Belief System in Place

Amid a three-game losing streak, this week's NHL trade deadline activity isn't overcrowding player minds in the Kraken locker room.
Like their general manager
, this is a squad that believes in the current roster to successfully navigate passages to the playoffs.
The Kraken will most certainly welcome injured top-six forward Andre Burakovsky back in the lineup - the hope is a mid-March return - but they don't appear to be longing for new teammates to make a postseason appearance in the second year of the expansion franchise. Not even a momentarily deflating loss to Toronto Sunday persuaded them otherwise.
"We love everyone in this locker room and we are not looking to trade spots with anyone," said Vince Dunn, who scored the Kraken's only goal in the 5-1 loss and is one goal shy of tying his career-high of 12 in a season with 23 games to still play. "We're a very tight group in here. I've said that in many of the interviews I've had. We get along really well. The chemistry is good. And we're a great team when we're playing as a team."

Playing as a team equates to not caring who scores the goals but demanding full effort (forechecking, shot-blocking, getting cross-checked net front, whatever it takes) of each other in all three zones. It seems to be working. The Kraken have 12 players who have scored 10 goals or more for the team, best in the league. Alternate captain Yanni Gourde is on the cusp of making it 13 players. Only Florida had that many double-digit scorers in the 2021-22 regular season.
"We will look to fix some things [at St. Louis Tuesday] and turn the page," said veteran forward and leader Jordan Eberle. "We all believe in this group here. We know how good we are when we are playing the way we can. The standings show that. We just need to keep pushing. You're going to have ups and downs in a season. Obviously, we've lost a few in a row, that's a bit of a down but we are capable of turning it around. I know we will."
The Kraken have faced four three-game losing streaks before the current and fifth such streak. Each time Seattle responded by winning the next game to keep the downward spiral short-lived.
Coach Dave Hakstol said, "We're coming through a couple of tough results here" during the two-game homestand against two of the NHL's top four teams. But he was quick to add "the group in this room has really done it together this season from start to finish."
"We'll see what the deadline brings," said Hakstol Sunday night. "It's ultimately not up to us. Everybody's aware of what's going on throughout the conference and around the league ... like I said right from day one. Not a lot of people on the outside probably had us in this position [to make a playoff push] at this point in time. Whatever the deadline brings, it's the group inside of this room that's going to be at the core of how we finish down the stretch."