A season ago, the Kraken went 16-9-1 against Pacific teams – their best record versus any division – and that success enabled them to hang around the playoff hunt well into March.
They were 12-6-1 against the Pacific when the Winter Olympic break ended with them in a playoff-positioned third place in the division.
Repeating that success won’t be easy, given teams such as the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks are considered to have improved while Vegas is coming off a Cup Finals appearance and Edmonton and Los Angeles both made the playoffs once again. Still, the Kraken success last season did come largely at the expense of the playoff bound Golden Knights and Kings, having taken three of four games from each.
An obvious opponent they’ll need to fare well against if hoping to get off to a solid start this season is the rebuilding Flames, who they’ll have played all four required times within the first five weeks. The teams played only three times last season with the divisional schedule not yet balanced, and the Kraken emerged victorious twice.
They will also need to do better against the Oilers than they did going 1-3-0 a season ago, given they play Edmonton three times in the first two dozen games. Beyond facing the Oilers in Edmonton the season’s second game, they’ll also play a back-to-back with them on the road Nov. 27 and at home Nov. 28.
An interesting note is that the Oilers, bolstered in goal by Cup champion Frederik Andersen after failing to defend their consecutive Western Conference titles, play their first six games against divisional opponents but two fewer such contests than the Kraken over their first 24.
As for other teams, the Kraken took two of three games against San Jose last season, but the Sharks are widely felt to be much improved after adding players such as Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba, Mason Marchment, and Michael Kesselring to go with a developing young core highlighted by Macklin Celebrini.
In fact, the Kraken and Sharks could start to have quite a rivalry if Trouba and Marchment get up to their instigating ways for San Jose. The Kraken, remember, have brought 6-foot-9, 242-pounder Curtis Douglas in for just those types of situations.