Analysis: Seattle Kraken will miss NHL playoffs again. What’s next?

Now that there’s no more glimmer of hope, the eulogies to the 2024-25 Seattle Kraken can safely begin. They knew how to rally, but never truly contended.

The measure of a successful NHL season is a playoff berth. As of Saturday, the Kraken’s fate is sealed in another forgettable season with eight games left in it. They’re playing some of their best hockey this season lately, far too late.

“Today, we’re mathematically eliminated, but the rest of the way doesn’t change for us,” coach Dan Bylsma said after Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.

The franchise made a coaching change last summer. The team’s original bench boss, Dave Hakstol, was fired one season after he was a coach of the year finalist. Bylsma was promoted after two successful seasons at the helm of the Kraken’s American Hockey League affiliate.

Not only did the Kraken miss the playoffs again, but similar to a tepid inaugural season, they were out of contention before the season was half over. During the same December-January stretch where Seattle was heading off on a record run in 2023-24, backstopped by rising star goalie Joey Daccord, they dropped 11 of 15 in 2024-25.

The Kraken’s best record was 4-2. Alarm bells screeched the week of Thanksgiving, when Seattle dropped three of four in regulation against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, both of whom are in the middle of long rebuilds. Was that really the caliber of teams Seattle was among this season?

As it turns out, yes. The Sharks are still in distant, dead last, but the Kraken could easily finish behind the Ducks, who are four points ahead with two games in hand.

It’s feast and famine in the Western Conference, home to four of the five worst records in the league, but the postseason cutoff is a whole 10 points higher than the East. The New York Rangers slid into the second wild-card spot in the East Saturday night with 77 points, while the St. Louis Blues are in the same place in the West at 87.

To be clear, at 68 points, Seattle would be out in either conference. At times, the 2024-25 Kraken were the comeback kings, erasing nine multigoal leads and counting. It highlighted the disparity between their slow starts and frantic finishes and hinted at what they were theoretically capable of, if they put together a 60-minute effort.

A top talking point throughout the season was the lack of consistency. Stringing together good periods and grinding out wins are what separates the playoff teams from the rest.

The Kraken were just OK in most major categories. Their most consistent scorer through four years of existence, Jared McCann, has had a rough go of it with an uncharacteristic 18 goals and 52 points. Still, the goals per game are up from fourth-worst 2.61 per game on average to exactly three, which puts the Kraken almost dead center among the league’s 32 teams. But goals allowed are also up, from a ninth-best 2.83 to 3.23.

The power play sits 23rd at 19.2% efficiency. The penalty kill is 22nd, finishing off 76.5% of chances.

The buzzy offseason pickup was a high-scoring defenseman that complemented an already high-scoring defense. Brandon Montour is one goal away from a career-high 17, and the Kraken are third in defenseman goals (43) per StatMuse. Montour was as advertised, but was never going to fix the scoring troubles on his own.

Chandler Stephenson’s free agent signing so soon after Montour’s was something of a surprise. He looks to have settled in as the season has gone on and took some of the pressure off fellow center Matty Beniers, again as anticipated. But he’s hit 20 goals once and 60-plus points twice, and expecting much more on a team that was already struggling to score was, then and now, unrealistic.

The goaltending could have been better, but it wasn’t the main issue. Based on starts, Daccord was the runaway No. 1 goaltender in early November, and backup Philipp Grubauer was even reassigned to the minors in late January while sporting a 5-15-1 record. Daccord’s stats were among the league’s best at the time. They’ve fallen off recently after 51 appearances, which is tied for 11th most in the NHL and going forward, perhaps too many.

Jordan Eberle was named the Kraken’s second-ever captain before the season opener. He got off to a hot start, scoring six goals in his first eight games. A month in, he was set to miss half the season following pelvis surgery. With that notable exception, the Kraken have been relatively lucky with injuries.

Among the positives: the in-season trade pickups are looking good. Winger Kaapo Kakko fit right in and started producing at a steady clip, by Kraken standards. Meanwhile Mikey Eyssimont is a prototypical fourth-liner who knows the role and does it well, as opposed to a middle-six forward who fell down there and looks a little lost.

Eeli Tolvanen is a 20-goal scorer for the first time in his career. Shane Wright’s true rookie season has had its ups and downs but has probably matched reasonable expectations. The front office called it at the trade deadline and made the commonsense moves, offloading pending unrestricted free agents Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev for good returns. Though the timing leaves something to be desired, the Kraken have played some of their most consistent hockey in the past few weeks.

“Since the deadline, we’ve been focused on playing our best hockey, and proven to each other, proven to the fans, what kind of team we are,” Bylsma said.

In a recent radio interview, Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke offered up that he thinks the ownership has faith in general manager Ron Francis and the bones of the team. “I don’t think this is a rebuild,” he said.

They won’t be playing, but it should be an active summer for the franchise. At the moment they’re set to land a top-five draft pick, and have trade capital they can use to acquire proven scorers — really do it right this time.