Forget funky formulas and worrying about everyone else in the Western Conference. The Kraken’s mathematical approach to making the playoffs is actually quite simple.
Here’s the season ending point total for the 2nd wild card team in the Western Conference each of the last four non-Covid affected seasons:
2023 – Winnipeg Jets – 95 points
2022 – Nashville Predators – 97 points
2019 – Colorado Avalanche – 90 points
2018 – Colorado Avalanche – 95 points
In the Eastern Conference the numbers for those four seasons were 92, 100, 98, and 97, with 92 being the most recent.
Average it all together and you get 94.5, which seems like a fair cut-off considering the slower point pace for the pack in the west this season. Let’s call it 94.
Kraken Demands
The Kraken have 52 points with 32 games to play. To get to 94 points they’d need to go the equivalent of 21 wins and 11 losses. Given their propensity of losing after regulation, 10 OT and shoot-out losses thus far, tied for the 2nd most in the NHL, let’s say Seattle drops four more games after 60 minutes.
With that rate in mind, the Kraken, if they don’t go 21-and-11, would have to go 19-9-and-4 to get to 94 points.
Essentially, Seattle needs to win 2 out of every 3 games it plays.
That’s the simplest way to tackle it and it’s actually doable if the team remains healthy.
Our pal and former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau used to approach things with a “win the week” mentality when he was guiding teams. Don’t get overwhelmed with the next month or the big point totals, just win the week.
That fits here. Go 2-and-1 every week and the Kraken very likely make the playoffs. Small bites.
Don’t worry about who else does what or who Seattle has to hop over at this point, just worry about getting to 94 points. Or even better, 95.
That’s it. No trigonometry required.
Earlier Kraken Stuff:
— Blown Opportunity: Kraken Lose 2-0 To Sharks
— Kraken: The Big Impact Of A Tiny NHL Schedule
