Season Preview: Seattle Kraken

Season Preview: Seattle Kraken 

The Seattle Kraken 23-24 season is underway. The Kraken went to the second round of the playoffs last year. The season’s first game is against last season’s Stanley Cup Winners. The Kraken did split their preseason games 3-3, with a bunch of their AHL members of the Coachella Valley Firebirds playing up for a spot while some key players sat out. 

 Let’s see if the Kraken have what it takes to go further this 23/24 season. 

Seattle Kraken 2023-24 Additions and Subtractions

Additions:

• F- Pierre-Edouard Bellemere- 1 yr contract
• F- David Shore- 2 way- 1 yr contract
• RW- Kailer Yamamoto- 1 yr contract
• D- Brian Dumoulin- 2 yr contract
• C- Tucker Robertson- 3 yr contract
• D- Jimmy Schuldt- 1 yr contract

The Kraken resigned Dunn (4 yr) and Borgen (2 yr). Though Tye Kartye (C) and Joey Daccord (G) are not new to the Kraken, playing on the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds made the final round roster this last week. 
Subtractions:

• RW- Joonas Donskoi- retired
• RW- Daniel Sprong- Red Wings
• C- Ryan Donato- Blackhawks
• D- Carson Coucy- Cancucks
• G- Martin Jones- Maple Leafs
• C- Morgan Geekie- Bruins

Seattle Kraken Lineup for the Vegas Knights Game (10/10)

Forwards

Line 1:Jared McCann – Matty Beniers -Jordan Eberle

Line 2:Jaden Schwartz -Alexander Wennberg – Andre Burakovsky

Line 3: Eeli Tolvanen -Yanni Gourde – Oliver Bjorkstrand

Line 4: Brandon Tanev -Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Kailer Yamamoto

The Seattle Kraken offensive line can be good. Last year, McCann led the Kraken Offensive line with 40 goals, and 7 of those were powerplay goals. Beiners had the next place with 24 goals. The first line has tons of speed and agility. The second line has the potential of being a power line with tons of playmaking potential.  The third line has some scoring potential with these three playing. With new Kraken members Yamamoto and Bellemare finding their place, the lines could look promising as the season progresses. Yamamoto has already scored 3 points during preseason. 

Defense

Line 1: Vince Dunn -Adam Larsson

Line 2: Jamie Oleksiak -Will Borgen

Line 3: Brian Dumoulin -Justin Schultz

Dunn and Larson are a power duo defensively and could be seeing lots of long ice time. It is nice to see Dunn back in the lineup after missing a few preseason games. Oleksiak and Borgen together again will offer the size and reliability needed for defense.  With Dumoulin and Schultz following up on the Third line, they have some defensive instincts to help out the Kraken on the blue line. 

Seattle Kraken Goalies

Philipp Grubauer- Joey Daccord

The Seattle Kraken goalies have some change with Jones going to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Kraken decided to bring up Daccord from their Coachella Valley Firebirds to play alongside Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer will be starting the season against the Vegas Knights. During the 22-23 playoffs, Grubauer was able to provide some reliability for the Kraken. Daccord was a powerhouse for the Firebirds, getting 2nd during the finals for the Calder Cup. 

Seattle Kraken 23-24 Schedule

The Seattle Kraken start the season on the road with (people would like to have their rivals due to the draft extension) the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Kraken plays the Knights four times this season, with the second game against them at the Winter Classic(hosted at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park). The Kraken plays most of the challenging Pacific Teams 4 times, while the Eastern is between 2-3. The match-up that kicked them out of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Dallas Stars won’t be until December 18th. The last home game will be in April against the San Jose Sharks, and from there will finish with four games on the road against the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets, and the Minnesota Wild. 

The Seattle Kraken kicks off the season on Tuesday (10/10) on the road against the Las Vegas Golden Knights. They have two other games on the road against the  Nashville Predators (10/12) and the St. Louis Blues (10/14) before their home opener on Tuesday, October 17 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Kraken beat the Avalanche in the first-round playoffs, so let’s see if they can do it again in the opener.