Seattle Kraken Practice Notebook - October 19th, 2026
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Following a day off on Sunday after their five-game East Coast road trip, the Seattle Kraken returned to practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex on the morning of October 19th, 2026. The Monday session showed two minor tweaks to the team’s top two forward lines, the continued absence of a veteran defenseman, a first look at the third jerseys this season, and plenty of insight from head coach Lane Lambert. Here’s a Kraken practice notebook from Monday, October 19th, as the team looks to tomorrow’s homestand opening game against the Detroit Red Wings at Climate Pledge Arena.
When we arrived at the Kraken Community Iceplex, the team was already on the ice on rink two (Smartsheet) with nearly the entire main group ready ten minutes before they were scheduled to start, with Ville Ottavainen and Curtis Douglas helping get the goaltenders warmed up over on rink one (Starbucks). Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer were both rocking their third jersey setups, as the team will wear their all-black with red trim look tomorrow against Detroit.
Upon walking over to rink two, it was clear that the rest of the team was also wearing their third jersey gear, from helmets to gloves. For those that aren’t aware, this happens at a practice the day before the game because the team is making sure the gear is broken in and feels right for the game, since it isn’t used as much as their typical blue gloves and blue or white helmets. A funny scene resulted because of this in the locker room after practice, as Chandler Stephenson was feeling out his gloves before Philipp Grubauer walked over to him and put them on, pretending to be a skater.
Still no Brandon Montour
In the injuries and availability department, there were no returns for the players that the Kraken currently have on the injury report. Defensemen Brandon Montour and Ryan Lindgren, and forward Jacob Melanson, remain off the ice, and none of them were visible when we were in the locker room. When we went to speak with forward Ryan Winterton (A feature that should come out shortly), Melanson’s gear was in his locker and didn’t appear to have been touched, which isn’t surprising considering the difficult condition he’s currently dealing with.
Brandon Montour was not visible out on the ice during practice and remains “day-to-day,” per head coach Lane Lambert. The responses from Lambert when asked about Montour were minimal, including saying “I don’t know, not sure,” when asked if he anticipated Brandon playing in tomorrow’s game against Detroit or at all on the homestand. We remain in wait-and-see mode with “Monty” and seemingly a couple of weeks out on both Lindgren and Melanson. On the latter, “Melly” is said to be making some solid progress back by doing lighter workouts off the ice while still looking into getting back to skating, a team source tells Circling Seattle Sports.
Lineup notes and other practice sightings
Right away, it was fun to see recently recalled defenseman Ty Nelson on the ice, joining the team because of the injuries to blueliners Montour and Lindgren. It’s nice to see him rewarded for the strong training camp that he put together with Seattle back in September, and will be something to watch if he gets to make his NHL debut during this stint with the Kraken. Nelson was rotating in the second pair alongside Ryker Evans, splitting rushes with Cale Fleury, so it’s hard to say if or when he’d slot into the lineup.
The other notable part of the practice session was the swap made on the teams top two lines, as the “first line” features Jared McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle while the “second line” has Mackie Samoskevich-Chandler Stephenson-Bobby McMann together, seeing Samoskevich and Eberle swap lines while everything on the forward front remains the same.
When asked about the change, Lane Lambert stated that he wanted to get those lines going in five-on-five action. It’s not a shocking decision once you see the numbers, as the third line of Shane Wright-Berkly Catton-Kaapo Kakko leads the way in xGoals%, xGoals For, xGoals against, xGoals For Per 60 Minutes, and xGoals Against Per 60 Minutes according to Moneypuck.com. Seattle’s version of a “kid line” is doing that in nine minutes less than the McCann-Beniers-Samoskevich line and 33 minutes less than the McMann-Stephenson-Eberle line. What’s particularly alarming when looking at the McMann-Stephenson-Eberle line is the low xGoals% (38% for them compared to 56.7% for the Beniers line and 56.9% for the Catton line) and the xGoals against, sitting at an unpleasant 6.2, which is twice as much as the Catton line and more than twice as much as the Beniers line.
When asked if making the wing-for-wing tweak is more of an offensive or defensive thing, Lambert said it was a bit of both, which makes sense when you look at those numbers.
“I think you could probably call it a little bit of both. You know, we had some really good contributions from them on the power play. Five-on-five, we had great contributions from our so-called third and fourth lines... For me, there just wasn’t - there doesn’t seem to be something clicking there, and so, you know, make a little adjustment and see where we go. ”
Freddy Gaudreau media availability
Veteran forward and fourth-line center Freddy Gaudreau was chosen to speak with the media in a scrum after this practice session, answering a few questions fresh off the road trip and looking to turn the page after Saturday's rough loss to the Panthers.
Q: On his biggest takeaway from the first road trip of the season
Gaudreau: “Biggest takeaway, I don't know. I felt like we were a tight group. Road trips are fun for that. You know, when you get them early like that, long ones, you're just the boys together. It's a way to get closer, and it's my biggest takeaway: is we're all in this together. We all care about each other. We all love playing together. So, yeah, that's my biggest takeaway.”
Q: On his line producing and the work that goes into it
Gaudreau: “Well, I think we're all three Honest players; we try to take care of the puck in both ends, and we appreciate that part of hockey of being responsible and playing the solid game first. It's always fun to get rewarded after that.
Q: On what the team learns from the Florida loss
Gaudreau: “Wash it, you know. There's things obviously we don't like. You can't carry that energy too far after. You just gotta, like I said, there's a lot of good energy about that road trip. You gotta stick to that. Learn from some stuff, obviously, but you can't carry that energy too long.”
Lane Lambert, with plenty to say
Outside of his thoughts on the swap in forwards for the top two lines and his shortness when asked about Brandon Montour’s status, head coach Lane Lambert had plenty to share during his post-practice availability with the media in attendance at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Here’s a transcript of the main questions he was asked and his answers.
Question on the Berkly Catton line and the chances they’re generating, from his viewpoint.
Lambert: “My read is that they’re producing a lot of opportunities. I think the three of them together are doing a really good job. I think Shane’s using his speed; I think Berkly is, in my mind anyways, he’s clearly in the right spot on the ice, and that’s through the middle with the puck. Kaapo is working down low; he’s made some nice plays to those guys. Shane probably could have had two or three goals in Tampa. I think they're confident. They're using their speed, and they're playing really, to be honest with you, against any line. You know, they played [Brayden] Point’s line; they played [Nikita] Kucherov’s line, so they're gaining some confidence that way.”
Q: On wanting to keep the lines balanced in terms of ice time and the Catton line potentially earning more ice time.
Lambert: “I think the balance has been pretty good for the most part. The reason maybe Chandler Stephenson is at 17 minutes on average is just because of penalty killing. He plays both that and the power play. So if you look at their five-on-five minutes, it's pretty balanced. But as we go forward here, if they keep playing like that, they'll garner more ice time for sure.”
Q: On keeping Joey Daccord in for the entire Florida game and not changing despite the goals-against number, while balancing protecting Daccord’s confidence and other things that come with making a change in goal during a game.
Lambert: “Grubi had played two games. There was no point in putting him in. The last thing you want to do is have him come off the bench tired, risk injury. Joey Daccord is a battler, and I had no doubt in my mind that he was going to continue to battle through whatever it is we were throwing at him. And you know, he just went about his business and battled and battled, and full respect for him. I think that there's no question that you know he understands why, and you know, and that's part of why he's a good teammate. You have to be selfless as a teammate, and I think Joey's selfless. You know, maybe a more selfish goalie would be looking over at the bench, but he never looked at the bench once. So, real good moment for our hockey team and our culture.
Q: On if he saw anything get more baked in during this road trip.
Lambert: My problem on our trip, even though the record was what it was, I thought there were some inconsistencies, and that's one thing we talked about right from day one. We got to be more consistent. So, I think there was some really good moments about certain areas of our game, whether it be some of the changes we've made in our D zone or some of the neutral zone changes we've made. I think offensively, I really like what you know what's happened with, you know, our offensive play and our plays off the rush and some of the concepts that we have there. We're creating, in my mind, a little bit more than we were in the past. So there's certainly a lot of areas that I was like, okay, this is good, and then all of a sudden, you know, wham, where is it? So, you know, it's an everyday game. It doesn't matter if you've won three in a row, lost three in a row, if you're up in the game five-two, if you're down in the game five-two, you got to play the game the same way. A really good example of that is Florida's beating us eight to three, and they're in the offensive zone, and they win races off the wall to the net, and go right to the net. Doesn't matter what the score is; the game doesn't change. So you know, I think it's a good learning experience for our hockey team. Sometimes you've got to take one in the mouth to get some, you know, to get some understanding of what exactly it takes.
Q: On the importance of the team’s skating and why a team may “stop” skating.
Lambert: “Sometimes a little bit of mental fatigue comes in. I think when your brain isn't working right, it transfers down into the old legs, and therefore, you know, we're not moving our feet as much because our thought process is a little bit slow. Does that have to do with being on the road for 11 days? I don't know, but you know, I think it's more mental than it is anything else for me.
Following this practice session, the Kraken are back home tomorrow to begin a four-game homestand featuring the Detroit Red Wings, Utah Mammoth, Minnesota Wild, and Toronto Maple Leafs. The first game of the homestand, tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20th, sees the Kraken play the Red Wings for the second time this month after visiting Detroit on the most recent road trip. It’s the first Third Jersey Night of the season for Seattle, as mentioned previously, with special in-arena visuals set to be shown off. It’s also “UW Night” at Climate Pledge Arena, as those who bought a ticket through the special offer link will take home a University of Washington x Seattle Kraken bomber jacket along with their ticket.
Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord seen wearing the special UW x Seattle Kraken bomber jacket while throwing out T-Shirts during the Washington Huskies vs Utah State Aggies game on September 12th, 2026, at Husky Stadium. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
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