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One Short Day in the Emerald City: Blackhawks at Kraken Preview

It’s another late-night skate on the road for the Hawks.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Seattle Kraken are the next opponent on the Blackhawks’ docket as they continue their lengthy jaunt away from the Windy City.

Seattle has opened this season with 14 points in 11 games (5-4-2), leaving them towards the middle of the standings in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference overall. Seattle won its first two games but hasn’t quite piled up the victories since, losing their last two games and four of the last six, most recently a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers at home on Saturday night. Seattle’s in the middle of a five-game homestand after being away from home for six straight games in October. It’s too early to draw any substantial conclusions about what this season’s version of the Kraken will be, but it is a team likely looking for a return to the postseason after making its only appearance there in four opportunities as a franchise back in the 2022-23 season.

Seattle has a new coach this season in Lane Lambert, who replaced Dan Bylsma after one season, and he has a few new players to work with in offseason additions Mason Marchment and Freddy Gaudreau (although Gaudreau is out for a few more weeks with an injury). There’s also a trio of young forwards skating with the big club together in Ryan Winterton, Jani Nyman and Berkly Catton, all draft picks of a franchise still in its relative infancy. They haven’t produced a ton yet, though, as the players atop the stat columns for the Kraken are familiar: Jaden Schwartz has a team-best 10 points (4 G, 6 A) in 11 games followed by Jordan Eberle’s eight (4 G, 4 A). They have a couple of top blue-liners as well in Brandon Montour (3 G, 5 A, 23:21 ATOI in seven games) and Vince Dunn (2 G, 5 A, 23:34 ATOI), while additional youth at forward has had modest production with six points apiece from Matty Beniers (1 G, 5 A) and Shane Wright (3 G, 3 A). Those aren’t the most eye-popping numbers from Seattle’s top forwards, and the depth behind them is probably questionable at best, which is why expectations remain on the lower side.

In net, Joey Daccord has all of the teams wins (5-1-3 record, 2.70 goals-against average, .904 save percentage) and has played well when called upon. Backup Philipp Grubauer (0-0-1, 2.12, .897) still hasn’t reclaimed the form he had during his heyday in Colorado.

The morning skate suggests Daccord will be the one in net for this game:

News from the morning skate has a first-round pick making his season debut, as Oliver Moore was called up from Rockford while Jason Dickinson was placed on injured reserve.

Jeff Blashill expects Oliver Moore to play tonight. Jason Dickinson went back to Chicago. He's week to week.

— Mark Lazerus (@marklazerus.bsky.social) November 3, 2025 at 1:37 PM

Monday’s morning skate was an optional one, so no telling where Moore will fit into the lineup. The lines below were from Sunday’s practice prior to Moore’s promotion:

Arvid Soderblom was in the starter’s crease, suggesting he’ll be between the pipes when the puck drops. Should be interesting to see where Moore fits into the lineup, and his blazing speed has been causing massive problems for AHL defenders, where Moore had six goals in nine games. Now we’ll get to see if he can translate that success to the NHL level, which has always been the biggest question mark surrounding his game.

And it’s yet another kid in the lineup, which is always a good sign for this team, given its current trajectory.

Let’s go Hawks.

Tale of the Tape

Blackhawks — Statistic — Kraken
44.09% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 47.89% (25th)
43.03% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 46.21% (29th)
2.73 (26th) — Goals per game — 2.99 (16th)
3.56 (31st) — Goals against per game — 3.20 (24th)
44.8% (31st) — Faceoffs — 48.6% (24th)
24.9% (7th) — Power play — 18.9% (23rd)
79.3% (14th) — Penalty kill — 77.2% (21st)
(All stats from last season)

How to watch

When: 9 p.m. CT
Where: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
TV: CHSN
Webstream: ESPN+
Radio: WGN 720

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