It was quite a mixed bag of results in the Western Conference wild card race on Tuesday, one that saw the Kraken lose a little more ground.
Bad news regardless of how you slice it.
With the Nashville Predators beating the Ottawa Senators 4-1 and the Los Angeles Kings losing to the Calgary Flames 4-2, the Preds and Kings occupy the two wild card spots with 68 points. “Smashville” has won six straight games.
The Flames, winners of four straight, obviously helped themselves, and although they’re the next closest team to a playoff spot, they’re still five points back of the other two.
The St. Louis Blues, losers to the Winnipeg Jets 4-2, and the Minnesota Wild, 3-2 losers to the Carolina Hurricanes, remained at 62 points, one ahead of the Kraken.
Hypothetically, the Kraken could hop over the Blues and Wild with a single victory, but they’d still have quite a gap to make up to reach the wild card echelon.
FYI: The Blues play in Edmonton against the Oilers on Wednesday, no easy task, and the Wild go head-to-head against the Predators on Thursday, the same night the Kraken are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Kraken Cut-Off
As we pointed out three weeks ago, when one cuts to the chase, the target to get to a playoff spot in the west is a total of 94 or 95 points. Right now, to reach that mark, the Kraken would have to go the equivalent (factoring in potential OT or shoot-out losses) of 17-and-7.
That’s 17 wins and just 7 losses.
Alrightee then.
With just four games remaining on the Kraken calendar between now and the March 8th NHL trade deadline, you’ll be hearing the names Alexander Wennberg, Jordan Eberle, Tomas Tatar, and Justin Schultz popping up a lot more around North American hockey circles. They’re the top four candidates to be moved considering they’re pending unrestricted free agents (UFA).
Seattle GM Ron Francis might even be lured into trading a player who still has term, should the return be hefty enough.
One day at a time as they say, especially when those days are likely numbered.
Earlier Kraken
— “Simmer’s Tuesday 9”, Kraken Make GM Wait; ‘Rogue Podcaster’
