"They're settling into mid," "The vibes were good" - NHL fans react to Seattle Kraken being knocked out of playoff contention

The Seattle Kraken have been eliminated from playoff contention following their 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.

The Kraken struggled from the get-go this season after surprisingly making the playoffs last season and beating the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

Yet, with their loss to LA, the Kraken fell to 31-31-3 on the year and have officially been eliminated from playoff contention. Following that, fans took shots at them.

Comment byu/EliminatorBot from discussion inhockey

"Seems like they're settling into mid."

Comment byu/EliminatorBot from discussion inhockey

"7th seed isn't exactly great, but the vibes were good."

Comment byu/EliminatorBot from discussion inhockey

"Beating the reigning stanley cup champion was pretty good."

"Being mid has to be the worst possible place a team could be, not high enough to make playoffs but not bad enough to draft high," a Reddit user wrote.

"Kraken first 3 seasons: awful, great, mid. Seattle gets to experience it all," another user added.

"They went from having four 2nd lines, to having four 3rd lines this season," a user wrote.

"It’s over, it’s finally over," one user added.

"There is always next year with a completely different lineup," a user wrote.

The Seattle Kraken faced an uphill climb to make the playoffs since the start of the year. The Kraken went 3-5-2 in their first 10 games, seven of them on the road, while not winning more than two consecutive games until after the Christmas break.

From getting to the second round of the playoffs last season to missing it now is no doubt disappointing.

Seattle Kraken look toward the off-season

With the Seattle Kraken being eliminated from playoff contention, the team will now be looking toward the draft and free agency.

Seattle has seven games left this season, but Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol says the team still has plenty to play for as the coaching staff will look to evaluate where everyone fits into the roster next season.

“We’re playing for other things here,” Hakstol said, via TSN. “We’re disappointed with the outcome today. We left some of our effort on the table. I don’t think our effort was poor, but we left too much in the tank here today.

"You have to evaluate it for what it is, both individually and collectively. It’s good to be able to come out and have a push in the third, but that needed to start at the start of the hockey game today, and that’s where we fell short.”

Seattle will enter the off-season with five picks in the first three rounds of the 2024 NHL draft.