If a “quote transfusion” was an actual thing, the Seattle Kraken would be lining players up to receive what new addition Mackie Samoskevich just dropped: “I love to shoot,” Samoskevich said after his trade from the Florida Panthers.
All during the 2025-26 season, Kraken coach Lane Lambert implored his skaters to employ a “shoot first”mentality – hockey-speak for “don’t always make the extra pass, looking for the perfect play.” Strange things can happen even on innocent looking shots; they get deflected, they hit a stick, they rebound into a dangerous area, they go in the net.
Seattle skaters often didn’t oblige. At 5-on-5, the Kraken finished 26th in shot attempts last year, according to puckalytics.com. Not coincidentally, they also finished 26th in goals scored. Compared to their opposition over 82 games, Seattle attempted fewer than 46% of shots.
To Lambert’s distress, the non-shooting malady existed even while the Kraken enjoyed a man advantage. “The power play, we’ve got to move the puck quicker and we got to put more pucks towards the net. That’ll be the mandate.”
Kraken Center Promises His Best Shot
Top Kraken center Matty Beniers is aware, and plans to do something about it next season.
“If you look at a lot of the top goal scorers in the league, they might not have great shooting percentages, but they have a lot of shots on goal or shot attempts. You can’t score if you don’t shoot.
“So that was kind of the mindset for me, trying to push a little bit more offensively, let my shot go a little bit more because I think I have a good shot. Sometimes I in the past have tried to look for the best play, not the first one that you see.
“There’s definitely room for me to get more.”
Belief In Kraken ‘Two-Way Ace’
Someone else who believes Beniers has the ability to “get more” is Shayna Goldman of The Athletic.
“Matty Beniers is on the fringes of being a true elite core player,” says Goldman. “His defensive game has become so strong that it excuses what he lacks on the other end of the ice.
“Beniers could grow into a more important role, considering all the potential he has shown as a two-way ace. His defensive puck touches and ability to retrieve pucks and break out with control are qualities a lot of Selke-caliber centers possess. Pair that with some offensive growth, and it lines up pretty well with Patrice Bergeron at the same age.”
(For Beniers, a Boston-area native, that comparison would surely be pleasing. Bruins legend Bergeron, who played in nearly 1,300 games, won the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL a record six times. He was just named as part of the 2026 class of the Hockey Hall of Fame – in his first year of eligibility.)
“That’s the best-case scenario here, and it may still be a reach. It’s also just one of many in his range of outcomes. Most of Beniers’ comps are a tier below, so instead, he could become the next Adam Henrique, Teuvo Teräväinen or Sean Couturier. While any of those three would make for solid careers, there’s obviously a difference between glowing up to become a star forward and just strengthening his case in a shutdown role.
“Even if Beniers develops into a true star forward, it still leaves that franchise slot open at the top.”
So Beniers clearly still has a shot at being an elite player. Y’know, if he’ll only shoot more. And if convinces enough of his teammates to also follow the Mackie Samoskevich blueprint.
Shoot, it couldn’t hurt.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken $120-million Offer Fails To Land Top Forward
