If the Seattle Kraken hadn’t just lost their sixth game in a row, we would have left Climate Pledge Arena feeling positive about the way they played Thursday against the Devils. They had a good start to the game, they (briefly) erased a first-period deficit with a goal by Tye Kartye, and they did everything they could to get an equalizer in the third period.
But the Kraken just couldn’t get a second puck past Devils goalie Akira Schmid, despite peppering him with 16 shots in the final frame (38 in total) and racking up 3.53 expected goals on the night, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“We played our tails off tonight,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “I mean, it’s a hard outcome, right? We played against a good hockey team, we played really hard. We made a couple of mistakes. That’s the nature of the beast, and… we’re not getting the benefit of some of the hard work.”
Yeah, that pretty much sums up the night. Oh, and Ryker Evans had some exciting moments in his NHL debut, and Andre Burakovsky returned from injury but… wait for it… got hurt. Again.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a crushing 2-1 Kraken loss to the Devils, their sixth loss in a row.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Morale is LOW
The way the Kraken typically run their post-game media availability is they open the dressing room within about 10 minutes of the final horn. Before that happens, the players that aren’t requested by media get a chance to get out of their gear and move out of the main area to go on with their recovery processes elsewhere. The players are almost always all gone by the time we get inside, and then we have our press scrums with a select few in the mostly quiet room.
On this night, while we waited to hear from Kartye, Alex Wennberg, and Hakstol, Jared McCann sat quietly in his stall for several minutes, still dressed in his gear from the waist down. He sat in stationary silence, staring dejectedly down at the floor. The Kraken’s leading goal scorer eventually got up and went on with his post-game routine, but he was visibly seething as he exited.
Of all the players on the team, McCann especially had every right to be frustrated after that game. He had at least three prime scoring chances in the third, only to get robbed twice by Schmid and rifle a shot off the crossbar on a short-handed two-on-one rush.
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Asked how Hakstol manages that level of frustration from his players, the coach said, “We didn’t talk after the game. We’ll be together in the morning, and you know, we’ve got to live in the moment right now. When you go through these struggles and tough times– I thought our guys did a really good job of that today, not allowing anything that’s in the past or anything that’s coming affect our day or our game today.”
And while Wennberg–who we thought had a strong game, setting up Kartye’s goal and just missing on a rush chance in the second–always projects a positive message when speaking to the media, he too expressed frustration with how things have been going for Seattle.
“It feels like lately, we’ve just been finding ways to lose the game,” Wennberg said. “I mean, obviously we had the opportunities… we hit a couple of posts, and we could have turned this game around. But we’ve got to change something. I mean, obviously we can’t let this just keep going. It’s got to be a different mindset.”
The fact that Seattle played so well and still came up empty made Thursday’s loss an especially bitter pill to swallow. This team is desperate for some good feelings right now.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Strong effort not rewarded
The Kraken did a lot of things well in this game. The team needed a strong start to their home stand after a disappointing–and at points “embarrassing”–road trip. And both the effort and execution were there. Unfortunately for the boys in deep sea blue, the goals were not.
Though the team emerged from each of the first two periods down a goal, Seattle carried the balance of the play through two frames. It generated 22 shots on goal to New Jersey’s 14, including eight high-danger shot attempts to New Jersey’s four.
The Kraken then attacked the third period looking for the equalizing goal and thoroughly dominated. Seattle outshot New Jersey 16-3 in the final frame, with an astounding 10 high-danger attempts.
“You’ve got to like the chances, it’s just a little too little, too late,” Kartye said. “Hopefully we can start the game like that next game and keep it going for a full 60 instead of getting down early and then having to come back again.”
All told, according to Natural Stat Trick,the Kraken generated almost 64.77 percent of the total shot quality in the game. This was the team’s second-highest shot quality share of the entire season, trailing only the 7-1 shellacking of the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 22.
Full credit should be given to New Jersey goaltender Akira Schmid for withstanding several offensive flurries in the final frame.
“He helped us win a hockey game,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Solid performance. There was a couple opportunities where they could have gained some momentum and he made big saves for us.”
Takeaway #3 (Darren): Is Andre Burakovsky really hurt again?
After missing the second half of last season and all of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a torn groin, Burakovsky’s return to the lineup to start this season gave hope that the depth of the Seattle Kraken would be restored. But he got hurt again in the team’s sixth game of 2023-24 and went on to miss 20 games before finally returning Thursday with hopes he could help things around.
Burakovsky looked solid in the game through (almost) two periods and helped create Kartye’s goal by sticking with the puck after initially losing it.
But then he didn’t look solid anymore.
With six minutes left in the second period, Burakovsky took a hard hit from Kevin Bahl in the same corner where Jacob Trouba decked him nearly two months ago. It seemed like Burakovsky may have been wincing when he went to the bench.
We think this hit may have hurt Burakovsky. He played one more shift after this in the period, but it was short.
Happened in the same corner where he got injured last time…
He returned for one more short shift that period, but then went down the tunnel. He was back to start the third but only played two shifts and was then glued to the bench the rest of the game.
Hakstol confirmed Burakovsky was “unavailable” after those two shifts. “We’ll have to evaluate that as we go into tomorrow morning.”
It’s promising that Burakovsky A.) returned for the third after surely being checked out by the team’s medical staff during the second intermission and B.) remained on the bench after trying to gut it out.
Still, seeing him in discomfort after so many injury woes for this one important player was disconcerting.
Bonus Takeaway (Darren): Strong debut for Ryker Evans
Seattle’s top defensive prospect, Ryker Evans, had a strong showing in his first NHL game after being called up Tuesday from Coachella Valley. He replaced Justin Schultz, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this season.
“The impetus to call [Evans] up was the fact that Ryker is ready to take on the opportunity, and he has earned the opportunity,” Hakstol said. “As we continue to grow and move forward as a team, as an organization, the development of our youth is extremely important. As we all saw tonight, Ryker is ready for this league. One day does not make a career, but he played very well tonight.”
From the jump, he showed his offensive prowess, making a pass to his buddy, Kartye, and then joining a rush on his very first shift.
“That’s part of what he does, right?” Hakstol said. “And we want him to do the things that come naturally to him that he’s good at. He doesn’t do it at risk defensively. He’s a pretty intelligent player in that way.”
Our favorite Ryker play of the evening came with seven minutes left in the third period when the Kraken were pushing. He fought through an Ondrej Palat check on the half wall and maintained possession. Then he carried the puck down low and slammed on the brakes, bumping the puck behind his back and sending Palat flying. Reversing course, he tried to stuff the puck in behind Schmid, but the goalie read the play and was solid on his post.
Now, it wasn’t perfect. Evans got walked in the first period and had a few scrambles and mishandles, but all in, it was exactly the kind of debut the Kraken would have wanted out of their smooth-skating 21-year-old blueliner.
The Seattle Kraken are on a five-game losing streak and sinking farther out of playoff contention with every passing defeat, but you wouldn’t have known it at Wednesday’s practice at Kraken Community Iceplex.
The team returned to home ice for the first time since a dreadful four-game road trip on which it notched just one standings point out of a possible eight and never led a game. Yet the players were hooting and hollering over good plays and goals, the coach was in a positive mood when talking to media, and there was a buzz in the air with the arrival of newly recalled top defensive prospect, Ryker Evans.
Heck, even the assessment of the recent games from some of the players was more upbeat than one might have expected.
“The last two games, I don’t feel like we got outplayed or anything,” Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “I think we created those terrible bounces. I mean, Ottawa was two kind of flukes of bounces, but there’s still two turnovers that created two goals and we lost 2-0, right?
“And then last game, we didn’t start the game like we were supposed to at all, and we fed their attack by just literally giving them the puck. So that being said, what do you do to change that game? Because besides those [mishaps], we actually played pretty decently in those games.”
So, if you were panicking about the outlook of Seattle’s season, it may bring you some solace to know that the team is far from panicked at this point. Instead, the players and coach seemed excited to get back home and go back to work Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.
Overcoming Seattle’s scoring struggles
The Kraken’s offensive struggles became magnified on the road trip when the team failed to overcome several bad bounces. That Ottawa game was the best example. Seattle had plenty of chances against Anton Forsberg but couldn’t get even one puck past him. Meanwhile, a blown tire and a miscommunication in the defensive zone was all the Senators needed to score the game’s only two goals.
“We work extremely hard to get a goal, and then we give up a goal [way] too easily,” Bellemare said. “The mistakes are way too high, and then when we play good, it’s not high enough.”
Eeli Tolvanen, whose line with Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand was easily Seattle’s best forward group during the trip, shared a similar assessment to Bellemare. “I felt like we’ve played pretty well other than the first period in Montreal,” Tolvanen said. “But yeah, they’re tough losses. You don’t want to lose too many in a row, but I feel like if you look at some of the games, we created a lot.”
Tolvanen said that if they keep playing the way they’ve been playing, the Kraken will start getting results soon.
“The Ottawa game, we had two individual [bad breaks], like Matty loses an edge, and they get a breakaway out of it. Stuff happened like that but other than that, I feel like we’ve played pretty well. If we just keep going that way, I feel like we’re going to win more than lose.”
Coach Dave Hakstol was a bit more surgical in his breakdown of what needs to change for Seattle.
“We have to identify some of the areas where we need improvement,” Hakstol said. “And defensively, we’re pretty happy with everything, [though] there are always improvement areas that we can do better in. But if you look at it offensively, there’s two or three categories that we obviously need to improve.”
When Seattle came home from its first east coast road trip of the season with a 2-1-1 record, a couple breaks in the other direction, and the Kraken could have been feeling very bad about themselves at that point. That is what happened on this trip. As Hakstol highlighted, the margins on the trip were again slim, so some more offense generation in a few areas, and the results could have been more palatable.
“When you look over the long haul, statistically, one or two more opportunities, on your out-numbered rushes, one or two more opportunities from the slot in good areas, one more rebound for us takes us from bottom of the league to top of the league,” Hakstol said. “So, those are some of the areas that we’ve identified, and we know that we need to work and improve it.”
Evans arrives
At some point, when things are going badly for a team, a personnel change is needed to get things heading back in the right direction. Evans, the smooth-skating 21-year-old defenseman, represents such a change, although it remained unclear Wednesday if he would immediately slot into the lineup against New Jersey.
The top three defense pairs remained in tact, while Evans skated with Jaycob Megna, who has been a healthy scratch for every Kraken game so far this season.
Hakstol confirmed Evans is here “for a reason,” though, meaning he should expect to play during his stint with the big club. But the coach wouldn’t tip his hand about his plans for Thursday’s game.
“He’s done a nice job, worked really hard,” Hakstol said of Evans. “With his development coming off an outstanding year last year and an excellent training camp this year a good start to his year down there. So this is a great time coming into this homestand to add him to our group.”
We were on the record predicting Evans would make the Kraken roster out of training camp, but he ended up as the final cut from the blue line and was sent to Coachella Valley. There, he has notched eight points in 18 games this season after a dazzling 44-point campaign in 2022-23.
Evans is excited for his NHL debut, whenever that may come, and hopes he can bring a spark to the floundering Kraken.
“I like to use my skating, moving the puck up and joining the rush,” Evans said. “So, just [I’ll just be] playing my game, moving my feet.”
Burakovsky “real close” to returning
Speaking of things Hakstol wouldn’t confirm or deny, Andre Burakovsky practiced in full Wednesday and skated on a line with Alex Wennberg and Jared McCann. It was the winger’s first time taking line rushes since suffering an upper-body injury in Seattle’s 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Oct. 21.
Hakstol wouldn’t say he expected Burakovsky to be available Thursday, but signs are pointing toward an imminent return to game action.
“He’s been champing at the bit now for the last couple of days, but we’re making sure we take all the right steps,” Hakstol said.
Like with Evans, the Kraken are surely hoping Burakovsky can help jumpstart the Kraken offensively.
“[Burakovsky] is one of the guys on our roster that helps generate offense, and he can generate it on his own,” Hakstol said. “So the pace that he brings, and some of his creativity offensively will be a nice addition to our lineup.”
Goalie Gear Corner
While we are on the record saying we’ve grown tired of the brown leather look for outdoor games and other throwback uniform scenarios, Philipp Grubauer’s new setup for the Winter Classic is beautiful. The deep sea and ice blue accents really make the gear pop on the ice, and it should look great with Seattle’s jerseys.
Oh, hello Philipp Grubauer’s Winter Classic setup! 👋
Things are going very badly for the Seattle Kraken, who have lost five games in a row.
On this episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, the guys officially engage the panic button and spend a good chunk of the show discussing the levers the team can still pull to salvage this season.
After plenty of passionate Kraken talk, John, Curtis, and Darren take a trip “Down on the Farm,” then visit Goalie Gear Corner and eventually shift to Weekly One-Timers.
Seattle Kraken prospects Jagger Firkus, Carson Rehkopf, and Jani Nyman are at the forefront of their respective leagues in scoring this season. As of the date of this post, Firkus is third in the WHL in goals (24) and third in points (49) after leading in both categories for weeks. Rehkopf leads the OHL in goals (29) and points (50). Nyman is tied for the lead in goals (13) in Liiga–the highest-level professional league in Finland.
It is certainly fair to be excited by this production. But what do these point totals really mean? What do they portend for each player’s NHL timeline and production? Have these players taken a meaningful step forward from where they had been previously? And what can we learn from looking at comparable players? Let’s highlight these players’ performances to date and then dig into these questions to help set expectations for Firkus, Rehkopf, and Nyman moving forward.
Projecting an NHL future using comparable players
Prospect evaluation is multi-faceted, and no one factor predominates. How do you compare a player boasting a heavy, accurate shot and a hulking frame but a questionable skating stride and limited puck-handling skill against a smaller player with averaging skating and high-end puck skills?
There is no “right” answer, but three factors that are often used create a baseline are: (1) age, (2) scoring points, and (3) league context. A player who scores more at a younger age or in a more difficult league might be expected to have stronger chances at a productive NHL future.
NHL prospects play in a heterogeneous landscape. Some play in Canadian junior leagues (of varying quality). Some play for United States colleges. Others play in junior or professional leagues in Europe. How do we compare point production and make projections of future performance across these contexts?
One approach is to look at the historical trajectories of peer group players–those who scored at a similar rate at a similar age in the same league environment. This can give us a sense of the timeline and probability of “success” (however defined) for individuals that produced like these three prospects early in their careers. I’ll start with this approach before considering whether another approach–an NHL equivalency (“NHLe”) model–yields any additional insights.
Jagger Firkus | 19 years old | WHL | 1.92 points per game
Firkus has scored 24 goals and 25 assists in 26 games as a 19-year-old in the WHL this season–a pace of 1.92 points per game. I defined Firkus’s peer group as WHL player seasons from the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 seasons in which the comparable players (1) scored at least 1.5 points per game and (2) were listed as age 19 by Elite Prospects.
Approach
Why did I focus on 2017-2020? I didn’t go farther back because league scoring contexts evolve over time and older seasons may be less predictive. I opted against extending to include data from the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season. And the vast majority of the prospects from the most recent two years are still developing and won’t provide much information on the likelihood of a player becoming an NHL regular.
As Kraken GM Ron Francis explained shortly after the 2023 draft, the typical timeline for a a successful drafted prospect is another two years in his current league followed by a year or two in the AHL.
Why did I set the cutoff at 1.5 points per game? I experimented with using a higher point cutoff but opted against it for two reasons. First, odds are Firkus’s point production will regress at least a bit as the season continues, so a lower threshold may give us a fairer read of his likely future outcomes. Second, higher thresholds didn’t meaningfully change any of my conclusions. In other words (unexpectedly) players scoring two points per game at the CHL level haven’t gone on to have materially different careers than those scoring 1.5 points, at least in my sample.
Finally, why didn’t I use the entire CHL for my list of comparable players? Two reasons. First, there is a (potentially growing) disparity in the relative scoring difficulty of the three leagues, as evidenced by the NHLe work of Thibaud Chatel. Second, expanding to include the entire CHL, which I tested, did not meaningfully alter the probabilities described below anyway.
Results
Across these three seasons, 16 different 19-year-olds from the WHL have scored 1.5+ points per game in that league.
The large majority of these players, 14-of-16, have gone on to play NHL games. Exactly half have been an NHL lineup regularly, logging 100+ NHL games already within this five-year time.
More than two-thirds of the players, 11-of-16, have scored at a rate of greater than .25 points per game while at the NHL level, which I’ll use as a stand-in for passable, bottom-of-the-lineup NHL production. This rate is equivalent to more than 20 points in a full 82-game NHL season. It approximates the rate at which Kailer Yamamoto is scoring for the Kraken this season.
One-quarter of the comparable players, 4-of-16, have scored at a rate greater than .4 points per game in the NHL–equivalent to 33 points in a full 82-game NHL season. For reference, this is somewhere between the projected point production of Yanni Gourde and Alex Wennberg this year. In other words, one-in-four of Firkus’s comparables have emerged as middle-six contributors over this three-to-five-year timeline. (One, Dylan Cozens, has shown top-of-the-lineup production.)
In a quite revealing turn, two of Firkus’s 16 comparables are Yamamoto himself and Kole Lind. Each are intriguing points for comparison because they showed the ability to score at lower levels, but, like Firkus, each have a trait that could hold them back.
For Lind, he has not yet been able to overcome his low-end play speed. He has racked up points at the AHL level but has not risen to the top of Seattle’s depth chart for even a cup of coffee in the NHL recently.
Similar to Firkus, Yamamoto’s challenge is his slight stature. He has been able to overcome it and carve out an NHL role so far, but his career at the highest level remains on a knife’s edge. Three years from now, one could easily imagine a regular top-nine role for him, or, on on the other hand, a European professional career.
Conclusions
Looking at players who have produced similar to Firkus underscores that significant uncertainty remains whether Firkus will emerge as a regular top-nine NHL contributor. Only about one-in-four players like him have done so in the recent past. At the same time, there is a strong indication that Firkus is bound for at least some form of pro future. Only two of 16 players who have produced like him in the WHL fail to reach the NHL at all.
There is reason for optimism with Firkus because he has continued to make progress as a point producer year-over-year. Scouts tend to become discouraged on a player only if the forward momentum stops, and this is not the case with the Irma, Alberta native. After two seasons producing at a point-per-game level, Firkus has leaped forward this year. This has led some point-based models to put impressive NHL comparables on Firkus.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol highlighted Firkus’s progress before Seattle’s game Thursday in Toronto. “The lasting [impression of Firkus] for me is improvement from one year to the next. You see that from training camp to training camp,” Hakstol said. “Going back this year to Moose Jaw and having the opportunity to be a premiere player, he’s taken advantage of that.”
To understand better whether Firkus’s production this year should elevate our view of Firkus as a prospect, I re-ran this comparable player exercise based on Firkus’s age 18 season. I used WHL players scoring more than one point per game as an 18-year-old. The results were not nearly as positive. Less than 50 percent of players in that sample reached the NHL and only one in eight have produced at a level befitting a top-nine regular.
In other words, Firkus’s progress this season has essentially doubled his projected chances of reaching the NHL and becoming a middle-six (or better) contributor.
A footnote on David Goyette
Before moving on to look at Rehkopf and Nyman, I should note that much of the same analysis stated above applies to Kraken forward prospect David Goyette. Similarly slight in stature, the 19-year-old Goyette has not gotten the same publicity as Firkus this year but he has been nearly as productive, scoring 1.64 points per game in the OHL during the 2023-24 season to date. This puts Goyette comfortably within the same category of comparable players described above. Like Firkus, the pathway to NHL games is there for Goyette, but the chance of a regular NHL future may be closer to one in four.
Carson Rehkopf | OHL | 18 years old | 1.79 points per game
Rehkopf has scored 29 goals and 21 assists in 28 games as an 18-year-old in the OHL this season, which is a pace of 1.79 points per game. Similar to my analysis of Firkus (see the “approach” section above), I defined Rehkopf’s peer group as OHL players from the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 seasons in which the player scored at least 1.5 points per game and played at least one game as an 18-year-old.
Results
Across the three sample seasons, 12 OHL 18-year-old players have scored at a rate comparable to Rehkopf’s current season. 10 of 12 have played NHL games. Seven of 12 have played more than 100 NHL games already. And, remarkably, seven of 12 have scored at a rate greater than .4 points per game–equivalent to 33 points in a full 82-game NHL season and the proxy for a middle-six performer we used above.
Two players, Robert Thomas and Nick Suzuki, have emerged from this comparable group as true top-of-the-lineup contributors, with a few others, including Gabriel Vilardi and Philip Tomasino, threatening that status.
Based on this comparable group, an “average” projection for Rehkopf may be the career of Los Angeles Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev. Kaliyev’s “comparable” season for the Hamilton Bulldogs came in 2019-20. After that year, Kaliyev was eligible to play in the AHL. (Rehkopf will not be AHL eligible next year; he will miss the age cutoff by a week.) Kaliyev played the 2020-21 season for the Ontario Reign of the AHL. Since then, Kaliyev has entrenched himself in the Kings lineup, posting 14-goal and 13-goal seasons in his first two NHL seasons. This year Kaliyev is on pace for a 21-goal campaign.
If Rehkopf followed a similar trajectory, he would break into the NHL lineup during the 2025-26 season. If Rehkopf requires an AHL year, he would arrive in the NHL as a lineup regular in 2026-27.
Conclusions
Rehkopf’s production as an 18-year-old is highly indicative of not only an NHL career but a productive one. More than half of players “like him” emerge as middle- or top-of-the-lineup players. Boasting few holes in his offensive profile at this point, some scouts are anointing him as a “steal” of a second-round pick.
Jani Nyman | Liiga | 19 years old | .81 points per game
Nyman has scored 13 goals and 8 assists in 26 games as a 19-year-old in Liiga this season, which is a pace of .81 points per game. While this may not sound as impressive as Firkus or Rehkopf superficially, Liiga is Finland’s top professional league and a very difficult scoring environment. Liiga’s quality of play may be a step lower than the AHL, but it is almost as difficult for a player to score there due to the defensive emphasis of that league.
For Nyman, I identified his peer group as Liiga player seasons from 2017-18 through to 2021-22 where the player scored at least .7 points per game and played at least one game as a 19-year-old. (There were no such player seasons in 2022-23.)
Approach
This approach is similar to my approach with the CHL leagues described above, but I extended to consider more recent seasons primarily becasue the sample size of players scoring .7+ points per game as a 19-year-old in Liiga is much smaller than the sample of 1.5+-point CHL scorers. I wanted to capture as much data as I could without extending far into the past.
Results
Across the five sample seasons, only eight players met Nyman’s peer group criteria. This alone is impressive and underscores that Nyman’s scoring profile coming out of Finland is rare.
Of these players, seven of eight have played in NHL games. The only exception is Joni Ikonen, who was not drafted and never signed with an NHL team. Ikonen remains a top Liiga performer, second on his team in points and in the top 40 overall.
Three of eight comparable players have played 100 NHL games already. Four of eight comparables have produced at a rate greater than .4 points per NHL game played–equivalent to 33 points in a full 82-game NHL season and the stand-in for a middle-six performer we have been using. Two, Matias Maccelli and Anton Lundell, have performed more like top players.
An “average” comparable for Nyman is Juuso Parssinen. Parssinen’s comparable Liiga season was in 2020-21. Parssinen remained in Finland for one more season after that before coming to North America for the 2022-23 season. Parssinen split time between the NHL and AHL in 2022-23, scoring 25 points in 45 games while in the NHL. This year he has been in the NHL and has five points in 23 games.
If Nyman follows a similar trajectory, he will arrive at the NHL level to begin (or sometime during) the 2025-26 season. Nyman is currently expected to come to North America next year, which raises the possibility at least that he sees NHL time during the 2024-25 campaign. It is more likely, though, that Nyman takes at least a year to adapt to North American hockey with Coachella Valley and follows Parssinen’s timeline.
Conclusions
Nyman’s scoring profile is promising and puts him in a category closer to Rehkopf as a near certainty to play NHL games and a 50-50 proposition to emerge as a useful middle-six performer, if not better. I do have concerns about Nyman’s ability to translate his slower, less agile play style to the NHL level. A Kole Lind-type trajectory is not out of the question in my mind. But Nyman seems to be ascending his development curve still. And there is every reason to be optimistic based on his historical comparables.
Checking league context with NHL equivalencies
As an alternative to (or cross-check on) the comparable approach we used above, another tool in analyzing these players’ point production is an NHLe model.
What is NHLe? To oversimplify, it’s a projection of point production at the NHL level based on a conversion of the player’s output in another league. Hockey analysts such as Patrick Bacon and Thibaud Chatel have developed models by studying historical player performances as they cross the heterogeneous hockey landscape. From this data, analysts are able to control for other factors like age and approximate relative scoring rates in various leagues. For example, Chatel projects a scoring point in the OHL to be worth a little less than a quarter of a point in the NHL. A point in the AHL is little more than half of an NHL point. NHLe facilitates these crude cross-league comparisons.
An important limitation of NHLe is that it will not help you compare a 19-year-old scoring a point per game versus a 25-year-old doing so. It is strictly a tool for league comparison. That said, it can be useful in giving us a current snapshot.
I used Chatel’s model to calculate NHLe for Seattle’s 21-and-under players who have scored at least .5 points per game. Here is how they stack up, using data as of Sunday, December 3, 2023.
Shane Wright stands out with the strongest statistical season to date. The NHLe approach confirms that Nyman and Rehkopf’s scoring seasons put them in the next tier of Kraken prospects after Wright, together with undrafted free agent signee Logan Morrison–who does nothing but score when given the opportunity. NHLe also shows that Firkus’s strong season puts him in the next group of performers closely after those top four (where he is joined by Goyette).
Historically, the NHLe production of Firkus, Nyman, and Rehkopf has continued to trend up. As Hakstol noted, this upward trajectory is the most important thing. As long as these players continue to make progress, there is reason to be confident that an NHL future awaits each of them. The 2022-23 season has been an important step forward for each player.
If you are losing faith or have lost faith in this Seattle Kraken team, you are not alone, based on what we’ve seen in our Twitter mentions the last few days. Things are not good right now, plain and simple. The Kraken are turning the puck over in terrible spots, they can’t score, and they’ve lost five straight games with three of those losses coming against teams we don’t expect to be in the playoffs at the end of the season.
Seattle’s latest defeat, a 4-2 stinger at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, was avoidable, but the Kraken had a horrible start and never recovered.
“I mean, it’s four losses, so we probably shouldn’t take too much away from it,” Vince Dunn said. “It’s really unacceptable to come out with nothing… Being close doesn’t cut it, doesn’t win you games. It needs to be complete.”
We’re officially hitting the panic button. Here are our Three Takeaways.
Takeaway #1 (Curtis): Slow starts defined the road trip
Seattle never held a lead at any point during this critical four-game trip. Not only that, the Kraken found themselves trailing in the first period in each and every game. On the first night of the trip in Chicago, Seattle managed to level the score at 2-2 and escape the first period tied, but over the last three games, the team found itself down a goal at the first intermission each time.
“It feels like we do this every time–we’re chasing the game,” Jared McCann said. “We’re all frustrated right now because we know we have better.”
On Monday night, the Kraken didn’t play with enough pace or discipline with the puck to break Montreal’s forechecking pressure effectively early on. Seattle repeatedly turned the puck over and conceded high-danger chances to the Canadiens.
At 4:00 in the first period, Jamie Oleksiak had full possession of the puck behind Philipp Grubauer but was slow to breakout and allowed Jake Evans to close on him, causing a weak turnover to an unguarded Josh Anderson in the right circle. From there, Anderson found Sean Monahan low beside Grubauer for an easy tap-in goal.
Hot pizza pie!🍕
Oleksiak coughs it up, and the Canadiens take advantage. Monahan gets the very easy goal.
“[Montreal] didn’t do anything special. They worked hard,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We didn’t handle that pressure well enough early in the game.”
McCann was more direct: “The first period was pretty embarrassing.”
For me, the first period effort was reminiscent of the team’s flat start in Toronto. That led me to think that a heavy push could come from the Kraken early in the second period. But that didn’t happen.
Seattle’s sloppy play and parade of turnovers continued for the first 10 minutes of the second period. Before fans could catch their breath, Montreal was up 3-0. That’s too deep of a hole to dig, even against a truly mediocre Habs team.
“Starting from behind, and working and playing from behind, no matter how well you might feel you play in the third period, you can’t pat yourself on the back in any way for that,” Hakstol said. “We came up short in the beginning of this hockey game to match the necessary sharpness and intensity to handle the pressure.”
Said McCann, “We have some veteran guys in this room who [said] something after the first period, [but] we can’t get to that point. We need to come out a lot harder, a lot stronger.”
Takeaway #2 (Darren): Scoring is too hard right now
This iteration of the Seattle Kraken feels more like the inaugural season version than the Year 2 version that practically scored at will and got contributions from every corner of its roster. The 2023-24 Kraken work hard and mostly play within a sound structure, but they have doozy turnovers that end up in the back of their net, while goals at the other end of the ice are too hard to come by to overcome those defensive gaffes.
Struggling to score isn’t something that just recently started for this team, but it has been magnified on this five-game skid. All four of these road games against Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal have been winnable. But putting the puck in the net has felt like catching lightning in a bottle, while opposing teams just need one screw-up from the Kraken, and they capitalize.
It has been well documented that the Kraken’s shooting percentage was through the roof last season at 11.6 percent, just 0.2 percentage points behind Edmonton for tops in the NHL. This season, Seattle is hovering at 7.46 percent, good for 27th in the league, and its goals for above expected is a shabby -3.48, good for 22nd according to MoneyPuck.
This is a very anecdotal/eye-ball test observation to go with those statistics, but I can’t help wondering if a lack of shooting mentality earlier in the season has led to an overcorrection by Seattle’s players, where now they’re erring on the side of just getting pucks on net.
Shooting more is generally a good thing, and the Kraken have put 72 shots on goal the last two games. But have they now swung the pendulum too far to where they’re sacrificing precision on their shots and perhaps not being selective enough?
Again, this is just what I’ve been seeing, and I don’t have a good stat to back this up, but I’ve felt that too many of Seattle’s shots are right into the opposing goalie’s midsection, where not only does the puck have almost no chance of going in, but also where a rebound is highly unlikely.
From this game, I can remember two well-placed shots, just inside the posts; one by Jared McCann and one by Vince Dunn. And those both went in the net.
Takeaway #3 (Darren): Panic button time
These are officially dire times for this Kraken group, and the players know it. There are several veterans who could be on the trade block in the coming months if things don’t turn around quickly, and every passing loss makes a Trade Deadline fire sale more likely.
“Coming [into Montreal] we had some good confidence, but maybe we need to take a step back and look in the mirror,” McCann said.
If the Kraken want to save their season, something has to change. They’ve been banged up, no doubt, but they can’t keep losing to beatable teams if they want any hope at making the playoffs, which are slipping farther and farther from reality.
Now, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching NHL hockey most of my life, it’s that an 82-game season is a LONG season. Teams go through stretches where fans think they will never win again, only for the team to find a win or two, get some good feelings, and suddenly a 10-game heater makes everything feel right in the world.
But I’ve also found there needs to be some sort of catalyst to get things going back in the right direction.
One particular season jumps to mind, but before I tell this tale of campaigns past, note that I’m not implying Seattle should trade for a goalie, because A.) Philipp Grubauer isn’t going anywhere (he played well Monday, by the way, though he still somehow finished the night slightly below a .900 save percentage) and B.) Joey Daccord has generally been solid in his outings.
Ok, here’s the story. As Sound Of Hockey Podcast listeners will know, I grew up a Wild fan, watching almost every game from their inception in 2000 until the arrival of the Kraken. In the 2014-15 season, Minnesota had an awful—and I mean awful—mid-season slump where they lost 12 of 14 games and couldn’t get a save from either Darcy Kuemper or Niklas Backstrom.
In a desperation move, then-GM Chuck Fletcher traded a third-round pick for Devan Dubnyk, who had been backing up Mike Smith in Arizona. Dubnyk came in, won his first game against Buffalo, and the entire Wild organization and fanbase breathed a big sigh of relief. Then Dubnyk caught fire, pulled Minnesota out of the abyss, and the Wild went on to make the playoffs. They even won a playoff round against the St. Louis Blues before getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
Heck, even last season, the Kraken claimed Eeli Tolvanen and put him in the lineup for the first time after three consecutive losses and an 11-game stretch where they went 3-7-1. Tolvanen scored in his first game for Seattle, and the Kraken then went on an eight-game win streak to practically cement themselves as a playoff team.
The point is that sometimes a personnel change is needed to bring a fresh perspective and inject positivity into the dressing room.
Seattle has tried a series of call-ups from Coachella Valley, and that hasn’t worked. Is there a waiver claim out there? Is there a low-risk trade that doesn’t cost the team too much in terms of leveraging the future? I don’t know what the answer is, but I would like to see this club try something to create a spark before it’s too late and the only thing left to do is sell veterans for draft picks.
Worth noting, Andre Burakovsky skated in a regular jersey at Monday’s morning skate, shedding the red non-contact sweater for the first time since suffering his upper-body injury on Oct. 21. Could his impending return be a catalyst for a turnaround?
Bonus Takeaway (Darren)
I really wanted to put this as Takeaway #1 with no words explaining it, but John and Curtis talked me out of it. So, here it is as a Bonus Takeaway.
For the second time this season, the Seattle Kraken have lost four games in a row and are falling farther out of the playoff picture. Let’s hope this is the darkest of days for the 2023-24 Seattle Kraken. The week of games started out poorly when the Kraken lost in regulation to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, and it somehow got worse with a shutout loss to Anton Forsberg and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. This was supposed to be the week where the Kraken make up points in the standings against some weaker opponents, but it was not to be.
Sandwiched between those two brutal losses was a decent effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs where the Kraken scored two goals in the third period to force overtime in a game they eventually lost in a shootout. The team showed resilience by battling back, and it felt like they could use that to carry momentum into Saturday against Ottawa. They did not.
All is not lost… yet
There is still plenty of time left in the season for the boys to claw back into a playoff position with a string of victories, but this team has shown no momentum whatsoever. The longest win streak by the Kraken this season is just two games. The 2022-23 Kraken had win streaks of five and seven games at this point in the season.
There are only so many times that you can blame a loss on facing a strong goalie or getting a couple unlucky bounces before you realize there might be some bigger problems at play. The penalty kill has been very inconsistent, the team’s shooting percentage is one of the worst in the league, and the goaltending has struggled throughout the season.
The “third line”
I always hate referring to the Yanni Gourde/Oliver Bjorkstrand/Eeli Tolvanen line as the third line for the Kraken. It’s partially driven by the special teams play of all of them, but it is not uncommon to see that line with the most collective minutes played. That third line is consistently playing well, but the Kraken need Gourde and Bjorkstrand to score some goals.
Both are playing great hockey but can’t seem to find the back of the net. Collectively, they’ve had 30 shots on goal over the last four games but no goals to show for it. Neither of them needs to change the way they are playing; I just think they are getting a bit of bad luck right now that will turn around in due course. How about a Bjorkstrand hat trick next week? I say he does it.
The Kraken fourth line
Due to the injuries to Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev, and Andre Burakovsky this season, coach Dave Hakstol is minimizing the usage of the fourth line. Last season it was common for the fourth line to get 12-14 minutes a night, but as of late, the fourth-line wingers are getting between six and nine minutes of ice time. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is averaging right around 10 minutes a night, largely because of his time on the penalty kill.
Part of this is situational. The Kraken are behind more frequently this season and need to get some of their goal scorers more ice time by taking it away from the fourth line.
Last year’s strength was Seattle’s depth with Ryan Donato, Daniel Sprong, and Morgan Geekie often contributing with goals from the fourth line. It is not a perfect analysis, but the three of them averaged .65 goals per game. Tanev, Kailer Yamamoto, and Bellemare together are averaging .43 goals per game, but that’s not an accurate picture. Tanev has been hurt a good chunk of the season, and injuries farther up the lineup have Yamamoto slotting in on other lines. That has left the fourth line to be made up by a hodgepodge of fill-ins like Devin Shore, Andrew Poturalski, Marián Studenič, and now Max McCormick.
Other musings:
Several of the World Junior Championship teams should start announcing their pre-tournament camp rosters this week. I expect Seattle Kraken prospects Jagger Firkus and Carson Rehkopf to be on the initial camp roster for Team Canada. Defenseman Ty Nelson could be another candidate, but he might be a bit of a long shot to make the final squad. Though Shane Wright is still eligible, he is not expected to play in the WJC this year.
It is unlikely that the Chicago Blackhawks would loan former Seattle Thunderbird Kevin Korchinski to Team Canada. The last time the Blackhawks let one of their prospects play in the World Junior Championship, Kirby Dach broke his wrist and missed a majority of his 2020-21 season.
Chris Driedger had a shutout for the Firebirds on Friday night against the Ontario Reign. In 13 games, he has a .916 save percentage in the AHL.
Wright has at least one point in 11 of his 15 AHL games this season for the Coachella Valley Firebirds. My prediction at the beginning of the season was that Shane would get 20 to 30 games in the AHL and would eventually be called up by the Kraken to spend of the rest of the season in the NHL.
Alex Wennberg’s assist on the game-tying goal Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs is a perfect encapsulation of why he is such a good player and flies under the radar. He literally entered the offensive zone with the puck while the rest of the Kraken players were changing behind the play. There were four Maple Leafs in the zone with Wennberg but he managed to keep the puck and eventually find Jared McCann for this beauty of a goal. No highlights will show him entering the zone for a 1-on-4.
Wennberg is on his last year of his current contract and could be a trade candidate for the Kraken if they are out of the playoff picture. He doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the attributes he brings to the game because a lot of people just look at his scoring.
Player performance
Eduard Sale (BAR/SEA) – The Seattle Kraken first-round pick from the most recent NHL Entry Draft has practically flown off the radar this season but still has 21 points in 23 games for the Barrie Colts in the OHL. Expect him to represent Czechia in the World Juniors tournament.
Conor Geekie (WEN/ARI) – The Arizona Coyotes prospect playing for the Wenatchee Wild has put up 12 points in three games, including four unanswered goals against Portland on Saturday. He has points in eight straight games.
Mathew Barzal (NYI) – The former Seattle Thunderbird had seven points in two games last week, including this overtime winner against the Hurricanes.
In one of the pre-game media availabilities last week, Coach Hakstol got a question about defensive scoring that implied that is why the team has struggled to score this season. So, I looked it up.
So, yes, the defense has not contributed as much as it did at this point last season, but neither has the forward group. (Andre Burakovsky had nine goals at this point last season.)
Goal of the week
Seattle Kraken sixth-round selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Zeb Forsfjall, scored the overtime game winner for Skellefteå on Saturday.
It seems like I am saying this every week, but the Kraken face another critical week, and the opponents don’t look that intimidating, though all of them have a better record than the Kraken. Seattle starts the week with a game Monday against the Montreal Canadiens to try to salvage this road trip before returning home for six games in 10 days. The Kraken have got to figure out a way to link more than two wins together if they want any hope of making the playoffs.
It would be great if the Kraken can get Burakovsky back for this stretch of games. He was back in a regular blue jersey at morning skate Monday, per our best friend, Alison Lukan, but is not expected to play against the Habs. The success of the season may depend on how Burakovsky plays when he comes back.
A question for the readers
What happens first, a shutout by a Seattle Kraken goalie, a hat trick by a Kraken player, or Shane Wright gets called up from Coachella?
This is becoming a terrible road trip for the Seattle Kraken, who sunk to 0-3-1 in their last four with a 2-0 shutout loss to the Ottawa Senators Saturday. Like the Chicago loss, this felt like a winnable game for Seattle. But for as many shots as the Kraken threw at Anton Forsberg (39 in total), the Senators netminder never appeared all that stressed and cruised to his first shutout of the season.
“We generated some good chances, but we didn’t get the second pucks,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “They did a nice job getting in shot lanes. They were committed in terms of blocking shots, and they battled hard in front of their net.”
At the other end, a couple hiccups resulted in goals against, and that was all Ottawa needed.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Seattle’s fourth loss in a row.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Missteps and miscommunications proved costly
Two bad breaks for the Kraken ended up in the back of their net. On the first one, Matty Beniers tried to carry the puck up through the slot, but he lost an edge, fell, and handed the puck to Mathieu Joseph in prime scoring position. The result was an easy goal for Joseph and a 1-0 deficit at 17:21 of the first period.
D'oh! Bad break for the #SeaKraken, and Mathieu Joseph takes advantage. Matty Beniers blew a tire.
The other miscue came 13 minutes into the second period, soon after a blown 4-on-1 rush at the other end that concluded with Beniers handcuffing Jordan Eberle, who then couldn’t get a real shot away.
The puck went deep into Seattle’s zone. Joey Daccord corralled it and left it behind the net for Will Borgen. Borgen looked like he was expecting Daccord to rim it around, though, and stopped at the net front, leaving a loose puck for Vladimir Tarasenko to pounce on. Tarasenko passed to Tim Stutzle, who passed to Drake Batherson for an open net.
D'oh! Another bad break for the #SeaKraken ends up in their net. Looked like Borgen was expecting Daccord to rim it around, but Daccord left it behind the net.
Hakstol had an interesting breakdown of the second goal.
“The second goal against is unfortunately, again, it’s a play that [Daccord is] going to learn from,” Hakstol said. “It’s a right decision by him to get out and to stop that rim. It becomes a dirty puck when it hops on him, and at that point in time, with good communication around him, that’s a time where you just want to make a real decisive play with that puck and get it out of the danger area. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.”
Here was Daccord’s side of what happened:
“The rim came, and it just hit my stick and bounced up in the air, took a really bad bounce,” Daccord said. “I was trying to corral it, couldn’t corral it, and then I saw Borgey coming, so I thought he was coming to pick it up. And then we just had a little miscommunication.”
Mishaps happen, and Daccord is more aggressive with his puck play, which has been well documented. Still, two bobbles in a hockey game shouldn’t be enough to cost you the result.
When you aren’t scoring goals at the offensive end of the ice, those slip ups become deadly.
Takeaway #2 (John): Lack of quality shots on net
If you look at the box score, it appears as if the Kraken peppered Ottawa with shots and just came up empty. Even advanced analytics sites like Evolving Hockey had more expected goals at all strengths for the Kraken (2.99) than Ottawa (2.75).
However, my eye balls told me a slightly different story. The Kraken absolutely had a lot of shots, but I never felt as if the Kraken were getting heaps of Grade-A scoring opportunities. Ottawa did well to limit the shot attempts to the outside, which really lowered the quality of the Kraken shots.
I would also say that although Forsberg played well, he did not steal that game from Seattle. Even as shots were getting through to the goalie, most of the offerings seemed to hit Forsberg squarely in the chest.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Kraken had six high-danger shots on goal, which is right at their season average. A more damning stat is that Seattle did not have any high-danger shots on six minutes of power play time.
Takeaway #3 (John): Penalty kill showing improvement as of late
Let us end on a positive note, because we need one right now. The penalty kill has been showing some drastic improvements as of late with one power-play goal against versus Toronto as the only blemish on the record over the last five games.
This is a vast improvement over the stretch of games from Game 9 to Game 20 where their penalty kill averaged just 65 percent. Over the last five games, they have killed 92 percent of their manpower disadvantages.
In my eyes, there have not been any structural changes to Seattle’s approach, but the execution has been much better. They’re getting to loose pucks and clearing the defensive zone when they’re getting the opportunity to do so. This will be something we hope continues.
The season keeps moving along for the Western Hockey League, which capped off a November full of standings shuffling and big-time performances all around. For the Everett Silvertips, contributions from up and down the lineup continued to spring them forward, while the Seattle Thunderbirds’ scoring inconsistencies have seemingly set them back.
Everett Silvertips
Everett hosted the rival Portland Winterhawks on Friday at Angel of the Winds Arena, looking to avenge Sunday’s loss in Portland. The Silvertips started slowly by giving up the first three goals of the game and trailing 3-0 after the first period. Goaltender Tyler Palmer was pulled for Ethan Chadwick after the frame.
The Silvertips responded, and the ice tilted drastically in the second, with Everett scoring six unanswered goals and completely shutting the door defensively en route to a 6-3 win. Teague Patton had a natural hat trick in the second, while Nashville Predators prospect Austin Roest scored the game winner in the third.
Everett’s win improved the team to 11-2-1 on home ice this season, trailing only the Wenatchee Wild for the best home winning percentage in the WHL.
The Silvertips followed that up with a night in Kamloops, beginning a five-game road trip across British Columbia and Alberta. Scoring opportunities were plentiful for both sides all night as both the Blazers and Silvertips would tally three goals during regulation. In overtime, it would be Silvertip forward Dominik Rymon going top shelf to seal the game for Everett, 4-3 the final.
Continuing through B.C., Everett headed up to Prince George for a pair with the top team in the Western Conference. The Silvertips didn’t capitalize on a solid performance from Palmer Monday night, a 3-1 loss, but they did pull through in front of Chadwick on Tuesday. Two-point efforts from Julius Miettinen (1-1—2) and Austin Roest (2-0—2) helped in taking down the Cougars 4-3 and keeping Everett near the top of the conference standings.
For everything that went right for the Silvertips this month, it’s been about the opposite for the Thunderbirds. On Friday they took on the Saskatoon Blades, coming off being shut out in their previous two games. The offense continued to be lackluster, only managing to squeak one by Blades goaltender Evan Gardner and leading to a 3-1 loss. Before the third-period goal from Antonio Martorana, the T-birds went their previous 10 periods of hockey without scoring a non-empty-net goal. That’s over three games worth of hockey.
Not much changed on Saturday when Seattle traveled up to Kelowna. Even with the T-birds putting 45 shots on Rockets netminder Jari Kykkanen, only two found their way through. A continued struggle throughout the month of November for the T-birds was the inability to score in bunches, as just twice across 10 games did they net more than two goals in a period. Seattle’s 4-2 loss capped off its month at 3-6-1, and it continued to fall in the Western Conference standings.
U.S. Division performer of the week
If Spokane is going to turn around its season, it’s going to be on the back of its goaltending, specifically 18-year-old Dawson Cowan. Cowan appeared in three games for the Chiefs this week, only allowing four goals on the 106 shots he faced versus Victoria, Portland, and Saskatoon.
Oh, and he was credited with a goal on Sunday in Portland, the first of his career.
Cowan’s performance was enough to be named WHL Goalie of the Week. The Manitoba native will be eligible for selection at the 2024 NHL Draft.
Kraken CHL highlight
With the Seattle Kraken having four second-round selections in the 2023 NHL Draft, there was speculation they would pick a defenseman with at least one of those selections. Where did they turn? Lukas Dragicevic of the Tri-City Americans, who became the first Kraken prospect to play in the U.S. Division. Many Kraken fans were elated to know they would get to see his development on a nightly basis.
Dragicevic’s play in transition and offensive awareness for a defenseman is a large reason why the Kraken selected him No. 57 overall in 2023. Dragicevic currently leads all Tri-City defensemen in points and is continuing to find creative ways to spring the offensive play.
Everett continues its Canadian road trip in Edmonton and Red Deer on Saturday and will then be idle until the following Friday. Seattle remains at home this week, taking on Kelowna once again on Saturday. They then welcome the Victoria Royals to accesso ShoWare Center on Tuesday.
That game was an emotional roller coaster for Kraken fans, no doubt, and although Seattle came out on the losing end against the Maple Leafs, it was a much better performance than Tuesday’s game at the Chicago Blackhawks.
“In the first period, they had some opportunities and some zone time,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “But outstanding second period, better third period, a ton of character coming back and tying up the hockey game.”
Though he was still under a .900 save percentage on the night, Philipp Grubauer had a much better outing than in Chicago and rewarded Hakstol for his decision to throw him back in the net after a poor performance. He helped Seattle weather an early storm, and eventually his mates were able to turn the tides of the game.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Offensive talent gap
When Seattle plays against teams with elite offensive talent, it tends to be a stark reminder that the Kraken have to get strong performances from everybody in their lineup to be successful. You never know which of the Maple Leafs’ stars are going to have a big night, and on Thursday, it was Mitch Marner who had a hat trick by the end of the second period and added a shootout goal to close out the win.
If the Kraken hadn’t come back to tie this game, we would have been calling for drastic measures from Seattle’s front office; some sort of personnel improvement à la an Eeli Tolvanen-style waiver claim or an Oliver Bjorkstrand-style trade. The offensive gap just seemed too big to overcome in this game, even though the Kraken were playing well.
To the team’s credit, they stuck with it, peppered Joseph Woll with 29 shots in the second and third periods, and dominated overtime, only to get stonewalled (stone…Wolled?) on several occasions.
To a shootout we go!
Goodness, the #SeaKraken had so many incredible looks in OT, but couldn't get one past Joseph Woll.
Seattle’s players and netminder should feel much better about themselves after this game than they did Tuesday. This was a solid effort against a good team that very well could have gone their way.
Takeaway #2 (Darren): Alex Wennberg’s outstanding play
Alex Wennberg’s play on Jared McCann’s tying goal (his second of the game) is a prime example of why Wennberg is a valuable player, even though fans get frustrated with his unwillingness to shoot. He took a nothing play and turned it into something by carrying the puck into the offensive zone 1-on-4. He carried it to the corner, battled through a check, and bought just enough time to let the Kraken complete their line change.
In came McCann, and Wennberg threaded the needle through five Toronto defenders.
I just love the way he uses his body to shield Simon Benoit from the puck and doesn’t panic and throw it away, even though he’s facing a full boat of blue sweaters with zero support.
“He’s got great vision,” McCann said. “I just tried to get open for him. He makes everybody look at the puck, right? He’s just got that ability, and he opens up a lot of lanes for guys.”
Wennberg certainly did that in this case.
We also have to give credit to McCann here, who gets the pass and does not hesitate in whipping it past Woll for his second goal of the game and team-leading 11th of the season.
Takeaway #3 (John): That’s a big point
This felt like an important point in the standings. One thing the Kraken did well in November was accumulate points, even though they never really got on the roll we were expecting, and Thursday’s shootout loser point was another example of that.
At the time of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Kraken had points in eight out of 11 games and had put themselves in a wild card slot in the standings. Since Thanksgiving they had regulation losses to Vancouver and, most recently, Chicago. A regulation loss to Toronto would have marked the first time this season the Kraken would have gone three games without a point.
It would have felt devastating to start a road trip with two losses, knowing this team has a very thin margin of error to keep its playoff contention hopes alive. The reality is a point is a point, no matter who it comes against, and a point on Tuesday against the Blackhawks counts the same as the point the boys got tonight against Toronto.
Now the Kraken have two winnable games in front of them to close out this road trip with a game against Ottawa on Saturday and against Montreal on Monday. These are not easy games, but the Kraken now have a shot at coming away with five points on this four-game road trip.
This is a super fun and interesting episode that takes John and Darren back to their pre-Kraken days, when they were interviewing folks from all over the hockey world.
On this episode, they welcome Blake Geoffrion and Sam Jefferies, author of the new book, Legacy on Ice: Blake Geoffrion and the Fastest Game on Earth. Geoffrion has a fascinating story, so the guys discuss Blake’s journey and why Sam decided to write a book about him.
Also in this episode, there’s plenty of Kraken talk, including John, Darren, and Curtis breaking down the latest Seattle struggles and all that has happened in a very strange week in the NHL.
