Welcome back to “Down on the Farm,” your weekly Sound Of Hockey Podcast segment highlighting Seattle Kraken prospects in written form. We will be returning to our normal Friday time slot next week (hopefully). This week we present a tremendous interview with Kraken director of player development Jeff Tambellini, via the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. We’ll also get you notes on a junior trade, a suspension, and more, plus deliver all of the data you can handle.
As always, if you have a prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey or on Bluesky @deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com. Let’s dive in.
Talking Kraken prospects with Jeff Tambellini
Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to talk with Tambellini about all things Kraken prospects. We started with a recap the World Junior Championship, highlighting, among others, the performance of Eduard Sale, whom Tambellini noted is playing his best hockey right now.
Later in the interview, we discussed two players who are a bit “hidden” from Kraken fans because they play in Europe.
The first was 2023 second-round pick Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, who Tambellini characterized as a top two-way center on his SHL team with first-unit power-play and penalty-kill responsibilities. Speaking to his development at a young age, Tambellini mentioned that Mølgaard, 19, had the opportunity to come play in the AHL this year, but opted to remain in Europe for one more season. The team expects to see him stateside and playing with the Firebirds next season. Mølgaard remains atop our Sound Of Hockey “data score” metric, and we can’t wait to get a closer look at him in Coachella Valley next year.
The other prospect called out by Tambellini was goaltender Semyon Vyazovoy. Vyazovoy, a 2021 sixth-round pick, is currently working in a goalie tandem for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL, Russia’s top professional league. Despite his young age, he has found significant success there. As we noted last week, Vyazovoy, 21, is first in the KHL in save percentage among all goalies under age 24 with more than 10 appearances.
Vyazovoy has not yet signed a contract with Seattle, but over the summer, general manager Ron Francis indicated that the Kraken remained in contact with Vyazovoy’s agent about coming to North America. Tambellini’s obvious enthusiasm for the player suggests that Seattle’s interest in signing the Russian goalie prospect remains strong.
There was so much more in the conversation too. As we talked, Tambellini delivered insights you won’t get anywhere else on more than a dozen players in the system. If there’s a player you want an update about, chances are we discussed that player at length, so give the interview a listen. Big thanks to Tambellini for making time in his busy schedule to talk with us.
Notes on three more Kraken prospects
Tyson Jugnauth – Portland Winterhawks – WHL
It’s not an exaggeration to say defenseman Tyson Jugnauth, 20, is on the verge of traversing one of the most unique development paths in NHL prospect history. In his draft year, Jugnauth played in the BCHL, which (at the time) preserved his NCAA eligibility to play for the Wisconsin Badgers.
After a year-and-a-half in the NCAA ranks, Jugnauth moved to the WHL, where he has excelled as an offensive presence for the Portland Winterhawks. Now, as his WHL age eligibility lapses at season’s end, he is committed to return to college hockey for the 2025-26 season, this time with the Michigan State Spartans.
If Jugnauth ultimately enrolls at Michigan State (and is not signed by the Kraken first), he will be among the first players ever to move from the NCAA to the CHL and back the NCAA again. The latter move is only just now possible after the NCAA changed its eligibility rules to allow CHL players to play college hockey.
In the Sound Of Hockey Podcast interview, Tambellini noted that the full implications of the NCAA’s decision remain to be determined, with a key factor being the NHL and NHLPA’s approach to draft rights retention under the new CBA. That said, Tambellini hinted that we could see a future where top prospects move from the CHL to college before moving into the professional ranks in the AHL and eventually the NHL.
As for the present with Jugnauth, he had a big week, compiling two goals and three assists in two WHL contests. He’s our Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week. I plan to dig deeper on Jugnauth’s play for the Winterhawks in a forthcoming column.
Carson Rehkopf – Brampton Steelheads – OHL
There is little doubt that Carson Rehkopf is among the most talented Canadian-born offensive players in his age group. For the second year in a row he finds himself at or near the top of the OHL scoring charts. Even so, as we discussed last time, Team Canada couldn’t find a regular role for him in the lineup at the 2025 World Juniors.
Tambellini found a silver lining, telling Sound Of Hockey that Rehkopf could use the experience as motivation to continue developing secondary skills that he will need to earn a coach’s trust at the professional level. Rehkopf’s fire is certainly burning bright right now with three goals and an assist in two games since his return to Brampton’s lineup.
#SeaKraken prospect Carson Rehkopf scored twice in his return to the Aud on Friday as the @OHLSteelheads defeated the Rangers 5-2 🎥 pic.twitter.com/uOV0ZA6yoG
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) January 11, 2025
Caden Price – Lethbridge Hurricanes – WHL
In contrast with Rehkopf, Caden Price had an excellent 2025 World Juniors and is looking to maintain this momentum over the second half of the WHL season. As it turns out, those remaining games will come for the Lethbridge Hurricanes rather than the Kelowna Rockets after Kelowna traded Price in a classic WHL deadline deal involving a small mountain of draft assets.
In a unique peek behind the curtain, Tambellini told us that Kelowna was inclined to keep Price if there was a possibility Seattle would allow Price to return to the WHL for his age 20 season. After Seattle told Kelowna the current plan was to have Price in Coachella Valley next season, Kelowna decided to move the blueliner.
Price got into his first game for Lethbridge Friday night.
Bad Boys (OHL Edition)
What is this, a segment within a segment? Kraken prospect Nathan Villeneuve, who turned heads in the NHL preseason, was suspended for two OHL games as result of taking his third fighting major in Sudbury’s game against Peterborough last Sunday. A two-game suspension is mandatory in these circumstances.
Villeneuve has demonstrated in flashes that he can play with the necessary skill and sandpaper to succeed as a professional, but the challenge ahead of him will be harnessing his skills and temperament in the correct ways.
#OHL Disciplinary Action:
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) January 8, 2025
Sudbury's Nathan Villeneuve has been assessed an automatic two-game suspension as a result of actions (exceeding fighting major threshold) on Jan. 5th vs. Peterborough.
Kraken prospects data update
Kraken forward prospect Jani Nyman’s hard and accurate shot is finding the back of the net with increased regularity in recent weeks. He tallied four goals in four games since our last update. (Author’s note: The data in the post only goes through Friday, so it doesn’t capture this notable performance from Berkly Catton, among others.)
As of Friday, Jugnauth was tied for the organizational lead in scoring, an impressive feat for a defenseman.
Goalie Kim Saarinen, 18, sat on the sidelines at the 2025 World Juniors, so we are looking forward to seeing him get back in net regularly for his Finnish club team this week. While not technically covered by the update below (which went through Friday), he stopped 29 of 30 shots in his first U20 game back on Saturday.
Vyazovoy’s usage has ticked back up in recent weeks, a trend we like to see.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Berkly Catton: 2
Tyson Jugnauth: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Andrei Loshko: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Nathan Villeneuve: 1
Semyon Vyazovoy: 1
Previewing the week ahead
The week ahead (which we are, admittedly, a day late in previewing) will see a number of WHL matchups between Kraken prospects and the Firebirds back with a full slate after a holiday break.
Previous prospect updates
January 3, 2024: Stock Up, Stock Down for Kraken prospects at the World Junior Championship
December 20, 2024: Kraken system after the Kaapo Kakko trade, David Goyette’s progress, and World Juniors
December 13, 2024: Three Kraken prospects make Team Canada WJC roster
December 6, 2024: Seattle Kraken goalie prospects progressing in the professional ranks
November 29, 2024: Data check in at U.S. Thanksgiving
November 22, 2024: Projecting the Seattle Kraken’s right defense prospects
November 15, 2024: Will an NCAA ruling change the landscape for Seattle Kraken prospects?
November 8, 2024: Kraken prospect Jagger Firkus is doing the little things necessary to succeed
November 1, 2024: ‘No days off’ approach for Kraken prospect Clarke Caswell
October 25, 2024: Kraken prospect Eduard Sale’s “tryout” in Coachella Valley is going well
October 18, 2024: Kraken prospect Andrei Loshko filling the stat sheet in the OHL
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
My question about International picks and the players staying home rather than playing in the AHL. Maturity comes from players at different levels both as a player and a human. But, after the age of 20 and still playing in their home country, is it a worry that the players decide to stay home for his whole career. Is there any compensation for a team losing out on that pick? My biggest worry is Vyazovoy stays and this is happening more and more for Russian players. Does this affect NHL teams pick another player rather than losing that pick and does it have a political slant on Russian players. We do not see them on the International field of play due to sanctions. How do teams, especially the Kraken, vview these situations?
I used to have season tickets for the New Westminister Bruins of the WHL in the mid 70’s and they had a team full of “Broastreet Bullies”. now players get suspension for just 3 fights when back in the day, players got into 3 fights in one game. my question is whether Viellnvue, if he gets into another fight, what would be the legnth of the next suspention. Also, does this carry on to the playoffs? Is there a playoff carry over, I personally, as a coach, would taunt him into a fight to gain an advantage. I think the rule committee should have a contigency for these tactics. This is a fine line the CHL is walkin(or skating) on here. A player can get a fighting major and not even throw a punch or if he is holding on to protect a team mae or himself. If they have these kind of rules then I think there should be levels of fighting majors and whether a player even throws a punch.
Sorry about the multiple questions but you asked.
Thanks for the questions. Re the CHL fighting issue you posed, I had the same thought. I wonder whether there is *some* discretion in situations where there is a clear instigator. I looked in the “official” 2024-25 OHL rulebook and the three-strikes-and-a-suspension rule isn’t in there, so I don’t know for sure. But one rule that *is* in there is a rule that you get a match penalty for your second fighting major in a game. And in those circumstances the referee has discretion to not assess a match penalty if the opposing player is deemed the instigator.
The Tambellini interview was great. I enjoyed it so much I listened to it twice. Hearing him talk about the prospects and the way they’re developing really gives me faith in how the Kraken are going about building up the organization.
Thanks for update Curtis.
Go Firebirds!!!
Turning away from the debacle against Detroit, I am reading this article.
FWIW, it might be helpful, as these players play in such varied leagues, if you could have a column for NHL equivalency next to the league, as it is difficult to interpret whether Loshko’s 4 points in the OHL is equivalent to Dragicevic’s 4 points in the WHL or Fisker-Molgaard’s 3 points in the SHL are equivalent to Nyman’s 3 points in the AHL. And to have a explanation underneath for Data Score, which I know you defined several articles ago but now it escapes me exactly how it is calculated.