Kraken look to improve in Season 2

Before the Seattle Kraken’s maiden voyage into National Hockey League waters some fans were (probably prematurely) optimistic about how well the team would perform. As season two begins this week, once again optimism looms for local hockey followers. If you can’t be optimistic before the season starts when can you?

KEY PICKUP

General manager Ron Francis has attempted to improve the Kraken’s weak spots from a year ago. That starts with more goal scoring. The Kraken signed free agent Andre Burakovsky, coming off a season where he garnered a career-high 61 points and had an overtime game-winner for the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup finals. Also, Oliver Bjorkstrand was acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets after a career-high 28 goals. The Blue Jackets reluctantly moved Bjorkstrand after the splashy free-agent signing of Johnny Gaudreau to get under the salary cap. The Kraken also picked up another quality defenseman, signing Justin Schwartz, late of the Washington Capitals as a free agent.

BREAKIND DOWN KRAKEN SQUAD

Goaltending  Netminders are a tough breed to figure out. Philipp Grubauer – who Kraken TV announcer John Forslund calls the `German Gentleman’ – was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2021 as a member of the Colorado Avalanche. Last year, was not so good. But in the pre-season, Grubauer looked like the 2021 Grubauer, at least until the final four minutes of Seattle’s last pre-season game against Edmonton. Grubauer’s clearing pass hit Leon Draisaitl and went into the net.

After the Kraken tied the game, Grubauer allowed another stoppable goal. Still, he only allowed three goals in five periods before that. Veteran Martin Jones is the backup. Chris Driedger, who had a lower goals against average than Grubauer a year ago, is out until at least January with a knee injury.

SOLID DEFENSEMEN

Defense- Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn return as the Kraken’s top defense pairing and should see the most minutes on the blue line. While not flashy, Larsson’s a defensive defenseman and one of the best players on the Kraken. Seattle would like to see more offense from Dunn, who mans the power play. Schwartz teams with the `Big Rig’ Jamie Oleksiak as the second defense pairing and Will Borgen and Carson Soucy are the third team after turning in a solid performance in the last pre-season game against the Oilers.

YOUNG GUNS

Borgen suffered the ignominious fate of often being a healthy scratch for the Kraken a year ago, but benefited from being the only one of the young defensemen to be a natural right-handed shot. Ryker Evans, the number-two pick behind Matty Beniers in the Kraken’s first amateur draft, will begin the season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League but should be a regular with the big club sooner than later.

Forwards- Beniers is only 19 years old. He’s also arguably the best player on the team. There may be no argument if he continues to play as he did in his nine NHL games a year ago and in the preseason. The Julio Rodriguez of the Kraken? Coach Dave Hakstol often switches lines around but Beniers has lately been on a line with Jared McCann, the Kraken’s leading scorer a year ago, and either of the two newcomers – Burakovsky or Bjorkstrand.

INJURIES HAMPERED GROWTH

It seemed likely that 2022 pick Shane Wright would make the squad when the Kraken started playing Yanni Gorde, a center all last season, on the wing. Wright, who’s only 18, centered a line comprised of two old pros – Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz. However, Schwartz was injured in the final preseason game which brings us to Darren Sprong. Acquired from Washington for Marcus Johansson last season, Sprong wasn’t expected to make the Kraken varsity this season.

But he was one of Seattle’s best players in training camp and could wind up playing a lot with Joonas Donskoi and possibly Schwartz on the injured list (hockey teams are notoriously quiet when it comes to talking about injuries). Seattle hockey fans will be happy to know that Brandon Tanev, the most popular Kraken according to jersey sales- has not abandoned his kamikaze style of flying all over the ice and banging into anyone with an opposing uniform.

Tanev suffered a severe knee injury in January and missed the remainder of the season. Ryan Donato, Alexander Wennberg, and Morgan Geekie round out the forwards. Outlook – The consensus of the so-called `experts’ has the Kraken pegged for seventh place in the eight-team Pacific Division finishing ahead of only the San Jose Sharks. However, like last season, the Pacific isn’t considered the league’s strongest division. The Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames are the class of the division but the remaining teams – Anaheim, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Vegas, Seattle, San Jose, are all young rebuilding teams and the Kraken could finish anywhere from third to eighth.

Our Pacific Division prediction – 1. Edmonton 2. Calgary 3. Anaheim 4. Los Angeles 5. SEATTLE 6. Vancouver 7. San Jose 8. Las Vegas.