Seattle Krak-into the Stanley Cup Playoffs
Jonathan West
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In game #160, 18 months after starting play in the National, the Seattle Kraken have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Building on the most wins by a second-year NHL team in 55 years. Relive the night and look forward to Seattle’s potential first-round matchups.
April 6th 2023. Playoff hockey starts in 11 days. It’s the second night of Passover. But nothing was somber in The Greenhouse at Seattle Center. Recent arena crowds competing against Sounders and Mariners attendance numbers have been impressive, and last night was no different. Seattle radio color-commentator Dave Tomlinson said it best during the pre-game. As a player, it’s easy to dial-in to clinch the playoffs when there are games left to be played. With seconds remaining in the first period, it looked like Jordan Eberle misplayed a backhanded chance but found Jared McCann for the netter- who now leads the team in points (38g 28a).
It hasn’t been a long road to this playoff point, but a path of challenges nonetheless in a city full of rich sports traditions- past, present, and future. Some of our midseason predictions came true, like better goaltending with Philipp Grubauer rising to a standard set by Martin Jones’ long win streaks in November and January. Last night, Vince Dunn blasted the game winner in the second period from the high point through Arizona’s five hole. The sixth-year blueliner now leads the team in assists (50) and plus/minus (+29) along with Adam Larsson. Only four Kraken players have a negative plus minus this year versus 24 a season ago.
In many ways, this scrappy Seattle team has followed the Vegas expansion blueprint. The group isn’t a bunch of misfits though, but a core of 22 returning players from last year with extensive analytics for guidance. As VGK feels the desert heat to fulfill owner Bill Foley’s “Cup in six years” prediction, a Seattle rookie called this team’s moment a year ago. Matty Beniers buried a breakaway last night, and then with a broad locker room grin said this team would make the playoffs during the off-season. Eberle heard that too. And after tying his career high in assists last night (42), Jordan also believes this success started last year.
“We just try to build on what we did last year. Added some key pieces too. I’m a strong believer our team wasn’t as bad (as the record showed) last year and we were a better team than that. We believe in this group…with the depth that we have and the speed that we have- that we can have success.”
Head Coach Dave Hakstol, who has faced his share of scrutiny the last two seasons, extolled his players in front of the largest media scrum Climate Pledge Arena has seen so far.
“The overall work ethic at camp. The elevated expectation from within. Really that’s probably the biggest point. I don’t believe there’s a lot of people outside of this dressing room that believed we would be able to get across the finish line and become a playoff team. This group felt that, knew that, believed in it. I don’t believe they’re done yet.”
Personal disdain aside about the current 3-3-2 Stanley Cup Playoff structure, three Central teams are tied at 98 points to earn the Kraken’s first-round matchup. Colorado, with the division tiebreaker and an extra game to play is the leading candidate. High-scoring Dallas and defensive-minded Minnesota are also in play to win the division and host the series. The Kraken have played every team thrice, and only have a winning record against the Avalanche. I would like to see a starting matchup against the Stars with Seattle’s scoring potential (3.33 goals per game). Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is a Kraken killer, with a 4-1-1 record and a .935 save percentage against Seattle.
Wait, what about catching the Kings? Seattle does have a game in hand on Los Angeles and has won the season series, but trails in the tiebreaker of regulation wins. The chase down looks doubtful with each team’s strength of schedules, and not so preferable to face a red-hot Oilers team in round one.
According to stats-rich MoneyPuck.com, the Seattle Kraken is power-ranked 15th out of 16 playoff teams- with a 2.5% chance to win the Stanley Cup. You couldn’t find anyone dwelling on those numbers last night, as CEO Tod Leiweke traded his many handshakes over the years for high fives to all entering the winning locker room. ⚓