Giordano sighting, injured forwards progressing

Calgary Flames v Seattle Kraken

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Practice often provides a pathway to achievement in the big picture scope, no matter the situation. 

The Seattle Kraken returned to Kraken Community Iceplex with a day off in the rear view mirror, following a 4-1 loss on Wednesday against a consensus Stanley Cup contender in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The total: 62 games down, 20 to go. 

There are still goals to reach, and boxes to check off.

“How hungry are you and technically, the job you’re doing in puck battles,” said head coach Dave Hakstol. “Every little element of the game for us can and needs to improve. The biggest place to start is with that resiliency, that work ethic, that togetherness. We’ve shown that.’

“Now we have to have a real honesty in terms of looking inside the little pieces of the game and make sure we’re still addressing that real, true competitiveness, what that means, and how it helps our team.” 

GIO SIGHTING? 

With the trade deadline looming three days away, perhaps a surprising twist to Friday’s practice was the sight of Mark Giordano on ice after he was held out of action on Wednesday night against Tampa Bay, inclusive of pre-game ceremonies built to honor the 1,000th game milestone of his NHL career. 

“Obviously, knowing my situation with Ronnie (Francis) and the coaches, it was probably the right thing to do,” said Giordano.  

Acknowledging he showed up for the practice day while absorbing playful chirping from his teammates, Giordano took line rushes and five-on-five drills with defenseman Will Borgen. He was not included on the power play side of special team drills, with the points quarterbacked by defensemen Vince Dunn and Carson Soucy. 

“Just living day to day, hour to hour now that it’s getting so close to the deadline,” said Giordano. “But I’m just trying to come to the rink, be around the guys and put in some work too.”

“It’s weird, I’ve never been through this before, it’s different, but just living day to day.” 

Hakstol confirmed Giordano will be out of the lineup on Saturday against Detroit.

“We’ll stay on the same pattern with him,” said Hakstol. 

INJURY WATCH 

Three sidelined forwards who missed action due to upper body injuries on Wednesday – Alex Wennberg, Karson Kuhlman, Joonas Donskoi – were all present in practice with regular jerseys as the Kraken maneuvered through drills with 22 skaters. 

Donskoi and Kuhlman have missed a combined 21 games on injured reserve. 

Haydn Fleury, a natural defenseman who needed to play out of position at left wing on Wednesday due to a shortage of healthy forwards, returned to a role on the blueline with Adam Larsson while Kuhlman took drills with Riley Sheahan and Morgan Geekie. Wennberg took consistent drills and rushes with wingers Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle. 

Donskoi was showcased as an extra forward with Kole Lind, rotating in on a frequent basis. Hakstol said the next hurdle was cleared for them to return to play, but short of being able to confirm they would be activated for game action.  

“Today I wanted to get them in regular jerseys through a full practice, that was the next step for them,” said Hakstol. “For sure – they made good progress, but for game day, we’ll wait.” 

Saturday will be the second and final meeting with the Detroit Red Wings, 7:00 pm PT (93.3 KJR / Kraken Audio Network) at Climate Pledge Arena. 

KRAKEN AT PRACTICE, MAR. 18:

Schwartz-Wennberg-Eberle
Blackwell-Gourde-Appleton
Johansson-McCann-Donato
Sheahan-Geekie-Kuhlman
Donskoi / Lind 

Soucy-Oleksiak
Dunn-Lauzon
Fleury-Larsson
Giordano-Borgen

Grubauer
Driedger


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