Seattle Kraken Practice Notebook: October 27th, 2025
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - After a Sunday following their Saturday night victory over the Edmonton Oilers to begin a five-game homestand, our Seattle Kraken were back on the ice for a practice session at the Kraken Community Iceplex. The team was essentially in full force attendance wise, with Kaapo Kakko working his way back for a second straight practice session appearance while Jared McCann was absence. What sorts of things took place at this practice, and what updates did head coach Lane Lambert provide on two key forwards? All that detailed in this Kraken practice notebook.
Injury updates, or lack thereof
Kraken fans were obviously ecstatic when the franchise signed the Finnish forward to an extension after he captured their hearts following a trade with the Rangers that brought him to Seattle, but they’ve had to wait to cheer him on since then. Kakko suffered a broken hand on a slash against the Oilers in a preseason game on September 24th, with an expectation that he’d be out for six weeks. When he was seen skating during morning skate back on Saturday, it signaled that he was ahead of schedule and with his appearance at todays practice it looks as though he’ll be set for a return at five weeks instead of six. With how he’s progressed and currently looks, it’s realistic to imagine that Kakko could make his return to the Kraken lineup this Saturday, against his former team in the New York Rangers when Seattle unveils their all-black third jerseys.
Kakko was a full participant today at practice, first coming out to rink three (Virginia Mason Franciscan Health rink because rink two, smartsheet rink, was being used for “TOT Play hour” at the time of practice starting) to help the goaltenders with some drills before being a full participant in the majority of todays work. Kakko didn’t fully take line rushes, sitting out the first few that the team took with their main lines from last game before rotating in for Jani Nyman on the Shane Wright-Jaden Schwartz line before the staff got more looks at Kaapo by letting Schwartz take a few rushes off for a line of Nyman-Wright-Kakko. The veteran forward was able to handle some light contact in the five-on-five drills he participated in after line rushes.
While there was the positive news and ahead of schedule nature relating to Kakko, things weren’t quite positive on the Jared McCann front. McCann wasn’t present on the ice or that we saw in the locker room, and when head coach Lane Lambert was asked about #19, the update wasn’t a good one. Lambert stated that Jared is in a “little bit of a holding pattern,” which is not at all a positive sign and leaves room open for some concern. Further comment on McCann didn’t provide any sort of optimism for a quick return as it relates to McCann, saying that the team will “see where we go with him” and also using the wording “know more here day-to-day as we go forward.” That’s all largely vague but the tone of the messaging isn’t that of a player that will be on the return soon, unless Lambert is throwing us for a loop. McCann has missed the teams last four games and hasn’t been on the ice recently, that we’re aware of. Here’s hoping that Jared’s recovery timeline takes a turn for the positive, because this would be another big hit in the injury department for a Kraken team that’s already dealt with plenty of significant absences.
Where the current injury list lies for the Kraken
F Jared McCann: Day-to-day, lower body.
Unclear on true timeline for return.
F Kaapo Kakko: Injured reserve, day-to-day. Broken hand.
Could return by Saturday.
F Freddy Gaudreau: Injured reserve, week-to-week. Upper body.
Timeline was set at four-to-six weeks, nine days ago.
D Ryker Evans: Injured reserve, week-to-week. upper body
Timeline was set at six-to-eight weeks, 26 days ago.
Attendance for today
Everyone that was healthy and active for the Kraken was active at today’s practice session, with some of the names that are on injured reserve present but not on the ice. The only absence was that of McCann, as explained previously. While both on injured reserve and out for an extended period of time, defenseman Ryker Evans (Upper body) and forward Freddy Gaudreau (Upper body) were seen in the locker room in workout clothes. Those two are obviously working on their respective returns and doing some sort of rehab within the teams facility, but aren’t near a return like Kakko is.
Lines didn’t change for the majority of rushes and drills today, besides Kaapo Kakko rotating in on the Wright-Schwartz line. On a few rushes, Kakko took Jani Nyman’s spot alongside Shane and Jaden before joining Wright and Nyman in some of the five-on-five drills that Lambert’s team got into after rushes and before the practice ended. It’s another positive step for Kaapo as he looks to get back to this team. It will be interesting to see what change will be made to the lineup when he returns, and it may be a sign that Nyman came out at times on rushes at this practice. With the way that the fourth line is currently playing, it wouldn’t be shocking for it to be a one for one swap of Kakko in and Nyman out while keeping the rest of the lines the same.
Other Kraken notes
On today’s episode of “32 thoughts,” Elliotte Friedman had two different thoughts relating to our Kraken. The first of the two was praise for the team this year, saying that this seasons group looks similar to him to the 2022-23 team that reached the postseason. The second thought was that he “wonders” if the Kraken were a team looking at an offer sheet for Mason McTavish before the Anaheim Ducks signed the young forward to an extension.
I imagine that what Friedman meant when it came to this years group looking similar to that team is the team mentality and winning games despite not having stars like other teams. The style of play for that 2022-23 team is far different than what we’re watching with the Kraken here in 2025-26.
It’s hard to take much stock in the McTavish thought. Friedman said that he believed there was a team interested in an offer sheet for McTavish this past offseason, and never had any conviction that it was Seattle, just speculation. While the Kraken were reportedly a team interested in being aggressive with an offer sheet this past offseason, Elliotte mentioned that he thought Seattle would’ve needed to get one of their picks back from the Dallas trade that net them Mason Marchment, when they gave up a 2025 4th rounder and a 2026 3rd rounder.
What’s next?
Following todays practice session at the Kraken Community Iceplex, our Seattle Kraken will play the second contest of their five-game homestand tomorrow, Tuesday, October 28th. This game is the second in a 14 day span against the Montréal Canadiens, having fallen to the Habs to begin the six-game road trip back on the 14th in overtime, with a puck drop of 7:30PM PDT at Climate Pledge Arena that will be broadcast live on the Kraken Hockey Network (Amazon Prime Video) and KONG. Montréal has started out hot this season, holding a 7-3-0 record over their first ten games of the season after making a late push to the postseason last year. The Kraken will be tested once again, as they’ll need their defensive structure and intensity to be on point if they hope to leave the building tomorrow night with a point or points.
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