NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Seattle Kraken.
The Seattle Kraken won't be treated like an expansion team this season.
Not after they earned 100 points in their second season in the NHL and made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time.
Not after they upset the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the Western Conference First Round and took the Dallas Stars to Game 7 in the second round.
"We're not going to be a surprise to any teams coming into next season," defenseman Vince Dunn said. "We're going to get everyone's best, and we know we need to be prepared with that.
"So, for us, I think having the goal to make the playoffs again is very reasonable and very achievable. We've lost some pieces, but we've definitely added some really good parts to the team."
But Seattle added defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Kailer Yamamoto. Dumoulin won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bellemare went to the Stanley Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022.
Yamamoto will be the Kraken's first player from their home state. He was born in Spokane, Washington; played travel hockey in Seattle from ages 8-11; and played junior hockey for Spokane of the Western Hockey League.
He said he had Seattle Metropolitans gear, representing the Pacific Coast Hockey Association team that in 1917 made Seattle the first city in the United States to win the Stanley Cup.
"I always wished that they would get a team, and thank goodness they got one," Yamamoto said. "Now that I'm on the team, it's definitely a dream come true."
Seattle Kraken 2023-24 Season Preview
The foundation the Kraken laid over their first two seasons was also a strong selling point for Dumoulin.
"Seattle was definitely one of the top places that I wanted to be, obviously," he said. "A lot of it was just watching them play, having played against them. You could really feel how hard they worked for each other, what a great team they have, how hard their forwards work for their defensemen and vice versa. You could tell they really play a real team game."
Yamamoto said: "These past two years, I've played against them, and they've really shown a lot, especially this last year making it to the second round. I honestly thought they had a great chance of beating Dallas. … It's a phenomenal team. They play like a team. All the minutes are spread out evenly, and I really like the coach and everything."
Coach Dave Hakstol wants the players to have mixed emotions. The Kraken made huge strides from their inaugural season, when they went 27-49-6 and finished 30th in the NHL. Still, they missed an opportunity to make the Western Conference Final, and this will be a new season with new challenges.
"I really want our guys to have a sense of pride in what they were able to accomplish last year and what we were able to build, and I sense that," Hakstol said. "I feel that in the conversations with our players. But the other piece that I feel, and the part that is really important, is our guys are very disappointed in losing Game 7 in Round 2.
"So, that combination, my hope is that is brings us into camp with our feet on the ground, with a highly motivated group and a group that understands each other a little bit better than we did at this time last year. We understand our formula a little bit better, and that's our platform to work off of and show advancement this year."
The Kraken won't act like an expansion team anymore, either.
"We need to roll with the confidence that we've built, the culture that we've built, and just continue that in the seasons ahead and not look back," Dunn said. "I think we definitely have a chip on our shoulder from last season. We saw how close we could get, so I think we just need bring that into the next year and really believe that we really have a team that can win."
