There’s been a fair amount of news in the NHL recently, and unfortunately it’s mostly bad. Let’s dive into a very bad week for the NHL and a less bad though still not great week for our Seattle Kraken.

What’s Kraken

• Seattle’s December 23rd game against the Calgary Flames has been postponed [DJLR]
• The Kraken are releasing their very own NFTs, which technically are “green” NFTs but still kind of go against their home arena’s name [Seattle Times]
• Head coach doesn’t expect Yanni Gourde, Colin Blackwell, or Riley Sheahan back from Covid protocol in time for this weekend’s games

• Philipp Grubauer, who came out of Tuesday’s game early after a second period collision, practiced in full on Friday and appears to be good to go

• Seattle already considered by some to be sellers at the trade deadline [The Hockey Writers]
• Kraken fans are the 11th most likeable fan base according to fan survey

• Kraken prospect Matty Beniers has officially been named to team USA’s roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship [NHL]

Around the NHL

• 20 games have been postponed due to Covid outbreaks, with 3 teams having all games postponed for at least a week [USA Today]
• The Calgary Flames appear to be the team affected most by Covid outbreaks

• Even the on-ice officials are getting hit hard by Covid right now

• Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice resigned after 8 full seasons [ESPN]

• Buffalo Sabres’ goaltender Malcolm Subban made the most unbelievable save of the year on Friday

• The Vancouver Canucks fired everyone, hired Bruce Boudreau, and won 6 straight games [Nucks Misconduct]
• Construction on the ice surface for the Winter Classic in Minneapolis is underway [NHL]