How the Seattle Kraken can turn around their slow start
The Seattle Kraken have a physically imposing team. They need to start using that size to their advantage. This is how.
As the saying goes, “you can’t teach size.” In the Expansion Draft, Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis went for size over speed, and he brought in plenty of it. They have ten players 6-2 or taller as well as ten at 200 pounds or more.
One of the areas sacrificed to gain more size was speed. The Kraken are slow. Vegas exposed them opening night, and the rest of the teams they played since followed suit.
So far, the Kraken hasn’t used their biggest asset in a way that gives them an advantage. Part of the reason isn’t their fault. Regular season hockey is fairly wide open. That’s opposed to what happens in the playoffs when the game becomes much more deliberate.
Right now, Seattle is a square peg and round hole situation. All isn’t lost yet. But the time for change is at hand, and this is how the Kraken can turn it around.
Defense
First and foremost, head coach Dave Hakstol has to slow the game down for his players. As ugly as it is to watch sometimes, the Seattle Kraken need to run the Neutral Zone Trap more often.
Fans hate this strategy, and so does the NHL. The trap turns the game from a running faucet to a slow drip, for lack of a better example. That isn’t the way to sell tickets. But it is a way for a slow team to compete and win games.
A good defense starts with the forwards. The centers have to be active in defending the passing lanes. What this does is force the puck to the boards where Seattle’s big wingers can pin the puck along the boards as their defensemen get back into position.
In their own end, Seattle’s defense has to adopt a “no free rides” policy. Hit, hit, and hit some more. An opposing player can’t be allowed to camp out in the crease. Anyone who attempts to get in goalie Philipp Grubauer’s way will pay a heavy price for trying.
The Kraken have plenty of big, physical defensemen such as Jamie Oleksiak, Carson Soucy, Adam Larsen, and Jeremy Lauzon. They need to lay down the law. Hakstol started tinkering with the trap in the home opener against Vancouver. Now he has to make it a staple of the team’s philosophy.
Offense
Now that order is established defensively; they have to turn that strength into offensive opportunities. That starts with playing hard in the dirty areas. From there, move the puck around the offensive end with good passes. It’s a skill Yanni Gourde, Alexander Wennberg, Riley Sheehan, and Jaden Schwartz are good at.
Then big forwards like Mason Appleton, Morgan Geekie, and Nathan Bastian crash the net. They can make life miserable for opposing goalies. The Seattle Kraken will eventually wear the other team down by playing this way, further creating more scoring chances.
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What do you think the Seattle Kraken need to do to turn around their disappointing start? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.