Here come the 2024-2025 Seattle Kraken
But six pre-season contests showed it's not quite the team that finished 34-35-13 a year ago.
First there's a new face behind the bench. Dan Bylsma takes over the parent club after leading the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken's AHL affiliate to the league finals the past two seasons.
Bylsma also has a pedigree going back to the 2008-09 season when he was promoted from the AHL to coach the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bylsma and the Pens caught lightning in the bottle putting together a run that culminated in a Staley Cup championship.
Then there's Shane Wright who made a cameo appearance in Seattle last season but spent most of the season under Bylsma's tutelage in CV. In pre-season play - yes, it's only pre-season- Wright gave glimpses of why he was such a highly regarded playing coming out of juniors back in 2022.
Wright, who the Kraken snared with the fourth pick in the amateur draft (after many expected him to be the top overall selection), had two goals in Seattle's final pre-season win over the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2, last week at Climate Pledge Arena.
The second was a beautiful tally, where he took a pass directly in front with his back to the net, did a `spin around' and in one motion slid the puck past the Oilers' netminder Olivier Rodrigue. Wright's currently centering a line with Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand, two offensive-minded forwards which should be a plus for the 20-year forward.
Then there's Brandon Montour. `Monty' coming off a Stanley Cup winning season with the Florida Panthers, signed a seven-year pact with Seattle to help tighten up the Kraken's defense. Montour, a physical defenseman who can also contribute offensively, was one of the three stars in both Kraken pre-season home victories.
Montour will pair with `original' Kraken Jamie Oleksiak on the blueline. Oleksiak's a `stay at home' defenseman who'll man the blue line when Montour goes on offense. Bylsma feels that he has three defenseman who can conceivably man a power play -Vince Dunn, Seattle's all-time assist leader, Montour, and Ryker Evans, the Kraken's second amateur pick in 2021, who begins his first full-season in the NHL.
Montour's also known as a team leader in the dressing room. An extrovert he says, ``I like to keep things light." Montour picks the music in the locker room and is a dark horse to eventually become the team captain.
Chandler Stephenson, like Montour, was signed to a seven-year contract in the off-season by Kraken GM Ron Francis. Another Stanley Cup winner, Stephenson was a standout in his final two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. His 51 points would have placed him second on the Kraken a year ago (behind Jared McCann).
Stephenson, who's known as an elite passer, will start the season centering a line with Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky. Stephenson has a history with both players, particularly with Schwartz going back to when they played junior hockey together in Saskatchewan. Schwartz even lived with Stephenson's family at one time and was the player the former Golden Knight reached out to when he was considering coming to Seattle.
Stephenson and Burakovsky started out together with the Washington Capitals and were part of the 2018 Stanley Cup team (along with Kraken goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer). Burakovsky's main problem since joining the Kraken has been staying healthy. He's been slowed down by nagging injuries the past two seasons.
Two returning Kraken SeattleSPORTs Now will be looking at this season:
Matty Beniers, suffered the dreaded `sophomore jinx' last season after being awarded the Calder Trophy, presented to the top NHL rookie, in his first full season. Beniers' 15 goals and 22 assists were below what the Kraken and their fans expected last season. This season, Beniers reported to camp adding 20 pounds from last year (he did get knocked off his feet a lot last season).
Beniers has shown signs of playing a more physical game, which Bylsma would like to see from the team in general. When Beniers began his career not receiving a penalty for his first 30 games there was talk of the Kraken's first ever draft pick as a Lady Byng candidate. However, Beniers comes from the Boston area and there was a famous sign at the old Boston Garden that read, `Lady Byng Died In Boston.'
When former NHL goalkeeper Corey Hirsch rated the Top 10 NHL goalies on the NHL network, he was asked what young netminder could crack the top ten next season. Hirsch's first pick was Kraken goalkeeper Joey Daccord, another Boston native (Hirsch admitted he might be biased because Daccord's father was once his goalie coach).
Kraken fans know what Daccord can do from his hot streak in late 2023 and early 2024, including the first ever shutout against the Vegas Golden Knights in an outdoor classic game. Ironically, Daccord is three-years older than Jeremy Swayman ,who just signed an eight-year multi-million dollar contract with the Boston Bruins.
However, sometimes goalies are late bloomers and Daccord played juniors and college hockey before turning pro. He was the Kraken's best goalie in the pre-season, although Grubauer played well in Seattle's win over Edmonton and will probably start the season opener against St. Louis.
But for the Kraken to make a run at the playoffs this season they'll need solid play from both goalkeepers.
On paper, it looks like another fifth-place finish for the Kraken- a chance at fourth, but the Central Division could nab five of the Western Conference playoff spots anyway.
However, usually at least one team makes a giant leap in the standings every year (see Vancouver last season). Could this be the Kraken's season?
The Kraken's forward and defense pairings to start the season
Jared McCann/Matty Beniers/Jordan Eberle
Andre Burakovsky /Chandler Stephenson /Jaden Schwartz
Eeli Tolvanen /Shane Wright /Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye /Yanni Gourde /Brandon Tanev
Vince Dunn /Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak /Brandon Montour
Will Borgen /Ryker Evans
Goaltenders
Philipp Grubauer/Joey Daccord
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