Rookie Matty Beniers, Coach Dave Hakstol Are Awards Finalists
Two Seattle Kraken are finalists for NHL honors, to be announced at a ceremony Monday night in Nashville. The NHL Awards will be aired live on TNT.
Kraken center Matty Beniers is considered the favorite to win the Calder Trophy, given to the rookie of the year. Other candidates are Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power, and Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner.
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol is up for the Jack Adams, awarded to the coach of the year. His competition is Lindy Ruff of the New Jersey Devils and Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins.
In this article and another one later today, Hakstol addresses leading the Kraken to a 19-win, 40-point improvement in their second season.
Nautical-Themed Franchise Stayed "Even Keel"
"We felt like we had a great commitment right from day one of training camp all the way through. There was a real purpose to everything that guys were doing on a daily basis that tracks back to (player) leadership. And also, that leadership is empowered by the improvement to the roster.
"From there, our guys did a good job this year staying even keel. Staying positive, having a short-term memory, and being goal-orientated in a short-term sort of way.
"If you look at the streaks that we were able to have on the winning side, that's really impressive. It's impressive because that says guys are staying even-keeled after a win. The flip side to that is we limited any losing streak to three or less, and that's also really important.
"That tells you that the leadership group inside of that dressing room had the ability to stay positive, stay focused, and probably tells you a little bit about their belief in themselves."
Kraken Ship Navigated Without Captain
"I thought for this year, and as we look into the future, if that's the way we decide to go again next year, we have a group that's built really well to be able to do that.
"When you look at the experience and the leaders that's within our dressing room, it's how that group works together and the communication that they have. Their ability to be on the same page, in our opinion, really empowered our group this year. And that group was an extremely effective driving force within our dressing room.
"The things I talked about - staying even keel, staying positive, knowing when to push, knowing when to just take a breath and relax and look at the next challenge - the perspective that our leadership group inside of the dressing room brought to the team this year was really effective."