Vegas, Edmonton Perennial Pacific Powers
Pacific Division rivals that will give the Seattle Kraken the most trouble next season may not be the usual suspects; the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.
The Kraken lost 12 of their first 15 all-time meetings against the Golden Knights, their most recent expansion neighbors. Seattle did win three of four against Vegas last season.
Meanwhile, Seattle has gone 4-14-1 lifetime against the Oilers, including 1-3-0 in 2025-26. Over their last three meetings, the Oilers outscored the Kraken 16-4.
Ducks Already Flying
In 2026-27, however, watch out for a pair of new kids on the Pacific Division block. The Anaheim Ducks lead the Oilers three games to two in their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series. Game six takes place Thursday in Anaheim.
“The forward talent (in Anaheim) is sensational,” writes Adam Gretz at Bleacher Report. “Between Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Beckett Sennecke, they have a trio of young stars they can build around for the next decade.”
(The Golden Knights are also getting all they can handle from the Utah Mammoth. Vegas leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 Friday in Salt Lake City.)
Celebrini Poised To Lead Sharks Celebration
Up the Pacific Coast Highway, the San Jose Sharks may have missed the playoffs for the last time, Lucas Main of Dobber Hockey says, “The Sharks have a duo for the next decade in (Maklin) Celebrini and Will Smith, along with a stocked cupboard of other young players and draft capital.”
Gretz adds, “They still need more talent around that young core. That is the next step this off-season. But the most important piece (Celebrini) is already in place, and the list of players in the NHL better than him right now can probably be counted on one hand. Perhaps with a finger or two left over.”
Seattle split four games with Anaheim last year; total goals were similarly tied, 10-10. Seattle is 11-7-0 in five seasons against San Jose, including winning three of four last season.
Kraken: ‘Dog’s Breakfast’
The difference between the Kraken and the Sharks & Ducks is lack of emerging superstar talent.
USA Today summed it up this way. “There isn’t something in the Seattle system that makes you think the Kraken are going to change for the better anytime soon. Worst of all: try to think of a Kraken player, on the team or in the system, who you’d say was a cornerstone.
“Matty Beniers is not that player. Neither is Shane Wright. And neither is anyone in the pipeline. The Kraken’s current lineup is essentially a dog’s breakfast of mid-tier veterans and youngsters still trying to prove themselves. It’s going to take more patience and long-term suffering to get the Kraken to the place they eventually want to be.”
Be Careful What You Wish For
The difference between Seattle and another Cali rival, the 2025-26 L.A. Kings, turned out to be minimal: each won zero games in this year’s playoffs.
The Kings captured the coveted 8th and final Western Conference postseason berth, the one Seattle so desperately wanted. Except, how “coveted” was it? The top-seeded Colorado Avalanche swept L.A. in four games.
It was a complete mismatch; the Kings scored five goals the entire series. And that was with trade deadline acquisition Artemi Panarin scoring two of those five goals – the same Panarin who spurned a reported Kraken offer of $14 million per year to leave the New York Rangers.
Former Kraken GMRon Francis was fond of saying – and he’s right – that once you get in, anything can happen in the playoffs. Seattle proved it in 2023, upsetting the defending champion Avalanche in Round 1.
But c’mon – in a way, way, down year for the Pacific Division, a repeat wasn’t happening. Would the Kraken have provided a higher caliber of cannon fodder for the President’s Trophy-winning Avs? Not bloody likely.
Seattle finished 11 points behind L.A., who finished 31 points behind Colorado. The Avalanche have beaten the Kraken in their last seven regular-season meetings, including a three-game sweep this year. Even if Seattle had maintained pre-Olympics form that had them in playoff position, the Kraken weren’t likely to put even a little scare into Nathan MacKinnon & co.
Would Seattle’s youngsters have benefited from the experience of playoff intensity? Perhaps; it’s what GMs like to claim when their team gets swept. Mostly, the Kraken would have learned what L.A. did – just how far they are from true playoff contention.
Earlier Kraken:
— Seattle Prospect Smashing Records In Junior Hockey
