The Need to Knows
- Time: 6 pm PT / 7 pm MT
- The Place: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
- Where to Watch: KHN, KONG, Utah16 (SLC market), ESPN+ (other U.S. markets)
- Where to Listen: Kraken Audio Network on KJR 93.3
Know Your Enemy
The Utah Hockey Club, technically an expansion team (but secretly were the Arizona Coyotes until this season), will be hosting the Seattle Kraken for the first time ever in Salt Lake City. Utah is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but they are essentially so, having dropped to below 0.1% in playoff odds per Moneypuck.
The best player in the Club is easily Clayton Keller, who has 82 points in just 76 games. The next on the team? Nick Schmaltz. If you want some vague Seattle ties, the Logan Cooley was taken the pick before Shane Wright, and Dylan Guenther recently played for the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Game Preview
The Kraken are riding out the string, and while this winning would have been welcomed much earlier when they were still trying to make the playoffs, it’s something. The youths are getting time, the team is winning, and Joey Daccord is putting the finishing touches on an elite goaltending season. One might argue that all this winning is bad for draft position and that without top-end talent they won’t get out of this morass they’re in — it’s a valid argument, but ultimately one that doesn’t matter. The Kraken didn’t get the memo, they’re winning, and it feels good at least in the short-term.
One youth not getting time is Jani Nyman, who has been sent back down to Coachella Valley. This isn’t a punitive or even a production-based move, but rather because they need him down in CV for their playoff run.
The likely starter in goal is Philipp Grubauer, since this is a back-to-back. We don’t know what the future holds for The German Gentleman, but there’s a good chance that this is the last time we see him in a Kraken jersey. His production has been up and down, but you truly cannot find a nicer person. It’s a tough business and I get it, but just remember what Grubi has done for the Kraken in years past.
The teams are just playing out the string at this point, and while that’s not the most compelling matchup, those of you who have stayed with this team until the bitter end will hopefully someday be rewarded for putting in these dues. Because these are the types of dues that you remember when the team you’ve sweated through wins a championship.
We can dream, right?