 million of that space goes to Tatar, so now the team has $4 million left in its LTIR pool until Schwartz returns. Once Schwartz does return (no timetable for him at this point), the team will have to become cap compliant once again.
After the trade was announced, Marian Studenic was returned to Coachella Valley, also putting Seattle at its 23-player roster limit.
A fine trade
I like this trade. Seattle has just started to show some life after breaking its losing streak and getting two straight wins to create some good feelings. By adding to the group, the front office shows it believes the team can still make it to the postseason.
Tatar historically has been a very good player, but it seems Colorado hasn’t been the right fit for him. If he can regain even some of his offensive prowess with the Kraken, at a low cap hit and on an expiring contract, then this should prove to be a good move.
If he continues to flounder and can’t get it going for the rest of the season, then Tatar inflicts minimal-to-no damage on the team’s longer-term plans.
What do you think of this acquisition, folks?
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.
Only a few games remain before teams in the WHL begin their winter hiatus, and for the Everett Silvertips, there’s no place like home for the holidays.
Everett Silvertips
Everett began a home-and-home with the Vancouver Giants over the weekend, with both teams hosting their annual teddy-bear tosses. Dominik Rymon released the bears on Friday for the Silvertips, sparking the Silvertips to a 4-1 win over the Giants.
Saturday’s pendulum swung back and forth all night, with the Silvertips tying a franchise record with five power-play goals in a game, that being before Ben Hemmerling’s game-winner in the dying minutes sealed a thrilling 8-7 victory. Despite the win, the Silvertips lost co-captain Austin Roest due to a heavy wall collision. He will miss some time.
Fewer goals were scored the following Sunday night with Portland in town. Despite two early goals from the Silvertips, a natural hat trick from James Stefan lifted the Winterhawks, 6-3.
Attempting to avenge the loss the following Wednesday, Everett welcomed the top-ranked Prince George Cougars to Angel of the Winds Arena. While the Cougars did jump out to an early lead, the Silvertips got contributions from everyone, including co-captain Hemmerling, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect, who has had 10 points in his previous four games. Even while missing Roest to injury, and Rymon to the World Junior Championship camp for Czechia, the Silvertips continued their home dominance, winning 5-2 and improving to 13-3-1 at home this season
“Every time we get to play here it’s always amazing,” Kraken prospect Kaden Hammell said. “We feel we need to give our fans the best show possible, and their support helps us day in and day out.”
Hemmerling wasn’t short on praise for his team’s tenacity, despite missing some key contributors, “There’s no denying we have a depleted lineup right now, so to knock a team off like Prince George is huge for us going forward.”
Seattle Thunderbirds
Seattle took on Tri-City and Portland over the weekend, where the scoring woes continued to follow the Thunderbirds around. They only mustered three goals on the weekend and were taken down twice, 4-1 to Tri-City and 7-2 to Portland.
The T-birds did get back in the win column on Wednesday night in Spokane, as Vancouver Canucks prospect Sawyer Mynio had two goals and one assist and helped lift the Thunderbirds to their first road victory since Oct. 24, 5-3 over the Chiefs.
Kraken prospect highlight
Doubling up with Kaden Hammell this week, I asked the 2023 sixth-round pick for Seattle if being drafted by the Kraken set him up for one of the most ideal development paths possible. “Not many players get to play as close (to their NHL team) as I do here,” Hammell said. “With Seattle being right down the road from Everett, anything that I have needed, they’ve been amazing with.”
Hammell showed off some of his physicality on Wednesday, including a fight early in the contest.
World Junior Championship update
Rosters began to finalize this week for the IIHF World Junior Championship, set to begin on Dec. 26 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Team Canada announced its team on Wednesday, where Kraken prospect Carson Rehkopf was included among the players heading to Sweden.
Jagger Firkus and Ty Nelson received selection camp tryouts as well but didn’t make the cut for the final team. Firkus’ exclusion came as a surprise to many, as he is among the leading point getters in the WHL this season.
Jagger Firkus just never looked like himself at camp.
We know his talent. We just didn't see it here in camp. #WorldJuniors
Among those selected for Team Canada was Buffalo Sabres prospect and current Seattle Thunderbirds netminder Scott Ratzlaff.
The week ahead
The Silvertips and Thunderbirds will meet one more time before the winter break on Saturday, then they will finish up each of their respective first halves on Sunday, as Everett heads to Wenatchee for the first time and Seattle heads to in Langley, British Columbia, to take on the Vancouver Giants.
Three weeks ago–before an eight-game losing streak that tripped panic buttons both inside the walls of the Kraken dressing room and out–the Kraken recorded what we termed a “markedly easy win” over the outmatched San Jose Sharks 7-1. Well, “time is a flat circle,” as Sound Of Hockey colleague Darren Brown likes to say. On Thursday night the Kraken again registered an easy 7-1 win against an outgunned opponent in the Chicago Blackhawks.
These are two points the Kraken simply needed to have. The Blackhawks are, well, not good. If Seattle has any hopes of clawing its way back into the playoff mix, it needs to take care of business against inferior opposition. In one of the more frustrating efforts of the season, the Kraken failed to do just that two weeks ago in Chicago, losing 4-3 to the Blackhawks on Nov. 28. With the season teetering, the team couldn’t afford another slip up Thursday. And, to their credit, they left no doubt.
The Kraken scored first, just over three minutes in, and then held that lead for the remainder of the night. The game remained within striking distance for Chicago through the first 10 minutes of the second period, but over the back half of the game, the boys in deep sea blue broke it wide open.
Joey Daccord stopped 21 of 22 shots. Rookie defenseman Ryker Evans was stellar again, recording two points and making at least a dozen other strong plays throughout. Evans’ former Regina Pats teammate Connor Bedard had a quiet night and didn’t embarrass Daccord or anyone else with his elite offensive skills. Kraken forwards, on the other hand, were scoring goals from every conceivable angle and chased Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom in the third period.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Thursday’s 7-1 Kraken win over the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1: Yamamoto and the fourth line were superb
Kailer Yamamoto was up to some recently familiar tricks to start this game. Just two days prior, he got Seattle on the board first when he scored a nifty breakaway goal. On Thursday, he again earned the Kraken a 1-0 lead when he intercepted a loose clearing attempt from Blackhawk Reese Johnson, stepped across the Chicago blue line, and wasted no time firing a wrist shot low blocker past Soderblom.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨
Officially unassisted, Kailer Yamamoto gets a gift in the neutral zone, then Soderblom misses it.
Yamamoto's second goal in two games, third goal in two games for the fourth line.
Not done there, Yamamoto then scored the second goal of the game with under three minutes remaining in the first period when he alertly batted a puck that bounced off Blackhawk defender Nikita Zaitsev into the goal. (While originally announced as a goal for Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare, video review later confirmed it to be Yamamoto’s goal.) This one proved to be the game-winner.
BELLY OF THE BALL! 🚨
Yamamoto and Bellemare, rinse and repeat. Two games in a row, those two fourth-liners have scored the first two goals of the game.
Some dispute on if Yamamoto should get credit, but for now, it's PEB.
And Yamamoto did more than just score. He was active all night. In one particularly impressive offensive-zone possession beginning at 7:15 in the second period, the Kraken fourth line hemmed in Chicago for over a minute. Yamamoto made several strong possession plays in this sequence including a cutback below the goal line that freed him to deliver a centering pass that just missed Jared McCann in the slot for another potential goal.
Beyond Yamamoto, the entire fourth line deserves credit for back-to-back strong efforts. The line has five goals in the last two games, with Bellemare scoring the other two. On Thursday, the fourth line outshot Chicago 6-2 and controlled 82 percent of the total shot quality while on the ice. Continued production like that would go a long way toward extending this two-game winning streak.
Takeaway #2: In a skill mismatch, the Kraken also got the bounces
While the Kraken were the better team throughout this game, it was not until the second half that they truly overwhelmed the Blackhawks. Even so, the Kraken built an insurmountable early advantage in the first half of the game on the strength of some good old-fashioned puck luck.
As mentioned above, Yamamoto’s second goal came on a broken play. Vince Dunn shot a puck from the perimeter that snuck under the arm of Zaitsev and fell to the ice right in front of Yamamoto (and Bellemare). Soderblom had no chance to react.
Chicago responded by narrowing the lead to one (more on that goal in a moment) early in the second period, but Seattle then re-established a two-goal lead just over a minute later when an Oliver Bjorkstrand centering pass ricocheted into the goal off Blackhawks defenseman Jason Dickinson.
BJORK…. JAM (sort of)! 🚨
Bjorstrand tries to make a pass, but it hits Jason Dickinson's skate and caroms in.
There’s no reason to complain about puck luck, though. When you’re outworking the opposing team in the strategic areas of the ice, you should get your share of fortunate bounces. Seattle hasn’t seen many of those go their way over the last couple weeks, so it was a welcome turn of events. A 7-1 score is what can happen when the better team gets the luck too.
Takeaway #3: Some early giveaways
It may seem odd to say about a 7-1 victory, but the Kraken made a number of defensive-zone mistakes in the first half of the game that may have been costly and swung momentum in the other direction against a better opponent.
At 12:03 in the first period, the Kraken had full possession in the defensive zone, with Eeli Tolvanen controlling the puck along the boards. He looked to center the puck for an open-ice advance, as Seattle has often done this season. Brian Dumoulin was open but perhaps too close for a clean break, and Tolvanen hesitated. With his internal alarm clock going off, Tolvanen shot the puck over toward Bjorkstrand, but the pass was too hot to handle. Chicago’s Joey Anderson took the puck and set up Nick Foligno clean in on Daccord.
Later, at 19:20 in the first period, Matty Beniers received the puck outside the Kraken defensive zone with room to advance himself. Instead of taking the ice, he too looked to center to McCann for a full flight advance. Unlike Beniers, though, McCann was under pressure, and he turned the puck over. This led to controlled possession for Chicago back into Seattle’s zone.
At 2:59 in the second period, Jamie Oleksiak had control fading back to his corner in the defensive zone. He flung a pass without any forward body momentum toward Bellemare and Yamamoto, but it was easy pickings for Chicago forward Anthony Beauvillier at the blue line. Beauvillier then attacked and set up forward Taylor Raddysh for Chicago’s only goal.
Finally, at 6:30 in the second period, Tye Kartye held possession in the defensive zone and tried to hit Brandon Tanev with an indirect stretch pass. It was a bad read (Tanev was covered) and a bad pass, which resulted in an easy turnover to Chicago in the neutral zone. This led to another controlled entry, almost 30 seconds of offensive-zone time for Chicago, and another unblocked shot attempt.
As it happened, Chicago couldn’t capitalize more than once on these Kraken mistakes, so it didn’t hurt Seattle in this one. But the Kraken need to tighten up their possession game in their own zone and avoid turning the puck over in dangerous areas if they want to keep this winning streak going.
Bonus takeaway: Big Cat t-shirts
The vibes are trending up in the dressing room, that’s for sure. On Thursday night, the room not only celebrated its second straight victory, but many indulged in some light-hearted fun honoring (at the expense of?) teammate Adam Larsson.
We didn’t get the complete story postgame, but it seems that Beniers had a hand in generating and distributing t-shirts documenting an infamous photo of Larsson with what can only be termed a “Big Cat Bowl Cut™.” The team had fun with it.
Parting thoughts
Given the weak opponent, the Kraken and their fans should be cautious against overconfidence in a perceived turnaround or breakout. Recall that Seattle’s trouncing of San Jose was followed by a home loss to a quality Pacific Division opponent in the Canucks. Seattle’s next game is a home date with the Los Angeles Kings, another team above Seattle in the Pacific Division standings. That’s a benchmark game.
But Thursday was a welcome reminder that the Kraken do have a tenacious forecheck; the team does have goal scorers; and, perhaps most importantly, bounces can sometimes go Seattle’s way. Maybe it will help the team and fanbase loosen their grip on the stick a bit and attack the game Saturday with a clearer head.
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 Kraken won a game, and all is right in the world. Check in with Curtis, John, and Darren, as they talk through what was going wrong during the eight-game skid for the Seattle Kraken, as well as what they did in their win over Florida to get back in the W column.
This episode features a robust WJC-centric Down on the Farm, plus lots of Goalie Gear Corner.
Other segments include Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
