CALGARY, Alberta – This final week of Kraken preseason games that began with a loss here on Monday night is meant to be more than just a proving ground for final roster hopefuls.
The Kraken set out for their road game against the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome, a 4-1 defeat that was their first this preseason, hoping to make this trip a player bonding exercise missing from last season’s team. With their next game scheduled a three-hour bus ride north in Edmonton on Friday night, the Kraken will remain in Alberta all week mostly at a resort lodge in the Rocky Mountain town of Kananaskis.
Once there, after dissecting what went right and wrong against the Flames, they’ll partake in a host of activities that include hiking, biking, golf and team meals and meetings in preparation for the season to come. Players will also have a spa at their disposal for any down time, though it isn’t mandatory that they use it.
“Time will tell, but I feel like it’s an opportunity to get the group to get closer and have everyone get to know each other better,” said Kraken center Alexander Wennberg, who set up Matty Beniers for a one-timed power play goal in the third period to get their team on the board in a game they trailed 3-0. “i think that’s just going to help us. I mean, on the ice you see teamwork. Everyone fighting for one another, battling and blocking shots. And if you have that connection on the ice, it’s going to translate to off the ice.”
Beniers blocked a shot in this game, taking a stinger off the inside of his knee from teammate Brandon Tanev’s younger brother, Chris, on the opening Flames goal in the first period. Beniers limped off the ice in obvious pain, but stayed in the game and eventually scored his third preseason goal.
Otherwise, the main power play forwards Wennberg, Beniers, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky — with Vince Dunn manning the point while Justin Schultz sat out — had their moments in fits and starts. Wennberg said the cohesion is still coming together for that group and much of the team as a whole despite a 4-1-0 preseason record.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said his team “didn’t have any legs” in being outshot 9-4 in the opening period by a Flames team with far more regulars than deployed last week at Climate Pledge Arena. Hakstol has a slew of meetings sprinkled throughout the upcoming week of team-building.
“We really have to compartmentalize and know when it’s time to work and get the job done and then have some time to relax and spend some time together.”
The Kraken didn’t do that last season due to a flare-up of the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the NHL and teams to restrict off-ice interactions between players. Kraken general manager Ron Francis has long said the lack of early team bonding played a role in the team’s struggles.
Hakstol admitted there isn’t any immediate translation between team-bonding exercises and on-ice success. But it’s still important, he added: “Because the tighter you are as a group, the better you have a chance to become. Does it guarantee anything? No. But in this game, you work hard together to go through some tough situations and good situations. And you want to be a tight-knit group.”
At least the group emerged intact from this game to make it to the next few days of activities.
Beniers emerged from his shot blocking attempt “pretty mad” to where he channeled the anger to perform despite the pain. He’d missed some one-timed chances from that right circle spot in recent games and “didn’t want to have that happen again.”
Morgan Geekie also threw a brief scare into the team when he collided knee-to-knee early in the second period with Flames forward Adam Ruzicka. He didn’t return until partway through the third, taking a regular shift from there to finish the game.
By then, the Flames were in control after second period goals by Michael Stone from the top of the left faceoff circle and then Noah Hanafin on a slapper from the blue line.
Kraken goalie Martin Jones played the entire game, allowing a fourth Calgary goal to Blake Coleman from close range.
Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans, playing in his hometown, was in the penalty box for the Stone goal. Evans and Cale Fleury are fighting for final blue line spots amid some uncertainty over the status of veteran Michal Kempny after his injury last week.
And the forward crunch is getting tight indeed after the Kraken signed Daniel Sprong to a two-way deal worth $750,000 if he makes the team after being invited to camp on a tryout basis and performing well. That puts extra pressure on additional forwards Karson Kuhlman and John Hayden, who both played Monday, especially given injury uncertainty surrounding winger Joonas Donskoi — also hurt last week.
Not all of the players bonding this week will still be in the dressing room when the season opens on Oct. 12 in Anaheim, California. But Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak agreed the exercise might have helped last year’s team ahead of the franchise debut in Las Vegas.
“Yeah, especially with an expansion team it’s all new faces, guys that have never played with each other,” Oleksiak said. “And COVID kind of put a wrench in that whole bonding aspect. I think we’ve got to make the best of what we can because COVID didn’t give us a chance to do it last year.”