Kraken eliminated from NHL playoff race for 3rd straight season

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Apr 11, 2026

Published in Hockey

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SEATTLE — The 2025-26 Seattle Kraken will officially miss the playoffs.

In the end, it was out of their hands. There were at least seven ways the Kraken could have been mathematically eliminated Saturday, five of which had nothing to do with them beating the Calgary Flames.

About a half-hour before puck drop at Climate Pledge Arena, the L.A. Kings shut out the Edmonton Oilers 1-0, which ensured Seattle would miss the postseason for a third straight season, and four of five since the franchise began play.

The Kraken managed to stay alive for two extra days. They needed to beat the Vegas Golden Knights and for the Nashville Predators to lose to the Utah Mammoth in regulation on Thursday. The Predators dropped first, then the Kraken bested the Golden Knights 4-3 in a shootout, improving their dreadful 1-6 prior record in shootouts this season.

Seattle was in a playoff spot a month ago, three-quarters of the way through the season, before tumbling to 28th in the 32-team league.

In 2022 and 2025, their playoff hopes fizzled before March ended. In 2024 they kept the faith until April 3.

But the year they really want to channel is 2023, and recreating the formula that led to their lone playoff appearance has proved very difficult.

The Kraken announced Wednesday that general manager-turned-president of hockey operations Ron Francis will step down at the end of the season. That’s the first of many expected moves.

The way they fell apart, late and thoroughly, has everyone smarting. Many times it’s been asked of the players: What is going wrong? They didn’t have the time, desire or words to go into it.

On Thursday, Kraken captain Jordan Eberle gave the most thorough answer yet: Everything.

“The power play’s gone dry. The PK’s let in some goals,” he said, being generous about the Kraken’s penalty kill, which was in last place (71.5%) heading into Saturday’s action.

“It’s not just one thing. We just haven’t played the way that we were playing, the detailed hockey, (knowing) the importance of each shift, the importance of special teams.

“The most frustrating part is that we have the group capable of doing it, because we’ve literally done it.”

The Kraken swooned in December, dropping 10 of 11 games before immediately undoing the damage. They won eight of their next nine.

They started losing again right after the NHL paused for the Olympics and it only got worse. Heading into Thursday night’s game, they had once again dropped 10 of 11.

It was an uncommonly weak year for the Pacific Division. That playoff spot was probably in their grasp if they had played halfway decently.

“There was a lot of optimism going into the break,” Eberle said. “I thought where we were and where we were playing, at (that) level, and to come out of it like this — it’s been frustrating and disheartening.”

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