The hand-wringing around Kraken-land began almost as soon as the 2025-26 regular season schedule was released. “Good gracious, Martha,” one could almost hear one fan wailing to another. “Those reprobates at the NHL have saddled the Kraken with 13 back-to-back games. And Land o’ Goshen, most of those on the road!”
Last season, Seattle had a perfect record in the second game of back-to-backs. Perfect, as in 12 games, 12 regulation losses. Then-general manager Ron Francis tried to figure out why, using every analytic known to hockey. Was it a conditioning issue? No, it turned out. Was it the structure of travel arrangements? Not that, either. How about the phases of the moon or melting glaciers? Possible, but unlikely.
The only solution left was to fire coach Dan Bylsma and two of his three assistants. Well, maybe not the only solution, but that’s the one they chose. Now it’s Lane Lambert & company’s problem to figure out how to overcome the curse of games on consecutive nights. Driven by the NHL’s two-week February hiatus for the Winter Olympics, this year’s condensed schedule contains even one more series of back-to-back Kraken games than last season.
Of the 13 back-end games, eight are against teams that made the playoffs last season. One is against the Cup champion Panthers! Nine times, both games will be in road cities, Three involve home-road splits. Only one of the 13 has the Kraken at home for both ends.
Between Dec. 22 and Jan. 6, Seattle plays nothing but back-to-back games:
- At Anaheim Dec. 22 & at L.A. Dec. 23, followed by four off days.
- Home vs. Philadelphia Dec. 28 & Vancouver Dec. 29, followed by two off days.
- Home vs. Nashville Jan. 1 & at Vancouver Jan. 2, followed by two off days.
- At Calgary Jan. 5 & home vs. Boston Jan. 6.
Oh, the humanity!
Here’s how many times the rest of the Pacific Division got similarly scheduled:
- Anaheim: 11 – Both Road (5), Both Home (4), Home-Road Split (2)
- Calgary: 9 – Both Road (6), Both Home (0), Home-Road Split (3)
- Edmonton: 13 – Both Road (10), Both Home (0), Home-Road Split (3)
- Los Angeles: 16 – Both Road (7), Both Home (3), Home-Road Split (6)
- San Jose: 16 – Both Road (5), Both Home (7), Home-Road Split (4)
- Vancouver: 13 – Both Road (8), Both Home (4), Home-Road Split (1)
- Vegas: 12 – Both Road (6), Both Home (2), Home-Road Split (4)
Here’s the numerical breakdown of back-to-back games for each NHL team:
- 16 – Sharks, Kings, Islanders, Canadiens, Penguins
- 15 – Hurricanes, Devils, Blue Jackets, Lightning, Maple Leafs
- 14 – Capitals, Wild, Flyers, Senators
- 13 – Kraken, Oilers, Sabres, Bruins, Blues, Canucks, Rangers, Red Wings, Panthers, Predators
- 12 – Golden Knights, Blackhawks, Avalanche, Stars
- 11 – Ducks, Mammoth
- 09 – Flames, Jets
Pacific Division teams already face an unfair burden in travel schedules, because most NHL teams are bunched in the Eastern and Central time zones. While Eastern Conference teams may play more games on consecutive days, their travel distances tend to be much shorter. It’ll be that way until Dr. Emory Erickson invents the transporter beam in the 22nd century. (Star Trek told me this, and they haven’t lied to me yet.)
Another vital part of the back-to-back equation concerns rested vs. tired teams, as listed in this interesting chart by Micah McCurdy of @hockeyviz on Bluesky. (Not all of the games listed involve games played by one team on consecutive nights.)
Clearly, the pain of games on consecutive nights hasn’t been distributed equally. And for the price of a postage stamp, here’s what you as a Kraken fan can do about it. Copy and paste the correspondence below, and send to the NHL offices.
Mr. Gary Bettman
NHL Commissioner
395 Ninth Ave.
New York, NY 10001
Dear Gary,
As you know, the Seattle Kraken have an awful time winning the 2nd of back-to-back games. It looks like we have to play 13 of these this year, which isn’t good for our chances of making the playoffs. Please ask your staff to redo this year’s schedule so we have many fewer of these.
Love,
(Your Name)
Seattle Kraken Fan
It’s just that simple!
But what if it isn’t? What if commissioner Bettman, even after stacks and stacks of letters and postcards with Seattle postmarks get dumped on his desk, won’t budge on changing the schedule? What’s plan B?
Plan B is for the Seattle coaches to coach better, and the Seattle players to play better.
It’s not about the quality of the opponents in those back-to-backs. In a disappointing ’24-’25, Seattle was still able to beat Minnesota, Vegas, Florida, Carolina, L.A., Edmonton and St. Louis, playoff teams all. Playing at their best, Seattle can stand toe-to-toe with the NHL’s top teams. On the flip side were embarrassing losses to San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, Columbus and Nashville. The Kraken clearly aren’t talented enough to overcome inconsistent, sloppy efforts – against even weaker opposition.
I’m still sensing some hand-wringing. What if the Kraken simply aren’t good enough yet, and the extra burden of playing twice in 24 hours is an obstacle they’re not able to hurdle?
We hope that isn’t so. But if it is – we’ll start finding out when the Kraken season opens Oct. 9 against the Ducks – then those hands will have to continue wringing until the schedule release for Season Six.