Divisional Deep Dive

An expanded NHL regular season will make for a much different and mettle testing October and November than the Kraken have previously been used to.

It isn’t only that the NHL preseason was shortened from six games to four, leaving the front office less time to make key roster decisions. Another huge element to expanding the regular season from 82 to 84 games is that it increases the number of divisional matchups each team must play and that’s going to impact the Kraken significantly early on given they must also work around their November trip to Finland.

The Kraken’s divisional schedule has been frontloaded more than any NHL team except Calgary, leaving them and the Flames to play a league-high 11 of their first 24 contests against Pacific Division foes. Each of those games represents a potential four-point swing in the standings and is at least three more than the number the Kraken have played in their first two-dozen contests the past three seasons.

It starts with four games in six days against the Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary again in the home opener and then the Vegas Golden Knights. The Kraken have never launched a season with four straight divisional games. Last season they played seven such games in their first 24; eight the season before that and seven before that.

This time, nearly 40 percent of their allotted 28 divisional games – all teams now play a balanced schedule of facing each divisional opponent four times -- will be done once the season is just two months old. The NHL is apparently trying to get through plenty of close-travel Pacific games early, which is why that division plays more against itself than any other.

So, given the added importance such games can take on, this will be quite the early litmus test when you also throw in the Finland travel stresses for two games against the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Say what you will about “pillow fights” and the Pacific being weaker than other divisions; which fans and pundits have seemingly done since the Kraken entered the league in 2021.

But ultimately, the Pacific has earned four of the last five Western Conference championships that frame. That includes Vegas making the Cup Final last season after being only three points ahead of the Kraken at the Winter Olympic break. Say what you will, but getting to the playoffs matters and good divisional play can keep you in the race.

A season ago, the Kraken went 16-9-1 against Pacific teams – their best record versus any division – and that success enabled them to hang around the playoff hunt well into March.

They were 12-6-1 against the Pacific when the Winter Olympic break ended with them in a playoff-positioned third place in the division.

Repeating that success won’t be easy, given teams such as the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks are considered to have improved while Vegas is coming off a Cup Finals appearance and Edmonton and Los Angeles both made the playoffs once again. Still, the Kraken success last season did come largely at the expense of the playoff bound Golden Knights and Kings, having taken three of four games from each.

An obvious opponent they’ll need to fare well against if hoping to get off to a solid start this season is the rebuilding Flames, who they’ll have played all four required times within the first five weeks. The teams played only three times last season with the divisional schedule not yet balanced, and the Kraken emerged victorious twice.

They will also need to do better against the Oilers than they did going 1-3-0 a season ago, given they play Edmonton three times in the first two dozen games. Beyond facing the Oilers in Edmonton the season’s second game, they’ll also play a back-to-back with them on the road Nov. 27 and at home Nov. 28.

An interesting note is that the Oilers, bolstered in goal by Cup champion Frederik Andersen after failing to defend their consecutive Western Conference titles, play their first six games against divisional opponents but two fewer such contests than the Kraken over their first 24.

As for other teams, the Kraken took two of three games against San Jose last season, but the Sharks are widely felt to be much improved after adding players such as Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Mason Marchment, and Michael Kesselring to go with a developing young core highlighted by Macklin Celebrini.

In fact, the Kraken and Sharks could start to have quite a rivalry if Trouba and Marchment get up to their instigating ways for San Jose. The Kraken, remember, have brought 6-foot-9, 242-pounder Curtis Douglas in for just those types of situations.

The Kraken already have a simmering rivalry going with the Ducks, which boiled over the past two seasons with plenty of heavy hits and scrums after the whistle. Two seasons ago, a hard hit by former Kraken forward Tye Kartye left star young Anaheim prospect Leo Carlsson injured – prompting a response last December when Kartye was sucker punched by Anaheim forward Ross Johnson.

Carlsson nearly went to Philadelphia with a record offer sheet this month, but the Ducks matched it and retained their restricted free agent.

The Kraken and Ducks split their four-game series with improved Anaheim making the playoffs and beating Edmonton in the opening round before falling to Vegas.

So, that series of divisional games will be one to watch.

The Canucks have also provided some intense rivalry games for the Kraken over the years despite that series being rather one-sided of late. The Kraken went 3-0-1 against the Canucks last season and extended their road winning streak at Rogers Arena to six games.

We’ll see whether the Canucks, under new head coach Manny Malhotra, try to shake things up a bit. The Kraken face them for the first time on Nov. 19 at Climate Pledge Arena, right after returning from Finland. They play San Jose for the first time two days later on the road and then Anaheim for the first time back at home two days after that.

They won’t face the Kings until a Jan. 19 visit to L.A., which is maybe not so fortunate given the Kraken beat them three of four times last season. Then again, two games were decided by a goal and the other two by just two goals so perhaps it’s good to have the Kraken save some of this divisional intensity for a later date.

As is, they’ll have their hands full.

Some good news: The last time the Kraken played an early divisional schedule like this was back in the 2022-23 season when they had 10 such games in their first 24 – one fewer than now. Back then, the Kraken parlayed an early 7-2-1 divisional record into a 100-point season in which they made the playoffs for the only time in franchise history.

That early run built up plenty of cushion for inevitable slumps that followed.

Can the same thing happen this time? Check back in on Dec. 1.