The new head coach running those practices, Dan Bylsma, will be armed with a roster heavy on depth and balance. Adding free agent Stephenson from the Vegas Golden Knights gives the Kraken improved depth at the center position, headlined by him, Matty Beniers, prospect Shane Wright and veteran Yanni Gourde.
And the signing of Montour, the NHL’s top free agent defenseman from the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, now allows for upgraded left-right-handed balance across all three pairings. Beyond keeping the top pairing of Dunn and newly extended Adam Larsson together, Montour makes for an improved second pair with Jamie Oleksiak, while the talented Will Borgen slides down to a third duo alongside top prospect Ryker Evans.
“I think it’s stacked full of really good players,” Bylsma said of his roster. “We may not have the star end. We may not have the star player. But we have a ton of good players. And the group of six or seven defensemen back there is arguably a top-six defensive corps in the NHL. And that showed at training camp.”
Indeed, the roster is somewhat reminiscent of the balanced group that got the Kraken within a lone victory of the Western Conference Final after a 100-point second season. This one, though, is arguably more talented and proven up the middle with the renewed center depth and back-end ability backstopped by a netminding duo of Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer that may be the team’s best goalie combo yet.
Offense will be a priority for a team that finished 34-35-13 with the NHL’s fourth lowest goals per game total of 2.61 last season. The hope is that much of an improved offense will be driven out of the back end, with the defensive side containing offensive threats Dunn, Montour and Evans on each pairing.
Dunn missed most of the final quarter of last season due to injury. Prior to that, he was on pace to equal his team MVP-winning 64-point total from the 2022-23 season.
Dunn remembers how close much of the same Kraken nucleus, when relatively healthy, came to advancing to the third playoff round just 17 months ago. And now, he hopes the Montour and Stephenson additions bring about some added swagger to remind the team what it’s capable of achieving under better circumstances.
“I think the guys we’ve brought into the dressing room have been really respected in this league the past number of years,” Dunn said. “So, they bring different experiences at a championship level as well. So, that’s really big to have that vibe in the dressing room.”
The Kraken hope a full season of Dunn, in addition to the offensively gifted Montour, can jumpstart an offense balanced across all four forward lines. And the Kraken did put more pucks in the net as the preseason progressed. After being held to just one goal in each of their first two games, the Kraken scored three or more in each of the next four contests – finishing with 13 in their final three games.
On the forward lines, Beniers, fresh off a new seven-year contract extension, will be reunited between wingers McCann and Eberle. That trio has been arguably the most successful in franchise history and was a big factor in Beniers winning the Calder Trophy as top rookie just two seasons ago.
Incoming centerman Stephenson should start off between childhood acquaintance Jaden Schwartz and former Washington Capitals linemate Andre Burakovsky – who is optimistic about a bounce-back year after repeated injuries.
Former No. 4 overall draft pick from 2022, Wright scored three goals in his final two preseason games and will enter his first full NHL campaign, centering a third line between Eeli Tolvanen and incumbent all-star Oliver Bjorkstrand.
That means Gourde slides down to the fourth line in a trio with Tye Kartye and Brandon Tanev capable of wreaking plenty of havoc on the forecheck.
“There’s a lot to be excited about,” Bylsma said. “We’ve just got to get to it.”
That’s where the quicker start comes in. The Kraken last season won just two of their first nine games and spent the remainder of the campaign “chasing” a .500 record, as McCann alluded to. Kraken veteran Eberle is hopeful starting the season at home for the first time is something the group can parlay into momentum after “competitive” practices seen throughout camp.
“I mean, look at the last game we played,” Eberle said of a 6-2 win over Edmonton. “You know, it wasn’t our best but we competed through it anyway. I saw guys selling out in preseason, blocking shots. It didn’t matter. That’s the kind of effort we will need.
“I know the character in this group,” he added. “I think we kind of got punched in the mouth and face last year and I hope that we respond with a good start this year.”
An early key could be avoiding injuries that plagued the team the opening two months of last season, starting with Tanev going down in the very first game and missing the next month. The Kraken has spent about as close to the salary cap limit of $88 million as they possibly could to upgrade the squad in the near term with Montour and Stephenson and extensions for Beniers, Larsson, Tolvanen, and Eberle last March.
But to remain cap compliant, they’ll carry only 21 players – two shy of the maximum NHL allowance -- to start things off; 12 forwards, six defensemen, two goalies, and extra defender Josh Mahura. And that could keep the Alaska Air Lines shuttles between Seattle and Palm Springs, Calif., quite filled with Coachella Valley AHL players going to and from the NHL team should injuries take hold.
For now, the Kraken hope any roster challenges are far outweighed by the quality they’ve added to what was already a deep group, to begin with before last season’s injuries piled up. McCann and Dunn say much of the camp was spent incorporating the new faces into the roster and adjusting to modified systems Bylsma has introduced.
And they got off-ice time together during a two-day team-building exercise – with a golf outing and dinner at the Suncadia resort – late last week to further familiarize themselves with expectations to come.
“We’ve got such a good leadership group here that everybody feels welcome no matter what,” McCann said. “It’s something you need in the NHL. By the time the season starts, we have to be functioning as one group. All the guys, up and down the roster. Whether you’re new or you’ve been here before like I have, we all need to do our part for this to work.”
