The Kraken’s young forwards are giving this start a different feel.
It showed up Sunday against Calgary, when Mackie Samoskevich turned a long Brandon Montour clearance into a breakaway goal, then added another in the second period off a setup from his housemate Matty Beniers. Not long after Berk’s goal, Samoskevich was racing past defenders, winning the puck and finishing cleanly. Then he cashed in again on a tee-up from Beniers.
For players still settling in, that kind of early production can make everything else look easier.
Shane Wright joined the party in the same Flames game, scoring off a Catton pass late to pick up his first goal of what could be a big season for his own growth. He followed that up one game later against Vegas on Tuesday night with his second. Wright, Catton and Kakko have combined for four goals and five assists so far, and Wright said the line is feeding off pace and confidence.
“We’re just playing confident with the puck and we’re playing with speed,” Wright said of his line with Catton and Kakko. “That’s how we have to play. We have to play fast and we have to transition quick.”
Lane Lambert sees the same thing from the bench. The Kraken coach pointed to Berk’s delayed first goal last year and said getting moving early matters for a player’s confidence. He also noted that the same applies for Samoskevich as he gets comfortable in a new environment.
“If you look at Berk last year he waited quite a while for that and so it’s nice to see it happen right now,” Lambert said. “Any time you come to a new team, or a new organization it’s nice to get going too as far as Mackie (Samoskevich) is concerned.
“So, good. It bleeds confidence.”
Nobody is handing out hardware for being first to the scoresheet. But if these goals keep stacking up, that’s when the conversation changes.
For now, the bigger picture is what this start says about the Kraken’s forward group as a whole. The team has 15 goals, and 14 of them have come from forwards.
That matters after last season, when the story around a strong early run still came back to a scoring problem up front. Seattle finished at just 2.73 goals per game, and the lack of production from its forwards stood out.
This year, the balance looks far better. Four Kraken forwards are already at a point per game or better, with Jared McCann leading the way at five.
Jordan Eberle, Chandler Stephenson and Kakko each have four points. Wright and Beniers have three apiece.
In all, 11 forwards have recorded points, 10 have scored goals, and four have multiple goals.
It’s a sharp opening from a group that looks deep, active and far more dangerous than it did a year ago. The challenge now is making sure this fast start still looks this good when the season reaches its finish line.
In Other News...
Bruins Linked To Intriguing Defenseman But Landing Him Wont Be Easy
Simon Edvinsson has become one of the more intriguing names in the early-summer defense market, and Seattle is among the clubs watching closely as Detroit works through a tricky contract negotiation. The 22-year-old Red Wings blueliner has drawn interest from multiple teams, with the Bruins and Utah Mammoth also mentioned as potential suitors, even as interim general manager Shawn Horcoff has made clear Detroit wants to keep him in the fold.
For the Kraken, the appeal is obvious if they are looking for help on the back end, but the path to getting Edvinsson is far from simple. The Red Wings are still trying to bridge a sizable gap between their offer and the players ask, and any outside team would need to sort through both trade cost and cap math before making a serious run. At this stage, it looks more like a watch-list story than a deal ready to happen, which is exactly why it is worth keeping an eye on. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Face A Telling Whitecloud Decision As Trade Buzz Builds
Amid the trade chatter around the league, the Kraken find themselves with a young player whose future is still very much in the balance. Shane Wright remains part of the conversation in Seattle as management weighs his role and long-term fit, and his standing could rise or fall depending on how he performs from here.
The broader intrigue comes from how quickly talks around young talent can shift once another club enters the picture. There has been speculation that Wright could become a trade asset in a larger move, with Simon Edvinsson mentioned in the mix, even as Seattle has said it is not trading Edvinsson right now. For the Kraken, it is the kind of roster uncertainty that can follow a promising prospect around until the market settles. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken May Have Found A New Edge That Actually Matters
A recent game against the Vegas Golden Knights offered the Kraken a small but meaningful data point: they won 51.5% of the face-offs, a mark that stands out for a club whose historical success in the circle has not climbed above 48.6% over a full season. For a team still looking for edges that can travel, something as routine as a draw can matter more than it seems, especially when the matchup itself is tight and every possession carries extra weight.
Lane Lambert has also pushed the idea that face-offs are not just a centers stat line, but a five-man task with responsibilities for everyone on the ice once the puck is dropped. That lines up with the broader research suggesting face-offs can influence outcomes depending on the personnel and the way a team attacks the ensuing sequence, which is why this modest improvement feels worth watching even if the Kraken are still proving whether it can become a real pattern. [Read more 🡒]