Practice Report: Tanev Leaves a Void

It became official during the middle of the Seattle Kraken practice Monday afternoon. The team announced that forward Brandon Tanev was going to miss the remainder of the regular season due to an ACL injury.
Tanev, 29, was injured in the third period of a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 18 and has not been on the ice since. His loss will hit hard from a production stance. He was sixth in points for the Kraken (9 goals, 6 assists) and had three game-winning goals, two power-play goals and a shorthanded goal.

But the biggest hole that his injury leaves is not something that can be measured.
"It's just such a tough loss," Jordan Eberle said. "It's really hard to lose him but for me, more importantly, in the locker room, he's a leadership guy. He's got a voice in the room, and he brings a lot of energy and a lot of life to the locker room. That's a tough, tough. loss. And I know he's gonna get a speedy recovery and I hope to see him around lots because his presence is big for the whole group."
Head coach Dave Hakstol will have to look for a player or a group of players to make up for the void left by Tanev on ice.
The trickier aspect will be replacing that voice and that leadership in the room. It's something that he says will come organically from the rest of the team.
"We've got good veterans in the dressing room," Hakstol said. "Number one, you support your teammate, and our guys will do that, they'll provide great support for Brandon… other guys have to step into some of those voids and just make sure that leadership wise, we're filling in those spaces."

NHL taking steps to help teams maintain game schedules

Losing both players and games to COVID outbreaks is not unique to the Kraken. Every team in the league is dealing with it and the NHL has stepped in to try and make it easier.
To ensure that the remaining schedule continues as planned, NHL teams will be allowed to carry a taxi squad of six players and can make emergency callups from the American Hockey League if players out because of COVID would force a team to play without a full lineup.
Taxi squads were used during the 2020-2021 season across the league and are planned to last at least through February's NHL All-Star break.
The minimum number of players needed to play a game includes 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders. Any team without sufficient players can recall players from their taxi squad.

Mason Appleton doesn't practice but Jamie Oleksiak and Carson Soucy could return

Appleton, who skated Sunday night, was not available Tuesday due to the COVID-19 protocol but Hakstol hinted that the Kraken - who practiced with just four defensemen - may be getting some welcome news.
"We're hoping that we'll have Oleksiak and Soucy rejoin us (Tuesday)," Hakstol said. "We practiced with four defensemen today which is not an ideal situation as you come off a break and want to get into some systems work, but that's all that we had available. It's a puzzle that everybody is dealing with throughout the league and as players and coaches is our job to be well prepared, regardless of who was available."

Eberle, Colin Blackwell and Will Borgen make it back to Seattle

Some of the absences at Sunday's practice were weather related but the three guys who missed were back on Monday.
"I spent about 10 hours at the airport yesterday with my wife, and my year-and-a-half-old daughter so that wasn't too much fun," Eberle said. "It was a tough day, but we ended up with our flight getting canceled after however many hours it was and then spending so much time in the luggage area just trying to figure out how the heck we're going to get to Seattle. Spent the night back home last night and figured out a way to get here this morning."
Blackwell dealt with canceled flights as well, trying to get back from Wisconsin. He was also looking forward to getting back to Seattle and practicing after spending time in COVID protocol.
"I brought my hockey bag back home for the holiday break," Blackwell said. "So, I was able to skate three or four times, I actually feel pretty good. I've kind of got the cobwebs out but it was good to kind of get into a skate."