We The Fans: Kraken Get Run Over by Mammoth in Utah.
Picture this… A scoreless first period and then The Seattle Kraken fail to play catch up after another night of solid goaltending considering the defensive posture in certain moments. Phillip Grubauer has looked worthy of the hefty price tag associated with his name as of late regardless of not having spectacular save percentage numbers. Often using spectacular saves to keep the Kraken in games during the first part of this season. Much like his counter part starter and fan favorite Joey Daccord. Even with struggling veteran forward Mason Marchment doubling his season goal total with two goals on the night and Ben Meyers finding a meaningless late goal the Kraken fell two goals short of the Utah Mammoth 5-3.
It appears as though the Kraken do not want to win in front of veteran goaltender Philip Grubauer as the past few efforts from the collective team in front of him resemble a team that does not want to win. We’ve seen what looks like going through the motions and a frustrating comfortability being demonstrated by the players that do not have a reason for such blatant disregard of their standard of play. The team structure the past 8 games played by the Kraken which has seen them achieve an awful 1-6-1 record over that time and struggle to find scoring without help from an improved power play largely out of necessity and contributions from Kraken Defensive stand-outs Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour. Ryker Evans who was out of the line up for this game recently has also helped produce on the Kraken score sheet.
One thing of certainty is that the current team composition is unsustainable long term and being out of the playoff bubble is bad for the sports business models. The Kraken are not one player away from solving their scoring problems, but with young assets and older role players. The Kraken need to decide what direction they are going in whether they are competing to a be a consistent playoff franchise like the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche or if they are developing players for franchises to depend on in later successes similar to organizations like the Utah Mammoth or San Jose Sharks.
It has become clear tough choices must be made by the Operations Executives in Seattle to try and get this team back on track and competing again. Coach Lane Lambert has gotten very creative in juggling line combinations to try and find a spark offensively. Scoring can not be a special teams game; it is not a reliable strategy in football, and it is definitely not a reliable strategy in the NHL. If this were the case, Edmonton’s special teams would have won them the last two Stanley Cups given their historic efficiency. Hockey is a sport meant to be played five a side and a goalie. The more similar your penalty-kill defensive zone team structure is to your base even-strength defensive zone structure, the easier it will be for players to develop muscle memory for complex reads at high speeds and focus on more complex in game situational adaptations and developing communication as well as chemistry with team mates to increase the overall pace of team play.
Seattle has found a way to adapt to adversity up to this point in the season. With a few more games left to play than the rest of the Western Conference the Kraken Organization needs to come to terms with the fact that the current team composition probably isn’t scaring Carolina, Florida, Colorado, or Dallas and realistically that means something has to change.
Very Respectfully,
Caleb Nance