Phew! Those last couple of weeks in the hockey world were nutso, and now that the Seattle Kraken Development Camp has wrapped up, it feels like we can finally take a big collective breath.
The NHL crammed a lot into a short period, with teams having just a few days between the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the NHL Draft, which happened last weekend in Las Vegas. The draft always segues straight into Dev Camps for many teams, but wedged in-between was the opening of unrestricted free agency, adding its own chaos. Toss in a couple of coaching announcements from the Kraken, and you have a whirlwind of hockey coverage.
This schedule was even more packed than usual due to the extended season, with the Stanley Cup Final featuring extra off days between games. For the Kraken, who missed the playoffs, there was a long period of inactivity (excluding the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ Calder Cup run), followed by a sudden rush of activity. Now, it seems we’re headed back into a quieter news period.
So, we thought this would be a good time to slow down, take stock of everything that happened over the last week, and consider where the organization stands.
Development Camp takeaways
Dev Camp always turns out to be an enjoyable event and somehow manages to exceed expectations every year. It’s exciting to see young players who are just joining the organization hitting the ice in Kraken garb for the first time, and it’s equally intriguing to witness the progress of prospects we’re already familiar with.
We did not get to see prospects like Shane Wright, Ryan Winterton, Logan Morrison, Jani Nyman, and Ville Ottavainen, who all played significant roles for the Firebirds this season. However, those who did not have a prominent AHL role, such as Jagger Firkus, Ty Nelson, Carson Rehkopf, Eduard Sale, Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, and Tucker Robertson, all attended and all showed improvement compared to last summer.
Rehkopf, especially, was outstanding in 3-on-3 scrimmages on Wednesday, when we watched him score three goals and an assist for his team in a 7-3 win. He’s a player with a bright future, and we continue to wonder if the Kraken will give him a nine-game look out of Training Camp.
Remember, Rehkopf is in that same boat as Wright from two seasons ago, when his only options were to play in the NHL or return to the OHL because of his age. There is a loophole where a player can stay with the NHL club for up to nine games before burning a year of his entry-level contract. Will Seattle do this with Rehkopf?
Eyes on Berkly Catton
Perhaps most notably, we got our first look at Berkly Catton, the No. 8 overall pick and Spokane Chiefs superstar, as a member of the Kraken organization. While we were already aware of his dominance in the WHL, it was fascinating to watch him maneuver against his peers, particularly during those 3-on-3 games. He stood out as one of the best players on the ice in that setting, but during Friday’s 5-on-5 Stucky Cup game, Catton was less prominent. He did still display flashes of brilliance and narrowly missed setting up a few sure goals for his teammates.
Other players raved about Catton’s abilities, with Tyson Jugnauth, who we spoke to on the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast, calling Catton the best player he faced this season while playing with Portland. Jugnauth joked about team meetings focusing almost exclusively on Catton before games against the Chiefs.
Like Wright two summers ago, Catton signed his entry-level contract on the ice alongside general manager Ron Francis on Friday, drawing loud cheers from the hundreds of fans in attendance and setting a positive tone for the Stucky Cup.
Other impressive prospects
Before wrapping up Development Camp and never speaking of it again (just kidding, we will certainly speak of it again), we want to highlight a few more players who caught our attention. Goyette, as mentioned earlier, performed well against his fellow Kraken prospects. We’ve maintained since last year’s Training Camp that he has a future in the NHL, and that was reaffirmed this week.
We were also impressed by Lleyton Roed, signed by the Kraken as an undrafted free agent from Bemidji State University in March. After making appearances in five regular-season games and five playoff games with the Firebirds, Roed stood out this week as one of the fastest skaters on the ice. His scoring touch was also on display Friday when he dangled and scored bar-down off a partial breakaway.
Eeli Tolvanen signs, Matty Beniers still pending
Francis drew an even bigger cheer from the crowd when he announced a two-year extension had been signed by winger Eeli Tolvanen. The deal, averaging a $3.475 million cap hit per year, aligns well with projections and seems fair to both sides.
This leaves Matty Beniers as the remaining major contractual question mark. Before CapFriendly ceased operations (sleep well, sweet prince), we ran one last Armchair GM simulation for Seattle, and this is what we came up with for its roster:
You’ll see we signed Beniers to a hypothetical $6 million cap hit and assumed Ryan Winterton and John Hayden would make the team as the 13th and 14th forwards. We also assumed Josh Mahura would stick with the team as a seventh defenseman. Making these very reasonable decisions left us $456K over the cap.
There are plenty of levers an NHL team can pull to make itself cap compliant, so being slightly over isn’t a big concern. But, it does demonstrate that the Kraken have effectively filled their roster and will need to get Beniers under contract at the right dollar amount.
Are the Kraken done cooking?
Looking at the CapFriendly image above (R.I.P.), it appears the Kraken have answered most of their questions at this point, and they will still have healthy competition in Training Camp. Their cap situation suggests they may be done with major offseason moves, a sentiment echoed by Ron Francis earlier this week after signing Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson to significant seven-year deals. 24 hours after Francis said that, though, he then traded Brian Dumoulin to clear dollars off the books.
Could they be done? Possibly, but we still think Francis will be looking for opportunities to add offense and/or improve Seattle’s cap situation.
Coaching updates
Seattle made massive headlines by promoting Jess Campbell to the NHL, making her the league’s first full-time female assistant coach. While this announcement brought significant media attention and even a congratulatory message from the legendary Billie Jean King, the Kraken continued to focus the narrative on Campbell’s abilities as a coach. We’re excited to see what she can do to help the Kraken offense next season.
Simultaneously, the team hired Bob Woods to backfill for Jay Leach and later announced Derek Laxdal as the new head coach for Coachella Valley.
Laxdal, 58, has decades of experience at all levels of hockey from the WHL, where he won the Memorial Cup with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014, to the NHL, where he spent three seasons as an assistant for the Dallas Stars. Laxdal (which comically rhymes with Hakstol, but that’s neither here nor there) most recently served as head coach and assistant general manager of the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.
We wondered what this meant for Firebirds assistant coach Stu Bickel, who we know was being considered for a promotion of his own, and it sounds like he will remain in his same role for next season under Laxdal.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.