During the off-season, the Kraken made a significant addition to their team by signing Chandler Stephenson, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, to a seven-year contract. With eight NHL seasons under his belt, the 30-year-old center has established a commendable reputation for his exceptional two-way play, remarkable speed, and impressive playmaking abilities. Upon securing the deal, Kraken general manager Ron Francis lauded Stephenson’s remarkable pace and subtle skills.

The addition of Stephenson to the Kraken roster addresses their need for a reliable center who can handle significant ice time. Over the past four seasons, he has consistently played an average of 18 minutes per game, primarily in a top-six role. Furthermore, he has contributed over 200 power play minutes and 100 penalty kill minutes in the last two seasons. Stephenson’s impressive performance is evident in his third-place finish in the 2023 faster skater competition and his recognition on Selke trophy ballots, which honor the best defensive forward. Ultimately, these qualities translate to an improvement in the Kraken’s overall performance.

Let’s dig in.

Making the Plays

Stephenson’s exceptional passing skills may not always be reflected on a box score, but he consistently delivers the puck to exactly where it needs to be.

In the previous season, when looking at the forwards on his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, he ranked among the top three in executing passes (5-on-5) in all three zones, according to Sportlogiq. Additionally, he was one of the top three in terms of completion rate for successful plays, specifically in the neutral zone, surpassing all other Vegas skaters. His completion rate of 83.4 percent was not only the highest on his former team but also placed him in the top 15 among the 497 NHL forwards who played at least 100 minutes. Overall, his completion rate of 73.1 percent ranked in the top 30.

In this play, Stephenson (VGK20) skillfully carries the puck into the offensive zone and beautifully delivers a cross-slot pass, setting up a golden scoring opportunity for his teammate.

However, Stephenson’s puck movement is not limited to passing alone. As demonstrated earlier, he is also skilled at advancing the puck into the offensive zone through carrying it himself. In the previous season, he achieved a success rate of 57.6 percent on entries with a subsequent play, resulting in an average of 2.34 entries per 20 minutes of play.

Once the center gets the puck into the offensive zone, he can feed dangerous chances for his teammates. Both Corey Sznajder’s All Three Zones and Sportlogiq show Stephenson as effective at passes to the slot. In fact, last year on the Golden Knights, only Jack Eichel attempted more slot passes than Stephenson (5.1 versus 3.9 per 20 minutes of 5-on-5 play), and Stephenson’s completion rate was actually higher (41.5% versus 34.7%).

In this scenario, Stephenson demonstrates his reading skills by analyzing the play and strategically positioning himself behind the defense. He successfully receives a long pass, controls the puck, and enters the offensive zone. Stephenson cleverly draws the defending player towards the lower area of the zone, creating an opportunity for a swift and unexpected backward pass to Michael Amadio, resulting in a quick goal.

Stephenson has successfully incorporated his setup prowess into the power play as well, becoming an integral part of special teams during his time in Vegas. Over the last three seasons, he has consistently averaged more than two assists per 60 minutes of play.

Reliable and Responsible

Stephenson’s defensive prowess has been well-documented, but equally significant is what he refrains from doing to avoid giving opponents an advantage.

Looking at takeaway plus-minus, Stephenson has been on the plus side his entire NHL career and ended last season with his third-best margin (plus-.99 per 60 minutes of play, per Evolving-Hockey.com) in all situations. Also worth noting is that last year he had his lowest rate of giveaways (.78 per 60).

The Saskatoon native has a tendency to stay out of the penalty box. Throughout the past seven seasons, he has only experienced a negative penalty drawn versus penalty taken differential once (minus-.19 per 60, 2019-20).

On the Spot on the Dot

In order to successfully execute plays and achieve goals, it is crucial to maintain control of the puck. Faceoffs present numerous opportunities to gain that control, making them highly significant. Stephenson has proven to be proficient in this aspect of the game. Over the past four seasons, his faceoff win percentage has consistently exceeded 50 percent. Additionally, last year he ranked second among Vegas skaters in faceoff plus-minus (with a plus-1.6 in 5-on-5 play, according to Evolving-Hockey.com), outperforming all Kraken pivots in this category.

Stephenson also utilized his skills on the power play. Taking advantage of the skater advantage, he played the third highest number of minutes (214) and had a plus-10.93 success rate on faceoffs for the Golden Knights.

Stephenson’s addition to the Kraken forward group enhances versatility and bolsters the center position. His exceptional skating prowess enables him to strategically position himself, facilitating impactful plays both in defense and offense. This infusion of tenacity and skill further amplifies the strength of the Seattle roster.

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