Welcome to the Sound Of Hockey NHL Draft Live Blog! The Seattle Kraken enter Day 2 of the NHL Draft with four picks—barring any trades, that’s the fewest selections they’ve had in any draft in their five-year history.
We’ll be updating this post throughout the day as the Kraken make their picks. The most recent updates will appear at the top, so scroll down if you want to catch up on earlier news.
If you missed Seattle’s first-round selection of Jake O’Brien on Friday, you can check out our profile on him here.
2:06 PM: Round 7 is complete and the draft is done
1:59 PM: The Seattle Kraken draft Loke Krantz
With their final pick in the NHL Draft, the Seattle Kraken selected another Swede, this time, it was Loke Krantz from the Linköping HC junior team. He tallied 12 goals and 5 assists in 44 games with the J20 squad.
1:36 PM: The Seattle Kraken draft Karl Annborn
With their first newly acquired draft pick, the Kraken selected defenseman Karl Annborn from the HV71 junior team. Annborn is considered a balanced defenseman with a broad set of skills. He recorded 3 goals and 21 assists last season while playing for the HV71 J20 team.
1:25 PM: Seattle Kraken trade their 7th round pick
The Kraken traded the 198th overall pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for the 205th and 218th picks, both seventh-rounders in this year’s draft.
1:18 PM: Round 6 is complete
Draft is flying right now. Here are the picks from Round 6.
12:48 PM: Round 5 is complete
12:18 PM The Seattle Kraken draft Russian defender Maxim Agafonov
For only the second time in franchise history, the Seattle Kraken selected a Russian player, taking Maxim Agafonov with the 134th overall pick (goalie Semyon Vyazovoy was the other one in 2021). He’s currently playing for Ufa’s junior team in the Russian junior league, where he posted 14 points in 35 games this past season.
12:22 AM: Round 4 is complete
11:22 AM: Round 3 is complete
The Spokane Chiefs made their first pick of the 2025 Draft when Owen Martin was selected 92nd overall by Winnipeg. Here is the rest of Round 4.
11:02 AM: Kraken second-round selection Blake Fiddler speaks to the media
Blake Fiddler spoke to the Seattle media via Zoom after being selected 36th overall. Here are a few quotes from his media availability.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, such a great organization. I couldn’t be happier to go to a team that seems like they wanted me, and I couldn’t be more thankful.
“A little bit emotional the past couple days, but it’s awesome to finally be picked.”
“I’m a rangy, two-way D-man that skates really well, especially for my size. I think that I use my legs all over the ice, I defend, good gaps, I can play heavy minutes, shut down top teams, and I have skills, so I’m able to use it offensively.”
10:31 AM: The Kraken select Will Reynolds
Will Reynolds is one of the younger players in this draft class, with an August birthday. He’s considered a shutdown defenseman with plenty of upside. He currently plays for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the QMJHL, though the team is relocating to Newfoundland next season. He had 4 goals and 14 assists last season.
With the 68th pick overall in the 2025 @NHL Draft the #SeaKraken select Will Reynolds.
Get to know Will: pic.twitter.com/b4f4GO6jlA
— Seattle Kraken PR (@SeattleKrakenPR) June 28, 2025
10:15 AM: Round 2 in the books….on to round 3
Here are the results of round 3.
9:56 AM: The draft is flying by, especially compared to Friday night
Kraken will not pick until early in the third but here are some bits and pieces of the action since the Kraken selected Fiddler.
- Two goalies have been selected in the second round. That’s four total in the draft so far.
- The Portland Winterhawks had their first player selected in Max Psenicka.
Round ✌️ pick heading to Utah!
With the 46th overall pick in the 2025 @NHL Draft, we’ve selected Max Pšenička. pic.twitter.com/zdVGv7RnmR
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) June 28, 2025
9:28 AM: Seattle Kraken draft defenseman Blake Fiddler
Fiddler is a big defenseman for the Edmonton Oil Kings. He is the son of former NHLer Vernon Fiddler. Most analysts had Fiddler ranked late in the first round.
9:26 AM: We have a Seattle Kraken trade!!!
The Seattle Kraken traded the 36th and the 68th overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 36th and 38th pick. All picks are part of this draft.
#SeaKraken make a trade with the Flyers
Seattle receives picks 36 and 68 for picks 38 and 57
— Alison (@AlisonL) June 28, 2025
9:16 AM: The draft has officially started
As of now, the Kraken have four picks to start the day. Here is how they are distributed.
8:50 AM: T-minus 10 minutes until the start of Day 2
We’re back for Rounds 2 through 7 of the 2025 NHL Draft! If you missed last night’s four-hour-plus production, here are a few quick tidbits to get you up to speed.
- The Seattle Kraken selected Jake O’Brien, marking the fourth time they’ve drafted a center in the first round in their five-year history. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one scouring the internet for highlight reels of O’Brien—here’s one of my favorites:
- The Seattle Thunderbirds had a big night with two players taken in the first round: Radim Mrtka (9th overall) and Braeden Cootes (15th). The last time Seattle had two first-rounders was back in 2022, when Kevin Korchinski (7) and Reid Schaefer (32) were picked.
- The CHL led the way with 21 players selected in the first round, the league’s strongest showing since 2013.
- Canada was well represented too, with 20 Canadian-born players drafted in the opening round, the most in a first round since all the way back in 1987.
- As for surprises? There weren’t many. Most players went right around where public rankings had them pegged.
- Not draft related, but another piece of big news was that Philipp Grubauer will not be bought out.
Jason Botterill just confirmed that Philipp Grubauer will be back next season. #SeaKraken
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) June 28, 2025
Here’s a look back at all the Round 1 results:
Is this where I go for Curtis to tell me our next two picks ahead of time?
Fiddler is a pretty good 2nd round pick. I think there is a very high likelihood he makes the NHL at some point, albeit as a #4, #5 or #6. So far can’t really complain about how this draft is going, even if the picks haven’t been the ones *I* would make.
I like the pick too. Good size and bloodline. Most rankings had him end of round one and he was a position of organizational need which is a bonus. I like the idea of trading up when you see a player that is valued higher than their position on the board. Most players don’t ever end up being big contributors, it usually seems worth giving up a little value if you feel a guy has much higher chance of hitting than others available.
I don’t mind them trading up to get their guy over Philly. Philly took another big D who was ranked much lower with our pick, so it makes sense we traded up to get our guy.
Little confused about the rest of this trade. You said “The Seattle Kraken traded the 36th and the 68th overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 36th and 38th pick. All picks are part of this draft.”
I know they swapped 2R picks. What else was in the trade? And do you believe that this is the other reason they passed on Mrtka, was because they intended to get Fiddler?
This gives the Kraken a huge number of RD prospects. Wonder what the thinking is, as most teams are swimming in LDs.
That was a typo .. they got the 68th not the 38th, and picked Will Reynolds (never heard of him)
All three guys so far are from the CHL and young. O’Brien is the oldest and he just turned 18 a couple weeks ago. I certainly hope they’re thinking about college in a couple years.
Come oooon, defensemen! Daddy needs a new pair of skates!
Boy, did they ever deliver! Four defensemen in six picks and three of them are right-handed guys who defend well? I’ll take that, thank you very much.
Geezus keeping PG – I guess it’s impossible to replace goalies with an .875 save percentagle a 3.45 GAA and a $5.9mm cap hit. Who would they have replaced PG with? With his production who cares? Just an inexplicable stupid decision – Kraken can finish last with or without PG.
For those of us who have suffered through the four years of the Grubauer mistake, it is just inconceivable that they bring him back. Forget the money aspect, that is really not the point. The bigger deal is showing that the team is changing direction. The bottom under-performers in every organization I have been associated with were regularly fired without any qualms. And none made millions. So why won’t the Kraken fire Grubauer?
To me, this speaks to RF still having his thumb on GMJB and since RF made this mistake, he refuses to admit it and move on. That is full on hubris. So this makes four transactions by GMJB and not one of them did really anything to help the roster meaningfully. I would say his fifth transaction is where he has to show that getting a second shot at being an NHL GM was not a mistake. An RFA offer sheet would be interesting. All the while, we are treated to the spectacle of other GMs running circles around the Kraken organization by doing things that clearly improve their rosters. Forget player trades, we should be trading assets to get the likes of Jim Nill, Bill Zito, Mike Grier, Bill Armstrong, etc.
The definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
“An RFA offer sheet would be interesting”.
This says a lot Chuck. This take is hand-in-hand with the shortsighted media obsession of “just do something”. An offer sheet in and of itself is NOT interesting from an actual management standpoint, the substance of an offer sheet is what’s interesting… but that’s apparently secondary to just doing something.
This is pretty consistent with your “outrage” at last night’s draft selection where the Kraken didn’t do anything “interesting”.
Matthew Fairburn had an article at the Athletic recently discussing how the past fourteen seasons in Buffalo came to be. You should give it a read if you haven’t already. Most every fan base has folks like you who think everyone in management is an idiot, fortunately for this team, your opinion – and mine – don’t matter in the least.
Go Kraken!!!
There is a reason why offer sheets rarely occur: teams have to overpay to get the current team to not match. So, you’re essentially advocating for Seattle to overpay in order to “do something.”
If there is a scenario where a cap-strapped team has a player that makes sense for an offer sheet, they should explore it. But “doing something” in order to “do something” is awful team management.
It’s easy to advocate for video game-style transactions when your job is not on the line if it fails spectacularly.
It’s pukifying to see, really. RF underperforms as GM, so of course ownership rewards him by kicking him upstairs to team president. Given his hubris (insecurity really) the only way cover his tracks was to hire an equally unimaginative clone for GM – hiring a outsider GM who is dynamic, aggressive, and has fresh ideas would be risky as it would highlight the mediocre job he did as GM.
This is really ownership’s fault as they haven’t held management accountable (Haskstol was the fall guy and well, Bylsma never seemed that interested in coaching). Management will try and convince us the team is improved, but they could finish even further out of the playoffs when they get speedboated by likes Chicago and San Jose and Utah.
If this happens, ownership will have no choice to step in. They’ll need to force GMJB to do a fire sale next season – Schwartz and Eberle will be gone regardless, but they’ll need to trade anything of value – Tolvanen, Kakko, Dunn, Montour, Nyman and one of Beniers/Wright. At some point RF and GMJB should be fired as well. Ownership initially tried to thread the needle (win now, plan for the future) but only succeeded in deferring inevitable teardown by a couple of years. They’ll need bring in outsiders to maximize their chances for a successful rebuild.
Spending every off-season getting rid of guys who then go on to have careers that land them in the Hockey Hall of Fame so the ownership can constantly run futile rebuilding projects was the Ottawa Senators Experience (TM) for a few decades. I would really rather not ride that train again.
Why pay Grubauer plus another guy for four years when, using the cap space that they have now, they can only pay him for a year or two? Besides, any half-way decent journeyman netminder looking for a job is going to be disinclined to join Seattle, for one, because of Joey Daccord being entrenched as the clear Number One Guy and, for another, because of Nikke Kokko knocking on the NHL’s door. Why would any goalie want to walk into that situation? The job has no prospect whatsoever for any kind of future stability, and even if he were to play well he would be overshadowed. It is a no-win situation.
I wish that Adam Larsson would give Kokko his number just so he can be Nikke Sixx.
I would also have liked to have seen Grubauer bought out. Regardless of what some may believe, I have been a skeptic since early in season one. I don’t think it’s the team in front of him or the structure or a lack of playing time or the goalie coach or anything other than the player. I can’t think of a better case of “addition by subtraction” and to me it’s less about the cap and more about the environment… but I’m not about to go off the deep end and rail about the decision being absolute stupidity.
I don’t know much, but the goalie market seems pretty thin right now. I feel like a traffic cone might not be a huge downgrade however, but that’s probably a bit of a stretch. I don’t hate it because I don’t think next season is a “make or break” year for this team.
I think they still have a move or two to make and this team isn’t set for next season. I can also imagine being very optimistic going into training camp, but having my jets cooled by Curtis… ‘last season’s team was probably better than it’s record and the players they added help, but this is probably still a team that misses the playoffs’. I don’t buy that for a second, Curtis, this team has playoffs written all over it!
I am of course wrong and Curtis is right. Shane takes a big step, Kakko and Matty continue to click and Nyman really impresses as a rookie… but the backup goaltending and some struggles on special teams mean they miss the playoffs… again. Too bad, oh well.
I can accept that because to me, the crucial season isn’t next season… it’s the one after. Year after next seems to me to the time when this team should be almost fully turned over and the young core players will be coming into their primes. It seems to me, and Botterill said it last night, you build down the middle and the timeline for this team has always been based around the young centers they’ve been drafting. I very much would have liked for Seattle to move on from Grubauer. I also wanted them to take Buium over Catton. I’m also fine with both those decisions because I actually believe this group has a vision for BUILDING a team and a lot of the despair is somewhat ill-informed.
I smell what you’re cooking and agree with 95% of what you’re saying. However, in order to get to the season after next – they need to do some good stuff this season. If they blow up Joey by playing him too much and showing him he can’t be supported by the management, that doesn’t set up for a successful year 2 season. I think this is a fairly significant “fail” that they didn’t really need to take on. Who knows, maybe something will change in the next couple of months…
I completely agree. I hate the idea of Kokko being their No.3 goalie with Grubauer as the No.2. He still needs more time in the AHL and rushing him seems like a completely avoidable mistake. Unfortunately, even if you think Grubauer can become at least reliable – I don’t – he can be counted on to end up on the IR, he manages it every season.
Again, I don’t like it, but I can live with it… for now.
An actual text exchange between Boist and Foist:
Boist: They’re not going to buy out Grubauer. I guess the goalie market must be extremely thin.
Foist: Does the market consist of living, breathing human beings? Then it’s not too thin.
Boist: Apparently not.
Sigh.