Kraken Released Into the Stanley Cup Playoffs

One of the many things that fascinates me about the National Hockey League is the timing of their expansion wave. The other three leagues added teams at the same time (usually the 1960s), and while the NHL did double in size in 1967 and did some more adding during the 1970s, the real big expansion wave occurred during the 1990s. I had the chance to see a number of teams added and relocated during my lifetime, and the result is a 32-team NHL, with the Seattle Kraken becoming team #32.

Regarding expansion teams, the order of milestones goes like this: first game, first win (the first two may come at the same time), first winning season, and first postseason. The last part may take a good while, or come very quickly. A few examples. The San Jose Sharks' (debuted in 1991) first playoff appearance came in their third season. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1993) needed just four years to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. The Nashville Predators (1998) didn't reach their first postseason until Year Six. For the Columbus Blue Jackets (2000), they needed nine years, while the Minnesota Wild (2000) needed only three. We all know the story about the Vegas Golden Knights (2017), their first year saw them win the Pacific Division and go all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

One of the main reasons why I was looking forward to the 2021-22 season was the debut of the Seattle Kraken. I liked a lot of things about the Kraken: the logo, the jerseys, the color scheme, and the roster. Oh, and also the play-by-play announcer; John Forslund serves as the current voice of the Kraken. Now, when the Kraken debuted, a lot of hockey fans expected so much from the team, mainly because of what happened in Vegas. That didn't happen, as the Kraken's first year saw them in last place in the Pacific, but even so, the effort was there, and it had this hockey fan wondering if Year Two would see some good things for the franchise.

Sure enough, the good things came. The Kraken kept winning games left and right, and in between, and at one point, the team was actually leading the Pacific. Now I knew that wasn't going to happen, but I figured the good vibes would remain, and they did. On October 12, 2021, the Kraken played their first game. On October 14, 2021, they won their first game. On March 16, 2023, the Kraken clinched their first winning season in franchise history (it takes 83 points to lock up a winning season). Finally, on April 6, 2023, with their 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, the Kraken reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

We could see another first for the Kraken. Now, the NHL has its individual trophies, but the main ones (for players) are the Hart (NHL MVP), Vezina (Best Goaltender), Norris (Best Defenseman), and the Calder (Rookie of the Year). We could see a Kraken player one of those four, as Matty Beniers appears to be the frontrunner for the Calder Trophy this season. Beniers is having one hell of a season for the Kraken; he is second on the team in goals with 22, a distant second behind Jared McCann's 37. His 54 points are among the team's top totals, though his four game-winning goals lead the team.

Speaking of McCann, he's tied for the team league in points with 63, and he's tied with Vince Dunn--a defenseman who made history last year by scoring the Kraken's first-ever home goal. And I want to mention that the team has quite a collection of Cup winners on the team. First off, Jaden Schwartz, a 2019 Stanley Cup Champion with the St. Louis Blues who was taken in the expansion draft. Another Cup winner they took in the expansion draft: Yanni Gourde, who won two with Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021. The Kraken snagged another one during the last offseason: Andre Burakovsky, who won in 2018 with the Washington Capitals, and had just won a second one with the Colorado Avalanche. Sadly, Burakovsky has been on the injured reserve in the last few months, but even so, the Kraken have continued to march on.

So the Kraken are in the playoffs, and now it's a question of who they'll play in Round 1. Based on how the standings look, it's a foregone conclusion that the Golden Knights, Oilers, and Kings will be the Pacific Division's top three, meaning that the Kraken will be one of the Western Conference's two Wild Cards. Though, again--based on how the standings look, it looks like the Kraken will be the #1 Wild Card, meaning that they'll, more likely, face whoever wins the Central. Even so, the fact that Seattle's in this year, it'll be very amazing. This team has done so well this season. It'll be so much fun to see them in the playoffs. However, if they end up facing the Avalanche, well, that's another story.

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