Seattle Kraken Must Address Their Biggest Issues Soon – Hockey Writers – Seattle Kraken
As the Seattle Kraken head into a road trip against some of the Eastern Conference heavyweights – starting with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (Dec. 3), the team is in a funk. The excitement of mid-November when head coach Dan Bylsma ended his 5-1-0 streak has long since faded. They are 1-4-0 since then and some glaring issues have reared their heads. Let's talk.
The Kraken is Unresisting
Alleging that Seattle's players don't stand to paint with broad brushes. We are guilty of that. However, certain things can be seen in the tournaments – chess games between games – that speak of a certain lack of team spirit in this group.
On Nov. 27, Seattle returned home to face the Anaheim Ducks team they had beaten on the road two days earlier. Some of the replay stats look good, like 44 shots on target and the Kraken being called for just three fouls in six minutes in the penalty box. Other stats, such as their 50% penalty kill and 5-2 final score in favor of Anaheim were less surprising.
But there were two times when people were asking on the internet if this group was done. The writer stayed up late that night (eastern time zone) to watch some of them Emerald City Hockeylive streaming of the game. Something came up again and again, not just from the athletes (who are great at bringing the team together) but from the people who sent in questions and comments.
Related: Kraken's Shane Wright Still Seeking Conformity
Why didn't he send a message to the Ducks behind the goalie Joey Daccord was attacked? Yes, it was a mistake on Jansen Harkins' part, but you don't beat the keeper. No one in Seattle seemed to do anything about it.
Later, Tye Kartye became part of the scrum after the whistlewith Harkins playing a decidedly more antagonistic role than in the previous episode. Kartye was on the ice, getting hit repeatedly, and only Eeli Tolvanen tried to intervene, but was blocked by another Anaheim player.
Both were odd episodes suggesting that this Kraken unit, perhaps, is not tightly integrated. Maybe they are and that was a bad night. It was the night before Thanksgiving and they had defeated the Ducks 48 hours earlier. This was going to be easy. Well, that wasn't the case and the club didn't react in any way that was racist.
One wonders if Jordan Eberle's absence is felt too much. He is on the last leg injured due to a hip injury. Eberle was named captain on opening day, and many thought it was a solid decision. The issue may be that no one is fit to pick up that mantle and become a leader in his absence.
Slack Goaltending & Turnovers
Soon, a big decision will have to be made regarding Philipp Grubauer. He is making more money than Daccord this season ($5.9 million to $1.2 million). Even next season, when Daccord's extension begins, his annual salary will still be less than his German teammate ($5 million to $5.9 million).
Daccord can import soft every once in a while. He did during the game on November 27 we keep pointing. Brett Larson's first-half goal to make it 2-0 on the Ducks is what some are calling a “must have.”
But the situation with Grubauer is very scary. It's fair to argue that NHL goaltending save percentage (SV%) isn't what it used to be a few years ago. Other highly regarded netminders have an SV% below .900, such as Darcy Kuemper (.903), Andrei Vasilevskiy (.907), and Pyotr Kochetkov (.904). But Grubauer's .862 won't cut it. There is nothing to wear in that image. He has a 1-7-0 record this season and a goals against average (GAA) of 3.62.
According to PuckPedia, on November 29 in a loss to the San Jose Sharks (final score 8-5), the veteran coughed up six low-risk goals. This is an incredibly high number. Either he starts playing better when Daccord is given some rest, or general manager Ron Francis needs to find a way to make a deal with someone.
Seattle also coughs up the puck at the worst times and fails to recover from their mistakes. The turnover in the neutral zone in the 8-5 loss was too much. Will Smith, Jake Walman, and Macklin Celebrini's turnovers in the middle frame were all created because the Kraken either lost the puck battle or turned it over in the middle. This was a problem when they lost 4-2 to these Sharks after 24 hours on November 30.
Yes, the goalie needs to stand up, but the entire game plan can be thrown up if the team keeps giving the puck back to the opposition.
Inactivity of Special Groups
Finally, Kraken's special teams are nothing. There was a lot of turnover on the coaching staff last spring, from Bylsma to assistants like Jessica Campbell and Bob Woods arriving in Seattle. Things can take time to learn, relearn, or unlearn.
Two of those factors are the power play and the penalty kill. When running on human capital, Seattle only operates at 15% efficiency, putting them at 30th in the NHL. When they try to survive a player down, they succeed 78.7% of the time. To be considered respectable in penalty killing, reaching the 80% plateau is ideal. Unsurprisingly, Kraken efforts have them at 19ththus in the bottom half of the league.
In fact, the power play percentage would have been worse if it weren't for Shane Wright's short burst in the 8-5 loss to the Sharks. He scored two man-to-man goals to at least help the team finish two out of six in the game. They have failed in 16 other chances since Nov. 23 against the Los Angeles Kings to Nov. 30 against San Jose.
All of these are causes of great concern. Seattle currently does not pass math tests or eye tests. Will road games against the Hurricanes, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils change that? We are about to find you. The fear is that by the time this four-game road trip ends (the New York Islanders are one of the opponents), the Kraken will look worse for wear. These are the times of the season when a team needs depth. The deep or deep Pacific Ocean for soul searching; it's just deep.
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