‘It Takes Time’: Mason Marchment Adjusting to New Responsibilities With Kraken
SEATTLE, Wash. - Mason Marchment started his season off on a high note, scoring a goal in the Seattle Kraken’s season-opener, a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on October 9.
It was likely the exact kind of scoring boost that Kraken management expected when they acquired the 30-year-old forward from the Dallas Stars, where he put up back-to-back 22-goal seasons, in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick and 2026 third-round pick on June 19.
However, in the 10 games he’s played in since, Marchment has not found the back of the net. Part of that can be explained by the team’s offensive struggles as a whole, finding itself in low-scoring, physical battles and grinding out results that way.
But Marchment himself understands he’s expected to produce more in his middle-six winger role, and he’s remaining patient as he continues to adjust to his new team and systems.
“I’m starting to feel a little better,” Marchment told the Emerald City Spectrum last week. “A lot of new systems, new guys, good people in town. So it takes time, and (I’m) trying to be patient and just kind of let it come to me a little bit.”
Playing for his fourth NHL team, settling into a new environment is something Marchment knows well. After working his way up Toronto’s minor league system before appearing in just four games with the Maple Leafs in 2019-20, Marchment signed with the Florida Panthers for the following season.
After scoring just two goals in 33 games, Marchment re-upped with Florida for 2021-22 and broke out with 18 goals and 47 points in 54 games. His shooting percentage jumped from 4.0 to 14.9 between the two seasons, and he was rewarded with a four-year, $18 million ($4.5 million AAV) contract from the Dallas Stars that offseason.
Marchment started off strong with his new team, scoring three goals in his first two games, but proceeded to score only nine more across the remaining 66, ending the season shooting 8.1 percent.
He followed it up by hitting career-highs in every single offensive category in 2023-24, scoring 22 goals and 53 points in 81 games while shooting 14.7 percent, and he scored at an even more efficient level last season despite being limited to just 62 games, hitting the 22-goal mark once again while shooting 16.4 percent.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison given the different stages of his career, but Marchment has shown a clear trend of taking time to settle into new surroundings when it comes to consistently producing offensively. Now, the Kraken just hope the pending unrestricted free agent can find his game in Seattle quicker than his previous stops.
“Him and I have had a lot of great conversations, and it has been an adjustment for him,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “(...) There’s no question that things are a little bit different when you come to a new team and things are different. It takes a little while to adjust, so we’re looking forward to continuing that progression.”
As much as he’s looking for his offensive game to catch on, Marchment believes the biggest adjustment so far has been adapting to the defensive zone system.
Among Kraken forwards who have played at least five games this season, Marchment has the third-lowest ‘shots for-shots against’ ratio at 5-on-5, with Seattle producing 45 shots on goal while allowing 69 (39.47%) with Marchment on the ice so far this season, according to Natural Stat Trick.
That ratio, of course, does not fall entirely on him, but it signals an area the Kraken are looking for improvement out of him.
According to Lambert, the biggest point of growth the coaching staff is looking for comes down to Marchment’s positioning, but that they’re seeing improvements as the season goes along.
While the center position is often thought of as the more defensively responsible position compared to wingers, Lambert employs a much more fluid system that asks a lot more of every player on the ice, including sometimes requiring the wingers to drop lower into the zone while the center plays higher instead of the other way around.
“It’s quite a bit different from what I was playing last year,” Marchment said. “So just getting used to that, and kind of being better in the D-zone as a whole.”
Shane Wright, who has played center alongside Marchment for much of the season, is also doing what he can to help his new teammate adjust. The 21-year-old believes simple communication is one of the biggest keys to becoming more cohesive as a line defensively.
“Every guy is going to be finding himself in different positions,” Wright told the Emerald City Spectrum. “So it’s just about communicating, understanding where you’re supposed to be on the ice and reading off your linemates and what they’re doing.”
From playing on the same line in the early goings of the season, Wright believes Marchment’s ability on the puck and playmaking ability has stood out, an element of his game that Wright wasn’t fully familiar with from afar.
Paired with his heavy play-style and work in the corners, the belief is that Marchment’s command of the defensive zone system should help translate into more offensive opportunities down the line.
In the meantime, Marchment is focusing on major adjustments off the ice as well. He and his wife, Lexy, had their first child, Banks, less than two months ago. As expected, his new son has kept him busy.
Marchment is navigating plenty of change in both areas of his life at the moment, but he wouldn’t change any of it.
“It’s been awesome,” Marchment said. “Every day is something new and fun, so just enjoying that.”
