One: Keeping a Tight Circle
When Ron Francis was given the chance to design his team’s designated spaces at Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken GM opted for a locker room that was comfortable and state-of-the-art but, most importantly, built so every player could see and engage with all teammates. Spacious but not so big that players don’t feel connected.
The Kraken players took to that locker room Saturday night after giving up a goal to Tampa Bay in the final minute to make it 2-0 visitors at the first intermission. Once there, the straight talk began and fulfilled Francis’ concept of team bonding.
“We just kind of sat down and said, ‘Look, that first 20 is not what we wanted, but we have 40 minutes to make up for it,'" said defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who went on to score a tying goal in the second period on a masterful assist from alternate captain Jordan Eberle. “I think we did a good job responding. We’re going to be proud of that.”
“It comes down to this group,” said Eberle. “We should believe we’re good enough to beat good teams. We have a good roster. Obviously, we have some injuries and some guys playing hurt.
“But our depth has been key and we need to bear down. These times are tough. We’ve got to find a way to get out of it and flip the script. … You’ve seen teams come back from five, six games below .500. We’re still in this thing.”
Two: Injuries Mount, Prove Value of AHL
Kraken alternate captain net-front competitor extraordinaire Jaden Schwartz is out for another month or so. Andre Burakovsky’s playmaking skills and puck-carrying acumen were evident in the first two periods Thursday against New Jersey before he sustained an upper-body injury that has him listed as week-to-week. Philipp Grubauer (lower-body, to be evaluated over the next two days) and Justin Schultz (upper-body, took a puck to the face) joined the injured list Saturday, neither player participating in the third.
That’s why and how the Kraken can get reinforcements from American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley, which happened to be playing a weekend series in Abbotsford, B.C. Friday and Saturday so goaltender Chris Driedger could make his way to the PNW for Sunday’s game rather than head back to the California desert. Young star-in-the-making defenseman Ryker Evans is already on hand and showing all sorts of promise in her first two games, one replacing Schultz on the third-pair and a power play unit and the other stepping in for Brian Dumoulin on the third-pair.
Veteran Devin Shore has played effectively in the homestand to date and Marian Studenic is back on the roster after proving to be a plus on the recent road trip. The season starts with a 23-man roster but most seasons requires 30 or more players to fill out the 20 players who dress each now. The AHL Firebirds were one overtime goal away from winning the league championship in its inaugural season. That bonding – a Ron Francis building block for winning NHL hockey – will be needed and appreciated as Seattle aims to halt the current 0-5-2 streak and turn the season back in the right direction.
Three: Know the Foe: New Coach for Wild
Minnesota won its first four games under new coach John Hynes, last seen behind the Nashville bench and a previous colleague of Wild GM Bill Guerin. But Minnesota, 9-12-4 and seventh in the Central Division, dropped games in Vancouver (Thursday) and Edmonton (Friday) after starting a Pacific Division road trip with a 5-2 win in Calgary. Stellar D-man Jonas Brodin was hurt Friday on a controversial check by Edmonton’s Evander Kane and will make Minnesota less mobile on defense Sunday while Marc-Andre Fleury played a stand-on-his-head game to keep the Wild close to knocking off the revived Oilers. Both Minnesota and Seattle are playing their third game in four nights.
Mats Zuccarello, a star for Norway at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which led to a decade-plus in the NHL, is Wild’s leading scorer (six goals, 21 assists) while Joel Eriksson Ek and Seattle’s Jared McCann both start Sunday with 13 goals scored this season. Young Minnesota forwards Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi need to be tracked by Seattle, same for Brock Faber, an impressive young D-man who stepped straight from NCAA Minnesota to the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring.
