As the Seattle Kraken embark on a road trip to battle some Eastern Conference heavyweights – starting with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (Dec. 3), the team is in a funk. The good vibes of mid-November when head coach Dan Bylsma’s side finished a homestand 5-1-0 are long gone. They are 1-4-0 since then and some glaring issues have reared their heads. Let’s discuss.
The Kraken Don’t Stand up for Each Other
Claiming that Seattle’s players don’t stand up for each other is painting with broad brush strokes. We’re guilty of that. Even so, certain things can be spotted within contests – the chess matches within games – that speaks to a certain lack of team spirit in this group.
On Nov. 27, Seattle returned home to face an Anaheim Ducks squad they had defeated as the road side two days prior. Some of the stats from the rematch looked okay, such as the 44 shots on target and that the Kraken were called for only a trio of transgressions for a total of six minutes in the sin bin. Other stats, like their 50% penalty killing and the 5-2 final score in Anaheim’s favor were less impressive.
But there were two moments that had people online question what this team is made up. The author stayed up late that night (eastern time zone) to watch some of Emerald City Hockey’s livestream assessment of the game. Something came up again and again, not just from the hosts (who are excellent at covering the team) but people sending in questions and comments.
Related: Kraken’s Shane Wright Still Searching for Consistency
Why didn’t any Kraken player send a message to the Ducks after goalie Joey Daccord was run into? Yes, it was an error on Jansen Harkins’ part, but you don’t hit a goalie. Nobody on Seattle appeared to do anything about it.
Later, Tye Kartye was part of a post-whistle scrum, with Harkins playing a decidedly more antagonistic role than in the previous incident. Kartye was on the ice, getting punched repeatedly, and only Eeli Tolvanen attempted an intervention, but he was held back by another Anaheim player.
Both were odd episodes that suggested this Kraken unit is, well, maybe not tightly knit. Perhaps they are and that was a bad night. It was the eve of Thanksgiving and they had defeated the Ducks 48 hours earlier. This was going to be easy. Well, it wasn’t and the club didn’t react in any way that spoke to guts and grit.
One wonders if Jordan Eberle’s absence is sorely felt. He’s on injured reserve with a pelvis injury. Eberle was named captain on opening day, and many thought it was a strong choice. The issue might be that there is nobody worthy of picking up that mantle and be a leader while he’s away.
Slack Goaltending & Turnovers
Sooner or later, a big decision will have to be made regarding Philipp Grubauer. He’s earning a lot more money than Daccord this season ($5.9 million to $1.2 million). Even next season, when Daccord’s extension kicks in, his annual salary will still be under that of his German teammate ($5 million to $5.9 million).
Daccord can let in a soft one every once in a while. He did during the Nov. 27 game we keep referencing. The Brett Larson goal in the first period to make 2-0 for the Ducks was what some decry as one he “had to have.”
But the situation with Grubauer is more alarming. It’s fair to argue that the average NHL goalie’s save percentage (SV%) is not what it used to be a few years ago. Some highly respected netminders have an SV% barely above .900, like Darcy Kuemper (.903), Andrei Vasilevskiy (.907), and Pyotr Kochetkov (.904). But Grubauer’s .862 won’t cut it. There is nothing to sugarcoat about that figure. He has a 1-7-0 record this season and a goals against average (GAA) of 3.62.
As per PuckPedia, in the Nov. 29 defeat to the San Jose Sharks (a bonkers 8-5 final score), the veteran coughed up six low-danger goals. That’s a stupendously high number. Either he starts playing better when Daccord is given a rest, or general manager Ron Francis needs to find a way to make a deal with somebody.
Seattle is also coughing up the puck at the worst possible times and fails to recover from their mistakes. The turnovers in the neutral zone in the 8-5 defeat were aplenty. The Will Smith, Jake Walman, and Macklin Celebrini markers in the middle frame that turned the tide were all created because the Kraken either lost a puck battle or turned it over in the neutral zone. This was an issue in the 4-2 loss to these same Sharks 24 hours later on Nov. 30.
Yes, the goalie needs to make stops, but the entire game plan can be tossed skyward if the team keeps giving the disc back to the opposition.
Special Teams Disfunction
Lastly, the Kraken’s special teams are anything but. There was significant turnover in the coaching staff last spring, from Bylsma to assistants like Jessica Campbell and Bob Woods arriving in Seattle. Things can take time to learn, re-learn, or even un-learn.
Two of those elements are the power play and the penalty kill. When operating on the man advantage, Seattle is only operating at 15% efficiency, which puts them 30th in the NHL. When trying to survive down a player, they succeed 78.7% of the time. To be considered at least decent at penalty killing, reaching the 80% plateau is nice. Unsurprisingly, the Kraken’s efforts have them at 19th, thus in the bottom half of the league.
In fact, the power-play percentage would be even worse were it not for a Shane Wright mini-outburst in the 8-5 loss to the Sharks. He scored twice on the man advantage to at least help the team finish two for six on the game. They cashed in on none of their 16 other opportunities from Nov. 23 versus the Los Angeles Kings to Nov. 30 against San Jose.
These are all causes for serious concern. Seattle is currently not passing the stats test or the eye test. Will games on the road against the Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils change that? We’re about to find out. The fear is that by the time this four-game trip concludes (the New York Islanders are the other opponent), the Kraken will look much worse for wear. These are the moments in a season when a team needs to dig deep. Pacific Ocean deep or soul-searching deep; just deep.
