Kraken notebook: Yanni Gourde’s status, Calle Jarnkrok in COVID-19 protocol
Yanni Gourde was a full participant at Seattle Kraken training camp for the second consecutive day on Friday, and this time he centered the top line alongside wingers Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle.
The second line consisted of center Jared McCann and wingers Ryan Donato and Morgan Geekie.
“Yesterday was (Gourde on the left wing),” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said after practice. “We wanted to him up the middle today and that was a shift we made. No change in plan. He’s had a couple good practices. It’s good to see him back in regular spots.
“You get more rotations when you go back into regular work. Yesterday, it’s a little less work as a left winger and a little more work as a center so that was a natural progression.”
Hakstol said on Thursday that Gourde, who underwent shoulder surgery in July, would likely travel with the team on the season-opening road trip. He still didn’t indicate when he expects Gourde to be ready for game play, but it appears Gourde will be back long before the originally projected December return date.
Gourde started wearing a light blue half-contact jersey earlier in the week before switching to full contact. Hakstol said the progression is all part of a plan outlined by the medical team and none of the steps have been unexpected.
“On the ice right now, we’re trying to make sure that when he is here that he’s in the best spot he can be in physically,” Hakstol said.
COVID protocols
Hakstol said forward Calle Jarnkrok, who has missed several practices this week, is currently in the NHL COVID-19 protocol. That means Jarnkrok, who was selected by the Nashville Predators in the expansion draft, can’t join his teammates on the ice and is out indefinitely.
General manager Ron Francis previously confirmed that the Kraken are 100% vaccinated. If that is the case, Jarnkrok will be able to return once he completes a confirmed negative test.
Asked if Jarnkrok’s situation would impact the 23-man roster decision, Hakstol said it’s no different than if an injury occurred.
“That’s the way we’re going to approach it,” Hakstol said.
The debut approaches
The Kraken will open their schedule with a lengthy road trip, starting with the inaugural season debut against Vegas on Tuesday. They will then play four more road games before the home opener against Vancouver on Oct. 23.
Seattle will practice in Northgate on Sunday and again on Monday before leaving for Las Vegas.
“We’re not complete yet,” Hakstol said. “We’re still working out new details every day. We just added a couple. of things against today and that’s going to continue. The mindset is good. The work ethic has been outstanding.”
The final preparation for the first game included extended three-on-three work during Friday’s practice.
“We only had one run of three-on-three run in the preseason, so we just wanted togged a bit of time in with our combinations,” Hakstol said. “There was no specific structure we were looking for today. Mostly we wanted to put pairs together and the defenseman along with those pairs just so you can start a little bit of chemistry to try build towards that for a game when it does come.”
