We The Fans: Kraken Look to Get Back to .500 Against Anaheim Ducks.

Kraken managed to do the bare minimum in San Jose and find a win with a score of 4-2; after stealing the lead on a late shot that went off a defender skate and gave the Kraken a lucky lead late against one of the younger teams in the league. The goal was Ryan Lindgren’s first goal with the Kraken and came with a lucky bounce off a skate blade and past the San Jose Goaltender just four minutes and twenty seven seconds into the third period. Chandler Stephenson got his ninth goal of the year on an empty net goal to seal the game. The biggest news for the team is losing the help of second line defenseman Brandon Montour who will be out six weeks minimum with a surgery on his hand. Josh Mahura looks to slide in and provide the same spark he provided early in the year. While Lane Lambert has made some notable changes to the Kraken starting line up, after the trade of Mason Marchment, and the penalties and turnovers that came with him has seemingly given this team a breath of fresh air. On a positive note for him, he scored in his debut for Columbus in the second period against the Anaheim Ducks. The Kraken can look to build for the future with guys who want to win now. The Kraken are heavy with Veterans, but it’s been the young guys that have brought the most with them for the Kraken this season. It may not show up on the scoreboard, but the team is getting better and moving the right direction. Skating faster and shooting the puck and forcing the goalies to make a save rather than holding for the perfect shot have brought elements of unpredictable excitement to this Kraken Hockey Team we haven’t really gotten to see since the start of the year.

Tonight the team is on the road in Anaheim to face a Ducks team that scores a lot of goals and is currently first in the Pacific Division Standings. Averaging 3.44 goals per game and over 30 shots per game; the best player on the ice tonight for the team will surely need to be the goaltender if the Kraken want to have any chance of leaving Honda center with a win. The well paid and over played Stephenson line has stepped up for the team, and the Coachella Valley line has brought the physicality and intensity we have come to expect from Kraken Hockey. However, Matty Beniers, Shane Wright; and their respective line mates need to look to take another step and find a way to utilize their abilities and skill to help contribute in an offensive system that has started to form more of an identity for good technical defensive structure and less fast and physical offense, and more strategic and skilled plays to create quality scoring chances. A difficult shift to make as a player with the night and day play style differences of previous coaches in the Kraken HC Position to that of Lane Lambert. Similar to football, ice hockey is as much about having the right system as it is to having the right players that fit that system. The Kraken come into this game 13-14-6, after ending the most recent 4 game losing streak, While the Ducks are 21-13-2, with a record of 12-5-0 at home and 44 points in the standings. The Kraken must come in and find ways to get young guys active and involved early if they want to swing the standings in their favor with this road trip through California before the holiday break. Anaheim has cooled down in the past week. going 5-4-1 over their last ten games, but having dropped 2 of their last 3 games, so this is a chance for the Kraken to catch a young team struggling that’s played well at home up to this point in the season.

You can not get into the playoffs with a losing record and I am sure the Kraken know that goal differential is more of tie breaker than a signal of overall team preformance. Fans want a reason to cheer and the team is finding ways to give them one. We are not close to out of the deep yet, but it’s clear that management is trying to enforce an expectation of production by getting rid of the players who are not. This and the next upcoming offseason will be the largest and most important offseason free agency and drafts in franchise history as the team will have more money than most of people could even imagine to give guys a million or more reasons to come here and give everything they have to try and win a cup. According to Puckpedia, after this season the cap would give the team an extra estimated 12-16 million at the end of the 2025-2026 season and over 70 million estimated to play with and find players at the conclusion of 2026-2027 season to try and bring guys here in free agency that want to win. It seems the Kraken may have also placed some Veteran Skaters on the Trade Block, but their value will surely go up as we get closer to the Trade Deadline as other teams around the league start to sort out the tighter margins of the current playoff standings. It is as much about having the heart to want to win as it is about having the skill to do it, and its tough to find the skill in this league without the heart to stay in games and keep yourself in games late when everyone is tired. This team has battled through adversity and injuries ands they are realistically only 5 points out of the wildcard, so they understand how long the season is and they have to find creative ways to develop more consistent and productive play. At the highest level of play, if your team isn’t getting better, then it’s getting worse.

You can catch the Kraken on Amazon Prime at 7pm as they take on the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. I will be covering Honda Center and what it’s like to visit a game there in the first of my 32 team stadium series, as the team has recently announced stadium upgrades and renovations that will be taking place as soon as possible which means I will likely need to repeat that experience down the road. The projected lines for this matchup are interesting as Grubauer who has been stellar this year will be in goal and Lane Lambert looks to capitalize on matchups with a roster that is composed with the same mix of vets and young guys to that of Anaheim, just a more defensive and a less offensive playing style are the largest system disparity between these two teams. Seattle wants to keep the score down by playing strong defense and stay in games late, while Anaheim is looking play fast and to try and score their problems away. Both teams rely on solid goaltending to keep them in games late. With his solid play and proven ability to contribute, young guys have stepped up and people could argue Ryker Evans may even deserve a chance to fill a second line defensive spot on the roster at some point down this stretch. Hopefully the Kraken look to utilize the same shooters mindset in Anaheim.

Projected Lines for 12/22 vs. Anaheim Ducks

Kakko-Beniers-Eberle

Tolvanen- Stephenson-Gaudreau

Nyman-Wright-Winterton

Kartye-Meyers-Melanson

Dunn-Larsson

Lindgren-Oleksiak

Evans-Mahura

Grubauer

Very Respectfully,

Caleb Nance