Geographic rivals will square off for the first time in the pre-season when the Seattle Kraken battle the Vancouver Canucks, tonight at 6:30pm PT at Rogers Arena.
The trip is a quick puddle jumper, with the Kraken skating a handful of roster hopefuls in the morning session, shortly before an afternoon flight into Vancouver for game night.
Among those hopefuls: Shane Wright, who looks to make another lasting impression in his bid to make the Kraken opening night roster at 18 years old. Despite not scoring, he didn’t look out of place, generated a quality scoring chance in the first period and earned considerable power play time throughout the game.
He’ll be matched up with wingers Ryan Donato and Karson Kuhlman.
Joey Daccord will start in net for the Kraken with Martin Jones backing up. Daccord looked solid in Monday night’s 3-0 win over Edmonton, stopping all 16 shots he saw after relieving Jones halfway through the game.
He will face a stronger test. Vancouver will suit up a handful of notable names, including Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Connor Garland, and last year’s leading scorer J.T. Miller. The Canucks are also expected to showcase newcomer Linus Karlsson, making a bid to reach the Canucks opening night roster after a dominant rookie season last year in the Swedish Elite League, scoring seven goals in ten games.
Thatcher Demko is expected to start in net for Vancouver.
PROJECTED KRAKEN LINEUP
Donato-Wright-Kuhlman
Donskoi-Geekie-Lind
Hughes-True-Hayden
Kartye-Poturalski-Poganski
Kempny-Borgen
Evans-Fleury
Olofsson-Tennyson
Daccord
Jones