Analytics with Alison: Strengthening Transitional Play

As the Kraken look to find their way back into the win column, an area targeted for improvement has been transitional play, what enables it, and the results it provides in the offensive zone. After all, long before a puck gets into the net, you have to find a way to get into the attack zone and keep - or gain - possession of the puck, itself.

"We weren't good in our D-zone, we didn't kill plays quick enough and we extended their O-zone time," Yanni Gourde said after Tuesday's loss to the Islanders. "We weren't really getting out of our zone in the first period, by the end of the 2nd and the third (we had) more time in the O-Zone."
So, is transition play in need of some clean-up for the Kraken and if so, what does the team need to be looking to do and who can help?
Let's dig in.
How do the Kraken play?
Not all transitional play is created equal and it's important to remember that. Each team's systems determine how players break out of the defensive zone, transition through the neutral zone and set up in the offensive zone with the puck. Just because one team crosses zone to zone with or without possession isn't an indictment on how they are playing as long as the method matches the capabilities of the skaters and delivers results.
So, how do the Kraken do it? Let's start with zone exits using tracking data from AllThreeZones.com's Corey Sznajder.
The graphic below shows percentage of exits with possession on the x-axis increasing left to right and percentage of successful zone exits on the y-axis increasing bottom to top.

We see Seattle exits with possession at a relatively high rate, but they play a higher-risk game, meaning they don't always get out successfully. Again, this is neither good nor bad, with teams like Calgary and Boston also in the same quadrant describing play.
So, what about entries?
We know the Kraken thrive on the forecheck by design. So, their entries are going to look a little different to capitalize on that - even on entries. It should be no surprise, then, that while Seattle isn't big on "controlled" entries (puck on stick), the team is in the top third in the league in dump-in recoveries as we see below.

And again, for perspective, these rankings are not judgements. Carolina, who ranks first in Sznajder's work in dump-in recoveries also has the lowest percentage of controlled zone entries this season.
Is transitional play struggling?
Now we know, broadly, how the Kraken like to move the puck. Has something been off these past few games?
Thanks to Sportlogiq, we have data on Seattle's success rate for controlled exits and entries (all situations) for every game the team has played this year. For this team, the season average for controlled exit success is 81.32-percent. Six of the last seven games have been below this number, and while Tuesday's 74.36% was in the bottom four for the 2021-22 campaign, drops well below average have been much more sporadic, with the most recent coming Feb. 11 in Anaheim (74.63%) - a game Seattle won!
As for entries, the season average for success rate is 58.81-percent. It is true that other than the Vancouver game on Monday (63.04%) the last four games have been below that coming in between 43 and 44 percent success rate. The 43.14-percent success rate the Kraken had Tuesday was the lowest of the year. But, before this recent stretch, the prior 14 games were all at or above team averages for the season.
So, yes, there has been a stretch of transition play being lower than the standard this group has established this year. Now it's up to this group to find their way back.
Who can step up and help?
As is often the case when you're looking to re-establish something, you look to those proven to perform. Let's look at which Kraken defenders have the best results getting to loose pucks and turning them into exits out of the work zone.
Haydn Fleury has been in the lineup 12 of the last 14 games and he along with Mark Giordano and Vince Dunn lead the way in terms of not just getting to loose pucks, but sending them up ice successfully. Remember, this can also tie to the responsibilities of each D partner and highlights an ability, not a judgement.

As for entries, Sznajder tracks those that happen both in terms of volume (y-axis below, increasing bottom to top) and rate with control (x-axis below, increasing left to right).

We see that in terms of volume, the Kraken have had to pick up the workload of two of their best in Brandon Tanev and Jaden Schwartz, who are out due to injury. But, other leaders like Gourde are still performing - he had the most entries for Seattle in Monday's game against Vancouver and a recent surge in play by Morgan Geekie bodes well for the transition game (he and Jordan Eberle were second and third respectively after Gourde in controlled entries vs. the Canucks). And Alex Wennberg has been off the entry leader board for two games, but he had a team-best six versus Calgary.
The team also has Geekie and Calle Jarnkrok, who excel in obtaining possession off the forecheck be it through pressuring opponents or recovering dump-ins.

With some ebbs and flows in different players' games, along with the challenges certain opponents can bring, the Kraken's transition game has slowed a bit in recent games. Now it's time to return to form because the group knows what results can come when transition play is working. Gourde explained this talking about the improved play the Kraken had in the second half of Tuesday's game versus the Islanders.
"We had better recoveries," Gourde said. "Our F3 (third forward) was responsible, allowing our D to go down the wall and recover more pucks and keep O-Zone play alive… we had way more shots and a shooting mentality in the second and the third."
All data via Sportlogiq and AllThreeZones.com (5v5 play only)