Training Camp by the Numbers

When players take to the Starbucks Rink Thursday for the first on-ice day of training camp presented by Starbucks at Kraken Community Iceplex, the numbers game begins. The Kraken are starting out with 44 attendees-all curious about the system of play that head coach Dave Hakstol and his coaching staff intends to deploy for the regular season soon ahead.
There are 26 forwards in camp, plus 13 defensemen and five goalies. The group will reduce to an Oct. 12 opening day active roster of 23 players, 20 of whom (18 skaters and two goalies) will dress in the Kraken white away jerseys in the historic road opener at Vegas.

For the record, 25 of the 30 players selected from NHL teams during July's Expansion Draft will be on hand at the Iceplex this week as Hakstol breaks the team into Blue and White squad practices for more individual attention and drills efficiency.
Seven NHL-tested unrestricted free agents add to the player pool, highlighted by the first-day-of-NHL-Free-Agency signings of goalie Philipp Grubauer (Colorado) and forwards Jaden Schwartz (St. Louis) and Alex Wennberg (Florida).
The two split squads will practice at separate times Thursday and Friday, then use two rinks simultaneously at the Iceplex Saturday before joining together for a White vs. Blue scrimmage later that morning.
A "game group" will be identified by Sunday, taking the ice for a morning practice before flying to Spokane for Seattle's first-ever preseason game, hosting the instant rival Vancouver Canucks at 6 p.m. (ROOT SPORTS).
If this all seems a bit dazzling, maybe even surreal, Kraken fans-playing a game before the coming weekend is over!-you have highly respected company.
"I would say it's a bit of taking us by surprise in some ways," says Ron Francis, Kraken GM. "Looking back, it's been a couple to get to this point. There were so many things. We built two facilities [the three-rink Kraken Community Iceplex and soon-to-be completed Climate Pledge Arena) and, in essence, three with Palm Springs in the works [for the team-owned American Hockey League affiliate that begins play in the 2022-23 season].

"We had to fill different roles and build out our staff. It is certainly exciting to get the players out on the ice with the coaching staff, to know training camp is here."
More than two dozen players arrived in Seattle earlier than this week to participate in informal "captain skates" (the Kraken coaching staff not allowed by NHL rules). While it has afforded some early team chemistry development on and off the ice, the challenge ahead is teaching the Hakstol style of play plus making decisions about forward lines (four sets of three up front) and defensive pairings (at least three and likely four).
Other NHL clubs go into their respective camps with varying degrees of set lines and pairings-or knowing two forwards who work best together and looking for a third linemate.
"Our guys don't know each other and haven't played with each other," said Francis. "The coaches have to implement a system as well, and the players have to learn it. There's limited practice time and only six preseason games. The coaches will be looking to game video to teach the system."
It's a short period of time for defensemen to get to know their partner in a pairing, how and what they do on the ice, plus doing so in a different system. The NHL preseason (six games for the Kraken between Sunday and Oct. 5) will be more meaningful for Seattle than some franchises.
"With six preseason games, you get as much experience and learning as you can," said Francis.
The Kraken's preseason schedule begins Sunday at Spokane Veterans Memorial Stadium before heading to road games in Edmonton (Sept. 28) and Calgary (Sept. 29) to finish the month. Seattle returns home to play Edmonton Oct. 1 at Everett's Angel of the Winds Arena and Oct. 2 hosting Calgary at Kent's accesso ShoWare Center. The final preseason game is at Vancouver Oct. 5.
The inaugural training camp finishes with a week of what figures to be highly-focused practices before the team, featuring that cutdown roster of 23 players, heads to Vegas for the start of this historic season Oct. 12.