Just the Facts
The Time: 7:30 PT / 10:30 ET (though prepare for puck drop to start at least 15 minutes behind)
The Place: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Place to Watch: ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet
Place to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
An Opposing Viewpoint: Knights on Ice
Know Your Enemy
Every season, the defending Stanley Cup Champions get to have one last big hoorah. After a summer of parades, visits with the Cup, and many other celebrations, there is one last thing for the team to do: raise the banner to the rafters of their home arena. It always comes with a packed house full of fans, ready to cheer on their beloved champion team as they begin their quest for a repeat run.
One unlucky team always gets saddled with being the opponent at these games. In 2022, it was the Chicago Blackhawks who had to watch the Colorado Avalanche raise their banner and think “maybe we’ll get there again if we tank hard enough for Connor Bedard.” In 2021, it was the Pittsburgh Penguins who had to watch the Tampa Bay Lighting raise their second in a row and feel the fear that maybe a team could do what they couldn’t in 2018 and get the threepeat.
This year, the unlucky team that has to watch as the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate their glory is the Seattle Kraken.
The NHL has been trying to push a rivalry between the two newest teams in the league since the moment the Kraken were born. It’s a narrative that has certainly never felt fair for Kraken fans. After all, the Golden Knights were, well, the golden children. They went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year of existence (ultimately losing to the Washington Capitals), have only missed the playoffs once in their existence, and now have become the fastest expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in NHL history.
Having the Seattle Kraken watch the banner raising feels like a message. This is the standard set. This is what you have to meet to be successful.
Thanks for the unnecessary pressure, NHL, really appreciate it.
To make matters almost worse, as Sky elaborated in his Pacific Division overview, barely anything has changed in the Golden Knights’ roster construction over the offseason. The team is still full of the usual suspects that have made the Golden Knights so hard to beat throughout their entire existence.
The Golden Knights are clearly not going to be satisfied with a singular Cup. If they can continue to make life harder for their little brother team, that’s what they’re going to do.
Game Preview
After weeks of training camp and preseason games, every NHL team had to submit their opening day roster. For the Kraken, that meant a list of 22 players that include both new and old faces. While some teams submit rosters that serve just to get the team cap compliant by Monday’s deadline and will continue to make changes before they play their first game, the Kraken have had this particular roster narrowed down since Saturday. To me, this signifies that this is indeed the version of the roster they’ll be rolling with against Vegas.
Based on how training camp has gone, assume the lines against the Golden Knights to look similar to what Mike Benton observed at Monday’s practice.
With the players they’ve selected for opening night, this feels like the most logical combination. Jared McCann, Matty Beniers, and Jordan Eberle are all used to playing with each other on that top line. Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson make up the strongest defense pair on the Kraken due to how well they’re able to play off of each other. (I’ll let Alison Lukan explain just exactly how well.) Eeli Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde have shown good chemistry in the past, and putting Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz on a defensive pair together is a reunion of their Pittsburgh Penguins days.
If I had to take a guess, it will be Tye Kartye who sits while Kailer Yamamoto skates on the fourth line. While Kartye certainly proved he belongs on this opening night roster both in training camp and his impressive showing during the playoffs, sometimes experience trumps young, raw talent.
Though the Kraken lost players such as Daniel Sprong and Ryan Donato in the offseason that contributed crucially to the team’s ability to wear the opponent down with wave after wave of attacking offense, the majority of this team’s DNA is still present in this roster. It’s a team that looks poised to prove that the success of last season wasn’t a fluke. Some models believe that regression is due to hit, such as The Athletic ranking them at 20th in the league with 90 standings points. (note: The Athletic has a paywall). However, being able to run back much of the same team from last year could prove to be a good thing. This team knows how to play with and for each other.
The first test in proving that this team means business? Defeating the defending Stanley Cup Champions on their banner night—and avoiding a repeat of what happened the last time the Kraken opened a season in Vegas. (It was a kick, and I’m still not over it!)
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