from Matt Calkins of the Seattle Times,

There is no joy among the Kraken players now, but they shouldn’t be short on pride.

They might not have made any celebratory toasts Monday night, but they spent the past month as the toast of the town.

This fledgling franchise just gave Seattle a gift that spanned 14 games over this postseason, captivating the Emerald City in a way few saw coming before the playoffs began. Pain is understandable after that 2-1 defeat to Dallas in Game 7, but that improbable run was pure pleasure.

It’s wild to juxtapose the Kraken of the past few weeks against the Kraken of the previous three months. It’s even wilder to compare the playoff Kraken to the team that finished with the third-worst record in the NHL last season.

Yes, it’s postseason hockey, where unpredictability is a factory setting. But to knock out the Stanley Cup-champion Avalanche in the first round and then take the Stars to seven in the second? It will likely go down as the foundation for the long-term love affair between this team and its city.

“It won’t register tonight, but this group changed the landscape of hockey in Seattle,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “This group changed the culture, and the trajectory and the belief of our franchise.”

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