Seattle Kraken returning to action seeking to join postseason party

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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 27: Jared McCann #19 of the Seattle Kraken controls the puck during the second period against the Washington Capitals at Climate Pledge Arena on January 27, 2026 in Seattle, Washington.  (Alika Jenner / Getty Images)

SEATTLE - The Kraken return to play this week after the NHL's Winter Olympics break with a sprint to the finish of the regular season on the horizon.

Seattle has just five games to play before the NHL trade deadline on March 6, and 26 games to play in 50 days to close out the schedule as they look to join the Mariners and Seahawks in playoff appearances this season.

"It's exciting," forward Jared McCann said. "I've been on both sides of it where we've been out at this point, so you want to be playing for something at this time.

"I've missed the playoffs for a couple years. It sucks. You want to play for something, and it's why we do it."

The Kraken currently sit in a playoff spot in third place in the Pacific Division standings with 63 points. It's the second-best mark the team has ever had through 56 games of a season in their five-year history. The 2022-23 team that made the playoffs had 70 points through 56 games en route to making the playoffs for the first time. Both teams were in third place in the division on points, but second in point percentage at this point. However, the 2022-23 team was third in the Western Conference in point percentage, while this year's team is currently fifth.

(Eds Note: Point percentage is the amount of points gained out of the total amount possible. The Kraken have 63 out of a possible 112 points, which is a .563 percentage, which ranks behind only the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific.)

"We need to get refocused really quickly here," McCann said. "Obviously, we've got a back-to-back that's going to be a challenge in itself and the mindset is we've got to come in and play every game like it's going to be a playoff, right,"

After playing a league-high 17 games in January with a condensed schedule ahead of the break, the Kraken getting a breather was certainly a welcome thing. However, the team was also playing quite well at the time, winning six of their last eight games before the Olympics to move back into a playoff spot.

"A vacation is always nice, but I think the way we were playing and the feeling that we had in the dressing room right before the break was pretty good, and it's hard to let go of that and then get away from that," defenseman Vince Dunn said. "… I was having a lot of fun playing before the break so it's kind of a culture shock when it kind of ends, and you're in that fight-or-flight mode all the time when you have so many games in January. But it's good to be back."

Added head coach Lane Lambert: "The way we were playing, we all wish we could have just kept going. But we knew the break was coming and the important thing was you played well going into the break and that was our focus. There wasn't anybody in the league I don't think that didn't have some kind of a plan for the break and I thought our guys did a really good job, certainly in the last two weeks, of focusing in and making sure that we had some success going into the break."

Seattle will need to find their legs quickly in returning to action with three games in four nights coming out of the break. The Kraken play the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday before returning home to play the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

The team was playing well entering the break and is hoping to recapture that level as they return to the ice.

"I think the confidence that we were building and individuals feeling good about themselves," Dunn said of what was going well before the break. "A team game, commitment by everyone. It shows that we're here to put up a fight every single night, and we know how big every single game is. It's fun to play in high-pressure situations and every game if you're winning, you climb into the playoffs, and if you lose, you kind of slip out. So just knowing how close it is, it's a fun time of the year and there's no better feeling than being in a playoff fight."

Both Dunn and McCann were a part of the playoff team in 2022-23 and know what it can be like in Seattle with the team in the playoffs. They've seen how the city has responded to deep playoff runs from the Mariners and Seahawks this season and would like to join them in reaching the postseason.

"The guys in here that experienced that, it was amazing. That was everything," McCann said. "We felt like we brought the town into it with us and kind of created some hockey fans. We want to get back to that."

While some teams had a large roster of players participating in the Winter Olympics, the Kraken had just three from their active roster taking part. Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen won a bronze medal playing for Finland, while Philipp Grubauer appeared in four games in net for Germany. 

The trio seemingly made it out of the Olympics healthy, which can't be said for everyone involved. Stars standout Mikko Rantanen was placed on injured reserve and won't play against Seattle on Wednesday with a lower-body injury.

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