As we put a bow on “Prospect Week” here at Sound Of Hockey, I’ve been thinking about the promise of the Seattle Kraken prospect pool and how quickly we might see some of its members begin to have an impact on the NHL club.
As we know, most of the players we’ve highlighted in our various stories over the past seven days are at least a year away from taking a shift with the Kraken (if they ever make it). However, we do believe some individuals could get time with the big club as early as next season, joining fellow youngsters like Matty Beniers and Tye Kartye who are locks to return to the roster.
The challenge for young players in the organization is that general manager Ron Francis will surely feel pressure this offseason to upgrade the team, which means adding more veterans. He can’t rely on too many unproven youngsters to push his squad forward, so there will be acquisitions made either via trade or free agency. While there may be a spot or two left open for the youth (i.e., Shane Wright) to filter in, there simply isn’t much opportunity right now.
Even so, several young players will challenge for roster spots when training camp breaks in October. Here are those players.
On the team
Matty Beniers
With 167 regular-season NHL games and 14 playoff games under his belt, Beniers is no longer a prospect. But, he is still just 21 years of age, so I thought I should mention his name. I’m hoping for a big step forward in his development next season.
Tye Kartye
While on a different career trajectory to that of Beniers, I would expect Kartye to hold down a depth role with the Kraken again next season. He didn’t put up big offensive numbers in his first full NHL campaign, but that wasn’t the role he was asked to play. Instead, the 23-year-old undrafted winger brought energy and a hard-forechecking style that made him stand out as one of the few players on the team with a “sandpaper” element to his game.
Seattle needs players like Kartye, and if he can find ways to provide more depth scoring in 2024-25, he could solidify himself as part of the longer-term solution.
Ryker Evans
This has been an interesting season for Evans, who very nearly made the Kraken out of camp but was instead assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds to start the year. Once called up, he showed flashes of what he can do as a puck-moving blueliner and earned 36 games with the Kraken while racking up more than 19 minutes per game and even subbing in for an injured Vince Dunn on the top pairing at times.
But Evans also was not able to supplant veterans Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz to become a full-timer just yet. Now, we expect Schultz to move on in free agency, leaving an open spot for Evans to remain in the NHL for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.
The question, though, is what Francis and company do with the defense corps this offseason. Although Evans has shown he can play the right side, it’s risky to go into a season relying on a 22-year-old lefty to play his offhand all year. We would expect Francis to hedge his bets and bring in a right-shot defenseman to replace Schultz.
Can Evans prove that he deserves a full-time roster spot next season and push out Dumoulin and/or whichever veteran joins the squad this summer?
Joining the NHL roster
Shane Wright
As John Tortorella has said, “The player will tell you when he’s ready.” Shane Wright told us that during his late-season cup of coffee with the big club, when he notched five points in five games and arguably looked like the best player on the team. He has also grown into a leader with Coachella Valley, and with 47 points in 59 AHL games this season, he seems to be approaching “nothing left to prove” territory at that level.
The Kraken have an Alex Wennberg-sized hole at the center position, and although we still expect them to add at that position this summer, we see Wright being slated into the middle next season.
Battling for spots
The rest of these players are longer shots to make the NHL roster out of training camp, but all these guys should get good looks from Kraken brass, even if it’s only to put themselves at the top of the call-up list for later in the season.
Carson Rehkopf
Carson Rehkopf is the exception to the “getting himself on the call-up list” category that I just mentioned in the intro to this section, because he will not be eligible for the AHL or for such call-ups due to his age. Even so, we at Sound Of Hockey think Rehkopf will get consideration to start the season with the Kraken.
The top-scoring winger of the OHL Kitchener Rangers has already achieved “nothing left to prove” status as an 18-year-old, racking up an obscene 95 points in just 60 games this season. At 6-foot-2, he has decent size and good speed, and his shot is already NHL caliber.
We genuinely believe Seattle will think about keeping him with the big club for the nine-game trial NHL teams are allotted before burning a season of the player’s entry-level contract. If that happens, we still think the Kraken will ultimately return Rehkopf to the OHL to continue dazzling in his 19-year-old season and hopefully dominate at the World Junior Championship, but keep an eye on him in camp.
Ryan Winterton
Winterton is an obvious candidate to push for a roster spot after he received two separate call-ups to the Kraken in 2023-24. We know Seattle likes the way Winterton plays against the wall, and we also know he didn’t look out of place during his nine NHL games.
Like with all the players in this section, the numbers game will make it difficult for Winterton to earn a roster spot out of camp, but if injuries pile up again next season, we expect the 20-year-old forward to get some more chances.
Logan Morrison
It’s the same story for Morrison as it is with his Coachella Valley roommate, Winterton, but Morrison plays a different style. To my non-scouting eye, I thought Morrison looked a little farther off than Winterton in terms of being NHL-ready, but the undrafted Morrison also brings more flash with his stickhandling and offensive instinct.
While we don’t foresee Morrison cracking the Opening Night roster, him getting a chance to build on his four NHL games will depend on the role Seattle is looking for when the time comes for call-ups.
Ville Ottavainen
Ottavainen is an interesting case. The hulking right-shot defenseman has quietly emerged as a top defensive prospect for the Kraken in a system that is not bursting with blue line talent. The 6-foot-5, 216-pound Finn really impressed us in Kraken training camp last season, and with a full AHL season now under his belt, Ottavainen is a true pro player.
If a defenseman gets injured, particularly one on the right side, there could be a world in which Ottavainen makes his NHL debut in 2024-25.
David Goyette
Speaking of players that impressed us in training camp, new friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, David Goyette, definitely landed in that category. After a stellar season with the OHL Sudbury Wolves, where he dominated and posted 117 points in 68 games, Goyette showed he has real impact potential.
The skilled and smooth-skating center will join the fray as a full-time pro next season and will create even more competition for the stable of players champing at the bit for a chance in the NHL.
Jagger Firkus
Firkus is another interesting case. We thought he would come into training camp last fall and dazzle us, but he was one of the few top prospects who didn’t knock our socks off by taking big developmental steps. This is where our doubts about his viability as an NHLer began, because while players like Rehkopf and Goyette looked comfortable skating next to veterans, Firkus looked (at times) out of place.
But then Firkus went back to Moose Jaw and had a historic season, leading the WHL in scoring with 126 points in 63 games and continued that trend in the playoffs with 32 points in 20 games. He guided the Warriors to their first ever Ed Chynoweth Cup and will appear in the Memorial Cup starting on Friday.
It’s always a good sign when a prospect in his 19-year-old season is the best player on the best team in his junior league, and Firkus was that. Another good sign is that when Firkus swung through the Seattle area for games against the Silvertips and Thunderbirds at the beginning of March and chatted with us out of his gear, he was visibly bigger and stronger than he was during training camp.
Firkus is on the right track. He has the hands, he has the vision, and he has the shot. Now, if he can work with Firebirds assistant coach Jess Campbell to get his skating up to NHL speed, he could have a chance at an NHL debut sometime next season.
Jani Nyman
On the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, we’ve ironically declared that Jani Nyman shall henceforth be known as “Little Jani,” being that “Big Yanni (Gourde)” is already a staple of the Kraken organization. In case the joke isn’t obvious to you, the irony is that “Big” Yanni Gourde is small in stature, while “Little” Jani Nyman is huge at 6-foot-4, 207 pounds.
There are big reasons to be excited about the future for Little Jani. Nyman was outstanding for Ilves of Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, registering nearly a point per game as a 19-year-old playing against men and surprisingly landing at No. 1 in Curtis Isacke’s data-only ranking of Kraken prospects last week.
With Coachella Valley since the conclusion of Ilves’ season, Nyman hasn’t been scoring much in the AHL, but he is playing at least some of the games for the Firebirds.
While Firkus and Nyman are two extremely different players, we think there’s a similarity between the two in that a season of Campbell’s tutelage will put Nyman in competition for a Kraken roster spot in 2025-26. Even so, some NHL time in the coming season is not out of the question for Little Jani.
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Are there any other youngsters you think could get a sniff of the NHL next season? Let us know in the comments.
Being that our blue line was not a problem last year including the games with Evans playing I highly doubt that RF will be or should be looking to upgrade our D. I think Evans is a lock and RF will be looking to use available cap space to upgrade our forwards. I could see a situation where RF moves on from one of our vet top six forwards via a trade for an upgrade and we still have room for a prospect to move up if they prove themselves. Our top six is the area that needs improvement, we upgrade there or we take the slower development path. The slower development path is probably the best option long term but there appears to be pressure from the top to sell tickets. Yamamoto, Bellemar and Tatar hopefully will not be returning, Wright looks to be the only lock… room exists. I’d be disappointed if RF takes a similar approach to the coming season and fills our 4th line with aging vets like he did last season. It didn’t work let’s try it again?
I also find Ottavainen to be an interesting case. If the Kraken bring up Shane Wright and Ryker Evans next season they’ll still need to resign Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen and add a fourteenth forward… just to stary. The money left over would ideally be available for a middle-six center, a top-six right wing, and a right-shot defenceman.
Personally, I’d like to see them spend most of that on the forward side on higher-end players.
I wonder if a trio of Dumoulin, Evans, and Ottavainen splitting bottom pair minutes could work.
As a kicker, Ty Nelson is now eligible to play in Coachella.
Say, what would you say the chances are that that Alex Wennberg-sized hole gets filled by Alex Wennberg? Beniers-Wright-Wennberg-Gourde for center depth sounds pretty nice. The Kraken do not need a 1C or a 2C, and who is a better free agent 3C out there than Wennberg is?
Unlike everyone who thinks Francis will go out and waste money in the UFA market overspending, the better approach is to do nothing there and only add if a trade as possible.
There are easily five players Firebird prospects who should graduate and there are positions available for them, Wright (2C), Winterton (4L), Morrison (4L), Evans (6-7D), and Ottavainen (6-7D). The only possible path for Kraken success is through youth, so why do anything else.
For 2024-25, the Firebirds can add Firkus, Nyman, Kokko, Goyette, Nelson, and Jugnauth to the roster. Loshko (2004 birthdate) is also available, as would be Fisker-Molgaard if he comes over. That is a lot of potential NHL talent that can move up the following season.
Rehkopf is ready when he is, but if he is so ready, why did the Firebirds send him home so quickly after signing his ATO? They kept Dragicevic and Sale but not Rehkopf. Unless he is injured, to me that is not a good sign he is ready.
I must have missed where they sent Rehkopf home, but I promise you it has nothing to do with where he’s ready or not. We KNOW he’s more ready than Sale and Dragicevic, two guys we can comfortably say are not ready. The point of bringing those guys to the Firebirds during the playoff run is for them to get familiar with the team and experience the playoff atmosphere. Aside from Jani Nyman, who is the Kraken’s #2 prospect, a draft year older, and has experience playing in a league against men, none of the guys brought in after their season ends are expected to play on a high level AHL team making a run for the Calder Cup in the playoffs.
Go check out the AHL transactions. Rehkopf, along with Price, Hammell and Loshko were signed to ATOs on April 24 and all four sent home on May 11. You would think the Firebirds’ playoff run would benefit all of these players, so not sure what the thinking was there.
Without knowing more, in absence of injury, this seems like an odd approach for a player they would be giving a strong look next year at the NHL roster. It would have been nice to see Rehkopf get a shot at a game when Wright was out injured.
You can’t have a decent NHL team with a bunch of 20-22 year olds, which is what it sounds like you are proposing. There’s also a minimum salary to the cap, and you aren’t going to pay Ryan Winterton $4mil. Just look at age distribution of successful playoff teams. Let’s look at some of the Dallas Stars, for example.
Seguin – 32
Benn – 34
Faksa – 30
Dadanov – 34
Duchene – 33
Pavelski – 39
Smith – 34
Lundell – 30
Suter – 39
Hakenpaa – 32
Tanev – 34
Of course they have some awesome younger players, but you need a good number of vets to have a real team. Many of today’s Kraken prospects will never wear a Kraken jersey.
On the free agent front…
On 32 Thoughts yesterday Friedman specifically singled out Seattle as being interested in Jake DeBrusk. I think him and Chandler Stephenson would fit i nicely with the Kraken.
Yes another two middle 6 forwards, exactly what the doctor ordered!
I can’t tell if this is serious or sarcastic?
I’d like to see Ottavainen in Evans’ role from ’23-24 – start off in CV and get called up when needed. Fleury could be the 7D.