Where Kraken land in NHL power rankings as new season begins

The NHL season is already underway and the Kraken are set to open their 84-game slate Thursday night in Calgary. A weekend back-to-back will take them to Edmonton, then end with Seattle’s home opener on Sunday against the very familiar Flames.

How did the 2026-27 Kraken fare in the national media’s preseason predictions? The criticisms are similar to last year’s, and the expectations are slightly worse.

Once again, the prognosticators are nearly unanimous. Nearly all believe that the Kraken will finish in the bottom three of the 32-team league. That would net them a high draft pick in 2027, at least.

Here’s what they said:

Daily Faceoff – 29th (essentially)

The outlet put the Kraken in their “Too Bad to be Good, Too Good to be Bad” category again alongside the Detroit Red Wings and ahead of Calgary, Chicago and Vancouver.

It’s too bad that Mackie Samoskevich is injured, but Kraken fans need not worry — they have a thousand other middle-six forwards who can take his place while he recovers. The day a true star forward wears a Kraken jersey is the day I sprout wings. —Mike Gould

At least Seattle has been trying to acquire star talent recently, but the stars just don’t want to go there. —Scott Maxwell

ESPN – 30th

ESPN writers listed goaltending as Seattle’s biggest strength, but called out the Kraken’s second-to-last penalty kill and that they spent more time defending than attacking last season.

This season hinges on if they can show significant improvement across the board in nearly every aspect. … Put it all together, and the Kraken were in the bottom 10 in goals per game and goals allowed per game.

CBS Sports – 30th

Seattle is a franchise without any real direction. The Kraken want to be a serious contender, but the reality is they’re nowhere close to that. Jason Robertson turning down a $120 million deal to re-sign for one year in Dallas tells you everything you need to know.

The Athletic – 30th

Seattle landed zero names on our list of the top 150 NHL players, and nobody on our 20-deep panel of NHL sources noticed, cared or bothered to argue otherwise… Add it up, and it’s no wonder the Kraken have failed to qualify for the postseason four times in their five seasons or that they’ve finished in the league’s bottom eight for three straight seasons. This isn’t just a boring team – it’s a bad one.

The Kraken have tried desperately and aimlessly to compete with an uncompetitive roster. This year the right decision might be made for them.

The Hockey News – fifth of eight Pacific Division teams

The Hockey News had the rosiest outlook of the bunch. Two of the teams widely expected to finish worse than the Kraken – the Flames and the Canucks, respectively – are in the Pacific Division with Seattle.

But the site ranked the L.A. Kings below the Kraken as well.

The Kraken also have more potential scoring depth after acquiring Mackie Samoskevich and signing (Bobby) McMann long term. Samoskevich arrives after career highs of 20 assists and 32 points with Florida.

Matty Beniers and Shane Wright still need to take major steps for Seattle to challenge the division’s top teams, but the supporting cast appears to have improved.

SB Nation – 30th

It would take wide scale problems for numerous teams above them to enable a path forward, and the goal this season is improvement. If they can even fight for a Wild Card spot it would be a small miracle.

SB Nation – 30th

Let’s face it. There hasn’t been a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Kraken since they went for 100 points and made the playoffs in the franchise’s second season. Chances are it won’t be happening this season either.

The Score – 29th

After potentially getting the steal of the draft with Chase Reid at seventh overall, Seattle once again used free agency to spend on middle-six forwards in Bobby McMann and Mackie Samoskevich. There’s not enough star power on the Kraken’s roster for us to rank them any higher.

Sportsnet – 30th

Chase Reid was an exciting pick last June at seventh overall, but genuine thrills still seem so far away in Seattle.