The Vegas Golden Knights are heading into another season with a clear target on the Seattle Kraken, and this time the assignment is simple: don’t let a once-comfortable matchup turn into a headache again.
Seattle took the season series in 2025-26, finishing 3-1-0 against Vegas and even handing John Tortorella his lone regular season loss on April 9 in a 4-3 shootout decision. That kind of result is exactly what the Golden Knights want to erase as they try to regain control of the series and keep their edge against another Pacific Division opponent.
What makes the Kraken tricky isn’t a star-heavy attack. Seattle is built around depth, with a roster that leans heavily on middle-six forwards.
The goal totals back that up: Jordan Eberle led the team with 26 goals last season, and the year before that Jaden Schwartz paced the club with 26 as well. That’s not a group designed to overwhelm teams with pure firepower.
Instead, Seattle wins with structure and disruption. The Kraken make life miserable by squeezing the game shut, dragging opponents into a slower pace, and forcing mistakes. They weren’t among the league’s most physical teams - their 1,516 hits ranked sixth-fewest last season - but they were active in taking the puck away, finishing with 392 takeaways, ninth-most in the league.
That’s where the warning sign flashes for Vegas. Over the past three seasons, the Golden Knights have piled up the 11th-most giveaways in the league with 3,191.
Seattle, by contrast, had the fewest at 2,825, sitting behind only the Coyotes and the Mammoth. That gap tells the story of why this matchup tilted the way it did.
For Vegas, the answer starts with puck management. The Golden Knights need to own the puck, protect it, and make Seattle chase. If they can control possession and keep the Kraken from turning the game into a turnover battle, they give themselves a far better chance to flip the series back in their favor.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Still Have One Roster Hunt Fans Should Watch
The Golden Knights head into opening night with roughly $1.9 million in salary-cap space, and that leaves them with at least one more roster conversation worth watching. After a busy stretch of changes, the front office still has room to keep exploring veteran help, especially as the PTO market remains part of the picture for unsigned players looking to extend their careers and teams looking for low-risk options.
Matt Grzelcyk, James van Riemsdyk and Vladimir Tarasenko are among the names that could surface if Vegas decides to bring in another body on a professional tryout contract. Each would bring a different kind of value, and the appeal for the Golden Knights is obvious: there is still flexibility here, but not enough to be casual about it, which is why the next move could say a lot about how the roster settles before the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Chose Patience While Familiar Faces Cashed In Elsewhere
The Golden Knights spent much of the offseason taking the slower, steadier route, keeping their own business in order while a flurry of big-money deals rippled across the league. Vegas extended Rasmus Andersson, brought back Victor Olofsson and made a coaching change by promoting Ryan Craig after parting ways with John Tortorella, a set of moves that looked modest next to the headline-grabbing contracts being handed out elsewhere.
Among the familiar names cashing in were former Golden Knights Alex Tuch and Pavel Dorofeyev, who both landed long-term security with the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, respectively. Those deals are the kind that can look smart or risky depending on how the next few seasons unfold, and they also underscore how deliberately Vegas chose its own path, betting that patience and restraint may age better than the rush to lock in every major piece on the market. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Just Got A Dynasty-Level Stanley Cup Case
The NHLs next five-year window has a handful of clubs with a real chance to keep the Stanley Cup conversation crowded, and Vegas is right in that mix. The Golden Knights have already shown what a modern contender can look like, with a roster built to compete immediately and an organization that has spent recent seasons establishing itself among the leagues most dangerous teams. For a team like Vegas, the standard is no longer just making noise in the West, but staying positioned to chase the Cup year after year.
Still, the broader argument around the league is shifting as Carolina gets framed as the team with the clearest dynasty-level case. The Hurricanes are being measured not only against recent champions, but against other heavyweight threats such as Dallas, Montreal, Colorado, and Vegas, each of them carrying their own combination of talent, coaching stability, and recent playoff relevance. For the Golden Knights, that means the pressure stays constant: the path is there, but so is the competition. [Read more 🡒]