Seattle Kraken 2025-26 Season Preview

Seattle Kraken 2025-26 Season Preview

In today’s video, we continue on with our NHL season preview series. Today, we’re working our way through the Pacific Division and we’re looking at the Seattle Kraken. After a couple of disappointing years and a couple of coaching changes, will this be the year we see the Kraken get back to the playoffs? We’ll discuss how the team has changed, what should we expect from them, and more coming up next. Welcome back to another video here at TopShelf Hockey. As I mentioned, today we continue our season preview series and our look at the teams in the Pacific Division. Today we look at the newest team in the NHL, the Seattle Kraken. Of course, they now have a four-year history. It’s hard to imagine, but they’ve already completed four NHL seasons so far. In this past year, we’ve seen another coaching change, another disappointing year after, you know, a couple years ago where they really looked like they were taking a big step forward. But we’re going to recap last year both as a team and some of the top individual performances. We’re going to look at their cap space, how the team has changed, additions, subtractions. Uh take a look at any rookies that will impact this roster this year, any contract extensions that could make news for the team throughout the year. Uh any trades we see happening. Then we’ll look at their projected lineup and look at the top questions facing this team to see what our expectations are going into the 2526 regular season. So recapping last year quickly, they had a 76-point campaign, 3541 and six. So again, you know, all the way down in the Pacific Division, not a great season. Of course, they weren’t dead last, but they certainly, you know, were down there, you know, not only the team ahead of the San Jose Sharks. The Kraken had a poor season. It was Dan Blesma’s first season behind the bench, and in fact, it going to be his only season behind the bench with this team. team and I’m not really completely sure to be honest that it I didn’t know that that was really a fair move. Alsma had been with the Kraken for a few years did great things with their AHL team and a lot of those players some of which have already kind of graduated to the big leagues and obviously you know some of which will continue to graduate to the NHL over the next little while here. I thought he was, you know, just in a spot where the roster was kind of the problem and I thought he ended up taking the fall here after only one season. Um, they’ve gone through too many coaches and a team that’s only 4 years old. Uh, they scored 245 goals last year, 16th best in the league, so that was okay. Goals against though was a bit of a problem. 262 against for 24th best. Of course, as a team that was, you know, notably out of the playoffs down the stretch by the trade deadline, they did trade some of their veteran players that were going to be um likely not returning or on shorter term contracts, expiring deals. Yanni Gourd and Oliver Bjorkstrand ended up going to Tampa. Uh Brandon Tanv went back to his old roots with the Winnipeg Jets. Um so they made a few moves to kind of shred some contracts that way. Um, going into this year, like I said, it was they had only made the playoffs once. It was in year two of their existence. So, their playoff streak now sits at missing for the past two years and they keep taking seems like notable steps backwards. Uh, you know, back in their second year, they were 100 point team, made the playoffs, they won a round, but it just seemed like that year everything that needed to go right went right. So many players had career years. The shooting percentage was abnormally high. It was just one of those, I’m not calling it a fluke, but sometimes you just have everything line up and everything kind of go your way. Uh, and I knew that it was going to be really tough for them to sustain that. I didn’t think it was going to be such big steps back though, two consecutive years in a row with a lot of these younger players kind of building themselves up to hopefully be better and better. Uh, leading the team last year in scoring was Jared McCann with 61 points. Chandler Stevenson, of course, was his first year with the club, was number two in scoring with 51 points. Jaden Schwarz with 49. Shane Wright had his best season to date with 44 points. Took some big steps towards developing not only into a regular everyday player, but uh a much more effective and productive one. Matty Beners, though, 43 points last year. His rookie season was his best year to date. uh Beneers has not uh really been the point producer and the player like that they were hoping for. Like I mean and I’m not saying he can’t get there. I think he can. He’s a talented kid, but after the rookie season that he had, I just it’s hard to wrap your head around how the last few years have not been as good for him. Uh 43 points last year. So even Shane Wright who I think like you know looking at the last year or two, nobody would have projected that Wright would already be ahead of Beners in production by this point. Uh Brendan Montour rounds things out with 41 points his first year in Seattle. Proved to be an excellent free agent signing um last year. Uh Stevenson for that matter did put up good numbers. I was critical of the Stevenson contract. I still think they gave him a little bit too much money in term, but at least he’s you know playing well and uh you know giving him some good minutes and and decent production for for what he is getting paid going into the season here after all the offseason moves are completed. They still have a decent amount of cap space. They have $4.6 million. Of course, like I said, Dan Bilesma is a one and done as head coach. They did keep some other members of the staff, including Jessica Campbell on, but the new head coach is Lane Lambert. Of course, he’s had an opportunity to be a head coach recently with the New York Islanders. Uh, after a couple of years there, he was dismissed. Lane was a longtime assistant coach. Worked I kind of refer to him as a Barry Trotz disciple, if you will. Uh, worked with Trotz for a long, long time as an assistant coach. um before he became the head coach of the Islanders after Trot’s departure, he had an opportunity like he was one of those, you know, veteran assistant coaches that was getting a lot of looks around the NHL and eventually got his opportunity there with the Islanders and of course worked with the Maple Leafs last year as an assistant coach again and now here he is the head coach of the Seattle Kraken. Uh so we’ll see how how things go in that front. Now, let’s look at how the team has changed through the offseason. And to be honest, it’s really not substantial for a team that had 76 points last year. They didn’t really do anything too earthshattering. I mean, the only uh sub notable subtractions are Andre Burkosski and Mikey Eisimont. Now, of course, like I said though, they did also have a sell off at the deadline. So, Gourd, Bjork, and Tan have all departed. Then, that that continued afterwards with Burkovski and Eizont. uh new to the team this year. They did pick up Mason Marchment from the Dallas Stars. Of course, the Dallas Stars were in a uh a little bit of a salary cap pickle, if you will, and they kind of helped them out and took Marchment off their hands. Uh obviously, not really having to give up anything, which was uh you know, anything of substance at least was important. Uh Marchman can give you some I think he has potential to be a decent secondary scoring type of guy and can be just really annoying and tough to play against. So, um, might help them, you know, add a new element to their roster. They also bring in Freddy Gdro, uh, who can provide some depth at the center ice position. Ryan Lindren comes over after, of course, longtime New York Ranger had a there with the Avalanche. Contract was expiring and got a better deal from the Kraken. Uh, Lingren’s a, you know, defensive defenseman. Not really much offense there. um but typically, you know, blocks a lot of shots, plays a lot in a penalty kill, um can be, you know, pretty decent in his own end, but his body has taken a beaten with the style of play that Ryan Lingren plays and provides out there. Um I I do wonder about his long-term longevity here, like, you know, how long can he continue playing at a higher level? Uh so I think there were some concerns there from the Avalanche and the Rangers, which is why he was available. They also brought in goender Matt Murray to add some extra depth to the goalending situation. Now, looking at, you know, this team from a rookie standpoint, are there any rookies that we can really expect to have an impact on this team? There’s not a lot that I expect to have an impact on the NHL level, but I do see some guys that we definitely want to monitor and could be big parts of this team moving forward. And I I suspect we’ll get an opportunity um to to at least get some action this year. Like obviously Yanni Neman uh will be the main one that contributes. I think he has an opportunity uh leg up based on his performance last year to be a regular but certainly some young talent like Jagger Fergus who spent the year in the miners Berkeley Ken and of course top pick from last year Jake O’Brien. Um I I don’t expect O’Brien to make the NHL but Berkeley Ken and Jagger Fergus I wouldn’t be shocked if they saw some opportunities here. I mean, I I do think long term they will be they have potential to be. I mean, they were drafted with a lot of talent. Uh both did had really solid runs in junior. So, it’ll be curious to see how those two guys perform at the pro level here once they get more of an opportunity. As far as trades go, I mean, there’s definitely a few players that are questionable for their futures. Uh I looked at goender Philip Grubower, who’s still there. Uh he’s lost his job as a starting net minder and he makes a lot of money. So, it doesn’t really make sense for him, in my opinion, to be a highly paid backup, but I know that the the Kraken obviously were not fond of the numbers and how it would work out to do a buyout this offseason, so they chose not to do that. Um, so, you know, if they can find a way to move on from that contract, I think they’ll take it. Uh, obviously some guys like Jane Schwarz and Jared McCann, I’m not absolutely convinced that they’re going to be traded, but the fact is is that they’re veteran players. They’re on expiring contracts and they can be productive people who can help other teams. So, they will definitely get interest until they reach a point of deciding if they’re going to sign them or not. They could be trade deadline uh pieces this year that make sense for a lot of other teams or maybe the Kraken decide to hang on to them. They’re they’re guys that will kind of for me at least fall into my trade bait and extension categories. I wouldn’t be shocked if it goes either way. Right now, I think the team has an interest on retaining them, but I think a lot of that is going to depend on how the season goes. I mean, if they sign either of them early on, then then maybe that’ll be a bit of a surprise. But another defenseman, too, that I would look to wouldn’t be shocked if he was moved would be Jamie Alexiaak. uh that that’s a possibility, not a given, but I wouldn’t be shocked if that happened this year. As far as other players that could be in the extension category, I do think uh you know, Captain Jordan Everly wouldn’t be shocked if they did a short extension with him for you know, another year or two. Uh Ellie Tolven’s been a nice pickup as well. He’s in the last year of his deal, so he also could be extended during the season as well to go along with Schwarz and McCain. But like I said, I think those guys are I don’t know where the the team is at with it. But if if it were me, I’d probably take the wait and see approach and see how things go and see how this team looks and if it’s trending to be out of the playoffs again. Then you need to ask yourself some hard questions if you really need to do more changes here. Like to be fair, I haven’t really been overly fond of Ron Francis’s job with this team. I thought the expansion draft was um not done well at all. Uh they’ve definitely made some critical mistakes and some questionable moves. Uh I know Jason Bal takes over as general manager, but he was the assistant to Ron Francis and Francis will still have a say here being president of the uh team operations on the hockey side. So I’m not really sure he’s really got a change there. Uh you know, you can be uh and this is just my brutal honesty here. You can be, you know, like Francis did a horrible job in my opinion, but yet he gets promoted. So, you know, I I just don’t understand how that goes. Like, they’ve gone through coaches like crazy, but yet the management doesn’t seem to have any kind of um you know, uh no repercussions for for not getting a better roster in place when they’ve had plenty of opportunities. So, we’ll see. Now, here’s their projected lineup as of right now, according to dailyfaceoff.com. Of course, between the pipes, no surprise, Joey Dord, Philip Grubau will be your starting goalending. tandem with the cord having the reigns as a starting goalender this year. On the back end for the defense, you’re looking at likely a pair of Vince Dunn and Adam Larson. Uh your next pair be Brandon Mour and Jamie Alexiaak. And rounding things out, you’re going to get a third pair likely of Ryan Lingren and Riker Evans. Uh like I said though, I do think it’s possible you can see a little bit further turnover on this decor with maybe a player like Alexiak possibly getting moved sometime during the season. And the forward group, uh, you need to see a top line ideally of Matty Beneers with Jaden Schwarz and Capo Kako. Kako’s been a nice pickup since he came over from the Rangers. Uh, they need Beners though to to produce more. Uh, Chandler Stevenson likely centers your second line with Jared McCann and Jordan Eberly. I suspect they’ll continue running. Shane Wright is a third center uh, with Mason Marchman and Ellie Tolvin. And then you’ve got fourth line likely of Gdro Cartier and Neman. So, um, yeah, I mean, the fourth line, I’m not sure what to expect from them, but the depth does look decent here. Uh, but a lot of this really boils down to what kind of production you can get from some of these players. Now, having guys like McCain or Schwarz playing for contracts might just be a good thing to help improve their production or at least keep them steady. I’m not saying improve because they had decent years last year, but now they’re playing for contracts. So, I’ll be a little bit surprised if we see a dip on their side, but that is what things look like right now. The top questions though for me, the biggest question on this franchise going into the season that we need to know the answer to to see how successful they’re going to be is, can Mattie Beners be a true number one center and be like a 75 80 point player? considering where he’s at in his career, he should be getting close to being, you know, I would think close to a point per game level if he’s going to be a true number one. And, you know, maybe he turns out not to be. Maybe he’s more of a 23, you know, but if you’re going to be, you know, 40 50 points, that’s not number one center caliber, you know, that’s at most number two center, maybe a three, right? So, you know, he put up close to I think it was his rookie season. I don’t have it right in front of me, but I know he was right around the 70 point mark. So, if he could do that as a rookie and his team theoretically should be better now and he’s got more experience, he should be able to do do that again. So, Baneer’s performance here, I mean, he was, you know, a really high pick. You know, I think Ron Francis when he picked him saw a lot of himself. Like, he does project to be a pretty good number like two-way centerman as well. And you know what? If Beners doesn’t have to be like an elite level number one center, but if he can be a really good number two that can be a solid two-way player and give you even 70 points consistently, that’s a win. That’s okay. Maybe Shane Wright becomes the player that he was expected to be when he was like 16, 17. All right. and maybe he becomes that number one center and becomes a point per game player like he took a big step last year at 44 points. You know, maybe that’ll continue. Maybe this year he can get 60 70 points. We’ll have to wait and see. But the evolution of these two players, they’re riding and banking on a lot for this team success. So if if you can get like McCann and Schwarz kind of you know being consistent if Stevenson can be similar to last year and then if you can get you know Wright taking another step to add another 15 20 points to his to totals and if Beners can get back to what he was as a rookie then you’re going to have a chance to be more successful. So obviously like I said those two guys and their their roles this year are going to be critical. The next big question for me is can Lane Lambert really is he going to be that much of a differencemaker as a coach? He’s been a pretty defensive-minded coach throughout his tenure in the NHL. So like obviously you know the goals against last year were a problem. So I can see how he might be a good replacement to help fix that. But are they going to end up losing goals for to make up for it? Like you often see teams when they really need to focus on cutting down the goals against sometimes they struggle with the offense for a while while they’re correcting and playing a different style of game. So that’s that’s a big question for me is if they can cut down on the goals against but that’s great. But if they’re already only average when it comes to goal scoring they can’t really afford for that to take a step backwards. So, I wonder if this is going to be more than a one-year, you know, rebound. You know, can this year they cut down on the goals against and maybe next year they need to continue playing that way if they can cut it down and then kind of learn to get the offense back in. I don’t know. That’s just it’s hard to see major improvements on both sides in one season like that. And you don’t really need to improve a lot on the offense, but you know, I if you’re going to be a playoff team, it needs to probably improve a little bit while the the goals against the defensive side of the metrics need to improve a decent amount. So, it’s going to be tough. I’m not sure they can do it all in one year. Can they be better? They can. They do have some talent, but like I said, a lot of for me and how this team does is riding on their young guys and how much of a step they can take. But for me, the Seattle Kraken likely aren’t a playoff team this year. I think they will miss again. At least that’s my thoughts and predictions here so far. I think there’s just too many teams in that division. Whether you’re talking about Edmonton or Vegas or Los Angeles, heck, even teams like Calgary and Vancouver. I, you know, even Anaheim, like I’m not sure that they’re going to be able to get really much further ahead in the standings than they were this past year. So, we’ll see. And San Jose is getting better all the time, too. So, that’s not good news for the Kraken. It’s going to be tough. Uh, they got a lot of work to do, and we’ll see what happens. Let me know your thoughts on the Kraken for the upcoming 2526 season. We’ll discuss further in the comments. If you’re new to the channel, make sure you subscribe and stick around. Plenty more teams to come in this series and of course all the daily news and rumors from around the entire NHL. Thanks for watching. I’ll catch you next time. [Music]

Seattle Kraken 2025-26 Season Preview
NHL Regular Season 2025-26 is almost ready to begin. Today we preview the Seattle Kraken. We discuss the additions, subtractions and Predictions for the upcoming seasons. Seattle Kraken trade Rumours, Seattle Kraken Top prospects and the 2026 NHL Draft.

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