Consistency is key. Seattle needs more of it.
Thirteen players and head coach Dan Bylsma gave exit interviews Wednesday at the Kraken Community Iceplex to close out another playoff-less season, the third such case in franchise history. While a longer summer stretches before them than they’d prefer, Seattle is cognizant of their biggest weakness– inconsistency– and hopeful for what the future holds.
“I still believe that we have the pieces here to be in the playoffs and should be in the playoffs and contending. I hope the guys still believe that– I know they do,” captain Jordan Eberle said. “The way that we played the last month-and-a-half hopefully shows that we care, and that we take pride and want to get to that point.”
Seattle wrapped up the season at home Tuesday with a 6-5 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, amounting to a 35-41-6 record in Bylsma’s first season at the helm and a 142-153-33 record over the team’s four years of existence.
Bylsma, accompanied by assistant coaches Jessica Campbell, Dave Lowry, and Bob Woods, guided the Kraken towards an increase in offensive production seemingly at the cost of airtight defense. Seattle shot from 28th to 12th in five-on-five goals scored but fell from sixth to 27th in goals allowed and were shut out seven times– as many as last season, during which offense was harder to come by.
“I think we scored enough to be an effective team. We didn’t keep the puck out of the net [enough] to be a winning hockey team throughout this year,” Bylsma summarized.
Goaltending wasn’t necessarily the issue. Joey Daccord posted a .906 SV% (17th) and 2.75 GAA (27th) while starting a career-high 55 games, limiting Philipp Grubauer to the fewest starts he’s made since the 2016-27 season. Ahead of a rare night off for him Saturday, Bylsma expressed his confidence in the 28-year-old Boston native. “He puts in an exorbitant amount of work off the ice to give himself the best chance to play the energetic goaltending that he plays, but also to be able to weather the load, play a lot of hockey for us.”
“Goaltenders want the net all the time. That’s what makes them competitive, that’s what makes him a great goaltender.”
The onus, then, is on the skaters in front of Daccord to bring the same level of effort and execution to the rink night in and night out.
Perhaps Wednesday’s loss is the best demonstration of the inconsistency Bylsma spoke of, a game he himself called a “microcosm of our season.” Spacious defensive zone positioning, puck watching, ill-timed pinches, and failures to curtail rebounds– defensive lapses which have plagued the Kraken since the season opener– weighed down offensive momentum and contributed to two-goal and four-goal deficits. The clock ran out before Seattle could complete an otherwise promising third period comeback.
A “change in structure” isn’t responsible for Seattle losing touch with the defensive expertise characterizing previous Kraken teams, Bylsma clarified. But in a season without consistent, reputable success in any other area of their game, slipping defense– regardless of its reason– left Seattle struggling to form an identity revolving around anything but losing. Even comeback wins, which the Kraken became notable for on the way to completing the fifth-most of in the league (21), require deficits to be appreciated.
Several players praised Bylsma’s coaching style. Chandler Stephenson appreciated that he’s a “coach that is a human being first, not a coach first.” Seattle found a second wind after the trade deadline took Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, and Daniel Sprong, going 9-8-2 and outscoring opponents 60-55 since March 8. It’s a step in the right direction towards the consistency the Kraken need, but momentum gained now will only mean something if it can truly carry over to the beginning of next season.
“We had a couple big wins in the second half there after the deadline where we can probably look back and see that if only we could keep it together for a lot more of those games at the beginning of the year and not let points slide, then we’d be in a different position today,” Vince Dunn said.
“It’s critically important to the success of the team, getting the team and individual players on the same page and point[ing] in the same direction with a unified mindset, identity,” Bylsma said. “That’s going to be huge going forward for our team and this group of guys. When I talk about evaluation of the year and staying consistent that’s not something I take very easily, because that’s the job of the coach.”
“I think we made some strides, but I think clearly that’s where both this team and me as a coach have to improve for this team to have success next year.”