REAL HOCKEY STARTS TONIGHT!

The Seattle Kraken set out at the beginning of their journey to win a Cup in the 23/24 season. Other than obviously wanting to win the Cup, the Kraken are going to want to set out and prove that last season wasn't a fluke and this is a team that will be a playoff contender for years to come.

We have all heard what the naysayers have said; the shooting percentages from last season are unsustainable, the goaltending still isn't good enough, and there are questions on defence. While there is some truth in those statements, the players on the team will reject them and do whatever they can to prove they are legit.

Tonight the Kraken will look to punctuate that statement with a win on the road against the Stanley Cup Champions of last season, the Vegas Golden Knights. After that, the Kraken will continue on the road against the Predators and Blues before finally playing their home opener on the 17th against an Avalanche team that Seattle upset in the first round last season. There are going to be some good tests for this roster right out of the gate.

It's looking like this is the lineup Seattle is going with:

McCann-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Wennberg-Burakovsky
Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Tanev-Bellemare-Kartye

Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Borgen
Dumolin-Schultz

Grubauer

A couple quick thoughts.

I think this is going to be an excellent year for Andre Burakovsky. The forward dealt with some tough injuries last season and never scored to the same potential he did in Colorado but I think he had some bad puck luck (one of the only Kraken forwards who did last season). As long as he stays healthy I think we are going to see him hit a new career high in goals.

Much of the success for the Kraken this season will depend on how Matty Beniers fares. The centre won the Calder last season with 24 goals and 57 points in 80 games and will be looking to build off that production. Other teams are now aware what Beniers does and how he plays and will be strategizing how to suppress his chances. How quickly he is able to adapt his game to that will effect how many wins this team can get.

After two fairly mediocre seasons from Grubauer, the veteran netminder shut up his detractors in the playoffs with some brilliant performances. The Kraken need that same level of high end play from their starter if they want to remain in the hunt.

Watch for Borgen and how he plays in an elevated position this season. His success will likely greatly impact what this team does at the deadline.

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Looking forward to another amazing season of hockey with you all!

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