Seattle Kraken 2026 Rookie Camp

With the start of NHL rookie tournaments a week away the Seattle Kraken announced rosters on Friday for the Rookie Camp as well as their Training Camp. For today we are going to focus on the Rookie Camp, since NHL Training Camp will not begin until the rookies are done. The Kraken’s Rookie Camp kicks off with a practice on Friday September 11, then they travel to British Columbia for the Prospects Showcase in Abbotsford, playing games against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday September 12 and Sunday September 13. They do not have any other open practices listed, but technically NHL rookie camps run through September 15 since NHL training camps begin on September 16. So now let’s take a look at the roster of players who will be participating.

Unconventional Wisdom – Zone Starts vs Zone Time

Last time when we were looking at the NHL Edge data part of what we were looking at was Zone Time, that is what percentage of the player’s time on ice was spent in the offensive zone versus what percent was spent in the defensive zone. However, when I was looking at those charts I was struck with the question of how it would compare to where the coaching staff deploys them on the ice. If I player gets deployed in mostly O-zone starts then their ability to maintain O-zone time is expected, but if they get a lot of OZ starts but a low OZ% it suggests they struggled to keep the puck to pressure their opponents. Likewise, if a player gets heavy D-zone starts and skates heavy minutes in the D-zone that is not too surprisingly, but if they get a lot of DZ starts but a low DZ% it means they are good at exiting the zone and transitioning the puck up ice. So we are going to take a look at the current Pittsburgh Penguins roster and compare their 2025-26 stats in zone time and zone starts.

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Unconventional Wisdom – NHL Edge Data

And now for something completely different… We still have a week to wait until the annual Rookie Tournament begins and then the Pittsburgh Penguins main NHL Training Camp kicks off after that wraps up. So I have been passing the time looking at data for the Pens current roster and it was been a while since I have perused the NHL Edge data. The issue of course is that we can only view it one season at a time, the general public does not have access to the game by game data or the raw numbers so I can’t calculate a 3-year average on my own. That means we are going to be looking at just the data from the 2025-26 season, but that should give us some idea of what we have on the roster.

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2026 Pittsburgh Penguins Defensemen 3-year Shot Quality

Today we are finishing up our foray into examining bubble charts for the current Pittsburgh Penguins roster in preparation for the 2026-27 NHL season. We started out with the forwards and then move on to the defensemen, looking at 5-on-5 scoring and puck possession via the quantity of shots over the past 3 seasons. As I mentioned the prior times, there is no good single method for evaluating player performance, so we want to take a look at things from different angles in order to get a better idea of the complete player. The bubble charts allow us to visualize who is above or below average, as well as who is carrying play when they are on the ice versus those who are just tagging along for the ride. So we finish up today by looking at the final bit of puck possession, comparing shot quality for the different Pens D.

2026 Pittsburgh Penguins Defensemen 3-year 5-on-5 Shot Quantity

We are back again continuing to look at bubble charts to help us visualize the Pittsburgh Penguins current defensemen based on how they performed over the past three seasons. Yesterday we covered the player’s scoring metrics, comparing their individual production to their on-ice team performance, so today we will start delving into puck possession. As I keep saying, there is no single metric for player evaluation that tells us who is better or worse than somebody else, there are various different aspects of play and we need to take all of that into account in order to get a better view of the player. So using bubble charts allows us to see who is performing above or below average in various categories, letting us see who is carrying play and who is just lucky enough to be on the ice at the right time. So today’s dive into puck possession we are going to begin with the shot quantity metrics.