Seattle Kraken (17-14-7, 41 pts) at Vancouver Canucks (16-20-3, 35 pts)
Venue: Rogers Arena
Date: Friday, January 2nd
Time: 10:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm PT

TV: ESPN+ / TEGNA / Sportsnet
Radio: 
Seattle Kraken – Sports Radio 93.3 KJR-FM
Vancouver Canucks – Sportsnet 650 AM

DraftKings Sportsbook Betting Lines:
Seattle Kraken +1.5 ML +160
Vancouver Canucks -1.5 ML -192
O/U 5.5

Seattle Kraken News and Notes:

The Seattle Kraken remain in an incredibly tight Western Conference playoff race, tied at 41 points for the final wild card spot with the Los Angeles Kings and the Utah Mammoth after taking down the Nashville Predators in a 4-1 victory last night. After a rough start to the month of December, losing six of their first seven games, they have found immense momentum as they enter the year 2026, winning five of their last six games. However, that one loss came at the hands of the team they face today in the Vancouver Canucks, breaking that winning streak in a shootout. The Kraken were able to grab a point in that game at the very least but, that game must still leave a sour note, taking a very close loss to their division rival in the tightly contested playoff race where every single point on the table counts.

Vancouver Canucks News and Notes:

After what was a very successful start to the “post Quinn Hughes era” of Vancouver Canucks hockey, winning their first four games with Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, and Liam Ohgren, since that stint, the Canucks have lost three of their last four. However, that one win came in the form of a 3-2 shootout victory, taking down the very team they face today, the Seattle Kraken. Now it’s a slightly different-looking team than a week ago, with a few questionables like the status of Marco Rossi and Conor Garland, and the numerous different lineup changes coming in the last week, including Linus Karlsson making his first appearance on the top line. So the direction of the Vancouver Canucks is finally tilting towards a full-on rebuild, which will put a different dynamic in what is a tightly contested rivalry.

Seattle Kraken Projected Lines:

Kakko-Beniers-Eberle
Tolvanen-Stephenson-Guadreau
Catton-Wright-McCann
Kartye-Meyers-Melanson

Dunn-Larsson
Lindgren-Fleury
Evans-Oleksiak

Grubauer
Daccord

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lines:

DeBrusk-E. Pettersson-Karlsson
Kane-Sasson-Boeser
O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood
Ohgren-Raty-Hoglander

M. Pettersson-Hronek
Buium-Myers
Joseph-Willander

Demko
Lankinen

Players to Watch:

Seattle Kraken:

The Seattle Kraken has had a lot more offensive firepower than the Vancouver Canucks this season. Although he hasn’t been a consistent contributor to those offensive abilities, one of the major contributors as of late has been Matty Beniers. Beniers was able to pot two against the Nashville Predators just last night, tacking on to his six goals and 17 assists while also grabbing five points in his last five games. The Seattle Kraken also have one of their core forwards back in the lineup this week, with Jared McCann returning to the lineup on December 28th against the Philadelphia Flyers. Although he hasn’t been the borderline all-star that the Kraken need him to be in his first three games since being back, he was able to find the back of the net in the 3-2 shootout loss against the Canucks on Monday, as well as the final goal in last night’s 4-1 win.

Vancouver Canucks:

In what was a rough game defensively to close out the year of 2025 in a 6-3 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Vancouver Canucks had three unlikely heroes with multi-point games, with all of them notching a goal and an assist. First, Drew O’Connor, one of Vancouver’s biggest risers, has been a tad touch-and-go as of late, but he has found his rhythm with a goal in three of his last four games. Second, David Kampf, however, slotted on the third line ahead of tonight’s game against Seattle, Kampf has found a home as the second line centre after joining the Canucks just a month ago. Lastly, the Canucks newest top-line defenseman, Marcus Pettersson, is taking over a massive leadership role in the recent absence of Quinn Hughes, in what has been a major transition point in the culture and the overall direction of the Vancouver Canucks. All three of these men could have massive impacts in tonight’s Pacific Division rivalry game.

Injury Report:

Seattle Kraken:

LW Max McCormick – IR
D Brandon Montour – IR
LW Jaden Schwartz – IR
G Matt Murray – IR

Vancouver Canucks:

RW Conor Garland – Day to Day
C Marco Rossi – Day to Day
C Filip Chytil – IR
C Teddy Blueger – IR
D Guillaume Brisebois – IR
D Derek Forbort – LTIR

Next Game:

Seattle Kraken: Monday January 5 at Calgary Flames – 9:30pm ET
Vancouver Canucks: Saturday, January 3 vs Boston Bruins – 10pm ET

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