We The Fans: Kraken Expected to take care of Short Business Trip in Utah.
The bottom line… is the Seattle Kraken are on a short single game road trip for a 6pm Seattle time Friday clash with the struggling and primarily-out-with-injury Utah Mammoth. The Mammoth started the season a strong 8-2-0 but after injuries have kept key players like Logan Cooley out of the lineup. The Mammoth are on a three game slide that’s seen them fall to 3-7-0 over their last ten games. The Kraken must look to extend Utah’s losing streak if they are going to continue to compete in a Western Conference with arguably more playoff worthy teams.
The Kraken received news Friday morning that confirmed, Kraken all time goals leader, Jared McCann will be out till at least January 2nd with a lower body injury sustained against the Kings in Wednesday's contest that featured the Kraken squeaking out a 3-2 win against their conference rivals you can read about more in detail in my previous blog post.
Bright spots for the Kraken other than the defenseman and goaltending are the hopeful return of Kraken forward Tye Kartye who has been a valuable young workhorse on the forecheck and physical presence for the struggling Kraken offense. Tye Kartye has demonstrated an ability to and desire to be net front for the Kraken and you’d love to see him utilized on the third line with players like 6’4 Mason Marchment struggling to contribute offensively, or even just get net front in general (2 goals in in 28 games). Captain, Jordan Eberle has nine goals and nine assists for the Kraken this season. Kappo Kakko has been equally as terrible as veteran forward Mason Marchment (2 goals in 12 Games) for the Kraken when and often if he plays, as consistent injury has been a consistent theme for the young forward since his trade to the Kraken from the New York Rangers.
Forward Eli Tolvanen has elected to start shooting and hitting the net more which has helped improve the struggling Kraken power play and increased the team shot volume; its clear Tolvanen’s shooting whenever possible is the key to the Kraken powerplay. Similar concepts to the way the Captital’s have utilized Ovechkin’s shot for years, the Kraken have struggled to develop special teams system that compliments the players they do have or make moves to hire coaching or transfer players that embody the identity for the way they want the team to play. Matty Beniers may also need to find ways to provide more goal support to his goaltending as his year is off to a rather uneventful start with the exception being Wednesday’s contest.
The Kraken are 3-6-1 over the last ten games, Averaging a league leading low of 2.1 goals per game and a goal differential of -12. If we’ve learned anything from the Eastern Conference in previous years; it’s that Goal Differential does not determine playoff eligibility. It’s all about the wins, and one thing is for certain if you want to get in, then you have to make the adjustments to win. Coaches juggle lines every other game, but the Kraken’s lack of transfers and belief in an unsuccessful homegrown system has truly developed into something stagnant and often can leave fans feeling frustrated with the players and coaches, rather the executives that control the personnel that represent the franchise.
Seattle Kraken fans are the best and most accepting fans in the NHL, truly understanding the ability hockey has to connect people and community and make the world a better place one kind act a time. Seattle is the kind of Sports market NHL players could become sport’s icon and legend in. It should be a privilege to play here and if a player doesn’t want to be here or under-preforms its on management to make the moves necessary to keep their franchise moving in the right direction. Winning a Stanley Cup is the only thing that matters in the NHL. Vegas has understood this core concept since the moment the team played their first very first game.
Let’s GO KRAKEN!
Very Respectfully,
Caleb Nance