Who are the Kraken thankful for?
It seems a lot of things are clicking at the right time for the Seattle Kraken, but their season has been underlined by Joey Daccord’s surge into the starting role. The 27-year-old goaltender has appeared in 23 games this season, setting a 9-5-8 record and .919 save percentage — the highest save percentage of any goalie with 20 or more games in Seattle’s short history. Daccord’s eight extra-time losses lead the league, with the goaltender facing an average of 28.5 shots in his overtime outings. His season could easily be leaned in a much more impressive light with a few lucky bounces in extra time, though Daccord doesn’t seem phased by the poor record — kicking off the new year in style by recording the first shutout in Winter Classic history. The netminder saved all 35 shots that the Vegas Golden Knights sent his way on Jan. 1, en route to his second shutout of the season and the fifth-most saves he’s had this season.
Seattle has needed a true starting goalie after Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger failed to confidently hold onto the role in the chances they were given. They turned to Daccord this summer, signing him to a two-year, $2.4M contract despite him playing in just 19 NHL games before the 2023-24 season. But he’s going above and beyond to prove Seattle right for taking a chance on him, establishing himself as not only a starter but maybe one of the best options in the league on the back of the NHL’s fifth-highest save percentage.
What are the Kraken thankful for?
Low-event hockey
Daccord has provided a great back-end for Seattle this season but that hasn’t exactly inspired the team to new heights. They remain in the bottom five of goals for this season, and middle-of-the-pack in goals allowed. The Kraken aren’t favorites to go out and out-skill any given team but they’re starting to find the secret to winning — low-event hockey. The Kraken have done best in games where they aren’t recording a ton of shots, going 7-1-2 over their last 10 games while averaging just 26.2 shots. This is pitted against an average of 31.6 shots against, speaking to the ability of Daccord to hold Seattle in games. It’s been a quality-over-quantity approach, with the Kraken going 10-7-3 in games where they record 30 or fewer shots, and 4-7-5 in games where they record more than 30 shots. This is regardless of how the opponent performs, with the Kraken going 7-4-4 in games where they’ve faced more than 30 shots.
Seattle is at their best when they’re able to slow down the game and take time to create their chances. They rank in the bottom five of both high-dancer chances for and against this season, showing how strong they can be when chances are forced to the outside and strikes to the net are few and far between. It’s a style done to good effect by smooth puck-mover Vince Dunn, shoot-first forwards like Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen, and Jordan Eberle, and one capped off nicely by strong net-front presences like Matthew Beniers. But the question will inevitably become whether it’s a style that can maintain Seattle through the postseason, or if the team will need to inevitably lean into high-action hockey.
What would the Kraken be even more thankful for?
A top scorer
The Kraken got off to a bit of a slow start but have since gotten plenty of production from their top end, with 14 different players boasting 10 or more points. The group is led by Dunn’s 31 points in 38 games, followed by Bjorkstrand and Tolvanen who have 29 points and 23 points in as many games. And while those numbers are certainly admirable, the lack of a true top-scoring forward is holding Seattle back. Jared McCann was able to fill this role last season, netting a 40-goal, 70-point season that deserved more excitement at the time. But he’s lost that spark this year, managing only 14 goals and 22 points in 37 games. That still leads the Kraken lineup in goals, but it hasn’t been enough to revitalize a team that ranked sixth in goals last season. The lack of a true top-scorer has also impacted — or maybe it’s the result of — how Seattle can roll out their lineup, with head coach Dave Hakstol preferring a roll-four approach with bottom-line players averaging between 12 and 14 minutes of ice time, while the top line only sees a slight boost to 16 to 18 minutes. That’s certainly different than how a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs have used their bottom line, with their depth averaging closer to 7-9 minutes of ice time. The Kraken will need to find a way to either lift their past top scorers or fold in new ones if they want their offense to start producing enough to start helping Daccord win in extra time.
What should be on the Kraken's wish list?
A quiet Pacific Division
The Kraken enter the new year combatting the Arizona Coyotes and the Edmonton Oilers for the last Wild Card in the West. Exactly where everyone expected these teams to be at the start of the year, right? And while Seattle is heating up, they also sit with the most games in the Western Conference, giving them a disadvantage as other teams begin to catch up and paint a clearer picture in the standings. If the Kraken want to stay trained for the postseason, they will need their division to remain quiet for the rest of the season. That means no phenomenal explosion from Connor McDavid as he tries to pull Edmonton back to where they were expected to rank — it means no resurgence from the Calgary Flames as they look to pull themselves up by their bootstraps under a new coach — and it means no more flashy offense from the likes of Vancouver or Los Angeles, two teams performing well above their preseason expectations. Seattle has made their living on calm, low-event hockey this season and, if they want their playoff chances to stay rich, they’ll need to find a way to project that energy onto the rest of their division.
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