News

Aug 30, 2023

Explore the Lore

The Stanley Cup dates back to 1893 as the oldest trophy that can be won by

The Stanley Cup dates back to 1893 as the oldest trophy that can be won by professional athletes in North America. That's 130 years of hockey history, but Kraken fans don't have to look past the team's current roster, coaching staff, and hockey operations group to connect with the best of postseason competitions in all of sports.

As Seattle, both the team and fanbase, prepares for the wonder and noise, and intensity of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, let's explore the lore of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Alternate captain Jaden Schwartz scored 12 goals in the 2019 postseason to spark the St. Louis Blues to the team's first-ever Cup since joining the league in 1967 as part of the "Next Six" that doubled the NHL from six to 12 teams. Perhaps no goal was bigger than his first-round game-winning goal with 15 seconds remaining in a Game 5 victory to put the Blues up, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series against the Winnipeg Jets. It gave momentum and substantiating belief to a St. Louis squad that was dead last in the NHL in early January of that season.

Yet one can argue Schwartz's more pivotal goals were yet to come. St. Louis polished off the Jets on the road in Game 6 to close out the series. The now-Kraken alternate captain notched a "natural hat trick" (three straight goals with no one else scoring for either team) in the third period of the clinching game as the Blues roared back from a 2-0 deficit. Kraken teammate Brandon Tanev, who scored an NCAA national-championship-winning goal for Providence College in 2015, likely recalls the Schwartz hat trick all too well. He was a Jets forward who assisted on the game's opening goal scored by Adam Lowry, son of Kraken assistant coach Dave Lowry.

Watch: Youtube Video

After Thursday's regular-season finale, Schwartz savored what he expected to be a mega-decibel atmosphere at Climate Pledge Arena for Games 3 and 4 (next Saturday and April 24) against Colorado.

"Now is when the real fun starts," said Schwartz with a smile. "We're excited. This is why we play 82 games and this is why we grind throughout the year, to give yourself an opportunity."

Schwartz acknowledged Cup winners on the Kraken playoff roster, such as Yanni Gourde, Justin Schultz, Philipp Grubauer, and Vince Dunn who won with Schwartz in St. Louis, but equally appreciates what first-time Stanley Cup Playoffs participants can bring to the Colorado series.

"We have guys who played a lot of playoff games and guys who won [a Cup]," said Schwartz. "Our new guys are gonna have a lot of energy. I think that's a good thing. It's your first playoff game, you're gonna be ramped up ... We'll prepare for it and we'll talk about things but obviously, everyone's really excited."

Speaking of the Lowry, in the summer of 1993, the Seattle assistant coach and a team catalyst by all accounts, experienced an event that he has in common with a major portion of the Kraken roster. He was selected by the Florida Panthers in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft. He compiled four straight double-digit goal seasons (twice scoring 15 goals and twice scoring 10) while playing his signature physical, two-way game.

Florida was 33-34-17 in its inaugural season but the highlight was the Panthers (41-31-10 in the regular season) making a run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. Lowry led Florida with 10 goals and seven assists during the playoffs, earning a local nickname as "Mr. Playoff" as the team rolled to an Eastern Conference championship and Stanley Cup Final bid in just its third year of play.

As the Kraken and Colorado get ready for the first-round series, Seattle fan favorite Yanni Gourde will bring his two-time Cup-winning experience to the locker room, team plane, and ice. While he provides relentless energy and fight every shift of every game, the alternate captain is no stranger to Stanley Cup Playoffs pressure.

In 2021, Gourde hopped off the bench during a Tampa Bay penalty kill, raced to net-front to receive a pass, and scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Lightning went on to win a second straight Cup.

Watch: Youtube Video

Gourde epitomizes the "hard to play against" sort of team that Kraken GM Ron Francis and head coach Dave Hakstol have preached in building this second-season playoff team. In his first-ever video conference call with Seattle media, the undrafted Gourde was prescient in his vision for what the Kraken could become-no doubt rooted in his third-line days with Tampa Bay.

"I think we're going to be a very hard-working group, and when you look at a hard-working group, there's a lot of potential," Gourde said. "That's the first step to success. If you work hard, you're definitely putting yourself in a good position, just be hard to play against during the season. Hopefully, it leads us to the playoffs and then we'll see what happens."

At this season's trade deadline, Kraken GM Ron Francis didn't make any last-weekend moves because he said he believed the existing squad "deserve the chance" to make a run at the playoffs. Excellent plan, as it turns out.

Yet Francis himself was part of a lopsided deadline trade to Pittsburgh in 1991 that pushed the Penguins into position to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Francis scored seven goals and added 10 assists in the 1991 Cup run and followed it up with eight goals and 19 assists in a 1992 sweep of Chicago in the Stanley Cup Final to include two Cups to his illustrious Hall of Fame playing career. Francis has long credited then-Pittsburgh GM Craig Patrick as an early role model as a hockey operations executive who "was confident enough in himself and his abilities to surround himself with smart people."

At the 2016 NHL trade deadline, Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz was traded from Edmonton to Pittsburgh for a third-round draft choice. He filled a need at the blue line for the Penguins, who went on to win the 2016 Stanley Cup.

The next season, when Pittsburgh repeated as Cup champions, Schultz scored 12 goals and added 39 assists during the regular season, then notched four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 21 playoff games. Importantly, Schultz filled in as power play "quarterback" with future Hall of Fame defenseman Kris Letang out for the entire 2017 playoffs. Along with sharing a 2023 mission with the Kraken, Schultz joined Francis as former Penguin who won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Whether Francis or Schultz or then 22-year-old Vince Dunn in 2019 with St. Louis, another unique fact about the Stanley Cup is one reason why the on-ice celebrations are so moving for team and fans alike. Unlike other major North American sports, the winning trophy is presented by Commissioner Gary Bettman directly to the players rather than ownership or management. The first player-recipient then hands off to another player until all teammates get a turn around the ice. The joy of hoisting that 34.5-pound Cup after a grueling run of four series and 16 victories is a sight to behold, as several Kraken players know.