On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Seattle Kraken lost a heartbreaking 5-1 game to the Minnesota Wild in the two teams' first match up of the 2026-27 National Hockey League (NHL) season. There's no denying the Wild are a strong team, but the Kraken have had a strong start to the season as well. They won 7 of their first 11 games, and now this game against Minnesota marks their fifth loss of the season.
Ahead of the game, the Kraken announced forward Jared McCann would not be available to play since he was being evaluated for a lower-body injury. Since the team would be down a forward, the Kraken recalled forward Jani Nyman from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate. He had ample time to get to Seattle, yet the team decided to make him a healthy scratch and instead played Curtis Douglas. This decision potentially cost the Kraken the game, or at least would have made it a closer score.
The Kraken elected to play Douglas over Nyman, and he only spent 5:18 on the ice. This game was just Douglas' third of the season, but he recorded the lowest amount of ice time yet. Since head coach Lane Lambert benched him for the rest of the game, the 11 other forwards had to pick up Douglas' slack, which is not beneficial for anyone.
Nyman deserved a chance to play
Nyman has played with the Kraken before, playing in 28 games with the NHL team last season, and recording seven points. Although he spent the majority of his time with the Firebirds, Nyman still had a fair amount of NHL experience under his belt, so he wasn't a complete rookie.
Although Nyman has only played in the AHL to start the season, he has been off to a roaring start. He currently leads the entire league in goals, with nine scored. He added two assists to this total to give him 11 points in nine games to begin the 2026-27 season.
Nyman has a proven scoring record and has a great offensive eye. The Kraken recently announced Jared McCann will miss the next 10 weeks due to a lower-body injury. Since McCann was a major offensive threat on the Kraken, they will need someone to fill this role. Nyman will likely stay up with the NHL team while McCann recovers, and with his proven performance in the AHL to start 2026-27, the Kraken will need him to perform like this at the NHL level, too.
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