Kraken Calendar
The Kraken made it official on Tuesday, the club’s rookie on-ice camp will run for two days at Kraken Community Iceplex on September 18th and 19th while the team’s regular training camp will begin with scrimmages on September 21st.
Kraken fans are welcome to attend.
A feisty, informal practice scrimmage took place Tuesday morning at KCI. The blue team ended up getting the game winner despite humorous claims of goalie interference. (scrimmage video at bottom, featuring a Jamie Oleksiak goal).
The pick-up game featured almost all of the club’s veterans, including a fit looking forward Andre Burakovsky, coming off last February’s groin injury that ended his season. (separate Burakovsky video link)
After the 90-minute practice and scrimmage was over, veteran Jordan Eberle did end-to-end conditioning (“bag”) skating with Tye Kartye and other young players.
21-year-old Finnish, right-shot defenseman Ville Ottavainen was on hand, as was Coachella Valley Firebirds forward Kole Lind, Finnish Firebirds forward Ville Petman, fellow forward Luke Henman, veteran journeyman forward John Hayden, and Finnish lefty D-man, 23-year-old Peetro Seppala.
Philipp Grubauer, Chris Driedger, Joey Daccord, and Ales Stezka shared time in net. The Burakovsky video features Daccord stopping him on a breakaway.
Canucks Captain
Up the road in BC the Vancouver Canucks named their 15th captain in team history on Monday and it’s none other than 23-year-old defenseman, 5th year pro’ Quinn Hughes.
“Huggy” is under contract for four more years at $7.85-million per season and barring anything unexpected he won’t be going anywhere when that deal is up in 2027. He’s a talented defenseman, the type a team builds around and now he’s the center of the club’s universe.
An old school traditionalist in young skin, Hughes is the correct option with all things considered.
Many expected the choice to be 30-year-old center J.T. Miller, whose substantial presence in the room will remain unaltered with a contract that runs through 2029-’30. There was some thought Swedish forward Elias Pettersson might be the pick, but “Petey” is entering a contract year and negotiations are not ongoing.
J.E.T.S – Jets, Jets, Jets
Another Western Conference club named its captain. The Winnipeg Jets pegged 30-year-old forward Adam Lowry, who just happens to be the son of Seattle Kraken associate coach Dave Lowry.
“When I found out I was pretty excited, almost a little speechless,” Lowry told reporters. “It’s something growing up you kind of can dream about and something that seems almost unattainable. Getting to be a captain of a Canadian NHL team is pretty special and something I’m really looking forward to.”
The Jets are coming off a full season without a player wearing the “C”. Blake Wheeler had it removed in September 2022 and has since been bought out and signed by the New York Rangers.
Winnipeg head coach Rick Bowness made that earlier decision regarding his leadership group and couldn’t be happier with this latest move.
“He’s a true professional, he has total respect from every player on the team, every player around the League and certainly from the coaching staff as well,” Bowness said. “We just feel at this point it’s the right time to name Adam as our captain.”
Lowry made reference to his former NHL playing dad in his comments.
“”To kind of have my father having gone through that experience of having been a captain in a Canadian market and not necessarily being the superstar that’s leading the team, it’s more of a third- and fourth-line guy and you can still find value, lead a team,” Adam said. “You can still bring a team together.”
Dave captained the Calgary Flames for two seasons in the early 2000’s.
Recent Kraken:
— Simmer’s Sunday 9: Kraken Radio? Retirees, HHOFers
— Ex-Kraken Jones Loved Seattle, Faces Rare Challenge
