Coyotes-Kraken Game Postponed
And then there were eight. The NHL has announced another postponement, this time between the Seattle Kraken and Arizona Coyotes. The game tomorrow night will be rescheduled for later this season, after another Seattle player tested positive for coronavirus. As Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times writes, the team abruptly canceled practice today–Yanni Gourde had already taken the ice–as they waited for confirmation on the positive result.
The Kraken canceled practice yesterday as well after Carson Soucy entered the protocol. They will now be silent through the holiday break after their Thursday game against the Calgary Flames was already postponed. Seattle is set to resume in a game against the Vancouver Canucks on December 27.
The Coyotes meanwhile can stay home to welcome in the Tampa Bay Lightning for Thursday night, their last game before the holiday break.
Forty-four games have been postponed this season. Eight remain on the NHL schedule this week.
Seattle Kraken Place Jamie Oleksiak In COVID Protocol
Just prior to puck drop for their game against Edmonton, the Seattle Kraken placed defenseman Jamie Oleksiak in the NHL’s COVID protocol, per a team tweet.
Haydn Fleury will take his place on the team’s top pair alongside captain Mark Giordano for tonight’s game.
It’s a big loss for the Kraken. Oleksiak has played meaningful minutes during the team’s first stretch of games, and he’s contributing offensively as well with a goal and 10 points in 29 games. He, along with Carson Soucy, is the only Kraken with a positive +/- rating.
The 28-year-old defenseman from Toronto is in the first year of a five-year, $23MM deal he signed with the Kraken prior to free agency as the team’s selection from Dallas in the expansion draft.
Two of Seattle’s next four games are postponed, and after tonight, they only have one remaining before the holiday break. If Oleksiak is a confirmed positive, he’d likely return on December 29 against Philadelphia if he’s healthy enough to play.
Yanni Gourde And Riley Sheahan Placed In COVID Protocol
The Kraken will be without the services of one of their top centers for the next little bit as the team announced (Twitter link) that Yanni Gourde has been placed in COVID protocol. His spot on the roster is being taken by Alexander True who was recalled from AHL Charlotte.
Gourde has had a nice start to his first season with Seattle. After recovering quicker than expected from offseason shoulder surgery, he quickly jumped into a permanent spot in the top six. The 29-year-old has six goals and 16 assists in 22 games so far this season, good for third on the team in scoring behind Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle while averaging 18:51 per game, a career-high.
Gourde had become the second Kraken center to enter COVID protocol, joining Colin Blackwell who entered it earlier this week. If subsequent testing reveals a confirmed positive, he’ll have to miss at least the next ten days. However, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link) that center Riley Sheahan has also entered the protocol alongside assistant coach Jay Leach. Sheahan has four points in 19 games this season and also cleared waivers last month.
As for True, he was claimed from San Jose in expansion but has yet to see any action with Seattle this season. He has 18 points in 22 games with AHL Charlotte, a split affiliate with Florida and leads the Checkers in scoring.
Alexander True Recalled From Charlotte; Chris Driedger Activated From IR
- The Kraken have recalled center Alexander True, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 24-year-old was selected from San Jose in expansion but hasn’t seen any NHL action yet this season. Instead, he has been quite productive with Charlotte of the AHL, recording 18 points in 22 games. Later in the day, Seattle announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Chris Driedger has been activated from IR with Joey Daccord being sent to Charlotte in a corresponding move. Injuries have limited Driedger to just five appearances so far this season.
Colin Blackwell Enters COVID Protocol
The Seattle Kraken welcomed captain Mark Giordano back to practice after a stint in the COVID protocol, but it wasn’t a full group for the team today. Colin Blackwell is the latest Kraken to enter the protocol, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The team has not confirmed whether or not Blackwell has tested positive for coronavirus.
Blackwell, 28, has unfortunately played in just eight games for the Kraken this season after starting the year on injured reserve. He was activated a few weeks ago and has three points so far on the year, including an important goal in the Kraken’s win against the Edmonton Oilers last week. He was scratched for the team in their most recent game and has been used sparingly when active, a disappointing result after his impressive 2020-21 campaign.
In 47 games for the New York Rangers, Blackwell scored 12 goals and 22 points, becoming one of the biggest surprises in the league. That ended up putting him on Seattle’s radar, and they made him their expansion selection ahead of some other interesting options. There was scuttle that a trade was involved with that selection, but it never came to pass.
Instead, Blackwell has become just another one of the depth forwards for the Kraken and someone that could potentially find himself on the trade block again in a few months. On an expiring deal that carries a cap hit of just $725K–less than the single-year league minimum–perhaps there will be another team that believes he can do more than play ten minutes a night. For now, he’ll have to stay in the COVID protocol until cleared to return.
The Kraken have also assigned Kole Lind to the minor leagues, according to Hakstol.
Injury Notes: Marner, Oilers, Kraken
After colliding with teammate Jake Muzzin during practice, Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner is “uncertain” for the team’s Saturday game in Minnesota, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Marner left practice early after the hit with medical personnel, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said it was precautionary in nature and that it’s “not looking like anything serious.” Hopefully, that holds true for the red-hot Leafs, who are 15-2-0 in their past 17 games. Marner has six points in his last five games and is fourth on the team with 21 points on the season after a really rough start.
Some other injury notes from around the league:
- The Edmonton Oilers are banged up, especially on left defense with all three regulars out of the lineup. They got some good news today though, as head coach Dave Tippett reports that Darnell Nurse, winger Devin Shore, and goalie Mike Smith all skated today. However, Duncan Keith wasn’t a part of that group and remains sidelined. The team’s handled this recent stretch of adversity well, winners of three straight and a 16-5-0 record overall. The Oilers certainly still want these names back in their lineup though, especially Nurse, who leads the team by a long shot in ice time with 26:06 played per game.
- The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports that the Seattle Kraken’s Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz are both day-to-day, but Schwartz hasn’t skated while Eberle has. The team’s two leading scorers both missed their Wednesday game against the Detroit Red Wings with lower-body injuries. It’s been a tough opening ride for the Kraken, who sit seventh in the Pacific Division with an 8-13-2 record. While they’ve performed above-expected offensively, they’ve had structural and goaltending issues that few foresaw.
Jarnkrok, Driedger Placed On Injured Reserve
It’s not a very happy morning for the Seattle Kraken, as the team places both Calle Jarnkrok and Chris Driedger on injured reserve. To take their roster spots, Kole Lind and Joey Daccord have been recalled from the Charlotte Checkers.
Driedger won two starts for the Kraken just recently, stopping 65 of 70 shots against the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres in their last two games. Losing him to injured reserve will put all the pressure once again on Philipp Grubauer, something that hasn’t been a very good plan this season. Grubauer has a save percentage of just .890 through 17 appearances, though that number has improved in his last few starts as well.
It’s not clear how long the goaltender will be out, but he must miss seven days with the injured reserve placement. It can be retroactive to his last game (Nov 29), but Driedger will have to recover from whatever is bothering him before he takes the net again.
Jarnkrok on the other hand has already been missing games, and this IR placement comes as little surprise. The former Nashville Predators forward has played just 14 games this season and has just two points, never really getting his footing under him before dealing with another minor injury. The 30-year-old will also have to miss seven days, but he last played a week ago already, meaning he’ll be eligible to return whenever he’s healthy enough to do so.
Kraken Recall Riley Sheahan
- The Kraken have recalled center Riley Sheahan from Charlotte of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 29-year-old cleared waivers earlier this month after recording just three points in 14 games with Seattle and got into four games with the Checkers where he picked up a goal and an assist. He’ll take the place of defenseman Mark Giordano on the active roster after he was placed in COVID protocol on Friday.
Kraken Captain Mark Giordano Enters COVID Protocol
Seattle Kraken defenseman Mark Giordano has entered the NHL’s COVID protocol and is unavailable for Friday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, per a team tweet.
The 38-year-old Giordano hasn’t had the dreamiest season with his new Kraken club. He has seven points in 19 games on the season, but none in his last five. He’s seen his ice time dip to 20:52 per game this season, the lowest such mark for him in 12 seasons.
The former Norris Trophy winner was expected to be the biggest name on a strong defense in Seattle, but the team has struggled mightily out of the gate due to unexpectedly poor defense and goaltending. It’s likely that Haydn Fleury draws into the lineup in his place.
Giordano could potentially miss the team’s next five games if he’s absent for 10 days, and would miss four games if he’s absent for seven. Both of those timeframes include matchups against two of the league’s best in the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
New Jersey Devils Claim Nathan Bastian
Welcome back, Nathan. The New Jersey Devils have claimed Nathan Bastian off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, bringing back the player they lost in the expansion draft.
Bastian, 23, never seemed like a player that would make it through waivers, given the mix of size, draft pedigree and relative youth that he brings. A second-round pick in 2016, he played 41 games for the Devils last season, scoring ten points and forming a nice line with longtime teammate Michael McLeod.
While he failed to provide much offense with the Kraken, scoring just one goal and two points in 12 games, Bastian does actually have some upside on that side of the puck. The 6’4″ forward has scored 44 goals in 188 AHL games and even his seven in 60 NHL games show a player who can chip in once in a while.
He’ll now avoid a return to the minor leagues, as the Devils will have to keep him on the active roster. To make room, Jesper Boqvist has been moved to injured reserve retroactive to November 18.
For Seattle, this appears to be another case of wasting an expansion pick. There wasn’t a ton of talent available on the Devils roster, but it seems likely that someone like Andreas Johnsson would have been more valuable, even despite his contract. Now they’ve lost Bastian for nothing (save the small fee a team must pay to claim a player), after just 12 games.