Lane Lambert Praises Seattle Kraken’s Young Centers 🏒

Lane Lambert Praises Seattle Kraken’s Young Centers 🏒

Some of the young centermen are getting high praise from Lane Lambert, plus injury updates and how it may impact the final opening day roster. You are Locked on Kraken, your daily podcast on the Seattle Kraken, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hey there Seattle hockey fans. Welcome to another episode of Locked on Kraken, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team, the Seattle Kraken, every single day. Erica Elyala here, your host of Locked on Kraken. Been your host since the very beginning. Only ever just me, some uh friends along the way, but uh it’s been you and me here. I’m also excited to take you to another Olympics. That’s right. Yours truly is credentialed for Milano Cortina and we’ll be covering Locked on Kraken or excuse me, Kraken players for Locked on Kraken as well as the women’s and men’s tournament overall. Let me tell you that today’s episode of Locked on Kraken brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com to win $300 if your first $5 bet wins. We thank you for making us a part of your daily destination, your first listen of the day, your midday listen or your late night listen. We are grateful for you. I was at practice today. I missed the first group. I’ve been doggysitting and uh one of my poor doggos puffers is uh a little anxious. So, we’ve been working on it. But uh I made it to the second session which was the white group today. Uh no game today. uh Thursday, there will be a game on Friday. And uh got to catch up with some guys. We heard from Lane Lambert. We got some updates, but I also spent some time talking to Mattie Beneers. I asked him about the year of veneers. I asked him about his skating, which uh is something that I noticed and uh just overall how Lane’s approach of defense first impacts the offense. It was a short interview. Also, I will apologize in advance. Um, the microphones that I had, I don’t think picked up the greatest audio. So, you’ll hear the native audio from uh my phone in in an ice rink, so it’s a little loud, but uh we did our best here. Short interview with Maddie Beneers from training camp earlier today, Thursday, uh, which would be September 25th. All right, Maddie. Uh, first I wanted to ask you about a conversation I had with Jessica Campbell last year. She talked about at the turn of the year in 2025 it being the year of beneers. Do you think that is going to carry over into early in this season? Yeah. Uh you know nice of her to say it but um yeah I think it’s just she was talking talking to me saying that in terms of like just getting pucks on the net scoring goals and producing and uh you know I think we did a good job of that in the second half. I wanted to also ask you about uh maybe some offseason focus on skating in particular. I think your stride seems a little more compact. Is that something that you focused on? Yeah, been a lot of skating this summer. Uh you know, I always say cross the best skaters. So, uh that was definitely a focus. And you know, it’s been a few days now under the Lane Lambert system. seems like he’s really harping on discipline, but also that discipline coming from the defensive end to then free up things offensively. When you when you have that directive, it’s obviously hard work on the front end, but how do you see that paying dividends to what the team is doing offensively? Yeah, it’s, you know, if you don’t play as much diesel, you’re going to play more. Uh, simple as that. You know, you have energy to go play offense. When you play play defense, well, you play connected. So, I think it’s been going well and we’ve been working on it a lot and it went well last night and um you know, we’re just going to keep building from there. Awesome. Thanks so much for your time. So, fun fact here uh as I’m asking Maddie my final question. I had an interview lined up for something on the WNBA side for my work for CBS Sports and the call was coming in as I was chatting with Maddie. Um, it was going to be that those were the main questions that I had for veneers anyway. But, um, yeah, always always a fun time. But let’s go back to what Maddie said there. Uh, the year of Beneers. Uh, you know, he kind of chuckled and said, you know, that’s a a nice way of putting it. And so, I I wonder I’m hoping to get a a chance to talk with Jessica Campbell. But, you know, uh, I I found that just an interesting comment. And maybe uh you know there’s a little more to the year of veneers. Uh I’ve been using it as a battlecry of sorts. Um you know, but Maddie talked about um what Jessica and I talked about. Uh that would have been January 1 where I got that one-on-one interview with Jessica Campbell and we talked a lot about Mattie Veneers and um you know that it’s about him being aggressive offensively, him getting shots up, getting good looks on on net and um that that was a a focus of the second half of last year, last season I should say. And uh you know maybe that will be a carryover. But you also heard me um ask him about the the Lane Lambert system on the defensive side and he said what is pretty obvious, you know, the harder you work defensively to win the puck back, the more time you can spend um in your offensive zone. We’re going to hear from Lane Lambert a little bit. He’s going to talk about Beneers. I asked him about Shane Wright. Um so we’ll hear from him in just a little bit about that. But um you know, I’m I’m I I also asked him about skating. I told you uh after Sunday’s game, his his not so much his stride. I feel like it’s not necessarily Beneers and his stride that looks different to me. It’s more of his upper body that looks more compact and controlled. And I do think his skating has improved. Um I know that someone has brought up a a nickname that that sometimes Mattie B has a Bambi of sorts. Uh, you know, I I can totally see that. I think that Matty Beners and he he hasn’t been able to put on uh weight in the same way that Shane Wright has. And sometimes I think you see that in his game, but with his skating stride, again, not stride, uh, with the the small changes that I see just as an observation in his skating, I think that he can be more balanced. And I think that’s taken away some unnecessary movements um in his upper body. That’s, you know, my interpretation of what I see. You heard Mattie say, “Yeah, he focused on skating because the best players in the in the league are the best skaters in the league.” Um, he didn’t get into the technicality of that. He didn’t disagree with what I said, but I’m hoping to chat with Campbell and see if we can get a little bit more nuance there in perhaps what the directive was as far as Mattiey’s skating in the offseason and maybe what she sees and and what she wants to work on this season. But before we close out um this first this first segment, let’s hear from Lane Lambert. Um again, I was able to ask him about Shane Wright. In that answer, he actually mentions Mattie Beneers and he mentions uh Mulgard. All guys that I’ve been keeping an eye on. So, uh let’s take you to Lane Lambert from earlier today, Thursday. Been very impressed with him. Um you know, and I think with every player that we’ve had, uh we’ve you know, we’ve started from our own zone out in terms of responsibility. um you know him, Matty Baneer is our our young centerman. Uh those guys are are really uh uh embracing the concepts and um you know I I think Shane Shane’s we’ve got him killing penalties right now. Um and the offensive side of it is going to continue to come. So, uh, I’ve I’ve been impressed with his game for sure and I’ve been impressed with, uh, with his responsibility level, uh, you know, away from the puck and doesn’t matter what zone you’re in, you have to be responsible when you don’t have the puck and I’ve been impressed with, you know, him and and and a number of guys. You talk about Baneers, you talk about Mulgard, um, you know, variation of guys for sure. So, that was Lane Lambert earlier today talking about some of his young centermen and them being very responsible. That was in response to a question I asked specifically about Shane Wright. I saw Shane chatting up um Lane Lambert today. I didn’t ask Lane specifically what they were talking about, but I took the opportunity to ask him about the leadership. Uh Shane I noticed was very vocal in the last few practices and I think that speaks to his leadership, his comfort level. Um, and I wanted to hear how Lane sees Shane Wright um, being able to impact this system and especially with the injury to Chandler Stevenson, which we’ll talk about and you’ll hear Lane Lambert talk about the injuries, unfortunately, a few injuries. Um, but does this maybe leave a little bit of a door open for what a lot of folks want to see, which is Shane Wright in a top six centerman position? We’ll talk a little bit about that throughout the the coming days. But next on today’s episode, we are going to talk about some of the injuries. Unfortunately, a lot of players um on the on the or who are away with injuries and we’ll hear uh Lane Lambert give updates on a few of them as we continue on this episode of Locked on Kraken. Today’s episode of Locked on Kraken, brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. We know the NFL season is here and FanDuel can make sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet $5. And if your first $5 bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Um, now whether it’s same game parlays, jumping in during the live action, player props, futures bets, FanDuel has it all. It can make every game more exciting. whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.com to get started. That’s fanduel.com to place your first $5 bet. Hey there. Thanks as always for making Lockdown Kraken a part of your daily destination, your first listen of the day, your late night listen, your midday matinea. Either way, we appreciate you. Make sure you’re subscribed if you’re not already on our YouTube channel. We have content that’s going out on social media, so continue to engage with us on those platforms. Tik Tok is um our kind of shiniest toy here. We’re also using Instagram more, which then automatically goes to Facebook. And um you know, I’ve mentioned Joe Dabney is helping out a little bit there. Just bear with us on some of the other platforms. I’ve mentioned that Joe is away for a little bit, but we will we will get things up and running. A lot of the pre-preparation that Joe has done with me is has led to some of the content that you have seen and there’s more coming, but you know, of course, life is is uh going to be life. So, we we roll with the punches here. And that’s kind of what’s happening with the Seattle Kraken. And uh here’s Lane Lambert giving updates on some of the injuries. We’ll break this down after we hear this clip. Copo is seeing a specialist tomorrow, so he’s got an upper body injury. We should know a little bit more there. Uh Steviey’s day today. Yeah, they’re both dayto-day and we’re uh we’re uh certainly um our expectations are they’ll be ready to go. Well, um you know, you just have to you just have to find a way through it. Obviously, it’s not ideal. Um certainly I I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever had quite as much. Um but at the same time it gives other people opportunities right now and um you know we uh we just move forward. Uh you know certainly uh been disappointing for those guys that are injured because they’re not in training camp here and not able to you know work with the team on the ice but we’ll work our way through it. So there’s Lane Lambert. He’s talking about Capo Kako. Unfortunately, left the game uh Wednesday night with an injury upper body. He seemed to be holding his hand and his hand looked agitated. So, he will be getting evaluated on Friday. Uh so, no update. I I’m pretty sure that means that he is um unlikely to suit up for Friday’s preseason game. Um I suppose once the imaging is done and they know where they stand it’ll be a little different there but uh you know we have McCann who is dayto-day we have Chandler Stevenson who is dayto-day Mason Marchment left with illness um from the ice Thursday and then uh you know also Brandon Montour was a part of a conversation not in that clip but you know expected to to be good there. Um Max McCormick I talked about more so someone that will impact the Firebirds roster likely, but uh you know he’s out so unfortunate that people are dealing with injuries, but as you heard Lane Lambert say it could be potential for other people and I think Shane Wright is someone who even without the injuries I think that he seems to be doing the no pun intended right things to gain the organization’s trust in how this team wants to play. This team wants to play a defensive-minded team. I think that he has a leadership capacity and style that could fit what Lane Lambert wants to do. He seems um and we’ve heard this before about Shane like a very cerebral player. I think that Lambert respects that. I think that also Lambert likes cerebral while also humble and hardworking and Shane has a good combination there and is someone that I think in the Lambert system can be successful. I know I was very miffed by the change away from Dan Bilesma. Uh, I just think that that move it it served on the surface as a way to cover up some of the things that the front office quite honestly um hasn’t been able to figure out. Um, I think Ron Francis got a little protected from some of the decisions that he himself was a part of making and the fallout has come at the coaching level. Um, I think that can be true. And what also can be true is that I want to believe in in Lane Lambert’s uh approach here. And when I say I want to believe, that’s because uh, you know, as the theme song for Ali Mciel goes, I’ve been down this road. I’ve been down this road. I felt a lot of excitement about Dan Bilesma’s system. His system was all about the three Fs, the fun, the fast, the forchecking. And maybe he lacked the discipline and the defense, which you know, I also fundamentally love in all sports. Now, does that mean that this Kraken team is going to be fun to watch where that seems like more of a directive of Dan Bilesma? I don’t get the sense that Lane Lambert, it’s not like if if you were if we’re looking at his whiteboard like fun to watch is probably not up there. Um but I guess that’s how you interpret fun. Um because for me fun is good defensive plays, defensively sound uh fundamentally sound sport. Um you know that’s fun for me. I I don’t think it’s a great show of um elite level athleticism and in in your given sport if you can score in bunches but not prevent the other team from scoring. But Lane Lambert knows that there’s a balance and it’s something that he’s talked about when it comes to um you know this team. But what we also know is that uh you know cuts are coming here and um we haven’t seen um any players yet be reassigned or or anything of that nature, but we know it’s coming. Um I uh when I had that interview with uh with Derek Laxel, it sounds like uh Tado Had will be in camp. I have not seen him yet, but it sounded like he’ll be here towards the end of the month, which is basically this weekend. And so, if I had to guess, we won’t get too much happening with that regard as far as uh you know, players being cut until maybe the next few preseason games after the one coming up Friday, but I could be wrong. Uh but we’ll see. Um and of course, Lane talked about what those cuts will look like. We’ll get into that and a little bit more on his defensive philosophy coming up on today’s episode. Again, thank you for making Lockdown on Kraken a part of your daily destination. For our everydayers, our uh ogers, for making us your first listen of the day, your midday listen or your late night listen, thank you. Please do follow us on social media, engage with us. Also want to take this time to remind you that we do have the women’s hockey report that it goes live on Saturdays. Usually Saturday morning, sometimes a little later usually, especially when I’m uploading, but uh uh we have some special guests that are going to join me for this coming episode. And we’ll have a little bit of a PWL Seattle slant just because of some news that’s come through. But we’re also going to talk big picture when it comes to coaching in women’s hockey. Uh let’s go back to Lane on a few things including you know that we know cuts are coming. What are things looking like? What are the priorities right now for this Kraken squad? I think you are I think uh you know the games are always telling. Um and you know some guys play their way in and some guys you know don’t. and and and often times it’s just a matter of, you know, certain guys that are um you know, just maybe rise above a little bit. They’re starting to become a little more clarity. The injuries make it a little bit difficult too as well, you know, with uh making those decisions, but we’ll we’ll work through it. Oh, they’re always tough and that’s a good thing. You know, guys have done a really good job of making those dec uh making those decisions difficult. It’s a good problem to have. So, that was Lane Lambert speaking to us earlier today, Thursday. What he also said, um, not in that clip, but he said that, um, you know, he likes that guys are buying into the defense first and how important that is, how important the discipline and the structure is. Um, but we heard it from Mattie Beners earlier. um you know that can open up your offensive game and and what Lane Lambert said earlier is that that offense will come but he’s really harping on the fundamentals and the foundation that he wants to build and it’s been very noticeable from myself other people around camp I think word is spreading that you know Lane is not afraid to interrupt practices he will have you know hard morning skates and um you know He’s really pushing the issue early here. He’s pushing this team in a way that I think will be good um to get those good habits and to get the results that he wants. Now, again, early on, I do think that means that as far as a quote unquote fun or exciting team, that might fall by the wayside a little bit. Um, but he talked also about sometimes relying on, you know, solid goalending to get you through. And that’s the focus is to hunker down defensively, make things easier for his goalenders. Lane Lambert wants it to make things easier for cracking goalenders. And then once you get that down, you can start moving. But I will tell you, I said it the other day, I’ve said it a few times this week. When you have a team that’s so poised, um, but also intent on hunting for the puck, which is something I think Dan Bilesma tried to do, but the focus and the kind of framing seems a little different, almost night and day on how those two coaches are expressing that difference. Lane Lambert talks about it being defensively disciplined. I think Dan Bilesma saw it as more of a like let’s free up our offense. And you know, I think both are true, but they come from again different sides of the of the spectrum. And what I like, at least from what we’re seeing in the Lambert system, is the urgency with which to get out of the defensive zone in a controlled manner. It lends itself to what might not be the most exciting offense always, but it definitely can be very pretty. Um, I love the passing. I love the energy that we’re seeing, the creativity, the movement that we’re seeing. early returns and it’s not always but we don’t have the full squad but from who I do suspect will be main stays. We’re actually getting um a lot of what I consider beautiful hockey. So cuts are coming though. Let me know who are players who you think are on the bubble uh as far as to make the NHL roster. Are there players who you think had a great camp and that will mostly translate to the AHL or vice versa? I think Yanni Newman has made a really important um step that is making him um a really solid candidate to be a full-time NHLer. Um I I mean his his performance has been outstanding offensively. He has stood out for sure. Um and he’s with Baneers and Ko now. Ko again being evaluated. So, we’ll see. But I like that line combination. Lane said the other day, you know, oh, don’t read into it too much. But he kind of had two guys on a line that he was like, “Yeah, they’ll probably play together.” And then maybe a young guy that he circles in. I think that he never really I I I’ll say it this way. If if Newman is the kind of trial forward on the line on the Beneers line, I think I think the trial run should be over and you should just pay full price. I don’t I mean I don’t know. How do you feel about that? Let me know. But uh we have another preeason game coming up. There’s some more practices here. Um just a a little note as far as practices. It shouldn’t affect the the schedule too much, but um I have to head back to the East Coast for some college basketball stuff. And then the WNBA finals is coming up. So, I’m going to try and get as many one-on-one interviews, exclusive content in the next handful of days, uh so that we can really talk about that and and have some, you know, again, exclusive coverage here for you at Locked on Kraken. But you’ll see that after this coming weekend and leading into early next week, that will dwindle just a little bit because I won’t physically be in Seattle for some other assignments. But again, uh, lots to talk about. I think that this is a relatively competitive camp and I think it’s also been the most illuminating and eye openening. So, who do you think is on the bubble? Who do you think can be an NHLer? And who do you think has had a good camp and is likely just going to be at least for the start of the the season uh one of the uh top players for our Firebirds team. A reminder to be kind to yourself. Hopefully that allows you to extend that kindness to one another. There’s a lot going on in the world. So make sure you’re taking time for yourself. Reset your soul, uh your mind, your body. And uh hopefully this show is a little bit of a of a reset for you. But let me know in the comments again who you think has been a standout, who you want to see on this NHL team and who maybe is showing promise for, you know, in another season or two, but can probably have a great NHL campaign. As always, hold fast, stay true loud and proud. We say let’s go Krakens. And how about those Mariners, eh? I will catch you on the next episode. Peace out, everybody.

Is 2023 the breakthrough year for Matty Beniers? 🤔

Dive into the latest Locked on Kraken episode as host Erica L. Ayala breaks down Beniers’ offseason skating improvements, Lane Lambert’s defense-first strategy, and what fans can expect as Matty continues to grow into a potential star for the Seattle Kraken. With injury updates and roster decisions looming, this episode delivers all the insights Seattle hockey fans need.

Plus, Erica shares exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes updates from training camp!

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ABOUT LOCKED ON KRAKEN
Locked On Kraken is a daily podcast covering the 32nd NHL team! Host and freelancer journalist Erica L. Ayala (Locked on WBB, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, and more) helped the then NHL Seattle franchise launch the Seattle Kraken brand back in July 2020.

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