First Franchise Playoff Appearance (2023-24)

Lore & Background

When the Kraken were granted expansion in 2018, skeptics whispered that a city known for rain and tech would never sustain a major hockey franchise. The 2021-22 inaugural season shattered that doubt, and by 2023-24 the narrative had shifted from "can they survive?" to "how high can they climb?" The 2023-24 playoff run embodied that shift: a team still only three years old, still finding its identity in the grueling regular season, but now standing on the other side of the 82-game gauntlet with a postseason stake in the balance.

Climate Pledge Arena became a cauldron during the regular season, but the playoff atmosphere took on a different texture. The green-and-black wave of Kraken supporters created an environment that visiting teams described as disorienting—a new, loud, and passionate crowd that had learned its hockey vocabulary in just a handful of seasons. The franchise's identity as a "new" team was no longer a liability; it was a weapon. Every shift felt like a story being written in real time, and the fans knew they were witnessing the early chapters of what they hoped would become a decades-long legacy.

The 2023-24 run, like the ones before it, ultimately ended in the first round. But for a franchise that had not existed a decade earlier, the fact of reaching the postseason at all was the true achievement. It validated the front office's patient building strategy, the coaching staff's development of young talent, and the city's hunger for a team that represented something new in the Pacific Northwest. The Kraken were no longer a curiosity; they were a competitor, and the 2023-24 playoffs were the season that made that undeniable.

In Their Own Story

The arena hummed at 6:47 p.m., three minutes before puck drop. A kid in a size-14 jersey—too big, sleeves swallowing his hands—pressed his face against the glass in the lower bowl, breath fogging the pane. Behind him, a woman in a vintage-style Kraken tee held a foam finger shaped like a tentacle, tapping it against the railing in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. The ice was fresh, the boards still gleaming under the floodlights. Somewhere in the tunnel, a defenseman was taping his stick, the soft *thwip-thwip* of tape audible even over the crowd's murmur. The Zamboni had passed twice; the surface was a mirror. A linesman dropped the puck, and for one suspended second the entire arena held its breath—then the crack of a stick on rubber echoed off the rafters, and Seattle roared. Three years old. Already home.

Reader's Guide

The 2023-24 season marked the Kraken's third year in the NHL, following their 2021-22 expansion debut and the 2022-23 campaign. By this point, the franchise had established itself as a consistent presence in the Pacific Division's upper half, building a core of young players and a fanbase that had grown from novelty to genuine devotion.

The playoff berth itself was the headline. For an expansion team, reaching the postseason within its first three seasons placed the Kraken in the company of other rapid-success stories in NHL history, while simultaneously carrying the weight of a city that had waited decades for a major hockey franchise.

The series ended in the first round, as had the franchise's prior playoff stints. The pattern—reaching the postseason but falling to a more established opponent—became the defining narrative of the early Kraken era: proof of capability, but not yet of championship pedigree. Each first-round exit fed a fanbase that refused to treat the result as failure, instead framing it as a necessary step in a longer arc.

The 2023-24 run also solidified Climate Pledge Arena's reputation as a formidable home venue. The combination of a dense, loud crowd and the arena's relatively intimate scale created conditions that visiting teams consistently cited as a challenge, giving the Kraken a genuine home-ice advantage that belied their youth as a franchise.

Did You Know?

• The Seattle Kraken were granted NHL expansion in 2018 and began play in the 2021-22 season, making the 2023-24 playoff run their third season of existence.
• Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken's home, is a multi-use venue in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, shared with the Seattle Sounders FC soccer club.
• The Kraken's team name was selected through a public fan vote in 2019, with 'Kraken' defeating other options to become the franchise identity.
• As a Pacific Division team, the Kraken share their division with the Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks, creating a geographically compact and fiercely competitive grouping.