Doug Baldwin and Cliff Avril attend Seattle Kraken’s playoff-clinching win

The Seattle Kraken needed just two seasons to clinch their first Stanley Cup Playoffs berth, and a couple of Seattle Seahawks legends were among those in attendance to witness this historically quick achievement.

Cliff Avril and Doug Baldwin watched along with the rest of the Kraken faithful at Climate Pledge Arena, as the Kraken dispatched the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 4-2 to secure a wild card berth with four games to spare in the regular season.

You love to see it.

After winning just 27 games in their inaugural season, the Kraken already have 44 wins and 96 points—for the uninitiated, wins in hockey are worth 2 points and overtime/penalty shootout losses are worth 1 point—and have pulled off the greatest second-year turnaround for an expansion side in NHL history.

Since the NHL’s aggressive expansion push in the 1991-92 season, only the Vegas Golden Knights have made their first postseason quicker than the Kraken. In their first season back in 2018, the Golden Knights lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Every other expansion team (so we’re not counting relocated teams like the Colorado Avalanche) needed at least three seasons during that span to qualify for postseason play.

You don’t have to be a diehard hockey fan to know that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are pure chaos all the time, and the atmosphere for the Kraken’s home games (against opponent TBD) should be absolutely electric.

To quote John Forslund: “That’s Kraken hockey, baby!”

By the way, while you’re here, Davy Jones’ Locker Room may soon be off the SB Nation network, but they will be going independent soon! Info on how to get involved in DJLR 2.0. can be found here.