There are more important games on the Kraken calendar for Jaden Schwartz than the one played on Saturday night.
But it might be the most meaningful for the Kraken forward.
The Kraken held their Hockey Fights Cancer game on Saturday night against San Jose as part of the NHL’s seasonlong activation to promote fundraising and awareness around the disease.
For Schwartz, the yearly recognition of the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative brings up the story of his sister Mandi, who passed away from acute myeloid leukemia in 2011 at the age of 23.
Schwartz wears No. 17 in honor of his sister.
“For me, obviously it brings back a lot of memories, and it’s tough a lot of days, but like I said, it’s hard for a lot of people,” Schwartz said after morning skate on Saturday. “It’s a big thing for the league to raise awareness and honor a lot of people. And it’s a big, obviously big game for us tonight, too.”
The Hockey Fights Cancer initiative is a partnership between the NHL and the NHLPA and has seen the reach and success of the program grow since partnering with the V Foundation for Cancer Research in 2023. The league says that during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons more than $12 million was raised.
This season, teams holding their Hockey Fights Cancer game started in late October and will continue into February, but most teams are holding their event in November.
One of the loudest and most passionate advocates for the initiative is Kraken broadcaster Eddie Olczyk, who is a survivor of colon cancer. During one of his national TV broadcasts with TNT earlier this month, Olczyk gave an impassioned speech on the importance of this league-wide initiative.
“Hockey Fights Cancer is the greatest initiative in the National Hockey League. … I want to be around, I want us all to be around when it’s not Hockey Fights Cancer it’s we beat cancer,” he said during the broadcast on Nov. 4.
Schwartz was playing in juniors as a teenager when his sister was first diagnosed and was playing in college when she passed. While the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative started back in 1998, Schwartz wasn’t fully aware of the cause when he first reached the NHL in St. Louis.
That changed quickly and he’s become a vocal advocate, whether it was through the foundation the family started in Mandi’s name or the yearly bone marrow registry drive held by Yale University — where Mandi was a standout hockey player before being diagnosed.
“I guess just as you get older, you kind of get more knowledge about it, you learn from it, and you find different ways that you can help because that’s what it’s all about. You can help other people in any way you can. I mean that means the world,” Schwartz said. “I’ve gotten to meet people who survived because of matches through my sister’s drives and stuff at Yale and different things, and that was pretty life changing just seeing that and how powerful that was. Obviously, the more that people are aware and the more that everyone does, it just helps more people.”
Freddy Gaudreau is back. Kaapo Kakko is out. And Joey Daccord and Jared McCann are making progress toward a potential return as soon as the upcoming Kraken road trip.
That was the injury report from coach Lane Lambert following morning skate on Saturday.
Kakko is the bad news and is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury after leaving Thursday’s win over Winnipeg just moments after scoring his first goal of the season. The Kraken placed Kakko on injured reserve meaning he must miss at least seven days.
It’s the second significant injury of the season after Kakko suffered a thumb injury during preseason after taking a slash on his hands and missed the first 10 games of the regular season.
“He missed a bunch of time and when you miss a bunch of time, you kind of try and catch up to a moving train a little bit. And I thought he was starting to really catch up to it,” Lambert said. “So it’s a loss for us. He’s a guy who can put up points. He’s a guy who can put up goals and we certainly need more offense. We know this, but other guys are just going to have to step up.”
Gaudreau was activated from injured reserve to replace Kakko on the roster and was set for his first game in a month. Gaudreau was injured just four games into the season in Ottawa on Oct. 16 after suffering an upper-body injury. Lambert called him a game-time decision, but Gaudreau was a significant participant on the penalty kill during drills in morning skate. Gaudreau is primarily a bottom-six center but could also slot in as wing if necessary.
The timeline with Daccord and McCann remains fluid. Daccord seems the most likely to be back early in the upcoming Kraken road trip after missing the past week with an upper-body injury. Daccord split some reps in goal during morning skate and stayed out for some extra work after the duo of Matt Murray and Philipp Grubauer had left the ice.
McCann was a full participant in the skate after spending time on the ice during Friday’s optional practice. Lambert said it hadn’t been decided if McCann would go on the road trip, but added, “there’s a good possibility.”
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