Seattle Kraken rookie center Matty Beniers was among those taking home the hardware on Monday night in Nashville. His story of the night is here and at the bottom of the page we’ve re-posted our exclusive one-on-one with him after he won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie-of-the-year. There’s more formal wording to the award, but that’s essentially the gist of it.
Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol finished third in the voting for the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach-of-the-year, but was honored to be a finalist. Details on Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery’s win are included in the Beniers link above.
As Hakstol pointed out Sunday and any NHL head coach would reiterate, just like for the players, coaching is a team effort.
““I can’t say enough about our staff with (assistants) Paul McFarland, with “Leachy” (Jay Leach), with “Lowz” (Dave Lowry), Tim (Ohashi) and Brady (Morgan), those two, the video guys don’t get a lot of of the spotlight, but they sure are a big part of it,” Hakstol said. “And (goalie coach) Stevie Briere was new with us this year and our goaltending really solidified and stabilized, and was a big part of our success throughout the regular season and playoffs.”
That group will be back. The same can’t necessarily be said for all of the Kraken players, and we’ll have more on that as the week unfolds.
Kraken, NHL Day Off
After a busy Monday night at the Nashville honky tonks on Broadway, the league higher-ups take a brief pause from the formalities in Tennessee on Tuesday, but will back with the next big event on Wednesday evening. That of course would be the 1st-round of the NHL Draft.
Connor Bedard, a North Vancouver, BC native and the leading scorer of all of major junior hockey for the Regina Pats in the Western Hockey League is a lock to go 1st-overall. Chicago Blackhawks fans have already snapped up thousands of season tickets since their team won the NHL Draft Lottery.
Unless they pull off a deal, the Seattle Kraken have the 20th-overall pick in the 1st round. Rounds 2-thru-7 unfold on Thursday when the Kraken have nine more picks, three of those in the 2nd-round and two of them in the 6th.
McJesus
Some religious fundamentalists would be upset with that nickname, but that’s what some in Alberta use to refer to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
And as much as it’s easy for Seattle fans to dislike him because he’s a Kraken foe in the Pacific Division, it’s hard not to like his maturity and unselfish approach.
Oh, and his skill.
McDavid won the Hart Trophy as the player “deemed most valuable to his team”, the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player in the NHL as voted by his peers, the Rocket Richard Trophy for the most goals in the league (64), and the Art Ross Trophy as the overall leading scorer (153 points).
“That makes me think about my teammates, that makes me think about my past teammates as well, everybody that I’ve played with or I continue to play with,” McDavid said. “It just as easily could have been (Leon Draisaitl) standing on the stage as well, he’s that good. Obviously, playing with a special power-play unit, I think about those guys and just the entire group. I wouldn’t be standing up there without each and every single one of them, and I truly mean that, because everybody brings something to that group and has brought something to me as a person, and that’s players past and present.”
We Have A Trade To Report
The Boston Bruins dumped what remained of Taylor Hall’s contract, two more years at $6-million per, plus the rights to about-to-be unrestricted free agent forward Nick Foligno, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for mostly-minor-league defensemen Ian Mitchell and big Alec Regula.
Speaking of Prospects:
— Seattle Kraken of the Future: Kole Lind
— Seattle Kraken of the Future: Ryker Evans
— Seattle Kraken of the Future: Jani Nyman
