Eide’s Seattle Kraken Preview: 3 things to watch in history-making NHL opener

When asked what he thought about his team’s NHL opener, Seattle Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer smiled, shrugged, and said he wasn’t sure what to expect out of an opening night like Tuesday’s inaugural game.

“I’ve never been a part of something like that, so I think that’s really exciting,” Grubauer said.

Seattle Kraken announcer John Forslund’s preseason standouts
Grubauer will be front and center Tuesday when the Kraken hit the ice at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to face the NHL’s previous expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights. Like Grubauer, none of us truly know what to expect from the Kraken. The players have individual track records and statistics to break down, but we don’t know how they’ll perform as a team.

What we do have is three weeks of training camp and six preseason games to go off of.

Like most other sports, NHL preseason is not the best way to measure a team, but it’s what we have. Seattle by all appearances had a successful preseason, winning four of its six games, and certain themes did emerge to give us a glimpse of what the team will look like on Tuesday night and beyond.

On Monday, the team received news that will affect the lineup for Tuesday, but the Kraken hope not for long. After Monday’s practice Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol announced that Jared McCann, Joonas Donskoi, Jamie Oleksiak, and Marcus Johansson were in the NHL’s COVID protocol. They joined forward Calle Jarnkrok, who entered the protocol the week before. It’s unclear if those players will be available in Vegas.

Related: Five Seattle Kraken players in COVID protocol ahead of opener

Once they are back, what should we look for out of the Kraken this season? Will they score enough to contend for a playoff spot in a weakened Pacific Division? Will they have enough goaltending? And what style of play can we expect?

Here’s what to watch for from the Seattle Kraken as they open the season at 7 p.m. Tuesday night on ESPN.

1. The Seattle Kraken will be tough to score against.
After their NHL Expansion Draft in July, it was clear the Kraken were going to be a defensive club. It wasn’t just the defensemen they selected, but most of their forward group are strong two-way players, as well. A week after the draft, they made a flashier statement about how hard it was going to be to get the puck in their net.

On the first day of free agency, they landed Grubauer.

The 29 year old is coming off a season with the Colorado Avalanche where he won 30 games and posted a .922 save percentage. He was among the NHL’s best in goal and earned nomination for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded annually to the league’s goalie of the year.

Grubauer was a salary cap casualty in Colorado, and the Kraken were surprised he was allowed to get to free agency at all. General manager Ron Francis didn’t hesitate and Seattle picked him up with a six-year deal worth $5.9 million a year, which should solidify the Kraken net.

Grubauer was good in the preseason, highlighted by his final game where he stopped 38 Vancouver shots in a 4-0 shutout. The number of saves was impressive but still undersell how good he really was. A deeper look from that night at his expected-goals number – a metric that measures shot quality and quantity – suggests he should have allowed over three goals. These weren’t floaters launched from the outside. He was kicking out chances in close, especially during four Canucks power plays where he made 12 saves.

https://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/watch-online-f9-fast-furious-9-full.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-addams-family-2-2021-watch-full.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/free-watch-venom-2-let-there-be-carnage.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/123movies-shang-chi-2021-online-watch.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/watch-many-saints-of-newark-2021-full.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/watch-hd-dear-evan-hansen-2021-online.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/123movies-watch-free-guy-2021-movie.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/watch-candyman-2021-movie-online-full.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/free-watch-jungle-cruise-2021-full.htmlhttps://top-box-office-movie-hd.blogspot.com/2021/10/watch-chal-mera-putt-3-2021-full-movie.html

He earned that shutout.

“I think we’re a fast team and we didn’t give up too many great quality chances,” Grubauer said. “I’m really looking forward to that and transition it into the regular season.”

https://x.worldmopie.xyz/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/free-guy/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/f9/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/infinite/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/jungle-cruise/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/the-last-mercenary/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/black-widow/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/the-suicide-squad/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/venom-let-there-be-carnage/x-worldmopie/https://x.worldmopie.xyz/no-time-to-die/x-worldmopie/

3. The Kraken need to crank up the forecheck.
Seattle will play a tight-checking and physical game all over the ice. They’ll create offense off their defense and the forecheck.
https://sphero.instructure.com/eportfolios/33905/Home/_Deutsch__Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_Ganzer_film_2021HD_ansehen_Onlinehttps://ecs.instructure.com/eportfolios/1078/Home/kostenlos__Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_Deutschland_Film_HD_ganzer_Film_online_2021https://bgh2.instructure.com/eportfolios/6429/Home/_KINOHD___Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_Deutschland_Film_ganzer_Filmkostenlos_onlinehttps://americanprep.instructure.com/eportfolios/9340/Home/Ganzer_HDVenom__Let_there_be_Carnage_movie_Deutschland_Film_HDganzer_Filmhttps://cba-va.instructure.com/eportfolios/2444/Home/STREAMCLOUD__Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_GANZER_FILM__Voller_stream_Deutschhttps://esc16.instructure.com/eportfolios/10529/Home/Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_Ganzer_film_2021_Deutsch_film_HDhttps://hhi.instructure.com/eportfolios/13174/Home/HDGANZER__Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_deutsch_bcher__Ganzer_film_Komplett_2021_kostenloshttps://northshore.instructure.com/eportfolios/17468/Home/Drama_Film_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_Ganzer__Ganzer_film_Komplett_2021_kostenloshttps://scouting.instructure.com/eportfolios/4929/Home/Voller_HD_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__ansehen_Deutsch_Film_kinoHD_1080Phttps://verizoninnovativelearning.instructure.com/eportfolios/2243/Home/Venom_2_Let_There_Be_Carnage_ganzer_film_Deutsch_Stream_2021_auf_Deutschlandhttps://sidney.instructure.com/eportfolios/13979/Home/Film_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Ganzer_film_kinoDeutsch_film_kostenlos_Voller_https://monroek12.instructure.com/eportfolios/3746/Home/HD_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__ansehen_Deutsch_Film_kino_HDhttps://iin.instructure.com/eportfolios/4181/Home/HDBLURAY_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Ganzer_Film_2021_kostenloshttps://tsbvi.instructure.com/eportfolios/1356/Home/HDGANZER_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Ganzer_film_Komplett_2021_kostenloshttps://k12.instructure.com/eportfolios/116889/Home/Schau_jetzt_Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Ganzer_film_2021_Deutsch_film_HDhttps://delhi.instructure.com/eportfolios/700/Home/Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Von_Anfang_bis_Legende_2021__Film_Deutschhttps://caswell.instructure.com/eportfolios/1139/Home/Voller__Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage__Von_Anfang_bis_Legende_ansehen_Deutsch_Film_kino1080P_Ganzer_filmhttps://mms.instructure.com/courses/5704/pages/streamcloud-venom-let-there-be-carnage-%7C-ganzer-film-deutsch-complete-2021https://ycs.instructure.com/eportfolios/10281/Home/Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_2021__Ganzer_film_HD1080p_Onlinehttps://sphero.instructure.com/eportfolios/34539/Home/Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_2021_Ganzer_film_HD1080p_Online__Deutsch4Khttps://bgh2.instructure.com/eportfolios/7099/Home/Venom__Let_there_be_Carnage_2021_Ganzer_film_HD1080p_Online__kinoDe

Blog Post

Eide’s Seattle Kraken Preview: 3 things to watch in history-making NHL opener

POPULAR