The Olympic flame was lit, then extinguished. The Huskies made their Big Ten debut. And Storm legend Sue Bird got her due with an official street (technically, a court) named after her.

A lot has happened since April, when the Seattle Kraken ended their less-than-stellar third season by missing the playoffs with a sixth-place finish in the Pacific Division. But isn’t that just the beauty of sports? With a few months in the rearview mirror, some headline-making offseason moves, and a lot of stupid optimism, it feels like a whole new puck drop.

If you’re just now getting back into that hockey mindset, here’s what you might have missed while you were summering.

Notable moves on the ice

General manager Ron Francis added depth at center and defense this offseason, signing Chandler Stephenson, most recently of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Brandon Montour, formerly of the reigning champion Florida Panthers, each to seven-year deals. If you’ve never heard of them, just consider this CV highlight: Stephenson and Montour have three Stanley Cups between them.

Another noteworthy deal was the seven-year contract extension worth approximately $50 million for Chipotle-loving Matty Beniers. Bowl cut maestro Adam Larsson also received a four-year extension for $21 million.

When it comes to goaltending, both Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord are still with the team. It seems likely the Kraken will go with a goalie tandem yet again—at least to start the season—with the players equally shouldering the load compared to a traditional starting and backup goalie duo.

As for the whole vacant captaincy situation, well, the C was placed on forward Jordan Eberle's sweater right before the Kraken's opener against St. Louis. 

Changes behind the bench

The Kraken’s 2023–24 season wasn’t even two weeks cold when head coach Dave Hakstol got the boot. ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan noted that a handful of “pretty significant players” had demanded Hakstol’s firing during their exit interviews, but Kraken management and veterans Eberle and Jared McCann denied such claims.

About a month later, the team announced Dan Bylsma, coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds and once a Stanley Cup–winning head coach in the NHL, as Hakstol’s replacement. Expectations are high for Bylsma, who brings fresh energy to a young team. This is, after all, the man who famously employed the line “let’s grind these bitches down” in a pregame pep talk and sports the nickname Disco Dan.

The Kraken also hired assistant coach Jessica Campbell, making her the first woman to accept a full-time assistant or head coaching job in the NHL. Campbell, who coached with Bylsma in Coachella, has previous experience with the men’s German national team and ran her own power skating business prior to joining the Firebirds.

When’s the 2024–25 season opener?

The Kraken begin their preseason on September 22 against the Calgary Flames, but the 2024–25 regular season opener isn’t until October 8, when the Kraken take on the St. Louis Blues.

Joy of joys, it’s a home game and a national broadcast at that.

About that broadcast situation

Shortly after the 2023–24 season concluded, the Kraken announced they were parting ways with ROOT Sports. Instead they launched Kraken Hockey Network, producing non-nationally televised games for distribution on KING 5, KONG, and Amazon Prime. What’s this mean for fans? If you don’t have cable, it’s going to be way easier to watch Kraken games.

As for the broadcast team, fans can still expect to see all the familiar faces, including John Forslund, Eddie Olcyzk, JT Brown, Alison Lukan, and Piper Shaw. But the biggest news of late is that ESPN legend Linda Cohn (and former youth hockey goalie) will host approximately 15 marquee games for the fledgling network.