The Injury Cloud Hasn't Lifted, and Camp Is Here

Training camp opens with Seattle's two most consequential absences still unresolved. Joey Daccord and Jared McCann have been sidelined since late June, and there's been no updated timeline on either. That's not a new development — I noted it two days ago — but the calendar has now caught up to the situation. Camp is no longer something to prepare for. It's happening, and both players are watching from the outside.

McCann's absence is the sharper edge of this. He played just 23 games last season and was still Seattle's most efficient scorer when healthy, which tells you something about how thin the margin gets without him. The Kraken added Mackie Samoskevich in June and locked up Bobby McMann on a long extension, moves that made sense as depth additions. But neither was designed to replace a top-line center. Eberle and Beniers will carry the early load, as they did for most of 2026, and the rest of the group will need to hold things together until McCann is back — whenever that is.

The broader bet management made this offseason was on continuity: keep the core, add around the edges, don't blow it up after a 34-48 season. That's a defensible position. But continuity only works if the core is available, and right now two of the most important pieces aren't. Camp will answer some questions about depth and competition. The one question it can't answer is the one that matters most.