Kraken Will Be NHL’s Road Warriors This Season

Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn has always loved hockey travel and doesn’t much mind that his team will do more of that than any NHL squad this coming season. 

With a mid-November trip to Finland thrown in, the Kraken will travel more than 52,000 miles starting with an Oct. 1 opener in Calgary and then ending with the April 10 finale in Chicago. That edges out other NHL road warrior contenders such as the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights, leaving Dunn and company ample time to catch up on in-flight laptop reading and on-the-ground restaurant hunting between games. 

“This year I noticed the travel looks pretty dense,” Dunn, 29, said. “But then again, I have fun being on the plane. I sleep on the plane, I have fun being on the road, going out for dinners. Being on the road is such a simple lifestyle. I’m fortunate in that I don’t have kids and family and it’s such a different dynamic that I don’t feel like I’m leaving them behind on the road so much.” 

Estimates of exactly how many miles the Kraken will travel can vary depending on who’s doing the counting. For instance, some websites compiling lists won’t include the team’s return travel from the season finale in Chicago since there are no remaining games to play – unless, or course, they make the playoffs and the 1,700 extra miles become a factor. 

Some will measure the miles airport to airport, some arena to arena. A handful will count shorter flight legs in the New York City area, such as from Manhattan to New Jersey,  when the Kraken will actually be taking a bus instead. 

Others won’t include the Finland trip of just under 10,000 miles since not all NHL teams will partake in the Global Series of games. But when you do include all miles the Kraken will indeed travel, no other team can match it.  

The amount of time away from Seattle will force Dunn and teammates to take necessary steps to stay within their daily routine as much as as possible. The team historically has broken fairly even away from home with an all-time record of 90-102-21 including playoffs.

Since their second season, it’s been 79-75-18 on the road including 4-4-0 in the 2022-23 playoffs – right around NHL average -- so the Kraken do handle travel relatively well.  

To hear it from Dunn and others, travel is simply part of NHL life players endure and even embrace. And apparently sleep their way through. Unlike regular 9-to-5 workers, a midday nap is often critical to players stepping on the ice for their “day job” when most others their age are winding down for the evening. 

“For me, it’s just fun,” Dunn said. “You wake up, you eat, you play and you just hop on a plane. Everything’s so perfect for us.” 

That part is true so long as players take care of business and get required rest. Dunn also mentioned having a “great wellness team” of chiropractors and physical therapists he can fly out to see him should the need arrive. 

And that’s often the reality of NHL travel: Players get banged around in games and then usually must fly to another city right after and can have their bodies stiffen up. This is especially true for back-to-back games where the second leg is often played following a very early morning arrival from the prior city. 

Countering the physical toll  

Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour, 32, is three years older than Dunn and feels the physical effects of every season. He also has a wife and multiple children he leaves behind every time he travels.  

Montour experienced very long travel when he began his career with Anaheim, but then shorter stints when he played for Buffalo and Florida.

“Obviously it’s tough when you have a family and you’re gone for more days than some of the shorter trips would be,” he said. “So, that’s probably the biggest (Kraken) adjustment is getting way longer flights. The hours are tougher and you’re getting in later nights.” 

Like Dunn, he tries to get proper road rest and care for his body so it doesn’t stiffen up in games after extensive air travel. 

“Some guys might go on the bike or something in the gym but we’ll try to set something up to get moving in the (hotel) pool a little bit,” Montour said. “So, right when you get in you put your stuff in the room and you go down with the trainers to use the pool and move. You either block off time or you just pop in if it isn’t to busy.” 

Making sure hotels have adequate swimming pools, gyms, a steam room and sauna for player recovery and other facilities such as good restaurants and a dedicated meal room falls on the director of team services, which has been Brennan Baxandall throughout the Kraken franchise’s history but – with him moving back to his native Alberta this coming season – will transition to former PR director Kyle Shohara midway through the 2026-27 campaign. Baxandall and Shohara have worked together all summer planning the season, which, given the upcoming added flight miles, means ensuring the best possible facilities for players. 

“I’d say for the most part ownership has given us the freedom to stay at the top tier hotels and we’re definitely lucky for that compared to some other teams,” Baxandall said. “But sometimes you’re selecting a city and your main choice can’t take you. So then you’re trying to find your next best option.” 

Understanding exactly how teams travel is often key to figuring out their road priorities. The Kraken begin all road trips by flying to their first game destination the day before and sometimes two days early if a major time change is involved. 

Their customized first class charter jet has leather seating, ample leg room and dedicated flight attendants for the entire season who will come to know player preferences for meals and drinks. Players get an assortment of snacks – both hot and cold – upon entering the plane and then can pick from a menu list of three meal choices even on shorter duration flights.

Upon landing, a charter bus meets the team directly on the tarmac and whisks them to their hotel. A dedicated arrival desk will be set up in the lobby where player room keys will be waiting in advance in envelopes with names on them. 

The perks of such detailed service become obvious on multi-city trips where a game will be played at night with the team arriving at its next destination in the wee hours of the following morning. Last October, the Kraken played a Saturday night game in Toronto and then, after clearing U.S. customs, didn’t get to their Philadelphia hotel until just before 3 a.m. on Sunday morning -- meaning a long front desk check-in would have been the last thing they needed. 

Fortunately, they didn’t play again until Monday night and players thus were given Sunday off and could sleep in. But the reason teams try to leave one city and get to the next right away is because they often will have a next-day practice scheduled in the ensuing destination if they aren’t playing that night. 

Shohara said the team will sometimes switch things up and stay in a city after playing there the previous night – especially if that city is a coveted player destination as opposed to the one upcoming. Shohara said he and Baxandall have already met with head coach Lane Lambert and general manager Jason Botterill to map out exact scheduling for each city. 

“If we’re in Anaheim for an extended stay of several nights between games, sometimes we’ll stay in Newport Beach like we did last season because we had a couple of days to be out there,” Shohara said. “But if it’s a shorter stay, or a back-to-back series, we’ll just stay in closer proximity to the arena because logistically it makes things easier.”  

Importance of hotel proximity 

The proximity of the hotel to the arena can be a big deal because of practices and morning skates. Players can’t just show up 10 minutes before those scheduled workouts. Teams usually have pre-practice meetings while some individual players require treatments from training staff before taking the ice. 

On practice days, two sets of charter busses typically leave the team hotel for the arena; one an earlier bus up to 2 1/2 hours before practice and another roughly 30 minutes later. Once practice ends, an early bus departs for the team hotel 45 minutes later followed by a another bus later on for players getting post-workout treatments. 

Baxandall tries to use the same bus companies and drivers every season. He’d rather have somebody the players already know driving the bus than a newcomer unfamiliar with NHL travel times and rinks. 

It’s the same routine for morning skates, meaning the bus travel and on-ice workouts can eat up a large part of the day. Players later on will get more busses at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to take them from the hotel to a 7 p.m. game. 

That’s why teams like to stay closer to the arena so players aren’t trapped on busses for several hours a day. Some hotels are right across the street, allowing players to walk instead of taking the bus and freeing up a good part of their day. 

Players get 4 p.m. late checkouts at all hotels, but must have checked luggage stowed beneath the pregame bus to the arena regardless of whether they walk to the game. That’s because the same vehicle departs the arena an hour after the game’s conclusion and drives players directly to the airport tarmac where they board their jet to the ensuing destination while luggage is offloaded from beneath the bus on to the plane via a conveyor belt.

This system comes in handy upon conclusion of any road trip.  

The Kraken can play a night game in Winnipeg, then arrive back in Seattle, clear customs and be home in bed by 1:30 a.m. That allows them to wake up at a relatively normal time and be at the Kraken Community Iceplex for a noon or afternoon practice if needed.  

Teams often try not to schedule practices right after completing a road trip but skipping too many can impact performance. Eventually, even with first class travel and five-star accomodations, the road schedule wears players down mentally and physically since they are also grinding through games and practices while adjusting to time zone changes. 

“For me personally, I do a lot of stretching postgame,” Kraken winger Jared McCann, 30, said. “I feel like as I’ve gotten older, I need to stretch out a lot more, ride the bike to flush out the lactic acid.  

“For the short games, where it’s only a 45-minute flight or an hour, I feel like it doesn’t affect me too bad. It’s the long flights that get me, where you’re in the air for hours.” 

McCann will try to walk around on the plane during those longer flights. He also wears compression socks and pants to help lessen the inflammation on his legs, which have given him a variety of physical problems over the years. 

But he’s used to extensive travel, having done it with the Vancouver Canucks when he first broke into the league a decade ago. He also had a heavy travel load with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League in his pre-NHL junior playing days. 

“Mentally, I’m kind of used to it,” McCann said. “I mean, we play cards together on the plane. We’re always thinking and doing things, so that makes the flight go by a little quicker. But physically, once you get past the midway point of the season, it starts to catch up to you a little bit.” 

So, any bit of team help is appreciated. 

Getting external help  

In cities where the Kraken can’t stay close to an arena, team services director Baxandall will often flip open his contact list of state troopers or county sheriff’s department officers and request a police escort. Those have come in handy getting to games in rush hour traffic in places such as Long Island, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Anaheim. 

During the inaugural Kraken season, their bus from Manhattan to Long Island took two hours and saw players arrive at the arena barely 90 minutes before game time. It was a learning experience they haven’t repeated.   

Baxandall also keeps a detailed notebook of all hotel experiences good and bad so he knows what he’s dealing with when it comes to booking an ensuing season’s travel.  

“We’ve tried new hotels that are home runs and we go there every time,” he said. “And then we’ve tried hotels in a pinch where we’re like, ‘OK, we got through that but we’re not going back.’” 

Often, the ability of a hotel’s staff to handle a professional team will come into play. Some are better suited than others, but the team’s needs – and ability to win the next game – must be a priority for the hotel in order for them to keep getting repeat Kraken business.  

And it is often a good deal for the hotel, filling multiple floors of rooms during quieter winter periods while also having the prestige that hosting an NHL team such as the Kraken can bring their marketing department. 

But it isn’t easy. The Kraken require private rooms for meetings, team meals, player medical treatments and fitness training. They often need 24-hour room service if arriving in the middle of the night and a strong concierge staff to direct players around town so precious down time isn’t squandered.

Dunn brings a portable steamer with him to make sure his clothes stay wrinkle free. Both Dunn and Montour said the team’s abolition of its prior suits-only policy when traveling has actually caused them to pack more clothes on trips as they try to have ample outfits and look somewhat fashion conscious for waiting photographers when they arrive at arenas.  

“I’m one to pack quite a bit just to make sure I have enough,” Montour said. “Also, if I’m in a city, I’ll bring a bigger suitcase just for shopping and if I’m out trying to get something for the kiddos.” 

McCann said his suitcase is mostly stuffed with supplements and his compression socks and clothing, leaving sparse room for a huge wardrobe.

“I always try to pack as light as possible,” he said.   

Still, all three players enjoy indulging at their choice of nationwide restaurants once they drag themselves out of their hotel bed.McCann has favorite sushi spots in Vancouver from when he first played there as well as in Toronto where he trains in summertime. 

Montour likes trying new places, especially in New York, Chicago, Montreal and especially Las Vegas where he’ll try to bring along larger gatherings of up to a dozen teammates. 

Dunn’s all-time favorite was a visit a few years back with defensive partner Adam Larsson as well as defensemen Justin Schultz and Brian Dumoulin to a Michellin star restaurant called Alinea in Chicago where award winning chef Grant Achatz has been recognized for his pioneering “molecular gastronomy” and progressive American cuisine. 

“There’s nothing better than road meals,” Dunn said. “I mean, Seattle has great restaurants but we get spoiled on the road.” 

Which is a positive he and other Kraken players can focus on this coming season of extensive travel quite unlike what they’d normally experience. 

“For me, it’s just another day,” Dunn said of life on the road. “Pack my suitcases and sometimes you wake up and don’t really know where you are for a second. You can’t find the bathroom in the middle of the night. But that’s a lifestyle I’m accustomed to.”