Key dates for the Kraken schedule: 2025-26 opens Oct. 9 vs. Anaheim

Typically, a benchmark to celebrate in the countdown to hockey season has to do with the schedule. 

You now have your duty, dear smartphone, laptop, or datebook holder. Circle the 82 dates for the regular season – they’re loaded up, and the Seattle Kraken return with games mattering the most in the standings starting October 9. 

The Anaheim Ducks visit that night at Climate Pledge Arena for the home and season opener, ushering in the Lane Lambert era along with the official debuts of newcomers such as Mason Marchment, Freddie Gaudreau, and Ryan Lindgren. Should phenom forward Berkly Catton make the roster and that night’s lineup, that too will deliver extra juice. The two teams will drop the puck at 7pm PT – a return to a traditional nighttime start, as opposed to last season’s unique matinee face-off on a Tuesday, to accommodate national television. 

If you’re into earlier start times to accommodate weekend activities, you’ll enjoy Sunday home games. Those have been moved up an hour to 5pm PT (the lone exception: a 1pm PT face-off against New Jersey on Jan. 25). 

If you figure points in back-to-back situations are crucial, the Kraken will have a similar assignment to crack as from last year’s schedule. They had 12 back-to-backs in Dan Bylsma’s lone season behind the bench, and will face 13 of those for the upcoming season. 

MORE KEY MATCHUPS TO WATCH: 

·      October 11 vs. Vegas: first Saturday night game of the regular season and the second of 82 pulls no punches – the division rival Vegas Golden Knights roll into town, closing the season’s first homestand, of two games. 

·      October 14 at Montreal: the start of a six-game road trip, involving five Eastern Conference foes. This will be the first of two stretches the Kraken play on the road, their two longest trips for this season. 

·      October 18 at Toronto: only visit of the season for the Kraken to The Six, and the return of Lambert to face his former team as associate coach from last year.

·      October 21 at Washington: first meeting against the NHL’s newly crowned all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, along with an early barometer on handling back-to-back games, a sore spot from last season’s 0-12 record in the second leg. The Kraken will have played the night before in Philadelphia. 

·      October 25 vs. Edmonton: first matchup against the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers – and including (who else) – superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. 

·      November 1 vs. New York Rangers: first and only visit by the Rangers to Climate Pledge Arena, reuniting defenseman Will Borgen, acquired from the Rangers for Kaapo Kakko last season, with his former team. Lindgren and Kakko, with assumptions a pending extension is worked out for the latter, are each expected to face their former team for the first time since leaving the Rangers for Seattle.

·      November 9 at Dallas: Mason Marchment returns to face the Stars for the first time since the trade to Seattle on June 22. Not counting playoff records, the Kraken are looking for their first win in Texas since March 21, 2023. 

·      December 4 at Edmonton: it’s one of the toughest places to win and for good reason – the Kraken haven’t won a game at Rogers Place in nearly three years, a span of five straight losses. It’ll be their first trip to Edmonton for the season and launching a gauntlet of a schedule that’s compact due to Olympic break reasons – the Kraken will play 13 games in a span of 26 days, even with a four-day break built in for the holidays. 

·      December 16 vs. Colorado: first visit by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar of the Avalanche to Climate Pledge Arena of the season. The Kraken are looking to end a string of four straight losses on home ice to Colorado and haven’t beaten the Avalanche at home in any fashion since the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ game 4 of the 2023 first round, on Jordan Eberle’s overtime goal.  

·      December 29 vs. Vancouver: the finish line of the 13-game, 26-day span, and first time the Kraken face their closest geographic rival in the Canucks. 

·      January 12 at New York Rangers: first visit for Kakko and Lindgren to Madison Square Garden since leaving the Rangers for Seattle. 

·      January 19 vs. Pittsburgh: honoring a growing tradition in Seattle, the Kraken will host an afternoon matinee puck drop on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the only visit for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang to Seattle for the regular season. 

·      January 27 vs. Washington: first and only visit for the regular season by Ovechkin and crew into Seattle. Of note, their assistant coach Mitch Love makes an annual trip back to a region with plenty of significance, as a former Everett Silvertip defenseman and assistant coach from the Western Hockey League. 

·      Feb. 4 at Los Angeles: final game before the Kraken and the rest of the NHL break for the Olympics, and their final trip into southern California for the season. 

·      March 15 vs. Florida: first and only visit by the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers into Climate Pledge Arena. It comes on the heels of, or during two significant periods of the season – the NHL trade deadline (Mar. 6), and a six-game homestand, tied for the longest of the regular season. 

·      April 7 at Minnesota: Freddie Gaudreau gets his two looks at his former Wild teammates in Seattle before this one on Dec. 8 and Jan. 8. But the end of a the 12th back-to-back set of the season lands Gaudreau back in Minnesota for the first time since this summer’s trade.

·      April 13 vs. Los Angeles: regular season home finale against the division rival Kings, and the start of three games in four days to conclude the regular season. 

·      April 16 at Colorado: if the Kraken have any aspirations for the playoffs against lofty competition in the Western Conference, they’ll have to earn it through endurance. This will end a stretch of nine games in the final 15 days of the year, and one final back-to-back in the atmospherically challenging home of MacKinnon and Makar. 

The Kraken have rolled out details on bundled ticket plans for the upcoming season, with all single game tickets due to go on sale July 25.