Top Kraken Takeaways From Seattle’s Home Preseason Win Over Edmonton, October 1st, 2025
By Jayd Serdy, with introduction by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The 2025-26 preseason slate came to a close tonight, as our Seattle Kraken earned a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena in their final tune up ahead of the opening night contest against the Anaheim Ducks on October 9th. Usually this final exhibition contest is used to get one last game scenario in for the main roster to be ready for opening night, and for any prospects to make one final strong showing to the NHL coaching staff, but it’s difficult to consider this a total tune up for the Kraken considering the injuries that Seattle has suffered this preseason. Three defensemen and three forwards are out, with Ryker Evans and Kaapo Kakko dealing with injuries that will keep them out for a significant amount of time, so the Kraken are nowhere near full strength quite yet. Here are some takeaways from the preseason finale for a Seattle team that’s already quite banged up.
The Seattle Kraken celebrate defenseman Josh Mahura’s goal in the first period, the opening score of the game, in their preseason home win over the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena on October 1st, 2025. (Photo by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Josh Mahura notched his first in a Kraken sweater - technically preseason, but still a solid confidence boost. Mahura has shown well throughout this camp, coming off signing a two-year deal this offseason to stay with Seattle, and he’ll surely be needed once again this year after he shifted from depth defenseman to starting blueliner once the Kraken traded Will Borgen to acquire Kaapo Kakko. With injuries to Ryker Evans, Brandon Montour, and Vince Dunn (although the latter to are slated as just “day-to-day”), Mahura will be critical early on for the Seattle blueline. If his camp is any indication of how he’ll look going into the season, the Kraken will be at ease knowing they can rely on “Muzz.”
Nearly the entire first period was spent on special teams. Both power play and penalty kill units looked sharper than expected, though not flawless. There were some goals, and some solid scoring chances to come from the special teams but parts of it were still a bit rough. A lot of these special teams scenarios came from tripping, holding, and interference penalties that seemed to bog the game down. Sloppy play all around in this one, even for a preseason game, considering it’s supposed to be Seattle’s final tune up ahead of the regular season.
Seattle Kraken forward Ryan Winterton scored two goals in the teams home preseason win over the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena on October 1st, 2025. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Two goals for Ryan Winterton - first on a slick wraparound with Calvin Pickard out of position, second by crashing the net hard and capitalizing on loose coverage. Winterton’s only goals as a Kraken have been in the preseason so none of them have counted, but he’s certainly getting closer to one that’ll count. The 22-year-old forward is still looking to take the next leap of his development, looking like a somewhat average player at the AHL level with the Firebirds as he only made a two point jump from the 2023-24 season to last years campaign. He’s gotten a good chunk of games at the NHL level, playing 21 in total across the last two years, but only has one assist to show for it in the points department. This camp has been a good one for “Wints,” creating a ton of goal scoring chances over his games played this preseason, so here’s hoping it means a jump in his overall play going forward.
“I liked the way he played. Obviously, it’s not necessarily just because he scored. You can always like a guy when he scores. He might score, and there’s other things in his game that he didn’t do well, but he did a lot of things well, and he’s done a lot of things well in camp. He’s in position, he skates well, he looks to me like he fits in potential situations. When you talk about training camp, and you talk about a last game, which we talked about this morning, make an impression. He made an impression.”
Seattle Kraken forward Berkly Catton in the teams home preseason win over the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena on October 1st, 2025. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Berkly Catton showed flashes of poise and strength. Some plays felt just outside his comfort zone, but overall a solid outing with room to grow. He definitely deserves the nine games that his entry level contract allow, but I think he’s still just outside of a full season in the NHL. The physicality that this Oilers “B-team” roster seemed to challenge him with provided struggles, as Catton took three penalties in this game. With the injuries to the forward group and considering his talent level, it makes sense that the Kraken coaching staff has gotten an extended look at Berkly this preseason.
“He’s finding his way in the league, and it’s completely different than he’s ever played before, and for the most part, we just keep working with him. He’s not the only one who took stick penalties and hooking and this and that. We just have to clean it up overall.”
Starting goaltender Joey Daccord looked unsettled at points throughout the game, giving up an ugly goal to Matt Savoie and then getting caught in a brief puck battle with an Oiler. Definitely not his sharpest night, but it’s a good thing that this is the final sort of tune up ahead of the regular season so that Joey can be fully prepared for when things get started next Thursday.
“I thought he played well. I thought he was sharp. He had multiple situations where there was some traffic in front and from that standpoint, I thought he played really well. We have some areas we have to clean up with that, and maybe not expose him so much, bb=ut he played well when he had to.”
Kraken forward and alternate captain Matty Beniers continues to struggle finishing chances. Had looks in the second and third - including an empty-net miss - but just couldn’t convert those chances into goals. Beniers is still looking to take a leap in his offensive game, as his 200-foot defensive effort is something that’s seemingly always been there for him at the NHL level, but it’s that scoring game that just hasn’t made the leap quite yet which holds Matty back from truly becoming a star. With Kaapo Kakko out, someone that helped create a ton of offense for Beniers last season, Matty can’t rely on a favorite linemate of his to generate chances.
Seattle repeatedly failed to bury almost-perfect chances right at Edmonton’s crease against former Thunderbird Calvin Pickard. Breakaways and net-front scrambles went unfinished all night. The scramble that was happening at the crease was not the prettiest thing, but could work in the Kraken’s favor if they’re able to get that under control.
For a physical forward that was expected to bring energy, offseason acquisition Mason Marchment been pretty quiet so far this preseason. Of course, he’s only dressed for three games, but I do hope that changes once the preseason is over. Here’s to giving “Mush” some grace as he integrates into a new team, especially considering that he’s now playing without someone who he seemed to have good chemistry with in Chandler Stephenson, but obviously an eye will be kept on him going forward.
Too much hesitation, too many attempts at flashy plays. Seattle needs to simplify and just put pucks on net. This is a problem they ran into quite a bit during the 2024-25 season as well, and I’d hoped it would change with a new coach. But it still seems to be a problem – are they in their own heads too much?
Overall, Seattle is certainly looking better, but there’s still quite a bit to tighten up before the season starts. Injuries likely aren’t helping this situation, but they can’t rely solely on those injured players to keep the momentum going either.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s home win in their preseason finale over the Edmonton Oilers, our Seattle Kraken have a few scheduled days off before returning to finish up training up this upcoming week at the Kraken Community Iceplex, before the season opener next Thursday. That game comes on October 9th at Climate Pledge Arena against a Pacific Division rival in California, as the Anaheim Ducks come to town for a 7PM PDT puck drop time that will be broadcast live on the Kraken Hockey Network (Amazon Prime Video), KING 5, and KONG for those not attending the game although tickets are still available. The Ducks are in an interesting situation, having traded away star forward Trevor Zegras this offseason to the Philadelphia Flyers while extending young forward Mason McTavish and Jackson LaCombe over the last few days. There is some chippy history between these two West coast franchises, so expect some fireworks on opening night.
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