Will Matty Beniers be the subsequent Kraken captain? Nope.
The Olympic flame was lit, then extinguished. The Huskies made their Large Ten debut. And Storm legend Sue Fowl acquired her due with an official avenue (technically, a court docket) named after her.
Loads has occurred since April, when the Seattle Kraken ended their less-than-stellar third season by lacking the playoffs with a sixth-place end within the Pacific Division. However isn’t that simply the great thing about sports activities? With just a few months within the rearview mirror, some headline-making offseason strikes, and a whole lot of silly optimism, it looks like an entire new puck drop.
When you’re simply now getting again into that hockey mindset, right here’s what you might need missed when you had been summering.
Notable strikes on the ice
Normal supervisor Ron Francis added depth at heart and protection this offseason, signing Chandler Stephenson, most just lately of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Brandon Montour, previously of the reigning champion Florida Panthers, every to seven-year offers. When you’ve by no means heard of them, simply contemplate this CV spotlight: Stephenson and Montour have three Stanley Cups between them.
One other noteworthy deal was the seven-year contract extension value roughly $50 million for Chipotle-loving Matty Beniers. Bowl lower maestro Adam Larsson additionally obtained a four-year extension for $21 million.
Relating to goaltending, each Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord are nonetheless with the group. It appears doubtless the Kraken will go along with a goalie tandem but once more—no less than to start out the season—with the gamers equally shouldering the load in comparison with a standard beginning and backup goalie duo.
As for the entire vacant captaincy state of affairs, effectively, the C was positioned on ahead Jordan Eberle’s sweater proper earlier than the Kraken’s opener in opposition to St. Louis.
Modifications behind the bench
The Kraken’s 2023–24 season wasn’t even two weeks chilly when head coach Dave Hakstol acquired the boot. ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan famous {that a} handful of “fairly important gamers” had demanded Hakstol’s firing throughout their exit interviews, however Kraken administration and veterans Eberle and Jared McCann denied such claims.
A few month later, the group introduced Dan Bylsma, coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds and as soon as a Stanley Cup–successful head coach within the NHL, as Hakstol’s substitute. Expectations are excessive for Bylsma, who brings contemporary vitality to a younger group. That is, in spite of everything, the person who famously employed the road “let’s grind these bitches down” in a pregame pep speak and sports activities the nickname Disco Dan.
The Kraken additionally employed assistant coach Jessica Campbell, making her the primary girl to just accept a full-time assistant or head teaching job within the NHL. Campbell, who coached with Bylsma in Coachella, has earlier expertise with the boys’s German nationwide group and ran her personal energy skating enterprise previous to becoming a member of the Firebirds.
When’s the 2024–25 season opener?
The Kraken start their preseason on September 22 in opposition to the Calgary Flames, however the 2024–25 common season opener isn’t till October 8, when the Kraken tackle the St. Louis Blues.
Pleasure of joys, it’s a house sport and a nationwide broadcast at that.
About that broadcast state of affairs
Shortly after the 2023–24 season concluded, the Kraken introduced they had been parting methods with ROOT Sports activities. As a substitute they launched Kraken Hockey Community, producing non-nationally televised video games for distribution on KING 5, KONG, and Amazon Prime. What’s this imply for followers? When you don’t have cable, it’s going to be manner simpler to observe Kraken video games.
As for the published group, followers can nonetheless anticipate to see all of the acquainted faces, together with John Forslund, Eddie Olcyzk, JT Brown, Alison Lukan, and Piper Shaw. However the greatest information of late is that ESPN legend Linda Cohn (and former youth hockey goalie) will host roughly 15 marquee video games for the fledgling community.
