The best story in the NHL is here, of all the places and all the times. It’s unfolding inside Climate Pledge Arena, where stuffed tentacles attach to hundreds of arms and players skate atop a rink formed, in part, by recycled rainwater. Most of the narrative is delightfully city-specific, from the team name (sea monster, naturally) to the sustainability focus to the bandwagoners tripping over each other to overpay for playoff tickets.
The Kraken are that story. They are worth watching, too, for this season (seventh in the Western Conference), this run (competitive in these ongoing conference semifinals against the Stars) and the template they’ve provided for how to build a professional hockey franchise in a place where that was never supposed to happen.
Compelling narrative notwithstanding, anyone expecting Seattle to welcome Dallas in for another postseason fracas and roll over the Stars en route to the NHL’s final four … well, they’re new to this whole hockey deal. Don’t mistake that sentiment as an endorsement of the most tired thread in sports. The Kraken, like every team that wins anything these days, like to claim they are perpetually counted out and eternally doubted. If true, for a franchise in its second season, that makes some sense. But take a spin around Seattle. Find a doubter. Even one.
