SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 14: Jordan Eberle #7 of the Seattle Kraken goes down with an injury during the second period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Climate Pledge Arena on November 14, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Seattle Kraken have encountered their first major test of their lineup's group of forwards and leadership, announcing that their captain, Jordan Eberle, underwent pelvis surgery on Friday. Eberle is expected to miss at least three months, according to the team.
Eberle began this season on a heater with nine points in the first ten games. He began to cool off with just two in the next seven, before leaving a Nov. 14 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in a collision into the end boards with Chicago's Connor Murphy.
The Kraken have made short-term adjustments in the process, nearly running the table on their season-long six game homestand and winning five of them, including a convincing 3-0 win over the talented but struggling Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Kraken general manager Ron Francis told 93.3 KJR-FM that the process leading up to Eberle's surgery involved multiple amounts of input.
"We saw a doc on Monday, we're getting a couple of other opinions, and we should have more probably in the next 24 hours - a better, clearer picture as to what we're dealing with and what that timeline will look like," Francis told 93.3 KJR-FM on Tuesday.
By the end of this week, Eberle underwent surgery, a frustrating turn for a season that's found new life after a wildly successful homestand and a new era for his career after signing a two-year extension last March, and being named captain shortly before puck drop on opening day, Oct. 8. The Kraken, who followed the win over the Blackhawks with two wins in the final three games of the homestand, now have attention emphasized on their depth-oriented approach and goaltending: eight different players have scored goals since the night of the Eberle injury while Chandler Stephenson leads the pack with four points. The Daniel Sprong trade from Vancouver, designed to fortify the offense, looks even timelier now after he scored his first goal since the trade in Wednesday's win over Nashville.
Joey Daccord, who has taken on a bulk of the goaltending workload since late October, has a .931 save percentage in his last nine games, third best in the league behind Joseph Woll of Toronto and Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay during this current span.
The Kraken will start a two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon, 1pm (93.3 KJR-FM / Kraken Audio Network) against the host Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.