SEATTLE — An interesting thing happened to the Kraken this trade deadline week as they prepared to sell off players with an eye toward the future.
They notched two road wins few expected and had an additional playoff avenue appear as the Vegas Golden Knights continued an extended standings plummet. As a result, the Kraken entered Thursday just six points out of not only the Western Conference wild-card race, but also third place in a tightening Pacific Division while general manager Ron Francis decides whether to trade more players beyond departed centerman Alex Wennberg.
“For me, I think those two wins we got were huge — they kind of put us back in the race,” Kraken forward Jordan Eberle, who could still be traded by Friday’s noon PT deadline, said after Thursday’s practice. “I think they’ll maybe inject a little bit of life into this group.”
Road victories over Calgary, which had won four straight and a Winnipeg squad they’d never beaten away from home mitigated a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to Edmonton last Saturday. The Kraken have won four of five and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 contests against a gauntlet of playoff contenders.
They have a shot at not just two playoff spots, held by Nashville and Los Angeles, but a third belonging to the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas lost six of seven and eight of 10 to tumble all the way into the first wild-card position pending Thursday night’s game against division-leading Vancouver.
The Kraken gained 10 points on the Golden Knights in 10 games. And they still have two remaining games against them: Tuesday at home and on the road in two weeks.
Their playoff odds aren’t great, but on MoneyPuck they jumped from 10.4% last Sunday all the way up to 31.3% as of Thursday.
“I think after the Edmonton game, you looked at everyone else [in the standings] and it was daunting,” Eberle said. “But we’ve since started climbing again, and we’ve been playing some good hockey. The key for us is to just try to play as many important games as we can down the stretch and see where it ends up.”
Eberle’s future may be key to important games still being played. The Kraken have been negotiating a contract extension with Eberle, but a report Wednesday suggested they’ve stalled over the 33-year-old wanting three additional seasons while the team will give just two.
The report, by Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, said the Kraken will trade Eberle — likely to his former Edmonton Oilers team — if a deal isn’t reached by Friday’s deadline. And dealing Eberle at this stage could scuttle remaining playoff hopes.
“As a player, you just focus on playing hockey and let the other stuff happen,” Eberle said when asked about the rumors surrounding him. “Obviously, a lot of it’s out of your control. Some of it is, but some of it’s not.”
Eberle’s 10 goals since the new year are second-most on the team behind only the 13 by Jared McCann. And Eberle’s play has also ignited what’s been the team’s most productive forward line of him, Matty Beniers and McCann.
That line has since been broken up by Wednesday’s trade of Wennberg to the New York Rangers. Wennberg sat out the Kraken’s two road victories in anticipation of the deal, with McCann taking his center spot alongside Jaden Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
That’s how things will stay for now with Tomas Tatar sticking with the Beniers and Eberle trio. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Thursday that McCann will be back at center for Friday’s game.
“Jared stepped in and did a nice job previously a couple of weeks ago and played well at that position,” Hakstol said of McCann playing center in January during a Beniers injury. “And did a nice job in both Calgary and Winnipeg. So, we’ve got some challenges there in making sure guys are in the right spots. But the one thing our players have been is versatile.”
Moving McCann to center isn’t without potential drawbacks — namely, the team’s best pure goal scorer having to devote more even-strength time to defensive responsibilities. The Kraken are hard-pressed to score more than three goals in any game.
“I mean, there are some trade-offs there,” Hakstol said. “But he’s capable of doing it. As I said, it changes his role a little bit. And obviously changes some of the spots he’s in on the ice.”
On Thursday, Eberle partook in perhaps his final Kraken practice. He reiterated he’d still like to remain part of the team’s future.
“Yeah, I’ve expressed that,” Eberle said. “As far as that’s concerned, we’ll just see what happens.”
