The Seattle Kraken regular season is down to 11 games, leading serious fans to contemplate their place in this June’s NHL Draft. As of this writing, they’re slotted to pick 6th in each round, but that position is poised to change. Draft order in the 1st round among non-playoff teams will be determined by a pre-draft “lottery,” a process instituted to discourage “tanking,” franchises manipulating their rosters to lose on purpose. The chart below shows how likely it is for each team to win the 1st or 2nd overall pick in the lottery. Seattle has a significantly harder strength of schedule than Ph ..read more

They made a game of it! Just not enough of one to push overtime. But first, the Highlights: Game Notes Your TOI leader was Matty Beniers, who played 23:44 tonight. I’ll give ’em this; they didn’t stop for much. The Oilers without Connor and Leon are definitely a much more scrappy team than one would imagine them to be, and the Kraken definitely kept them guessing through at least the first twenty minutes or so and then later on in the third….but that second period of the Oilers, man. They’ve scored more than almost any team in the period of the long change, and they made their horrible work ..read more

It’ll be real interesting to see what the Oilers do tonight to their lines. They’ll still be a helluva team to play, but I think this is a uniquely mortal team at the moment. I feel it in my bones. Then again I may have been exposed to ambient radiation. Hard to say ..read more

The Need to Knows The Time: 7pm PT The Place: Rogers [spins wheel] Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Place to Watch: KING-5, KONG, KHN networks, SportsNet, City, CBC Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM Know Your Enemy The Oilers are 40-24-5, which is good for 85 points, and 2nd in the Pacific Division. They’re also 5th overall in the Western Conference. The Oilers right now are capital “i” INJURED: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are of course the season leaders in points and goals, but are not going to play tonight, as confirmed by Edmonton on Friday. The Oilers traded ..read more

Well. At least they didn’t draw it out. You only really need the first 30 seconds of this highlight reel Game Notes Your TOI leader was Adam Larsson, who finished with 21:55. If there’s anything the Wild do, it’s just play hockey at a reasonable, even pace that you can either deal with, or get absolutely trampled when that even pace seems a little more aggressive than you yourself are ready for. To their credit, the Kraken actually tried keeping pace with the Wild through the first period…with the added caveat of their defensive effort being just a shambling wreck. The first five minutes tol ..read more

One midwestern team down, one more to go before they go on a quick trip to the Frozen wastes of Alberta. Better make it count; The Wild are a crazy good hockey club. LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS ..read more

Writer’s note: With the season about to wrap up, a big thank you to all who are reading my stories, commenting on my stories, and even those who find mistakes in my stories. Of course, I only left the mistakes in to see if you were paying attention.?Sincerely, thanks for being part of the DJLR community! Kraken Made Difficult Shot Look Easy The Seattle Kraken put on a “one-timer” clinic Tuesday in Chicago, using the difficult and deadly technique on four of their six goals in subduing the Blackhawks, 6-2. We’ll explain why the shot is difficult to master in a moment. First, let’s review why it ..read more

The Need to Knows Time: 6:30 pm PT / 9:30 pm ET Place: Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN Where to Watch: TNT, MAX Where to Listen: Kraken Audio Network on KJR 93.3 Know Your Enemy It wasn’t that long ago that the Kraken last faced the Minnesota Wild. In fact, it was just earlier this month on March 4. Yet, with everything that has happened in hockey since that date, it feels like a lot more time has passed between these two contests. When it comes to the Kraken, Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Brandon Tanev were all still regulars in the lineup. It would be the next day after that g ..read more

Those comeback kids showed up big tonight! Now, onto tomorrow! But First, the Highlights! Game Notes Your TOI leader was Adam Larsson, who logged 22:36 tonight. The Kraken’s games lately have gone like this: Have a great first period, follow that up with a miserable second period, and then roll through and win in the third. This game, they decided on a slightly different script, wherein the Squids played a very sleepy, very unengaged 1st period that had a very different version of these Game Notes prepared, and then walked out to the ol’ comeback machine, revved it up, and went on an absolut ..read more

Okay so you’re gonna beat the Blackhawks, right? Because you know they’re bad on a whole extra level of bad, right? Because you know you gotta play a much better team tomorrow, right? and you know that having momentum coming into a game against a better team does help in some ways, right LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS ..read more