Kraken Set To Resume ‘Fun’ Playoff Push 

Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz knows all about playing meaningful hockey this time of year and can’t wait to get going on the final 26 games of his team’s schedule. 

“I mean, it’s exciting,” he said. “It’s fun to come to the rink. It’s good to be in this position. We’ve worked hard. We’ve had our ups and downs throughout the year and now we’re in a good spot like lots of other teams.” 

The Kraken practiced Sunday morning after most players watched Team USA defeat Team Canada 2-1 in overtime to capture gold at the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina. But as the final credits rolled on the closing ceremonies of those games, the Kraken were gearing up for a Monday departure for Dallas and a Wednesday night resumption of their season after a three-week pause.  

Schwartz won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and was part of the Kraken’s run deep into the second playoff round in 2023. He’d much rather be in this position right now than counting down the weeks until summer vacation as the Kraken were largely doing at this time the previous two campaigns. 

But there’s also the matter of the “lot of other teams” Schwartz mentioned that are also bunching up the standings with playoff hopes in an unusual year of parity throughout the league. That means the Kraken can’t waste any of their remaining 26 games working out the kinks of their prolonged absence. 

“We don’t have that time,” Schwartz said. “Just with how tight the standings are and playing every other day. You’ve got to be ready from the get-go. And we will be.”

Eeli Tolvanen and Kaapo Kakko were the lone Kraken players not at Sunday’s workout, having just won a bronze medal for Finland on Saturday against Slovakia. Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer was back with the Kraken on Sunday, fresh off playing for Team Germany and getting knocked out in the initial playoff round. 

After two days in Dallas and a Tuesday practice there, the Kraken resume their post-break schedule against the Stars at American Airlines Center. They’ve never won a regulation game in that building, managing a lone regular season overtime victory there in March 2023 and then again in OT two months later in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal.  

But playing in their favor this time is that Dallas sent seven players to the Winter Olympics and six of them made the medal round. Netminder Jake Oettinger won gold as a Team USA backup, defenseman Thomas Harley took silver for Canada, and four other top Dallas players, forwards Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindel, and defenseman Miro Heiskanen, all captured bronze for Finland. 

That means it could take some time for those half dozen players to overcome jet lag and reintegrate with the Stars, compared to just the two bronze medalists for the Kraken still not back yet.  The Kraken will take any help they can get in Dallas, especially as they travel to St. Louis for a Thursday night affair that completes the back-to-back set. 

They’ll be back at home next Saturday for the first time in four weeks, taking on Vancouver, then embark on a March stretch of 15 games in 31 days.   

“It’s fun to play in high-pressure situations,” said Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn, who was part of that Cup-winning St. Louis team alongside Schwartz. “Every game, if you’re winning, you climb into the playoffs and if you lose you kind of slip out. So, just knowing how close it is, it’s a fun time of the year, and there’s no better feeling than being in a playoff fight.” 

Realistically, at 63 points with 26 games to play, the Kraken need to capture roughly 32 more points to fall into the 95-point range of a typical Western Conference wild-card team. They’ve averaged 1.13 points per game to this stage, and maintaining that would leave them just shy at 92 points. 

But as mentioned, this season has been atypical with parity, and the closeness of the Pacific Division standings could allow the Kraken make the postseason at fewer than 95 points. That said, the Kraken spent the six weeks leading into the break going 15-6-3. Maintain that pace, they’d finish with 99 points and very likely make the playoffs. 

“I thought we were really good at just staying on teams,” Dunn said of the Kraken’s play ahead of the break. “I think most of our wins were really just due to the character of our hockey team. It wasn’t just relying on one situation. We all rely on each other every single night in a lot of situations.”

So, there’s plenty at stake for the Kraken and not just in getting beyond the regular season. The difference between a top 3 finish in the division versus a wild-card spot could be huge in terms of the opening round opponent. That’s because the three Central Division leaders, Colorado, Minnesota and Dallas, have the three best records in the conference. So, the wild card teams would very likely be drawing one of those three behemoths as a first-round opponent. 

The Kraken have never had this strong a shot at a top 3 divisional spot this deep into a schedule. They’ll enter play on Wednesday in a third-place tie with Anaheim, but holding the tiebreaker based on regulation and overtime wins. And they sit just one point behind the second place Edmonton Oilers, with a game in-hand and five points behind first place Vegas – also with a game in-hand on the Golden Knights.  

As for the wild card spots, they trail the Utah Mammoth by one point with a game in-hand and are three points up on the Los Angeles Kings as the closest team threatening their ability to nail down at least a second wild-card berth. 

If anything, the break gave the Kraken a chance to recover from their bruising grind of 17 games in 31 days in January. They enter the stretch run the healthiest they’ve been in some time and have had a week of practice to help players round into game shape. 

“It’s been nice just having practice days, getting out there and feeling the vibe,” Kraken centerman Matty Beniers said Sunday. “We’re working on something new every day. We’ve had basically a full team. We’re obviously missing Tolvy and Kaap, but we’ll get them back very soon.”

Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said it’ll be a matter of easing Tolvanen and Kakko back into things given the likelihood they’ll feel some jet lag ahead of the Dallas game. Otherwise, he felt his players had been “dialed in” at practice the past week even if exhibiting some “fatigue” during scrimmages and they worked to get back into game shape. 

“Moving forward here, it will be interesting to see where we’re at,” Lambert said. 

Indeed, the Kraken could make or break their playoff chances the next few weeks given how game-ready they are from the start. As Schwartz and others mentioned, they don’t have any games to throw away on conditioning, given how tight the standings are. 

“It’s a very important six weeks here and everybody knows that,” Schwartz said. “But it’s also the most fun time of the year. When you’re right in the mix, every point, every game, and every day means so much. So, it’s exciting and we all know that. You can just tell with our mindset and our preparation that guys are ready and excited.”