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Jamie Oleksiak Suspended Three Games

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4:00 PM: The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Oleksiak will serve a three-game suspension for his hit to the head on Alexeyev. He will be eligible to return when the Kraken take on the Winnipeg Jets on December 18th.

9:16 AM: It will be a busy day for the Department of Player Safety today.  After previously announcing a hearing for Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner, they also announced (Twitter link) that they will have a hearing today with Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak.

The veteran defender received a match penalty in the second period yesterday for a hit to the head on Washington blueliner Alexander Alexeyev.  Alexeyev, who recorded his first career point earlier in the game, left with an upper-body injury and did not return.  A clip of the hit can be seen here courtesy of NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich (Twitter link).

Oleksiak has been suspended once before in his career back in 2016.  Notably, that was a two-game ban for an illegal check to the head, the same issue he’s being looked at for here.  Seattle isn’t in action today with their next contest coming Sunday against Florida so if they want, the league can hold off on a decision for any potential supplementary discipline until tomorrow.

Shane Wright Loaned To Team Canada For World Juniors

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Dec 8: As expected, the Kraken have officially loaned Wright to Team Canada.

Dec 7: Seattle Kraken top prospect Shane Wright is expected to report to Team Canada’s selection camp for the 2023 World Junior Championship tomorrow, per TSN’s Darren Dreger.

When Wright wasn’t named to Canada’s selection camp roster announced Monday, some eyebrows were raised. But Canada could not add him to their roster until the Kraken loaned him there, and after the team’s plan of getting Wright back into a game after his AHL conditioning stint, it appears that’s exactly what Seattle will do.

The 2022 fourth-overall pick scored his first NHL goal last night, making it two points in eight games with the Kraken. Appearing in five games with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, he sniped four goals in just five games, proving he belongs in professional hockey.

Yet the Kraken don’t have a choice in where they send him long-term this year: it’s either the NHL or juniors, given his age and the NHL-CHL transfer agreement. Given Wright’s limited role on the team, and with Seattle sitting pretty in a playoff spot, it seems Wright is destined to return to junior hockey when the tournament concludes.

Wright joins an offense loaded with talent, including defenseman Brandt Clarke, who was loaned to Team Canada by the Los Angeles Kings just hours ago.

Injury Notes: Canadiens, Blues, Brodin

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The Montreal Canadiens will be without defenseman David Savard and forward Sean Monahan when they take on the Seattle Kraken tonight. Per the team, Savard is dealing with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. At the same time, Monahan has a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated when the team returns to Montreal after their road trip concludes tonight.

Savard is second among Canadiens defensemen this season in points (eight) and average time on ice (22:17). While his defensive play hasn’t been what it was during the end of his time in Columbus, he’s a vital minute-muncher on a youthful Montreal defense. His usage is the highest it’s been in more than five years, so it’ll be testing for the Habs rookies to see if they can handle some increased minutes in his absence. Monahan is also in the middle of a well-documented resurgence, sitting in fourth place on the Habs with 17 points in 25 games this year. He’s also been great in the faceoff circle, winning over 55% of his draws and leading the team in total faceoff wins (177).

  • While the St. Louis Blues are on their way to a convincing road win on Long Island, they did it without a pair of key players in winger Pavel Buchnevich and defenseman Torey Krug. Buchenvich was out with a lower-body injury, while Krug missed the game with an upper-body injury. Head coach Craig Berube noted pre-game that both players need further evaluations before “knowing whether the injuries would be more short-term or long-term.”
  • Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason said today that although defenseman Jonas Brodin won’t make his return to the lineup tomorrow, the Swede looked “great” today and is close to returning. Brodin, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, has missed a combined five games this year with this injury and an earlier illness. While known for his defensive prowess, he’s still in the middle of a down year offensively, with just four assists in 19 games.

 

Seattle Kraken Recall Shane Wright

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With his conditioning stint over, Shane Wright is back in the NHL – for now. The young forward scored four goals in five games during his time with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, a move that was only allowed after he faced five consecutive healthy scratches in the NHL. He has now been recalled just in time for a game against the Montreal Canadiens, if the team decides to put him in the lineup.

(UPDATE: Head coach Dave Hakstol has confirmed to reporters including Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times that Wright will play against the Canadiens.)

Wright, 18, can play in two more NHL contests without burning the first year of his entry-level contract, and you can be sure he wants one of them to come against Montreal. After long being expected to go first overall in the 2022 draft, Wright was passed over by the Canadiens in favor of Juraj Slafkovsky, before seeing his name drop two more spots to finally come off the board fourth to Seattle.

Later today, Hockey Canada will be announcing their group for the upcoming World Junior Championship, which could be another option for the young forward. Playing at the tournament could keep him fresh without forcing the Kraken to send him back to the OHL. Once they do that, there is no recalling him, and there has been some debate over whether the team wants him to play for Kingston (the team that holds his rights) at all. In January, trade restrictions lift in the OHL, meaning Wright could be dealt to a different organization, one that the Kraken are comfortable sending him back to.

For now, though, he’s back in the big leagues and earning the NHL portion of his two-way contract.

Latest On Vince Dunn

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  • As part of his larger piece looking at potential RFAs, LeBrun also dove into the contract situation regarding Vince Dunn and the Seattle Kraken. The 26-year-old blueliner is currently scoring at a 57-point pace and is playing over 23 minutes per night. Dunn is currently playing on a $4MM cap hit, and will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent before being able to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024. While the Kraken already have significant dollars pledged to their 2023-24 team, they should have the room on their books to be able to sign Dunn to the sort of major extension his play warrants.

Francis: Kraken To Decide Wright's Future After He Plays Following His Conditioning Stint

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Going into the season, Kraken GM Ron Francis had indicated that the plan was for rookie Shane Wright to spend the full year with Seattle.  However, some early struggles resulted in several healthy scratches, enough in a row to the point where it allowed him to go to AHL Coachella Valley on a conditioning stint.  In an appearance on the Got Yer’ Back podcast (video link), Francis indicated that the original plan might be changing.  Wright will play two more games with the Firebirds and then will be recalled and put into the Kraken’s lineup with a decision on what’s next for him to be made after evaluating his performance post-recall.  However, he can only play in two more games before officially burning the first year of his entry-level deal so that evaluation and decision will have to be made fairly quickly.

Wayne Simmonds, Zach Sanford Clear Waivers

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Nov 23: While Hellberg was claimed yet again, both Simmonds and Sanford have cleared and can be sent to the minor leagues.

Nov 22: The NHL waiver wire is busy today, with three names available for claim. Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets reports that Wayne Simmonds of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Zach Sanford of the Nashville Predators, and Magnus Hellberg of the Seattle Kraken have all been placed on waivers.

For Simmonds, this isn’t much of a surprise. The 34-year-old has already passed through waivers once this season in early October. No longer a regular in the Toronto lineup, he has bounced up and down between the NHL and AHL whenever necessary, playing in just four games to this point. He’ll likely continue to do the same thing, but needed to have his waiver clock reset after 30 days on the active roster had passed.

Hellberg, meanwhile, will just have to hope he doesn’t have to move again. The veteran netminder signed with the Seattle Kraken but when the team tried to waive him early in the year, the Ottawa Senators grabbed him while they dealt with goaltending issues. While he was taken back by the Kraken, he hasn’t actually played for them yet and is now at risk of another claim. Given his success in the KHL and .935 save percentage in one game with Ottawa, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Hellberg on his way to a new team tomorrow.

It’s Sanford that is somewhat surprising among the three players, as this will be his first time on waivers. The 28-year-old signed a one-year, $850K contract with the Predators in the offseason after splitting last year between the Senators and Winnipeg Jets. In eight games so far he has just two points, and saw fewer than 13 minutes in last night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. Notably, he took an interference penalty in a tie game with only 2:52 remaining that could have easily cost the Predators the game, though they would eventually kill it off and win in a shootout.

Because of his size, inexpensive contract, and history of success in the league – Sanford scored 16 goals and 30 points in 58 games during the 2019-20 season – there’s a reasonable argument to be made for a team to claim him. If he isn’t taken, though, clearing waivers will give the Predators a bit more roster flexibility.

Shane Wright Assigned To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that forward Shane Wright has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, on a conditioning loan. Yesterday, we covered that this move might be coming, and now it’s been made official.

Wright, 18, has been a healthy scratch for five straight Kraken games, which opened up the possibility of this move. Per the NHL-CHL agreement, Wright cannot be outright assigned to the AHL. For prospects like him who were developed in the CHL, the choice is typically between sending the prospect back to the CHL for another season or keeping them in the NHL.

With Wright, those restrictions have placed the Kraken in a bind. The Kraken did not believe simply sending Wright back to the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs would be the best option for his development, and opted to keep him on their NHL roster. But with the Kraken off to a hot start, Wright struggled to earn coach Dave Hakstol’s trust and has been sheltered in a highly limited role in the games he’s played in.

Unable to assign him to the AHL outright, the Kraken have elected this highly unorthodox strategy for Wright. He’ll be able to spend up to two weeks in Coachella Valley, a period that will likely lead into Wright being sent to Team Canada’s World Junior Championship camp.

That tournament ends in early January, and at that point, the Kraken will be faced with another choice.

They could elect to put him back on the NHL roster with the hope that he’ll be in a better position to contribute, or he can be sent back to the OHL. Since he has not yet skated in nine NHL games, the Kraken won’t have burned a year off of his entry-level deal.

Perhaps the most important factor determining if Wright heads back to the OHL after the World Juniors is what team holds his rights. Kingston hasn’t been great this season, and they currently stand in the middle of the pack in the OHL Eastern Conference standings.

It’s possible that Wright’s OHL rights are traded early in the new year, which could enhance the likelihood that GM Ron Francis and the Kraken elect the OHL route for the rest of the season.

Either way, the most important aspect of this news is that a clear, concrete plan is starting to come together regarding Wright’s developmental future. Given how chaotic his early tenure in Seattle felt for many fans, this is most definitely a positive development for everyone invested in the success of the Kraken’s top prospect.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Shane Wright

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It hasn’t been the start to his career that many thought it would be for Shane Wright. At times thought to be the consensus number one overall pick in the 2022 draft, Wright slipped to number four, selected by the Seattle Kraken. Given Seattle’s continued push to build and add more veteran scoring to the lineup and the state of Wright’s development, a return to the OHL seemed possible, if not likely, at the start of this season. Instead, the Kraken elected to keep Wright around. That decision wasn’t what has raised many eyebrows though, instead Seattle’s choice to scratch Wright in a majority of their games and give him little ice time when they have played him, has drawn some confusion from around the league.

Seattle Kraken Activate Philipp Grubauer

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The Seattle Kraken have activated goaltender Philipp Grubauer off of injured reserve. In a corresponding move, defenseman Gustav Olofsson has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Grubauer, 30, was placed on injured reserve on October 25th after suffering an injury during a game against the Colorado Avalanche, his former team. After a moderate absence, he is now healthy and ready to return to the ice.

Complicating Grubauer’s return, though, is the current state of the Kraken and the current performance of the man signed to be Grubauer’s backup: Martin Jones. The Kraken currently sit fifth place in the Western Conference, and have a solid 9-5-3 record, with seven of those wins coming in their last ten games. Jones’ play has been a major part of that, and he at the moment is giving the Kraken some of the best goaltending in their brief franchise history.

Last season, the poor play in net was one of the major reasons the Kraken were among the NHL’s worst teams. Grubauer was perhaps the worst starting netminder in hockey in 2021-22, posting a nightmarish .889 save percentage in 55 games. Backup Chris Driedger didn’t fare much better with a .899 of his own, and this season it’s been more of the same for Grubauer. In four games this season, he has a 3.70 goals-against-average and a .860 save percentage.

In contrast, Jones has posted a .912 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against-average. So the simple answer with Grubauer returning is to maintain Jones’ starring role.

But complicating the situation, and potentially necessitating a different answer from that simple one, is the contract status of each goalie.

The Kraken have significant dollars tied to Grubauer, as he makes $5.9MM each year for the next five seasons. Jones, on the other hand, is playing on an expiring one-year, $2MM deal.

So on one hand, the Kraken likely stand to have the best odds of winning as many games as possible if Jones gets the lion’s share of starts.

But on the other, playing Jones and limiting Grubauer’s game action could further damage Grubauer’s confidence, and hurt his odds of bouncing back and playing like the quality netminder he was with the Avalanche and Washington Capitals.

The Kraken are tied to Grubauer, after all, and while Jones operating as a full-on starter may have short-term benefits, it could cost them in the long term.

This could be a difficult decision for head coach Dave Hakstol to make. But since coaches are often the first to fall if a team hits a rough patch, they typically take the “win the game in front of you” approach to roster decisions, which is entirely reasonable. So with that in mind, it seems that Grubauer’s return won’t take a major chunk out of Jones’ workload.

But regardless of what the situation looks like now, Grubauer’s return to the Kraken roster and how he is deployed is certainly something worth tracking in the coming weeks.

Picture courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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