Game To Be Played At B.C. Home Of Vancouver's AHL Farm Team
Above Photo: The first meeting between Seattle and Vancouver, a 4-1 Kraken victory at Climate Pledge Arena last Thursday.
Call off the search parties. Cancel the photo on the side of milk cartons. Seattle Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn participated in the team's optional skate Tuesday at Kraken Community Iceplex.
Dunn hadn't made an appearance at training camp on Sunday, or at Monday's 4-1 home pre-season loss to the Edmonton Oilers. As of this writing, the Kraken haven't provided an explanation. But his appearance back on ice at KCI suggests whatever the reason, it's not a serious concern.
The Kraken are back in action tonight in Abbotsford, BC against the Vancouver Canucks. Abbotsford Centre is home to the Canucks' AHL affiliate. The 7 pm faceoff won't be televised, but can be seen at seattlekraken.com. Seattle defeated Vancouver in their first meeting, 4-1 at Climate Pledge Arena on Sept. 28.
Transitional Phase
Coach Dave Hakstol overall has been pleased with camp to this point, and spoke about the goals for the final two preseason games. "We're transitioning to that last week. There's a lot on the line for guys working for a couple of those last spots."
That applies directly to prospects Tye Kartye, Ryker Evans, and Shane Wright, still fighting to make the opening night roster.
All are likely to see time in Seattle at some point this season. Hakstol says their short-term fate - sticking with the Kraken, or a ticket to AHL Coachella Valley - will depend on their full body of work.
"You have to come in and take a job," said the coach. "It's not a one-day performance, or one-day evaluation. You can see that over the duration of camp, throughout exhibition games, throughout practices. It's also a matter of where your skill set fits into what we're doing as a team."
Even star players have work to complete. "You've got veterans who know their part of it; they know where they fit, and they're trying to get themselves ready. The challenge is to push through on that for the rest of camp."
Kraken Tickets In Demand
Among the benefits of a 46-win, 100-point season is creating demand for your product. On the eve of the 2023-24 season, the Kraken feature prominently in statistics from ticket resale marketplace StubHub.
The Kraken were number one in StubHub's "Trending NHL Teams" category. Compared with figures for the 2022-23 season, secondary market sales of Kraken tickets are up 790%.
Seattle ranks seventh among NHL teams in cumulative StubHub ticket sales for the 2023-24 season. And the Winter Classic on New Year's Day at T-Mobile Park, pitting the Kraken against the Vegas Golden Knights, is the reseller's top single NHL game.
Last Word From Edmonton
Seattle will close out its pre-season in Edmonton on Friday, a rematch of Monday's 4-1 Oilers victory at CPA. The score didn't reflect the play, with Seattle recording a 33-14 shots advantage, scoring on the power play, and diffusing all four Edmonton man advantages.
As the Edmonton Sun put it, the Oilers were "outplayed badly and outshot even worse."