golden knights vs kraken takes center stage on Thursday, April 9, with both teams set to meet at 10 p. m. ET at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The Golden Knights arrive with a projected lineup built around Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, and Mark Stone, while the Kraken counter with Matty Beniers, Jared McCann, and Chandler Stephenson. The game matters because the Golden Knights are chasing position in the Western Conference and the Kraken are looking to steady a season that has lagged behind.
Golden Knights Vs Kraken: Projected Lineups
The projected forward groups for golden knights vs kraken show a deep Vegas top nine and a Seattle lineup that mixes regular contributors with call-up depth. For Vegas, the listed lines are Brett Howden with Jack Eichel and Pavel Dorofeyev; Ivan Barbashev with Mitch Marner and Mark Stone; Brandon Saad with Tomas Hertl and Colton Sissons; and Cole Smith with Nic Dowd and Keegan Kolesar.
For Seattle, the projected forwards are Bobby McMann with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle; Jared McCann with Berkly Catton and Frederick Gaudreau; Jaden Schwartz with Chandler Stephenson and Kaapo Kakko; and Ryan Winterton with Oscar Fisker Molgaard and Jacob Melanson. The golden knights vs kraken matchup also features several scratches and injuries that shape the available depth for both benches.
Scratches and Injury Notes
Vegas lists Akira Schmid, Kaedan Korczak, and Reilly Smith as scratched, while Alexander Holtz is out with an upper-body injury and William Karlsson is sidelined with a lower-body injury. Seattle’s scratched players are Ryan Lindgren, Ben Meyers, Eeli Tolvanen, and Matt Murray, with Shane Wright out because of an upper-body injury and Philipp Grubauer injured lower body.
The projected lineup note adds an important wrinkle for Seattle: Lindgren, a defenseman, and Tolvanen, a forward, are each being healthy scratched for the first time this season. Kokko will back up Daccord after being recalled on an emergency basis from Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League on Thursday, while Murray is away from the team to attend to a family matter.
What the Standings Say
The Golden Knights come in at 36-26-16, good for sixth in the Western Conference with 88 points. The Kraken are 32-34-11 and sit 13th in the Western Conference with 75 points, which makes the night a sharp contrast in current position even before the puck drops.
That gap gives golden knights vs kraken a straightforward shape: one club protecting a stronger standing, the other trying to manage the late stages of its schedule with a thinner margin for error. The projected lineups and the injury list show both teams adapting on the fly, and the available names point to a game where depth will matter as much as the headline stars.
What To Watch Next
All eyes now turn to the final lineup decisions before the 10 p. m. ET start at Climate Pledge Arena. If the projected groups hold, golden knights vs kraken will test whether Vegas can convert its roster edge into points and whether Seattle can stabilize around its available forwards, goaltending plan, and late-week call-up.
