By: Maeve Hushman, Staff Writer
On September 26th, the Kraken took on the Vancouver Canucks for their first game, a preseason game, in franchise history. The Seattle Kraken are the 32nd and the newest team to be added to the NHL. They held their expansion draft this summer and while the team they’ve built doesn’t seem to be the dominant, “win-now” roster people speculated that Ron Francis (the General Manager) might pick after the success of the Vegas Golden Knights, they will still draw eyes from hockey fans far and wide. There are huge questions surrounding the team, the first one being scoring and offensive prowess and the second concerning the issue of who will be the starting goaltender. Both former Florida Panthers goaltender, Chris Drieger, and former Avalanche goaltender Philip Grubauer are locked up in multi-year contracts after terrific 2020-2021 seasons. However questions remain if Drieger can repeat his performance with the Panthers or if Grubauer can continue to play the way he did in Colorado without the Avalanche’s talented defensive core in front of him. While a preseason game can’t necessarily provide all the answers, it can give us a glimpse into who the newest NHL team is going to be.
At the WHL Spokane Chiefs’ Veterans memorial arena, the newly minted Kraken took the ice against the Vancouver Canucks. The game started off in the Canucks favor with Nick Petan winning the opening faceoff against Jared McCann. Despite this, the Kraken had more time in the offensive zone and more shots on goal during the first period overall. However, during this first period the Kraken gave the Canucks too much ice, giving them mobility and opportunities that could have been avoided. JT Brown, analyst for the Kraken and former player, said that the identity for this team should be “hardworking team”. While all teams work hard, teams like the Kraken with large players and a lack of bonafide offensive stars have to play a more gritty and rough game in order to succeed. You could certainly see that strategy in the first period as they tried to create and take advantage of every opportunity given.
At 8:22 in the first, Jack Rathbone of the Canucks took the first penalty (tripping) allowing the Seattle Kraken their power play in franchise history. The power play is brand new, in fact both special teams were only started on that day in practice. Giordano, former Norris winner and one of the biggest stars on the roster, was the one anchoring the power play from the point. The youth of the team and power play was evident. There wasn’t any pressure put on the Canuck PK and Seattle seemed terrified to move from position even when that formation obviously wasn't working. The Kraken were not able to convert on the powerplay but Rathbone was able to get a breakaway right out of the box and opened scoring for the Canucks. Shortly after the Kraken took their 1st and only penalty with Riley Sheahan heading to the box for high sticking.
The Kraken penalty kill was the opposite of the first power play or maybe similar in that the Kraken did not exploit their considerable size and strength to pressure the Canucks. However in this case it was all disorganization, there was no structured defense and they were left chasing the Canucks power play unit. Boeser scored on Grubauer ending the powerplay and putting the Canucks up 2-0. The main theme of the night was introduced here. The Canucks are smaller and quicker so Seattle needed to frequently out-work them and keep up the physical pressure in order to walk away with the win.
Despite the score, the Kraken had more chances in the first. Tanev, Hayden Fleury, and the McCann all looked super solid. The forecheck was strong and some of the best hockey being played by the Kraken occurred when they were out working the Canucks for better high danger chances. However, Canucks rookie goalie, Silvos, was able to hold his own well, especially given his young age.The shot count by the end of the first period was 13 for the Kraken and 5 for the Canucks.
The Kraken came into the second period on the power play due to a trip by Olli Juolevi at 19:17 in the first . The power play, on their second go, still looked rough; they were having trouble with puck control and the offensive moves they were making were mostly lower danger shots. These difficulties make sense given the place the team is at development wise; the players barely know each other and they don’t have the trust or chemistry built up yet to get the power play running off the bat. You need some degree of chemistry to connect on passes and taking offensive risks requires trusting your teammates in a way not cemented on a team this new.
The second period continued on and the Kraken began to more completely commit to their hardworking identity. The more that they committed the better the chances they had. They continued to outshoot the Canucks but still they hadn’t figured out how to solve Silvos and actually convert on any of those chances. Until Riley Sheahan broke the ice at 2:32 in the 2nd, scoring the first goal in Seattle Kraken franchise history. The 4th line found the needed chemistry to capitalise on a high danger chance; the puck was carried behind the net by Bastain and then sent to the open Sheahan who was able to score on the unsuspecting Silvos. It was a grinding goal, the kind you expect to see a lot out of the Kraken. Tanev chipped it out of the corner to Bastain and Bastain made the heads up play, passing to Sheahan. Both Tanev and Bastain were credited with the assist.
The Kraken would score twice more in the second, both on the powerplay which started to find it’s groove. The first was a high blocker shot by Jared McCann demonstrating the power and accuracy of his shot. McCann was taken from the Leafs in the expansion draft where he would have been a third line center or maybe top line wing. Having him center the top line and be on the first powerplay unit is providing a tremendous opportunity to him, and he really showed up with a goal and an assist on the night. The second PPG was scored by Donato, a short side goal with Eberle and McCann on the assist. While their powerplay struggled at first, as the game went on it started to click and see the desired results.
Even though the Kraken took the lead, scoring three unanswered goals, the Canucks would score again at the 12:30 mark with Nils Hӧglander scoring goal number 3. Grubauer had to deal with three truly flukey shots that led to goals in the first two periods. Despite the fact the Kraken outshot the Canucks 14-3 in the 2nd, the period ended with the score tied at three. The shot count was 27 Kraken and 8 Canucks after 40 minutes of play.
Going into the third there was a change in goaltending for both teams. Spencer Martin came into the net for the Canucks and Chris Drieger replaced Grubauer for the Kraken. Both goalies got off to a good start stopping some high danger chances. Drieger would hold down the fort for the rest of the period, keeping the Canucks restrained to the 3 earlier goals.
Morgan “The Magician” Geekie scored right off an offensive zone face off 50 seconds into the third period, giving the Kraken back the lead. He would also score the next goal, another powerplay goal bringing the final score to 5-3 in favor of Seattle. Geekie looked great in his Seattle Kraken debut. According to both analyst JT Brown and Seattle Times reporter Marisa Ingemi, Geekie, who is only 23, has looked good all training camp. He is a promising young player for the Kraken; if he can perform like he did in this game consistently, the Kraken will not be pressed for offence like previously feared. The game ended with both the shot clock and scoreboard favoring the Kraken. The Kraken ended with 5 goals on 38 shots, while the Canucks ended with 3 goals on 15 shots.
The Kraken won their debut game even though they lost the required pre-season shootout. Here are the important takeaways from an, admittedly, completely meaningless preseason game:
The more the Kraken sticks to their identity and commits, the better the results and the more they dominate the game. Hardworking, grinding hockey cannot work without full team buy in. With that full team buy in, even the most unassuming teams on paper can go far (See the 2019 Columbus Blue Jackets and the Islanders recent successes)
Tanev is definitely a bright spot. He is great on the forecheck and definitely gets in the corner and battles for the puck. He also seemed to have pretty good speed when it came to take aways and o-zone entries
The McCann line promises to be a scoring threat. Is Jared McCann a first line center on any contending team? Probably not, but that was the same for William Karlsson before he went to play on the Golden Knights. Sometimes players rise to the occasion. This can be sure though, the McCann line is building chemistry and they can certainly score on the power play.
Hayden Fleury is a pretty good puck moving defenseman. Those are definitely hard to come by and even though he didn’t score during the game, his efforts were noticeable and he will definitely be a huge asset for the team in the future.
Morgan “The Magician” Geekie is another argument in favor of the Kraken being able to score. Having a young center with the ability to put up points will ensure future success for the Kraken.
It is still yet to be seen if Grubauer can be the same goalie he was in Colorado without the stacked blue line in front of him. Giordano and Fleury are good but two defensemen doesn’t make a strong defense core. Drieger did well for the one period he played though so Grubauer might become nothing more than a cap burden if he can’t get it done.
The Kraken need to take advantage of their size and power. They need to continue to forecheck aggressively and constantly work to reduce the space on the ice their opponents have. The Kraken looked their least dangerous when they gave the Canucks space to pass and gain possession.
Special teams will come with time, chemistry, and work. Tonight was a promising start for at least the powerplay.
Only time will tell what kind of team the Kraken become and how competitive they will be in the league. But the first pre-season game gives a hopeful outlook for the NHL’s newest franchise. If the team can commit to the hardworking identity and keep scoring, then their future in the weak Pacific Division is promising.