The 2025-26 NHL Trade Deadline has passed, and between tonight’s combatants, one was eventful, and one maybe not so much, from the fans perspective. Welcome back to our famous NHL Predictions with us here at Last Word On Hockey. Follow us for all the scores, stats, storylines, and inside information on who has the edge for tonight’s game. Tonight’s game features the Ottawa Senators traveling to the Seattle Kraken, and a visit to the lovely Pacific Northwest.

NHL Predictions Kraken and Senators

Season Series: Back in October, Ottawa was hosting a whole bunch of Pacific Division teams, and won 4-3 against the Kraken in a shootout.

Puck Drop: 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) | 7:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (MST)

How to Watch: SN, TVAS, CITY, KHN/Prime, KONG

Location: The picturesque Climate Pledge Arena, live from Seattle, Washington.

To start with the recap from the trade deadline. Ottawa added Warren Foegele, and subtracted David Perron, so they did save some money. They still have veteran experience throughout their lineup like Lars Eller and Claude Giroux, and Foegele adds some speed. It should be a slight upgrade, but certainly not the big fish that teams did land throughout 2025-26. As for Seattle, adding Bobby McMann was a very nice move. Not to mention that Jordan Eberle is a great re-signing to keep the positive vibes flowing.

The Seattle Kraken are in a Fight for the Playoffs

Sound familiar Sen fans? Seattle currently holds down the final Wild Card position in the Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoff standings. The one stat we recall recently is the playoff probabilities, from MoneyPuck. Seattle is in, and sit at 61%. Meanwhile, Ottawa is only two spots lower, at 47.2%. That is despite the fact that Ottawa is actively out of the playoffs. It is tight, that is for certain.

You know games against Seattle are going to be competitive. They are a determined bunch. No stars on forward will surprise you, but they also won’t go away. Eberle leads the team with 42 points. However, five other forwards have more than 30 points. Even though they are 24th in goals for at 2.82 (Ottawa is 11th at 3.31), Seattle’s goaltending is about the same. At a 2.87 team goals-allowed-per-game, they sit in ninth in the NHL. Meanwhile, Ottawa is seeded lower 3.18 goals-allowed-per-game, good for 23rd.

Sens Need Some Goaltending, but Have Been Getting It

The expected starters are Linus Ullmark (18-8-7) and Philipp Grubauer (11-8-3). Grubauer has the advantage in statistics, despite fewer games played. He sports a nice 2.53 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. Meanwhile, Ullmark has a 2.81 GAA and an .886 SV%. If we compare this with the PDO statistic, we can help to paint a more complete picture. (PDO is a team’s shot percentage plus their save percentage). At 5v5, Seattle is actually third in the entire NHL at 102.3 and Ottawa sits in 21st at 99.2. It tends that Seattle does have a slight advantage given their shooters, plus their goaltending stats. Conversely, it is known Ottawa’s goaltending was very bad to start the season. In addition, when we go to 5v5 expected goal percentages, Ottawa is third at 55.4%, while Seattle is 30th at 45.3%. Ottawa should be able to out-chance Seattle, despite their edge in save percentage. Ottawa has the skill advantage.

The Impact Players

The players to watch for the Kraken are Shane Wright and probably defenceman Adam Larsson. Wright is still searching for consistency as an NHLer. In 61 games he has 11 goals and 12 assists. Even though he doesn’t score a lot, as a centre who only plays 13:57 a game, he eventually finds way to contribute. In addition, Larsson does a similar thing, but from the blueline. Even though he only has 19 points on the season, he rarely plays power play. He can beat opposing defences with hard, attacking, accurate passes from the blueline.

How about some players who can beat you on Ottawa. One player who is buzzing is Dylan Cozens. Coming off the high of playing near family, with the Sens trip to Alberta, he has been hot. In his last four games, he has four goals, one assist, 11 shots on goal, and thrown 16 hits. Expect him to make things happen. The other guy we like to mention is Tim Stutzle. He is currently on an 11-game point streak. That isn’t even his longest of the season (that is at 13). Since that first streak started (on December 9th), Stutzle has only gone pointless in five games (out of 33 games total).

However, it is a great time for our disclaimer. Please check social media prior to puck drop, to see definitely who gets the nod, before setting your fantasy roster for the day.

NHL Predictions

This will be another close one for the Senators. Seattle is playing with urgency, too. Mistakes are costly, similar to what they would be in the playoffs. The time is, now.

Prediction: Kraken 2 – Senators 3 (in regulation).

Prop Bets

With our classic anytime goal scorers, we like Drake Batherson for the Sens. Dude is a sniper. Watch him snipe, tonight. For Seattle, we are going to stick with Wright. This is the time of year when persistence plays off. If he is earning his ice time, it is because he is skating hard. Eventually, it will end up in the back of the net.

Main Photo Credit: Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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