We The Fans: Kraken Lack of Offense Continues in Calgary

One of the more boring games by one of the more boring teams in the current NHL season saw the Kraken again blow a third period lead, but the Kraken descending to the deep could be traced to falling in miles skated, a lack of engagement by an abundance of third line forwards who seemingly lack the speed, skill, and confidence to play at this level as the team is on the slide as the Kraken are on another four game losing streak. The Boys in Blue from Seattle are now 1-9-0 over the last ten games and fan engagement is starting to fall. The merch and marketing for the team has never been stronger. The Third Jersey is arguably the coolest in the NHL, as the emblem, crest, and patches all seemingly glow in the dark. However, the hockey has not lived up to the standards as the team is almost last place in the NHL. Did you know the easiest way to boost every fan’s experience and sell more jerseys is to win more hockey games?

From my prespective it seems like a mismanagement of personnel to lean on the success of the players in the American Hockey League as their are players that may struggle when it comes to speed of the NHL, but lend more dynamic ability to the team. One realistic point of mention is that the team has dropped from first in miles skated to 28th. The boys are not playing fast enough and it seems that Kraken Coach Lane Lambert is in a tough spot trying to compete with an undpreforming and largely injury prone veteran lineup. a Head Coach should be focused on teaching guys how to play and think at the NHL Level. Trying to convince top line guys who are third line players to create value for themselves with a Stanley Cup Contender, so that the team can look to build for something in the future is not the job of a head coach. Shooting the puck hard does not equate to success in the modern NHL, as the strides have gotten shorter, faster , and quicker and the skating style is completely different from where the game was 20 years ago. The team needs skaters who keep their speed up utilizing a fresher system of skating as well as an understanding that if you use it correctly, the technology in the top of the line stick mixed with workouts in the gym will shoot the puck hard for you with proper technique. Hockey is technique and the Seattle Hockey club can hopefully find a way to loosen up on the stick and find a way to win some hockey games.

I have noticed a trend of the new technology in the stick some players do not understand the finesse of the modern technology as well as they should and over compensate. Shooting slightly above pad height is actually more obtainable and often just as tough of a save for a goalie to make as he has to drop to butter fly, and if you miss high then the shot can still go in. If the Kraken look to win in the current system they need to start focusing more on the placement of their shots than the power. Hockey is a lot like soccer and the Kraken want to win more hockey games, they need to shoot more for placement than power, and look for tips. If you can’t hit the corner you are aiming for then it’s a bad shot. Teams with a bad shot percentage underpreform in Professional Hockey and have largely similar results to basketball teams with poor shot percentage. Shot Percentage is arguably as important to hockey analytics as save percentages. It seems like the Kraken may be underutilizing some data or an oversight from an analyst. Whatever the answer, the organizations seems to lack the answers to stay off the penalty kill and get back on the right track after the team’s media debacle on Tuesday after a tough loss to the Colorado Avalanche at home, the team issued apologies to the reporters who were not allowed to ask tougher questions, as a single reporter was allowed to ask questions of Coach Lambert and the resolve his team.

30th in 22+ mile an hour skating burst means the Kraken are slow and are missing out on scoring chances because of it. The effort is there and the team is working hard, but the adage is work smarter and not harder for a reason and if you want to have success in this league than you need an abstract point of view to use data analytics, journalistic overview, hockey strategy, business strategy, and media development all in hand to create the most competitive and passion driven sports branding and team possible. People do not want to be included. People in Seattle want to win. It’s one of my favorite parts of living here. The performance of the team lately just really makes it hard to want to come to the games and knowingly partcipate in watching boring hockey. Hopefully the team can find a way to finish the road trip off with some points before the hockey holiday break, or can look to make moves with their veterans and 2027 draft picks for players who can preform for the long term in Seattle.

Very Respectfully,

Caleb Nance