Early look The full preview opens on Wednesday 13 January, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

San Jose Sharks at Seattle Kraken: game preview

Puck drop16 Jan · 10:00 PM ET
VenueClimate Pledge Arena
All-time meetings18 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Seven points apart last season

San Jose finished last season 24th in the league on 86 points. Seattle finished 27th on 79, and the 2025-26 season series went SEA 2-1-0.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 19

Across 18 completed games, Seattle lead the head-to-head 11-7-0.

All-time record11-7-0Seattle's record in the series
Meetings played18This is number 19
2025-26 seriesSEA 2-1-0
Last 54-1Seattle
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
20 Dec 2025SEA 4 – SJS 2——SEA
15 Nov 2025SJS 1 – SEA 4——SEA
5 Nov 2025SJS 6 – SEA 1——SJS
5 Apr 2025SEA 5 – SJS 1——SEA
30 Jan 2025SJS 2 – SEA 6——SEA
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateSan JoseSeattle
5 Nov 20255-6-3 · 13 pts30th6-3-4 · 16 pts13th
15 Nov 20258-8-3 · 19 pts25th9-4-5 · 23 pts8th
20 Dec 202517-16-3 · 37 pts21st13-14-6 · 32 pts29th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 5 Nov 2025, San Jose were 30th in the league and Seattle 13th. By 20 Dec 2025 it was 21st and 29th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

San Jose out-attempted Seattle 205 to 158

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

San Jose Sharks

205 att · 86 on goal · 9 G · 10.5%
Crease16 att · 4 G
Slot82 att · 2 G
Wing74 att · 2 G
Point29 att · 1 G
Neutral zone4 att · 0 G

Seattle Kraken

158 att · 85 on goal · 9 G · 10.6%
Crease17 att · 2 G
Slot56 att · 2 G
Wing58 att · 3 G
Point21 att · 1 G
Neutral zone6 att · 1 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

San Jose and Seattle are level on chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

San JoseSeattle
2.13xG for per game2.60
3.72xG against per game3.14
36.4%xG share45.3%
+2.6FinishingGoals minus expected goals+4.6
−0.8GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+1.6

This season: 3 games for San Jose, 4 for Seattle. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

San Jose

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2621.2% · 16th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.4% · 26th
Faceoffs · 2026-2744.4% · 72/162
Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Seattle

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2619.5% · 20th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2772.7%
Penalty kill · 2025-2672.2% · 31st
Faceoffs · 2026-2749.6% · 121/244
Drawn · 2026-2712 (3.00/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2711 (2.75/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
2Will Smith32131.00
92Igor Chernyshov32131.00
19Jared McCann41451.25
7Jordan Eberle42241.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
42Luca Cagnoni31120.67
5Nolan Allan21010.50
65Jacob Trouba30110.33
29Vince Dunn41341.00
62Brandon Montour40220.50
41Ryker Evans40220.50
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 14 Jan: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 14 Jan: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

San Jose crease

SJS · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 13 Jan

Yaroslav Askarov.8623 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −0.8

No appearances against Seattle in the last meetings.

Seattle crease

SEA · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 13 Jan

Joey Daccord.9113 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx +1.0
Philipp Grubauer.9062 GP · 0-1-0 · GSAx +1.1

No appearances against San Jose in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.4 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

20 Dec 20256 · SEA 4–2 SJS
15 Nov 20255 · SJS 1–4 SEA
5 Nov 20257 · SJS 6–1 SEA
5 Apr 20256 · SEA 5–1 SJS
30 Jan 20258 · SJS 2–6 SEA

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
San Jose3.004.003.063.56
Seattle3.752.752.763.21

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.4Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings6.4Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

9 on the injury lists

San Jose · injuries

Adam GaudetteUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Alex Barre-BouletUndisclosedIRReturn8 Oct
Cam LundUpper BodyIRReturn19 Oct
Kyle KeyserUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
Macklin CelebriniLower BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Quentin MustyUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec

Seattle · injuries

Jacob MelansonUpper BodyIRReturn17 Oct
Jake O'BrienLower BodyIRReturn24 Oct
Ryan LindgrenUpper BodyDay-to-dayReturn9 Oct
4 Oct · SJS

Placed C Patrick Giles on waivers.

27 Sep · SJS

Placed G Ilya Samsonov on waivers.

23 Sep · SJS

Placed RW Ethan Cardwell, D Libor Hajek and LW Tye Felhaber on waivers.

3 Oct · SEA

Activated RW/C Mackie Samoskevich from injured reserve. Placed RW Jacob Melanson on injured reserve.

27 Sep · SEA

Placed C Jake O'Brien and RW Mackie Samoskevich on injured reserve.

21 Sep · SEA

Placed F Jon-Randall Avon, F John Hayden, F Logan Morrison and G Victor Ostman on waivers.

Injury report
#2Ivar StenbergRound 1 · FrolundaLW
#9Keaton VerhoeffRound 1 · North DakotaD
#21Ryan LinRound 1 · VancouverD
#127Brady KnowlingRound 4 · Usa U-18G
Full draft
#7Chase ReidRound 1 · Sault Ste. MarieD
#38Casey MutrynRound 2 · Usa U-18RW
#99Viktor FedorovRound 4 · Torpedo-gorky NnC
#131Finn KearnsRound 5 · St. Andrews CollegeD
Full draft

Updated after every final