We The Fans: Kraken Need to Fight to Extend Win Streak to Three Against the LA Kings
The Kraken leave Anaheim with a win on the record and a loss on the roster. Jordan Eberle scored two goals and has found a a continued belief in this team that they will adapt and preform to keep the team in the hunt for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The team is 2-0-0 since trading Mason Marchment and has lost Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour to upper body injuries. Montour (Hand/Wrist) will be out at least 4-6 weeks as announced by the team. Vince Dunn came up from a blind side hit holding his torso just below the shoulder pads, indicating to me that the injury will probably be bruised or broken ribs, likely also 4-6 weeks. A constant theme among the list of Kraken injuries this season. The injury prone squad could likely be contributed to a lack of enforcement as clearly six foot and seven inch tall, Jamie Oleksiak, a third line defenseman with the Kraken is looking to set a career high for shooting percentage and goals. He has 1 goal through the first 34 games and is shooting 16.4% this year. The last time he fought was 2023 and he had a shooting percentage of 1.9% that year, the year we lead the league in 5 on 5 goals. Clearly he thinks the team is paying him 5 million AAV (the same as Toronto’s Chris Tanev) for his Hockey IQ, and there is clearly miscommunication with what roles and responsibilities guys are meant to be filling on this Kraken line-up.
First line contributors should not be asked to fight or worry about being imposing physically, because that’s exactly how you end up with the slew of injuries the Kraken top line players have experienced. The league has never been more soft when it comes to defending your team mate and it’s become apparent you can run into the goalie at full speed or finish questionable checks without fear of being punched in the face. Trying to get the fighting out of hockey is ruining the quality of play of professional hockey, because guys are skating and taking checks that would’ve ended in punches just a decade ago. McDavid and the way they lay on him because they can’t skate with him is a prime example. Ovechkin was great, because you couldn’t touch him. Crosby, Patrick Kane, even Brad Marchand have team mates that won’t tolerate those close plays the ref doesn’t call. Just because it’s legal, does not mean it’s acceptable. Connor Bedard is fighting for his life in Chicago and leads the league in scoring, because no one wants to fight anymore.
Why did fighting in the NHL ever stop? It is a sport that loves a hard worker and is most entertaining when played by grown men. People come to hockey games just to see fights and it’s the only bad move, Current League Commissioner Gary Bettman, has made in the last few years as the game has never been more popular. Fighting is not illegal, but it is frowned upon, and you know what is else is frowned upon by fans? Their favorite key contributors on the team always being hurt, the talented and elite players and goaltenders in the league are marginalized and suffer, and in the Kraken’s case, our goalies are run down at full speed at least 5 times a game. As a fan of hockey, if you touched my goalie in a beer league game, I’m only going to tell you once with my words and then I’m going to tell you the second time with my hands. A mindset the team needs to adopt if they are going to develop the grit and culture that makes elite players want to come here and play good hockey, because they understand other teams will play us the right way, or we will turn puck battles into full blown fights. Someone has to want to win the war, not just puck battles. The Kraken won a good share of the puck battles against a struggling ducks roster that missed its top line center, Leo Carlsson.
People do not understand why Vince Dunn reacted the way he did, but he has done everything he can for this team, and he takes a big blind side hit on a legal, but questionable hit from Ross Johnston (who later sucker punched Tye Kartye from behind towards there end of the third period and no one did a thing). To me personally, he reacted the way a competitive guy who is doing everything he can to win should react, when there are definite passengers on this Kraken Hockey Team. Guys really woke up and finished checks after Vince Dunn provided a spark due to his frustration reaching its climax. He shouldn’t have to fight to protect himself; as he leads the team in power play points. An area of play the Kraken have relied on and capitalized on, as teams have started limiting our chances after they have started to see our hard work turn into success, teams have seemingly realized we’ve scored on 3 of the last 9 powerplays, and potted a goal on the power play last night. Make no mistake this is an epidemic in the sport of hockey, and it is really tragic that guys who provide so much talent and depth for their teams and make the game more entertaining are not better protected by their team mates anymore. The Line of Melanson, Meyers, and Kartye and Phillip Grubauer were our best players in last night contest against the Ducks. For all his antics, Ross Johnston was fined a measly $2,864.58, the maximum under the league CBA and no suspension was handed out for his late sucker punch which was called a roughing. Ross Johnston makes 1.1 million a year for 4 years in California, so in reality the league did absolutely nothing.
I’m all for the “Next Man Up” system that has started to find success from young guys in the Kraken organization, The Coachella Valley line of Kartye, Meyers, and Melanson has started to bring intensity and physicality and they have embraced their bottom 6 roles well. This system is unsustainable as you can not rely on the referees to always give you the call you are looking for or to enforce the unwritten rules of hockey. Other teams around the NHL should hate playing Seattle and if you can’t run the score up, then fill them in. Guys cut to the net late more than they ever have, due to the lack of fear of consequences, and unless they are injured making such careless and risky plays; its the goalies in this league that face the greatest danger as the actions of players looking to drive the net and score are damaging to the goaltender and this limits his ability to play the position as well as it could be simply because they are scared of being bulldozed by a skater from the opposing team. This is a tragedy within the National Hockey League and one that could not be reverted soon enough.
The Kraken look to extend their two game wining streak to three games tonight in Los Angeles, as they face a team that is struggling currently to put the puck in the net. The Kings have not played well at home up to this point in the season with a record of 4-7-4 at Staples Center. The Kraken (14-14-6) are only 5 points out of a wildcard spot with 2 to 4 games in hand on all of the teams above them in the standings and a win streak before the holiday break would leave fans feeling good about the team’s standing. The Kraken are unlikely to win the Stanley Cup this year, but as a competitive fan, they should have an expectation and goal to be better than 16 other teams: or at the very least they need to manage to be better than 8 teams in the West and that would be sufficient as well. The line combos for Coach Lambert leave a lot of opportunities open for young guys in the Kraken system to step up and contribute and with this time off hopefully the Kraken can find a way to return some much needed offensive contributors from IR and Day to Day. Surely it will be a battle tonight in LA, but if the team plays fast and shoots above the pad and on goal forcing the goalie to make saves, continues to skate hard and box out, keeps an active stick in the d-zone and stays out of the box, and receives a solid preformance from Joey Daccord; then I see no reason why this team couldn’t return from the holiday break on a three game win streak and right in the hunt for the wildcard.
You can catch this game on Kraken Hockey Network via Amazon Prime Video at 7pm. Live from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Lets Go Kraken!
Projected Lines for 12/23 vs. Los Angeles Kings
Kakko-Beniers-Eberle
Tolvanen-Stephenson-Gaudreau
Nyman-Wright-Winterton
Kartye-Meyers-Melanson
Lindgren-Larsson
Evans-Oleksiak
Fluery-Mahura
Daccord
Very respectfully,
Caleb Nance