Seattle's First Season in the Books
2022-07-29
SEATTLE, Wash. – With their inaugural season in the books, the GM of the Seattle Kraken, Brandyn Errickson, looks back at the season that was.
“Opening night was amazing. Seeing the Climate Pledge arena completely filled and all the festivities before the game was something I’ll remember forever. The team got down early but battled back to get the game to OT and eventually won the game. What a night.” Said the Kraken GM.
As high as the team was after the first game, it would be a little before they’d get close to that feeling again. The Kraken would lose their next 3 games (two by 1 goal and then a 5-0 blowout by Dallas) before notching their 2nd victory which would start a 9-1 stretch that included a 3-game and a 6-game winning streak to get their record up to 10-3-1.
“To get on a run like that early in the season made us feel pretty good about what we were doing here. It’s not easy to win in the league and to start out with a brand-new franchise and win 10 of your first 14 games is definitely something to relish. I think we basically matched what Vegas did in their first 14 games in the EHE and seeing what they did that season, it definitely seemed like a great start.” Said the GM.
Unfortunately, the Kraken wouldn’t be able to keep pace with what the last expansion EHE team did in their first season. At the halfway mark of the season Seattle had 20 wins to 18 losses and 3 OT/shootout losses. It would then go downhill a bit more when the Kraken lost 7 straight (6 of which were at home) to torpedo their record to 21-25-3.
“Yeah, that was a tough stretch for sure. We just lost our game and it took us a while to get it back. I believe we scored first or lead 2-1 in most of those games but we just couldn’t keep our intensity up and hold onto the leads. It was definitely a frustrating time. I know coach Hynes and his staff were trying all sorts of things to get the team back on track and eventually it worked out.” Errickson explained.
As the Kraken GM expressed, after falling down 7 straight times, they were able to get back up and put together a pretty good last 32 games. The next 11 games after the losing streak, Seattle would amass 8 wins against 2 losses and 1 OT/shootout lose to get their overall record up to 29-28-4.
However, the good momentum wouldn’t last long and the Kraken would then struggle over their next 12 games, going 2-7-3 which took their season record down to 31-35-7. With just 9 games left in the EHE 2021-2022 season the newest franchise was all but eliminated from playoff contention. But the Kraken would not go quietly into the night and a high scoring 6-4 win over the New York Rangers on June 7th started an astounding 9-game win streak. While 6 of the wins did come against teams that wouldn’t make the playoffs, the team could go into the offseason feeling pretty good about what they had accomplished in their first EHE season.
The Seattle GM was quoted, “We had just come off a 6-game losing streak so I’m not sure anyone can say they were feeling good about how the season was going at that time, but what a way to end it. To end the season only 5 points out of a playoff spot was definitely not something I expected. Hell, if we were in the Central division, we would’ve only missed the playoffs by 3 points. It was an incredible finish to an amazing season. Coming into the season we thought we had a decent team that could at least win games. We knew it would be hard in the Pacific division and we figured there would be ups and downs but I like how the team responded to all the challenges and they really came together to make this a special year.”
So, what’s next for the Seattle Kraken? Their 1.5% odds in the draft lottery weren’t enough to win a chance to move up 10 spots, so they’ll draft in the 15 spot of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds. They also hold LA’s 3rd round pick this year which will be pick 88 overall. They also have multiple UFA’s in Torey Krug, Kyle Palmieri and Mattias Janmark to go along with RFA’s like Ryan Hartman, Teddy Blueger, Riley Stillman, Cal Petersen and Brandon Hagel.
“With the 6th lowest bank roll in the EHE, I wouldn’t expect for us to be too active in free agency this year. We were able to sign a couple of guys during last years free agency, but I don’t expect that to happen again this year. Any additions we make will most likely come by way of trades. We haven’t had any discussions yet out of respect for those teams still fighting for the championship, but I assume talks will start in a few weeks. If we come across something that makes sense for our team, we won’t hesitate to do it. I’d like to take the time now to thank our wonderful fans. We really appreciate everyone coming out this season, whether we were winning or losing, the arena was packed every night. Thank you!” and with that the GM of the Kraken signed off for now.