As the Coachella Valley Firebirds enter their fifth season, they will continue embracing a youth movement, with the roster expected to add five new Kraken prospects.
Bear in mind that the AHL is a developmental league and limits how many veterans teams can dress. I outlined the full details of the veteran rule in a previous article.
Here is a quick overview:
- Development players: Skaters who are under 25 as of July 1 or have played 260 or fewer qualifying professional games.
- Veteran players: Skaters who are at least 25 as of July 1 and have played more than 260 qualifying professional games.
- Teams must dress at least 12 development players and no more than six veterans.
- Goaltenders are excluded.
- The rule applies to the gameday lineup, not the full roster.
In previous seasons, teams could dress up to five veterans and one veteran-exempt player, a designation that applied to skaters with 261 to 320 qualifying professional games. Beginning in 2026-27, that designation will be removed, allowing teams to use all six non-development spots on veterans.
How the Firebirds’ 2026-27 roster is shaping up
Overall, the veteran rule should not be a factor for the Firebirds this season, as only three players under contract, John Hayden, Mitchell Stephens and Gustav Olofsson, currently qualify as veterans. Coachella Valley rostered four veterans last season, but Max McCormick’s season-long injury limited the active group to three.
Forwards
The Firebirds look to add four young forwards this season, led by 19-year-old Jake O’Brien and followed by Julius Miettinen, Nathan Villeneuve, and Ryden Evers. While the CHL, AHL, and NHL have not officially announced that 19-year-olds can play in the AHL this season, Elliotte Friedman reported that the leagues were nearing an agreement.
Adding these forwards creates an intriguing question: Who leaves the lineup to make room? The Firebirds currently have 17 forwards under contract, and while the AHL does not limit roster size, finding enough playing time for everyone will be more difficult. With only 12 forward spots available each game, Coachella Valley must determine how to handle five extra forwards.
- Healthy scratches – Players who do not make the lineup could watch from the press box, with one or two forwards likely falling into this category each night. While competition can push prospects to improve, development players also need opportunities to play and grow.
- Kansas City Mavericks – Struggling or crowded-out players could join the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks to receive more playing time, with two or three forwards potentially going there. There could also be a rotating group of players that fluctuate between the ECHL and AHL, so do not be surprised if some familiar names end up in Mavericks jerseys at some point this season.
- Opportunities with Seattle – Several Firebirds forwards have seen limited NHL action or appear close to earning a call-up, including Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, Jani Nyman, Jagger Firkus, and Logan Morrison. Each could find himself in a Kraken sweater at some point, though Seattle’s forward group is already crowded, meaning those chances will likely come when injuries create openings.
The Curtis Douglas question
The Kraken also signed 6-foot-9 forward Curtis Douglas, whose destination remains unclear, though he could stay in Seattle as an extra forward. Douglas is not shy about dropping the gloves and could work his way into the lineup depending on the matchup. If he lands in Coachella Valley, he would qualify as a veteran under the new rule, having played 310 qualifying professional games, which previously placed him in the veteran-exempt category.
Defense
Alexis Bernier will join the Firebirds after spending much of last season recovering from ACL surgery. After his delayed start he helped the Chicoutimi Saguenéens win the QMJHL championship.
With eight defensemen under contract, meaning at least two will sit each game, unless one is sent to Kansas City. You can expect that all eight will start the year in Coachella and see how the lineup shakes out before any move to the ECHL is made. Right-shot defensemen are sought after in the NHL and in the bunch the Kraken have five prospects right-shot defensemen. This could lead to a defenseman having ot play on their off side.
For now, I have included Gustav Olofsson as under contract in the AHL, but he is an interesting case. Originally, the Firebirds signed Olofsson to a two-year AHL-only contract good through the 2026-27 season. In March 2026, the Seattle Kraken signed Olofsson to a two-way contract through the end of 2025-26 season. I will continue working to confirm Olofsson’s contract status, but I believe he remains under an AHL contract. Thanks to user phiFiFoFum for pointing this out.
While the defensive group continues to develop in Coachella Valley, it seems unlikely that any of these prospects will secure a full-time NHL role this season. Tyson Jugnauth and Ty Nelson led Firebirds defensemen with 45 and 35 points, respectively, with Jugnauth finishing third among all team skaters in scoring during his rookie AHL campaign. Ville Ottavainen offers a different dimension as a shutdown defenseman and, at 6-foot-5, brings the size NHL teams value.
Goaltending
Little has changed in goal, as Nikke Kokko and Victor Östman are expected to split the crease again for Coachella Valley. Östman started 36 regular-season games last season compared with Kokko’s 35 (Kokko missed time with an injury) and posted a .906 save percentage, slightly ahead of Kokko’s .901.
However, when the playoffs arrived, Kokko became the clear No. 1 option, starting 12 postseason games while Östman started only one, clearly showing which goaltender the Firebirds trusted most. Look for Kokko to take a larger share of the starts this season.
A change behind the bench
The Firebirds will also have a new assistant coach, as Stu Bickel left the organization to become head coach of the Iowa Wild.
Scott Ford was hired to fill the vacancy on head coach Derek Laxdal’s staff after Ford spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Wrapping up
As they did last season, the Firebirds will lean heavily on prospects and could once again have one of the youngest rosters in the AHL, if not the youngest.
This promising group reached the Division Finals during the 2025-26 Calder Cup Playoffs, and continued success would bode well for the Kraken. Another winning season would allow their prospects to develop while playing meaningful minutes in competitive games. Much of last season’s core remains in place, and the newcomers will increase competition for playing time while creating an environment that pushes everyone to improve.
As the Kraken strive to become more competitive at the NHL level, the Coachella Valley club should be an exciting, high-tempo team to watch this upcoming season.
Comment below with any questions or thoughts on the Coachella Valley roster.
Blaiz Grubic
Blaiz Grubic is a contributor at Sound Of Hockey. A passionate hockey fan and player for over 30 years, Blaiz grew up in the Pacific Northwest and is an alumni of Washington State University (Go Cougs!). When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about hockey, he enjoys quality time with his wife and daughter or getting out on a golf course for a quick round. Follow @blaizg on BlueSky or X.
Thanks for the read! Where is Will Reynolds playing? Is he staying in the Q?
Apparently he’s only 18. I thought he was older than that.
Even though he is currently 18, he is 19 in the eyes of the AHL, as his birthday is Aug 11. To play in the AHL you have to be of age by Sept 15. However with Reynolds he has not signed a contract with the Kraken yet, so he could not play in the AHL until he does, so his most likely target is back to the QMJHL. The Kraken do need to sign him by June 1, 2027 to retain his rights though.
Since you brought up Reynolds who was part of 2025 draft class, here is the probably destinations for the rest of the 2025 class:
Jake O’Brien – Coachella Valley
Blake Fiddler – committed to Univ of Denver
Maxim Agafonov – Russia, probably VHL, but could see time with the KHL
Karl Annborn – Sweden – HV71
Loke Krantz – Sweden – Linkoping HC
With the changes that allow CHL players to have more options to choose between AHL (19+ year olds), moving to the NCAA or staying in the CHL. It does make it somewhat more difficult to track where they are going. Since Reynolds has not signed an NHL contract or committed to a College the Q is most likely.
Is Kim Saarinen not going to be competing for time in net in Coachella Valley? Will he play in Kansas City, or will he play in the SHL for another season?
Apart from the issue of there being few veteran players on the Firebirds roster, what looks to me to be an area of concern is that the Kraken roster is a bit lighter than it was last season with every roster spot seemingly set, barring some surprise elevation during preseason. Will Coachella Valley be able to do without a couple of their best players during the season when they inevitably have to fly to Seattle and fill in? How will they adjust to the elevation of, say, Ville Ottavainen and Oscar Fisker Molgaard? Hopefully, their goaltending will once again be able to cover for some of the team’s weaknesses.
With Saarinen having a great year in Liiga and Ostman resigning. He will probably continue developing another year with HPK. I am not sure how accurate it is, but elite prospects has it that Saarinen was loaned to HPK on April 23, 2026 until the end of the season. HPK season ended April 7, so this seems to be for the 2026-27 Liiga season.
source: https://www.eliteprospects.com/transfer/2026/04/24/kim-saarinen-in-a-loan-to-hpk/627639
When players get called up that will create opportunities and will only help development. As to how the Firebirds will adjust missing key players, that is hard to say, but OFM missed 23 games last season for the Firebirds, so seems they adjusted just fine. Altough younger, the fill-ins for Coachella are players under NHL ELCs instead of call-ups from the ECHL that are under AHL only contracts.
HPK did have an Instagram post that (assuming the auto-translate is accurate) seemed like a pretty definite indication that they expect him back in the fall https://www.instagram.com/p/DXhlGQAnE2r/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Does the NHL deal Olofsson signed in March immediately negate the rest of his AHL contract? I know the AHL deal was originally for two years so I’ve been expecting to see him back next year.
I will be honest, I don’t know but will find out. I was under the impression his contract ended with the NHL deal, but you have me questioning that now.
Update: I updated the article to include Olofsson as under contract, but am still waiting get confirmation from the team.
Is Melanson not in this line up because he’s projected to be in Seattle full time, or because he hasn’t signed his contract yet?
I projected him to be in the Kraken lineup. Same with Ben Meyers.
It is clear that while the Kraken may lack a clear potential elite star their pipeline is robust with a ton of prospects who seem like they would at least be depth pieces for the NHL. This frees up a ton of cap space so they can afford to spend big when they do get the option for star(s).
Without signing a star this offseason it is good to see we didn’t pick up any 3rd/4th liners. That leaves some space for these young guys to get their shot.
I also wonder if it would be a better option to loan some players to other AHL teams instead of dropping them to the ECHL. I wonder if any of the teams with really thin prospect pools may want players. We would lose some control on their development but the higher level of play may be beneficial.