2023-24 Seattle Kraken season preview

Coming off a surprising and respectable postseason run last season, the Seattle Kraken have championship aspirations with the season-opener against Vegas looming Tuesday. 

After falling just short of a trip to the Western Conference Final last season, Seattle made several offseason moves, the first of which was re-signing defenseman Vince Dunn to a four-year, $29.4 million contract. Additionally, the team re-signed another defenseman, Will Borgen, to a two-year, $5.4 million contract. 

Despite Seattle's relatively quiet offseason, the team is still in good shape to be a contender for the Pacific Division title based on the talent in-house. Forty-goal scorer Jared McCann, who was extended last summer, reigning Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers and center Yanni Gourde lead a strong offense. 

For the Kraken to compete for the Pacific Division title and Stanley Cup this season, they must rely on more than their offense. 

According to Covers, the team ranked 21st in power-play and penalty-kill percentage at 19.8% and 75%, respectively. Seattle must also address its faceoff circle woes, as the team ranked 31st of 32 in faceoff win percentage at 46%, per Moneypuck.

New forward Devin Shore will bring some faceoff experience to the Kraken, as he put up a 51% success rate in the 2022-23 season with the Edmonton Oilers. Shore played 47 games in Edmonton, scoring just one goal with eight assists on the fourth line. 

"We've got one game left, so we'll decide what that roster is going to look like and how close it will look to our regular season lineup," head coach Dave Hakstol said after Wednesday night's 2-1 victory over Vancouver. "We've got some things to talk about after tonight and we'll go from there."

The Kraken also need stronger goaltending.

Starter Philipp Grubauer is coming off a season in which he put up a .895 save percentage in 39 games and allowed 98 goals, 34th most in the league behind fellow goaltender Martin Jones. He must step up his game. 

The supporting cast behind Grubauer is no better as Joey Daccord bounced between Seattle and AHL affiliate Coachella Valley last season while Chris Driedger battled injuries. Daccord put up a .918 save percentage with 26 wins in Coachella Valley. 

Daccord played 20 minutes in the preseason opener against Vancouver on Sept. 28, going a perfect 7-for-7 in even-strength save chances. He added another 15 saves Wednesday night in 40 minutes of ice time. 

"On one hand, it's nice to settle into the game and have some easy saves to start, but on the other hand you like getting work and staying busy," Daccord said. "All in all I thought we played really well and it was a good road 60 minutes for us."