Why the Seattle Kraken Won't Go Away

Are the Seattle Kraken the "Cinderella Story" of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs?

By Jesse Rosales

No one can argue that the Seattle Kraken have one of the coolest names, mascots, logos and jersey’s in the game today. Who would have thought in addition to looking so cool, that they would actually catch fire in the playoffs this season. What started off a feel good story for a franchise to crack a playoff birth in only their second season, has now grown into a legitimate conversation of whether or not the Kraken can win the Stanley Cup THIS year. Despite being a new franchise, this team has a surprising amount of depth, defensive capability, and a Stanley Cup winning goaltender, hungry to prove that he is still one of the best netminders in the league.

Check out this video of the Kraken opening ceremony.

Seattle Kraken’s Depth

It is very appropriate that the Kraken fans held up rally towels that said “Welcome To The Deep” when they hosted the Dallas Stars. Cool slogan and it plays nicely with the team theme and all that, but it actually does a great job of describing this roster. The Kraken are probably the only remaining team left in the playoffs that do not have a tried and true #1 player on their team. Heck Toronto has arguably 3 of those kind players and are currently down 0-3 in their series.

The Seattle Kraken had no player in the top 13 in total scores scored during the regular season, and they had no single player in the top 50 in total points. That actually is hard to do even if you were trying.

Even with the lack of a prolific goal scorer, the team still ended the season tied 4th overall (with the New Jersey Devils) in total goals scored per game with 3.52. In the playoffs the average has dropped down to 3.2 goals per game, which is to be expected as goals overall across the board are down in the playoffs compared to the regular season. Through the playoffs so far, the Seattle Kraken have 16 different goal scorers which is absolutely insane as we are only halfway through round 2.

It was that depth that shocked Colorado in 7 games. Ironically, it was that same depth recipe that won the Colorado Avalanche the Cup last season and without it this year, they were unable to overcome the “release of the Kraken”. Even rookies like Tye Kartye are unexpectedly turning heads. All this and the Kraken are without one of their best offensive weapons and former Colorado Avalanche winger Andre Burakovsky, and Jared McCann, who is out with an injury following a hit by Cale Makar in the first round series with the Avs.

Seattle Kraken Defense and Goaltending

Its not just the offense that is clicking, its the defense and the goaltending. The Seattle Kraken fly (swin) around the ice with an incredible forecheck and backcheck game plan. They do not take plays off. They do come at you hard, every single shift until you wear down past the point of no return. Guys like Justin Schultz, Vince Dunn, and Jamie Oleksiak are making a huge impact on the playoffs and have a +9 rating combined.

Finally there is the vintage play of previous Vezina Trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer. Having the privilege of watching Grubauer play in Colorado, it was never a question of how much talent he had or if he could win another Stanley Cup. Sure his regular season numbers last season and this season were nothing to write home about, but none of that actually matters in the playoffs. All that matters is what you do once you get there. We see it over and over again.

Grubauer has played all 10 games of this playoff run and is maintaining a solid 2.67 goals against average and a save percentage of .918. He is absolutely one of the key players that gave the Seattle Kraken a chance to beat the defending Cup champions in 7 games.

Can the Seattle Kraken go all the way?

Given how this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs have gone so far, it’s absolutely possible that the Kraken come out of the West and have a chance to hoist Lord Stanley. That being said, I do think the winner of the Edmonton/Golden Knights series would be the favorite in that series, and heavily favored at that. I’m not ready to give up on seeing McDavid and Draisaitl in the Finals and I think either of those teams would beat the Kraken in a 7 games series.

The Seattle Kraken are +900 to win the Cup according to Vegas bookmakers. I personally won’t be picking the Seattle Kraken to win it all but as a hockey fan, I can certainly appreciate the ride this team is on and if I’m proven wrong, it will be one of the great stories in Stanley Cup history for sure!