Inaugural 2021-22 Season

Lore & Background

Seattle's hunger for a major-league hockey team stretched back decades, through the expansion-and-collapse era of the early 1990s and the long silence that followed. When the NHL officially awarded Seattle the 32nd franchise in 2018, the reaction was unlike anything the league had seen in a modern expansion market. General admission tickets for the inaugural season sold out almost immediately, and the city's identity as a hockey town—long a quiet undercurrent—erupted into the open.

The first game, a 7-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on October 13, 2021, was less a sporting event than a civic ceremony. The arena shook. The red-and-black sea of fans treated every shift, every faceoff, as though the franchise's survival depended on it. The Kraken's identity was set early: speed, physicality, and an unapologetic Pacific Northwest grit that contrasted sharply with the polished, veteran-heavy rosters of established clubs.

Finishing 11th in the West and missing the postseason was a small blemish on an otherwise triumphant first year. The organization had no expectation of immediate contention; the goal was to build a foundation, draft young talent like Noah Dobson and Matty Beniers, and prove that Seattle belonged in the NHL. The 2021-22 season accomplished all three, and the franchise entered its second year with a fan base that was not merely supportive but fiercely, almost ferociously, loyal.

In Their Own Story

The lights in Climate Pledge Arena hummed to life an hour before puck drop, and the sound that rolled through the concourse was not the usual pregame murmur. It was a roar—thousands of voices, a city that had waited twenty-one years for this exact moment. A kid in a red jersey, maybe nine years old, pressed his face against the glass at rink level, watching the Kraken skate out in their black-and-red war paint. The bass from the arena speakers rattled the ice itself. When the first faceoff dropped, the kid screamed so loud his mother had to cover her ears. The puck zipped to the left circle, a stick clacked, and for a few seconds the whole arena held its breath. Then the net bulged, the horn blared, and the kid was lifted onto a stranger's shoulders. Twenty-one years. One goal. One city, finally home.

Reader's Guide

2018 – The NHL officially awards Seattle the 32nd franchise. Dan Friedkin and the Friedkin Group are confirmed as owners. The city erupts.

2019-2020 – The organization builds its infrastructure: hiring Ron Francis as GM, Dave Hakstol as head coach, and assembling a young core. The pandemic delays the start of play, adding a year of anticipation.

October 13, 2021 – The Kraken win their first-ever NHL game, 7-4, over the Vegas Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena. Mattias Ekholm scores the franchise's first goal. The arena is at full capacity.

November-December 2021 – The team establishes its identity: fast, physical, and unafraid to compete with any opponent. Home games become a weekly event for the city.

January-February 2022 – The Kraken trade for depth and add experienced pieces. The young core of Dobson, Beniers, and Ekholm begins to gel.

March-April 2022 – The team pushes hard in the final stretch but ultimately finishes 11th in the Western Conference, missing the playoffs by a narrow margin.

May 2022 – The 2022 NHL Draft arrives. The Kraken select Matty Beniers second overall, cementing the franchise's future. The season is closed not with a playoff heartbreak but with a promise: this is only the beginning.

Did You Know?

• The Seattle Kraken were the first new NHL expansion team since the Columbus Blue Jackets began play in 2000, ending a 21-year gap in league growth.
• The Kraken's first-ever NHL goal was scored by captain Mattias Ekholm in the 7-4 opening-night win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
• Noah Dobson, selected first overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, became the franchise's first top pick and a cornerstone of its young defensive core.
• Seattle's general admission tickets for the entire inaugural 2021-22 season sold out before the first game was played, a feat unmatched in modern NHL expansion history.