First Franchise Playoff Series Win (2024)

Lore & Background

The Kraken entered the 2023–24 season carrying the weight of two previous playoff appearances in which they fell short. Expansion teams often face a brutal learning curve—the first two years are about survival, about building chemistry, about learning the pace of the NHL. Seattle had done that. They had the structure, the identity, the young core gelling. What they lacked was the one thing that separates a team that 'almost made it' from one that actually does: a series win under pressure.

The 2024 first-round series against the Kings became a defining narrative for the franchise. The Kings, a perennial playoff team with deep experience, represented everything the Kraken were still becoming. The series tested the Kraken's composure, their bench depth, their ability to close games when the arena was electric and the stakes were existential. When the final puck dropped and the series was sealed, the celebration in Climate Pledge Arena was not merely a victory lap—it was a coronation of patience. Fans who had chanted through losses, who had defended the team through media skepticism about expansion viability, finally had something to point to. A win. A real, concrete, franchise-defining win.

In the broader context of NHL expansion history, the Kraken's first series win placed them in a lineage of teams that overcame the 'expansion jinx'—the notion that new franchises need multiple seasons to find their footing. Teams like the 2021 Arizona Coyotes (in their early years) or the 2017 Ottawa Senators (who won a Cup in their first season) show that the timeline varies. Seattle's path was slower, more incremental, but no less meaningful. The 2024 series win is the chapter in the franchise storybook where the protagonist stops being the underdog and starts being a contender.

In Their Own Story

The arena hummed before the puck drop. Not the polite murmur of a regular Tuesday, but a low, sustained roar that vibrated through the floorboards and into the soles of skates. A young Kraken forward stood at the blue line, stick dragging, watching the Zamboni cut its last pass across the ice. The boards were scarred with the ghosts of previous games—scuffs, tape marks, the faint pink of a blocked shot that had gone wide. He thought about last year, same arena, same crowd, and the way the final horn had felt like a door closing. This time the door stayed open. The series point was on the line. He could feel the building breathing around him, ten thousand lungs filling and emptying in unison, and for a moment the noise wasn't sound at all—it was pressure, physical, pressing against his helmet, against his ribs. Then the face-off circle was marked, the linesman dropped the puck, and the Kraken's first real series win in franchise history began to be written, one shift at a time, in the white spray of ice kicked up under skates.

Reader's Guide

The Seattle Kraken entered the NHL as a 2021 expansion franchise, joining the Pacific Division. Their first two seasons (2021–22 and 2022–23) served as a learning period typical of new entries, with the team building chemistry and establishing its identity in the league.

The 2023–24 season represented the Kraken's first true contender window. The front office had built around a young core, and the coaching staff had established a structured identity. The team earned a playoff berth and a first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Kings, a historically experienced Western Conference squad.

Winning that series—Seattle's first playoff series victory—was the franchise's defining 'proof' moment. It confirmed that the Kraken were no longer a curiosity or a novelty but a team capable of winning under the highest-pressure conditions the NHL offers. In expansion-team lore, the first series win often becomes the reference point against which all future seasons are measured.

The win also cemented Climate Pledge Arena as a legitimate playoff venue in the NHL landscape, giving Seattle's fanbase a shared memory that transcends a single season. For a city that had long been considered a 'non-hockey' market, that series was the argument made in ice and noise.

Did You Know?

• The Seattle Kraken were selected as the NHL's 32nd franchise in 2018, with their first game played in the 2021–22 season—making the 2024 series win a milestone achieved in just the franchise's third season of play.
• Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Kraken, is one of the newest arenas in the NHL, opening in 2021 and designed with sustainability features that set it apart from older venues.
• The Kraken's 2024 first-round opponent, the Los Angeles Kings, had made the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, meaning the series pitted a three-year-old team against a franchise with deep postseason pedigree.
• Expansion teams in the NHL have historically faced a 'first series' hurdle; the Kraken's 2024 win placed them among the newer franchises to overcome that barrier within their first few seasons.