Seattle Kraken struggling after a playoff burst year

The Seattle Kraken entered the 2022 NHL (National Hockey League) season with defiance which included a playoff berth. However, as the 2023 NHL midseason approaches, many fans do not see the same spark the team had in their previous season. With the team not being able to break .500, they have had more than a 14% decrease in their win rate. “The Kraken’s success in their first year really established the team and Seattle in the NHL,” Kraken fan Charlie Garfield said. “In the 2022 season, the good players weren’t as old and were able to still perform.” However, due to the inaugural success with Kraken’s first season, many on the bandwagon have high or unrealistic expectations for this third year team. With the team dealing with underperformance and inconsistency, many fans feel nothing but disappointment. “[Kraken fans] being disappointed is all our fault, we should’ve seen this coming from a mile away,” Kraken fan Sean Brine said. “Setting such high expectations for a third year team is just unrealistic, most of us ignored the problems the team had after the off-season and expected to do even better.” Furthermore, with the average player for the Kraken being 29.82, the Kraken’s average player is in the middle of the average NHL retirement age. “I think the main problem with the Kraken is their offense,” Garfield said. “Most of their good players are old and out of their prime. I think the only way to fix this is to get some stud rookies, which is what the team needs and is the reason they are struggling with scoring.” With the NHL trade deadline being March 8, the Kraken have enough time to make trades to address these problems and potentially make a playoff push. The Kraken are not limited with their cap space which makes the possibility of them trading for a star player very realistic. “I went to a Kraken game but they lost because of their numerous mistakes,” sophomore Jeung Han said. “Their mistakes led to the other team getting very easy goals which made the game more of a struggle than it needed to be. They also have problems with possession and it shows up in their bad build ups.” The Kraken, facing their problem with age, have the opportunity to fix it through trades and free agency in order to regroup and return to their ways of winning from the previous season. “This problem of being a mediocre team will be what separates and reveals true Kraken fans and those who were just part of the bandwagon,” Kraken fan and student Cris Lewis said. “This isn’t even the worst problem or even rough patch the team could have. There are many worse teams in the league and there are many worse problems the team could have.”