Things for the Kraken recently haven’t been great.
The Offense either has a decent night or cannot get anything going in spite of controlling the game. The shooting issues are well documented at this point, and your Calder winning rookie of the year is going through the mother of all sophomore slumps. They’ve gotten goaltending! That’s a positive, but it’s been massively undercut by a seeming impossibility to do anything meaningful with the puck.
But there are signs of hope once again. Ryan Winterton, Ryker Evans, Logan Morrison…and Shane Wright.
All four have been absolutely incredible players for Seattle since their call ups; Wright being a possession and playmaking juggernaut, Logan Morrison going from extremely undrafted to his first NHL goal in under a year, and Ryan Winterton being a phenomenal hand in getting the puck towards the goaltender (and frankly, should be getting his first goal any day now).
I am not here to over-impress upon you that these guys have been good. They are, and will continue to be. I am here to tell you they are carrying on an impromptu tradition that the Kraken inadvertently started back in the very first season, and has followed them into the present.
The gift of hope, brought to us by the youth.
There’s a lot you could take from the Inaugural season, but all you need to know is that the Kraken weren’t good, and they were also crushingly unlucky with their goaltending; which crippled their confidence and put them into unbelievable positions where the puck would simply just end up in the back of their net for reasons that are beyond that of the person who shot the puck or the person who was tasked with blocking it. What resulted was that they lost and lost a lot, often in excruciating ways that made the act of watching them a personal trial.
But then, right as the season began to end, the Kraken got a little help from a young man out of Michigan who finished his season in the NCAA early. That player finished that very late part of the Kraken’s season with 9 points in 10 games. His name was Matty Beniers.
While it was far too late to actually change the Kraken’s fortunes, the impact Matty had on the team was immediate and stark. The play between the pre-Matty and currently-Matty’d Seattle was so impressive it felt like the Kraken had somehow swapped sweaters with an entirely different roster, and it made some otherwise dark times at Climate Pledge so much brighter with his inclusion.
He sold hope to a team that genuinely looked hopeless for nearly the entire season.
Fast forward to the playoffs last year.
It’s Game 5, and the Kraken are without Jared McCann, no thanks to a late Cale Makar shoulder check. This stings for Seattle because McCann that year (like he’s been this year) has been an absolute juggernaut and a key to their success. Losing him for any length of time is painful. They do not have a replacement readily available on the roster.
They must take a chance on Coachella Valley’s Tye Kartye.
While Kartye has quickly become a standout talent with the Firebirds and in the AHL in general, the NHL Playoffs are a different beast altogether. The speed is beyond anything the AHL can offer, and he will have to hold his own against an injured but extremely talented Colorado Avalanche that has guys like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen et all looking for revenge after a tight Game 4 where it took overtime for Seattle to win. Will he be up to the challenge?
Kartye was a revelation, one that carried into this year; not just because of his speed and willingness to get physical, but because he proved from minute one he was willing to turn expectations into adulation within
Fast forward to this year.
The Kraken have mostly graduated from SNAFUs involving their goaltending, and have instead elected to make the experience of offense an active chore. A wonderful second season undercut by team-wide shooting regression and defensive miscues; particularly in defensive transition from the offensive zone. It’s too late for the Kraken to try and claw their way in, as they’re unfortunately in a much better division than…say…the Metropolitan.
But once again, the Kraken have chosen to give their rookies a chance to bring hope to a hopeless situation; take an opportunity to bring hope in a year where hope was often hard to come by.
How have they done?
I’d say they’ve taken up Matty’s old flag of hope and it’s waving in the breeze; proudly and visible.
In fairness, this is what every rookie who makes the show is supposed to do. It’s part of the process.
The Kraken are a young franchise. They have only participated in NHL Entry Drafts and Offseason Free Agent Frenzies for three years now. Inevitably, they will keep calling up younger players until those younger players are regulars and veterans; it’s how this whole “Sports” thing works. The thing that’s made it such an interesting and odd tradition is that these kids they have brought into the game at such late points in their seasons not just to see what they have, but have, to a man, found a way to be not just impactful, but noticeably impactful to the point you could almost forget a time without them. That’s not just credit to Ron and the scouting staff, but to these players taking these pivotal moments and making them their own.
The wonderful thing is that, given the way the team has prioritized it’s rookie time, it’s more than likely going to keep happening year over year. Maybe next year it will be Jagger Firkus or David Goyette getting a shot, or Eddie Šalé on a hot streak, Lleyton Roed on a sudden call-up, or Ty Nelson storming into camp next year. Could be any of these and maybe even all of these.
The Kraken’s hopes and dreams, as they have always been, follow the young men who take up the colors of The Deep.
So let’s continue Shane, Ryan, Ryker, and Logan’s excellent starts through their NHL journey tomorrow, and well into the future beyond.
And if anyone tries to “Well Actually” this post because of last year I promise you that you will not see the pearly gates.
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