Kraken News & Rumors: Wright, Oleksiak & More

The Seattle Kraken are trying to get back on track in January. After a strong start to the month, they concluded their East Coast road trip in the worst possible way, dropping four of the five games. Seattle kicked off a six-game homestand on Jan. 19, and that didn’t go their way either, losing 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They finally righted the ship in their second of the six games with a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. There are nine days left in January, and the Kraken still have five more games to play this month.

With all of that in mind, let’s get into some news and rumors surrounding the Kraken. 

Kraken Finally Break the Shorthanded Cycle 

As mentioned above, the five-game road trip did not go in the Kraken’s favor. It kicked off on Dec. 10 against the Carolina Hurricanes, ending in a 3-2 loss. They got back on track with a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers on Monday, Dec. 12, but things began to fall apart again when they lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 14. The saving grace in this game was that it went to overtime, so the Kraken picked up a point. 

Dec. 15, the Kraken played the Boston Bruins in the second half of a back-to-back. Seattle’s game was sloppy from the beginning, allowing two goals in the first four minutes. The Kraken started making a comeback with a goal from Chandler Stephenson, but a shorthanded goal from Mark Kastelic derailed their progress. The Bruins ended up taking a 4-2 win. 

As the Kraken closed out their road trip on the way back to Seattle, they made a stop at the Delta Center to take on the Utah Mammoth. This game ended in a 6-3 loss, and the Mammoth scored a shorthanded goal, thanks to Kevin Stenlund. The Kraken returned to Seattle and wanted to make a strong impact on the homestand as they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was the exact same result from the game against the Mammoth, where Seattle lost 6-3. For the third game in a row, the Kraken allowed a shorthanded goal, this time scored by Connor Dewar. 

For a team that has a top ten power play, sitting in ninth place overall, they should not be allowing this many goals when they are on the extra-man advantage. The important thing is that they have since corrected both the losing streak and shorthanded goal streak after they beat the New York Islanders 4-1 on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Hopefully, the power play weakness was just a fluke in the system, and they’ll be back to the strength on the extra-man advantage that they have had all season thus far. 

Wright’s Name Is in Trade Talks

Probably the most noteworthy news of the week is the fact that Shane Wright’s name is now circulating in trade talks. The Kraken are looking to get a legitimate top-six threat and are open to the idea of moving Wright out of the organization and into a new one.