Don’t look now, but the Seattle Kraken have a five-game point streak to start the season and just grabbed four of six possible points on their swing through eastern Canada. If you’re not on the Lane Train yet, it’s time to hop aboard.
Being competitive
I’ve mentioned it on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast and in our preseason roundtable, but one of the biggest things I wanted to see from this team was simple: be competitive. Anyone can look at the team’s four overtime games and see that the Kraken have been right there in every one, even coming away with victories in two of the four.
It is more than just the end results. I love how this team responds after getting scored on. It’s almost like they refuse to let opponents build momentum off a goal. Several times against the Maple Leafs, I thought Toronto might take over after tying the game, but to the Kraken’s credit, that never really happened. In fact, a few times, it felt like Seattle grabbed control right back.
They’ve never trailed by more than one goal this season and have only allowed two consecutive goals in regulation once. That’s likely another byproduct of Lane Lambert’s defensive structure, and honestly, it’s a pleasure to watch.
Face-off possession
One area that continues to challenge the Kraken is face-offs. And I’m not just talking about the percentages you see in the box score. While there’s no public data tracking “possession after a face-off,” the Kraken are currently allowing the second-most shot attempts against within 10 seconds of a face-off draw, an average of 10.8 per game.
That issue burned them a couple times this week, most notably on Cole Caufield’s overtime winner for the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and John Tavares’s third-period goal against Toronto on Saturday.
wins the draw and buries the rebound pic.twitter.com/5q9f3Zvq4b
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 19, 2025
It’s something they’ll need to tighten up as the season goes along.
Injuries continue to pile up, Catton making NHL debut
In case you missed it, the team announced that center Freddy Gaudreau has been placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss four to six weeks. Gaudreau is much more than just a fourth-line center. He plays a crucial complementary role as a right-shot pivot who kills penalties and thrives in the shootout.
Before his injury, Gaudreau was on the ice for nearly 45 percent of the Kraken’s total penalty-kill minutes. He now joins Kaapo Kakko and Ryker Evans, who have both missed the entire season to this point and remain a few weeks away from their original return targets.
The Kraken called up John Hayden from Coachella Valley to fill that fourth-line center role. He got some time on the penalty kill, but it looks like Tye Kartye and Chandler Stephenson will take on more of Gaudreau’s PK minutes for now.
On top of that, Ryan Lindgren left the Toronto game late in the third period after being struck in the face by a puck. The team hasn’t shared an update yet, but they did recall Ville Ottavainen on Sunday to join them for the back half of this road trip. With back-to-back games ahead, the Ottavainen call-up might just be a precaution in case anyone else gets dinged up.
As if it could not get any worse, the Kraken announced that Jared McCann is out day-to-day with a lower body injury. That’s another unfortunate development for arguably the Kraken’s best goal scorer.
On the flip side, McCann’s injury creates an opportunity for Berkly Catton to make his NHL debut, which he will do Monday in Philadelphia.
#SeaKraken forward Jared McCann will not play tonight and is out day-to-day with a lower body injury.
— Seattle Kraken PR (@SeattleKrakenPR) October 20, 2025
We have generally assumed the plan was to keep Catton on the roster as a healthy scratch long enough to send him for a conditioning stint in the AHL, but the long list of injuries has forced Seattle’s hand. Now, the 19-year-old rookie will get a look on a line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.
Berkly Catton is making his NHL debut tonight in Philadelphia 🙌 Caught up with him after #SeaKraken morning skate. pic.twitter.com/qMSiB55ysl
— Piper Shaw (@PiperShawTV) October 20, 2025
Other musings
- It’s probably stating the obvious, but with three wins and two overtime losses in their first five games, the Kraken are off to their best start through five games in franchise history.
- Before Saturday night’s matchup, the Kraken were just 1-6-1 against the Maple Leafs all time, and they still haven’t beaten Toronto at Climate Pledge Arena.
- With four of their first five games going to overtime, it’s no surprise the Kraken have played more OT games than any other team so far this season. For comparison, it took Seattle until Game 15 last season to reach four overtime appearances.
- The Kraken have also scored first in four of five games, which is a trend you love to see.
- It’s felt like the Kraken have taken a lot of penalties and spent a lot of time shorthanded this season, but that’s actually not the case. They’re averaging just 2.4 times shorthanded per game, which ranks among the top five in fewest times shorthanded per game in the NHL.
- It’s still early, but the Kraken’s power play is clicking at 28.6 percent, currently fifth best in the league.
- Seattle also leads the NHL in blocked shots, averaging 20.6 per game, a stat that fits perfectly with the blue-collar identity Lambert is building.
- Chandler Stephenson is the only Kraken center with a face-off win percentage above 50 percent this season.
- Before I get in trouble, I fully recognize that the “Lane Train” was first coined by the BFOTP, Alison Lukan.
Goal of the week
From everything I’ve heard, Josh Mahura might be the most universally liked guy in the Kraken room. So when he scored that huge first goal as a Kraken, the celebration said it all, everyone was fired up for him.
no better time to score your first goal as a #SeaKraken 💙🩵 pic.twitter.com/6GTLKszCNF
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) October 19, 2025
Players of the week
Shane Wright (SEA) – After a quiet start, Wright flipped the switch this week with two goals and two assists in three games. The confidence is showing, and it feels like he’s just getting started.
Ryan Donato (CHI) – A forever Kraken OG, Donnie’s doing Donnie things again — three goals, two assists, and an overtime winner against the Ducks for good measure. It’s hard not to root for him.
Chandler Stephenson (SEA) – Stephenson continues to be an absolute workhorse. He has four points in three games, leading all Kraken forwards in ice time, and is now taking on even more with Gaudreau out. The man’s everywhere.
The week ahead
With injuries stacking up, the back half of this road trip is about to get tricky. The Kraken will play their first back-to-back of the season, Flyers Monday, Capitals Tuesday, before wrapping it up Thursday in Winnipeg. Three games, six possible points. If they can come away with three or more, that’s seven of 12 for the trip, not bad at all for a team that’s decimated by injuries and is still finding its rhythm.
The second game of that back-to-back will be the one to watch. Washington is 4-2-0 and playing well, and remember: the Kraken went 0-12-0 on the second night of back-to-backs last year. Even a single point Tuesday night would already be progress.
Then there’s the goaltending situation. Joey Daccord has started four out of the five games this season, and he’s been solid. But with games on consecutive nights, we should see one of the backups — Philipp Grubauer or Matt Murray — get a look. The team hasn’t tipped their hand on how they’ll handle the rotation yet, so this week should give us our first real clue about how this might play out with three goaltenders.
And finally…
The Kraken are far from perfect, but through five games, they’ve shown they can hang with anyone. To be clear, I still don’t really know what we have with this group yet, but the early results are undeniably positive. If they keep grinding out points on this trip, we might be looking at a team that’s quietly figuring out how to win the hard way.
