By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – A worrying trend for the 2022-2023 Seattle Kraken has been their lack of a consistently dependable defensive effort, and that has been ever-present in six of their past seven games. A defensive breakdown and three consecutive turnovers leading to breakaways gave the visiting Montreal Canadiens four goals on just eight shots, all through the first two periods. Rookie Shane Wright’s first NHL goal, scored against the team that was supposed to select him, was a small victory in a lost battle for Seattle. Although the NHL season isn’t even a third of the way through, the Kraken have glaring issues to improve upon in order to stay the course towards a postseason berth.
Montreal goaltender Jake Allen catches the puck as Seattle forward Matty Beniers looks on (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Growing frustration defensively with no potential fix in sight
The Kraken have been in many high scoring contests this season, which has pros and cons. A pro is that the Seattle attack is far improved and has often been good enough to outweigh many negatives. The worrisome negative is that the defensive issues the Kraken have been dealing with have not gotten better, and allow their opponents to remain in games. Two primary defensive problems were on display in this loss; leaving skaters open and making simple mistakes. Montreal’s first goal was an example of the former, as Johnathan Kovacevic beat Martin Jones cleanly and could have done his taxes with the amount of room he was left to operate with. The second period saw three easy Montreal goals, all being scored off of sloppy play in the form of bad turnovers, losing faceoffs, and getting caught in poor position. Prior to tonight’s game, Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol made comments about the loss to Florida, many of which rang true in this contest.
“This one’s about us. Getting back at it, not really happy with our performance coming out of the other night. A really winnable game that we came up short in some of the detailed and gritty areas of the hockey games. It has nothing to do with the situation of our opponent, this is about us needing to get back to what we do, and do it well,” Hakstol remarked.
Kraken defensemen Adam Larsson lays in a heap as Martin Jones does his best to prevent another goal, two shots which portray how much of the night felt for Seattle (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Wright on the money
The bright spot in tonight’s loss was 18-year-old Shane Wright netting his first goal in the NHL. It appeared to be the stars aligning for Wright, playing in his first contest since an AHL Conditional Loan stint with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The hotly discussed skater was able to find early success in this game, potting his first goal as a pro against the team that was long projected to select Wright before passing up on him in this past NHL entry draft. From staring down the Montreal table at the draft, rumors of a bad attitude, being a healthy scratch nearly all season to now, Wright still has a long journey ahead. Amidst all the chaos that is being thrown at someone who is just crossing into the threshold of adulthood, finding the back of the net for the first time in his career has to be a sort of calming relief. Wright reflected on the moment, postgame.
“I think it’s obviously something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Your first NHL goal is a pretty cool accomplishment, a pretty cool milestone, something that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.... I pictured myself jumping right in and scoring a bunch, but that’s not the reality. You have to make sure you earn everything you get,” Wright stated.
The shot, and the celebration: Shane Wright scores the first NHL goal of his young and exciting professional career (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Building bad habits
I know I just gave you a positive piece on Shane Wright scoring his first NHL goal, but now we have to get back to the reality of this team as a whole. When I talk about the issues defensively for Seattle, it's hard to truly grasp the rate at which these mistakes, mishaps, slipups, whatever sort of label you'd like to apply to them are happening. The top D-Pair of Larsson and Dunn is your top pairing for a reason, but even they are not immune to mistakes and Larsson has taken multiple penalties over this homestand while Dunn has turned the puck over 15 times in his own defensive zone. Jamie Oleksiak constantly is caught watching the puck and floating about in space as if he isn't actually in a hockey game, his offensive production can't outweigh (His -12 on-ice goal differential is by far the worst on the team) that sort of inexcusable play. Justin Schultz has been able to chip in offensively, something he was expected to do when he was signed this offseason but his low physicality (far and away the least hits on the team) Carson Soucy has made numerous poor choices in terms of puck play and discipline (Six more penalty minutes than the next highest teammate) since his back to back games serving final period penalties that caused an opposing team to score a tying goal.
Bottom line, the defensemen on this team are largely underperforming. All of them have shown that they can be competent and for stretches of time, as has been displayed in the eleven games where the Kraken allowed two goals or less. What is so mind boggling is that Seattle can show this sort of defensive competence for a stretch, and then have it somehow washed from their heads. They'll just go back to the team that is lazily turning over pucks in their own defensive zone, taking untimely penalties, and reverting back to the knowledge they have as a junior hockey player when it comes to how to play defense. At least, that's the Kraken we have seen for a solid majority of this season. Until that changes on a consistent basis, this team is just holding itself back.
Goaltender Martin Jones has had some bumpy outings since a stellar start to the season (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Reflection on a 1-2 homestand
Over the course of this three game homestand, there were glimpses of the franchises bright future, displays of offensive talent and even signs of an improved penalty kill (PK was 4/4 tonight). On the other hand, defensive breakdowns, generally poor defensive play and a power play that is looking to regain form were also visible. As mentioned at the top of this recap, the season isn't even a third of the way completed yet and this Kraken team is far more entertaining than the pilot season. Taking that into consideration, as well as the statement made by Ron Francis of a three-to-five year window for the teams first playoff appearance, the potential that this group has displayed screams postseason. It'd be a year ahead of Francis' schedule sure, but there are glimpses of a team that could be a powerhouse when all facets are clicking.
Offensive weapons (Burakovsky, Bjorkstrand) added to the core group have shown firepower last years unit could not have even dreamed of, and Bjorkstrand hasn't even hit his stride yet. The defensive pairings have done well to add impact on the attack, but need to find structure and their base. Special teams have been a mixed bag this season, with both power play and penalty kill units displaying prowess and ineptitude equally throughout the year. It's going to be a long year of growth being made and mistakes taking place, but heed my words: This team has a special feel to it. They will make the playoffs this season or next, and I feel safe about that. It could go wrong, but with the current men aboard this crew, the ship will find smooth sailing over the course of the season. Enjoy the ride, the journey and moments are what make sports the most enjoyable if you let them.
Kraken forward Jared McCann celebrates his goal in the second period, scored with just 00.1 left to play (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
Tonight marks Shane Wright's first-ever NHL goal. He becomes the second skater from the 2022 draft class to score a goal this season, joining tonight's opponent Juraj Slafkovsky.
With his goal, Wright becomes the 20th unique goal scorer for the team.
With the assist on Wright's goal, Yanni Gourde now has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last four games against Montreal. He has also scored at least a point in every Kraken game against the Canadiens.
Jared McCann now has two goals in as many games after netting his 12th goal of the season.
He has registered a point (two goals, one assist) in each of the three games against the Canadiens in Kraken franchise history.
Morgan Geekie reached a season-high face-off win percentage tonight, with 85.7 percent, also tying his best face-off percentage as a Kraken skater, last reached on Nov. 26, 2021 against Tampa Bay.
Geekie went 6-for-7 at the faceoff dot tonight.
For a period of 43 minutes, Kraken goaltender Martin Jones had only made on save.
Seattle allowed only 16 shots tonight, which is tied for the second fewest in franchise history.
The other night was October 25th of this season against the Buffalo Sabres, a 5-1 victory.
Yanni Gourde was tasked with aiding Wright on his line tonight, and even made sure to grab the puck Wright scored his first NHL goal with (Photo by Liv Lyons)
What's next?
Following the end of their three-game homestand, the Kraken now head out to the East coast for a four-game road trip. That slate begins on Friday, December 9th against the Washington Capitals, the team Seattle was able to vanquish just seven seconds into overtime back on the first of this month. The two teams will have a rematch on the 9th inside of Capital One Arena, with a puck drop of 4PM PST. Seattle will be eager to remove any lingering negatives from their past two losses, and to start a tough road trip the right away. Tough rematches against Washington, Florida, and Carolina are ahead in addition to a test against Tampa Bay, providing a proving ground for a group looking to get back on course.