Seattle Kraken Announce 2026 Preseason Schedule – The Hockey Writers – Seattle Kraken

This preseason is different from past ones, as all teams will play fewer games. The NHL is gearing up to launch its first 84-game season, a bump up from the 82-game season the league has been steadily playing. To do so, the preseason has shrunk considerably. 

The Kraken will play four preseason games in total, two at home and two away. The first game will be played on Sep. 19, when they host the Vancouver Canucks, one of the Kraken’s biggest Pacific rivals. Seattle will then hit the road to take on the Calgary Flames the next day. The Kraken do not have a strong history of performing well on the second half of a back-to-back, so we’ll see if the prospects can get them on the right track to start the new season. 

The Kraken will have one more preseason game at home, on Sep. 24, when they host the Flames. Perhaps the two teams can hop on the same flight back to Seattle. Finally, the Kraken will round out the preseason in Vancouver, with one more game against the Canucks. 

The Kraken often face off against the Flames and the Canucks, considering all of these teams are in the same Pacific Division. In the regular season, the Kraken have a record of 7-9-2 against the Flames and 10-6-3 against the Canucks. Both teams have relatively close records, and the Kraken have a better winning record against Vancouver, which is definitely a great sign. 

There is still plenty of work to be done until we can get to the preseason. The NHL 2026 Entry Draft will be held later this week, on Friday and Saturday, in Buffalo, New York. On top of that, the free agency market opens up on July 1, a week from today. The makeup of the current Kraken team could change drastically, and it already has to some degree, with the addition of Mackie Samoskevich to their roster now. These changes could result in a need to clean up the lines during training camp and the preseason, and the teams don’t have a whole lot of time to nail this down ahead of the regular season. This will certainly be an interesting offseason, to say the least.