The Kraken wrapped up the last week of games with a 1-2-0 record. The win came against a very bad-looking Chicago Blackhawks team, where the Kraken spotted the Blackhawks an early two-goal lead and then promptly rattled off six unanswered goals in the 6-2 win. The Kraken looked to implement a similar strategy in their next game against the Minnesota Wild, spotting the Wild three goals in the first five minutes. Unfortunately, that was where the game would stay until the Wild added an empty-net goal with less than two minutes left.
The final game of the week was against the Edmonton Oilers, who were missing the services of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Kraken were missing Chandler Stephenson, which forced a big shake-up of the lines.
John Hayden moved over from wing to play fourth-line center, while Shane Wright then moved up to center Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz. With the Schwartz move, Jani Nyman slotted into Schwartz’s previous spot alongside Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers. Finally, Eeli Tolvanen moved to a line with Jared McCann and Andre Burakovsky. The final score was 5-4 Edmonton, which included an empty-net goal by the Oilers and then a 6-on-5 goal for the Kraken.
I am not going to overanalyze the games, given the context of this team’s position at this point in the season, but it seems like there have been quite a few defensive breakdowns over the last few contests. I don’t know if it’s the fact that the team is missing two true centers in the lineup or just flukey plays that lead to the breakdowns. Either way, this team is still competing, and that is all I am asking for at this point in the season. Even in the Minnesota game, the Kraken were still generating chances when they could have collapsed after going down 3-0 five minutes into the game.
Other musings
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kraken had more expected goals than their opponents in the games they lost last week and fewer expected goals in the game they won.
Shane Wright’s 19:54 of time on ice during the Minnesota game last Wednesday was a career high.
In the Kraken-Blackhawks game last Tuesday, it was the fifth time that both Matty Beniers and Shane Wright scored in the same game. They are 4-0-1 in those games.
This is the Andre Burakovsky I remember before he got hurt in February of 2023.
Congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers women’s team, who won an epic championship game to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State and Wisconsin have traded national titles for the last five years. Check out this rundown of this incredible game.
Last week, I applauded the Kraken penalty kill since the trade deadline after losing two of their top penalty killers in Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde. Since then, they have allowed three power-play goals over eight shorthanded opportunities for a penalty kill of 63 percent. I will take the blame for jinxing them.
The Kraken are six standings points behind where last year’s team was at this point in the season. The Kraken will need to earn 73 percent of the remaining points over the next 11 games to tie last season’s point total.
Something to keep an eye on in the Kraken prospect world: The Seattle Kraken have two players with expiring rights on June 1. Both Kaden Hammell and Andrei Loshko will need to be signed by that date; otherwise, they will become free agents and eligible to sign with any NHL team.
Shame! Shame! Shame! Last week, I mentioned that HV71 and Modo of the Swedish Hockey League were playing a best-of-5 series in the relegation series. Turns out it’s a best-of-7. After dropping the first two of the series, HV71 won the next three. Oscar Fisker Mølgaard and HV71 will now have two cracks at avoiding relegation.
On Monday, the WHL announced that the Penticton Vees will be the newest WHL team and that they will be accepting applications for an expansion franchise in Chilliwack, British Columbia. The Vees were a BCHL team this most recent season and will immediately join the WHL for 2025-26. The Chilliwack franchise is expected to join the league for the 2026-27 season.
The WHL also announced a new streaming partnership with Victory+. Games will be available for free through the platform, kicking off with the 2025 WHL playoffs this Friday.
The 2025 NCAA men’s hockey tournament bracket is set and begins Thursday. There are no Kraken prospects playing in this year’s tournament, but there are several high-end NHL prospects which will be fun to watch. All games are available across the ESPN family. Check start times and channels here.
The University of North Dakota fired their head coach, Brad Berry, on Sunday after 10 years with the program. I can’t help but wonder if former Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol could be a candidate to return to his alma mater and the school where he coached for 11 seasons.
Finally, I’ve had a lot of people ask me about Seattle Kraken season ticket renewals. Usually, season ticket holders would be a couple of months into their monthly installments for next season’s tickets by now. We haven’t heard much publicly from the team since Samantha Holloway sent an email to fans in January that implied changes were coming. I don’t know much more than what has already been circulating for months—that April is when season ticket holders should expect more information.
Goal of the week
There were a couple of Kraken prospect goals I liked this week, but when I saw this goal, I knew it was the one.
OH MY GOODNESS 🤯
Bryan Rust’s second of the period is a thing of beauty!
Tyson Jugnauth (POR/SEA) – The Kraken’s fourth-round pick from the 2022 NHL Draft finished his WHL regular season with 24 points over his last 20 games. Portland’s opening-round playoff series against Prince George kicks off Friday in a four-versus-five matchup. Don’t forget you can check out WHL playoff games on Victory+.
Semyon Vyazovoy (UFA/SEA) – The Kraken selected Vyazovoy in the sixth round of their first draft back in 2021. The backup goaltender for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL stopped 34 of 35 shots across two games this week to wind down the KHL regular season. Vyazovoy finished the season with a .938 save percentage over 28 games, which was second in the league. Goalies and Russian players often take a longer path to the NHL, but Vyazovoy seems to be tracking well at this point in his career.
Joel Hofer (STL) – The backup goalie in St. Louis and former Portland Winterhawk made 50 saves on 52 shots in his two starts and wins this week for the Blues. Those wins were big for St. Louis, as they are currently in the second wild-card spot.
The week ahead
The Kraken will finish off their string of road games (they’re practicing at home on Monday before flying out again) with a game in Calgary, where they can play spoiler to a desperate Flames team fighting for its playoff life. The Kraken are 2-1-0 against the Flames this season, with all games decided by one goal. All three games were played before the trade deadline, so this should be a challenging task—but who am I kidding, all games have been a challenge this season.
On Thursday, the Kraken will return home for three of their final five home games of the season. The first game of the homestand is against the Edmonton Oilers, against which the Kraken are just 2-11-1 in franchise history. It doesn’t get any easier on Saturday, when the Dallas Stars come to Seattle for a two-game series against the Kraken, with the second game on Monday, the 31st. The Kraken are 16-15-5 at home this season, and I find myself rooting for a .500-plus points percentage at home, but that might be a tough ask given the games remaining.
What say you? Are you still watching? What are you looking for down the final stretch?
“Down on the Farm” is your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. In this week’s column, we break down what we’ve seen from Kraken defense prospect Lukas Dragicevic this season, briefly circle back to last week’s Kraken prospect ranking, get you an injury update on Kaden Hammell, update you on all Kraken prospect performances from the week that was, and preview the week ahead for Seattle’s prospect pool. As always, if you have a prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop a note below or on X or BlueSky @deepseahockey. Let’s dive in.
Lukas Dragicevic’s developing defensive game
“Let’s say it up front: Lukas Dragicevic is the best offensive defenceman in this year’s draft.” That is what Elite Prospectshad to say about Seattle’s 2023 second-round pick in the lead up to a draft that included several skilled blueliners, such as Axel Sandin Pellikka, David Reinbacher, and Luca Cagnoni. “Dragicevic’s skill is the envy of most forwards. He sends opponents careening into the boards with rapid-fire handling, uses them as screens with fluid curl-and-drag shots, and freezes multiple players at once with deception before setting up a tap-in.”
This year with the Prince Albert Raiders, Dragicevic is second in the WHL in assists (48) and points (62), trailing only Kraken teammate Tyson Jugnauth in both categories. Yet, Dragicevic is almost exactly one year younger than Jugnauth.
Why, then, did Dragicevic fall to No. 57 overall in the draft? The question marks came in several forms on the defensive side of the equation. “Full stop, the defence must improve to get the green light in the NHL,” Elite Prospects wrote in 2023. In some sense, this was not unexpected, as Dragicevic was relatively new to the position. He has explained in talking with Sound Of Hockey that his hockey journey began at the forward position for many years, before transitioning to defense around the age of 15.
Dragicevic’s junior statistics bear out the challenges he has experienced defensively. Despite compiling an eye-popping 187 points in 186 games over the last three years, his teams have given up more goals than they have scored at 5-on-5 with Dragicevic on the ice each year.
This makes Dragicevic one of the more intriguing prospects in the system to follow. His ceiling is quite high—think an offense-first No. 3 defenseman—if he can link the dynamic elements of his game with stronger defensive results.
In a few viewings this season, I have seen a prospect who has made some improvements but is still searching for consistency on defense. He flashes strong skating skills to mirror and maintain a good gap in defensive transition, but he is inconsistent defending the blue line. Most skilled, offense-first defensemen who succeed in the NHL do so by using their skating to take controlled-entry possession away from their opponents. Dragicevic needs more consistency and aggression in that aspect of his game, where he is far too often cautious or a step slow despite being in solid position.
In the defensive zone, the instincts are still a work in progress, and his skating doesn’t shine nearly as brightly as it does when he is moving forward in transition or traversing the offensive blue line. His feet deaden at times, leading him to lunge with his stick checks. While he is never going to be the most physical player in the corners or at the net front, he has made strides in his positioning and using his frame to box out opponents. He needs to continue to add strength.
He has the ice vision and passing skill to be an asset breaking the puck out of the defensive zone, but there were a few too many weak efforts and easy, conservative turnovers up the boards for my liking.
When moving forward offensively, ideally he’d develop a bit more burst in his first few steps, but he has solid speed overall and excellent agility and four-way mobility. He is able to finesse and evade junior defenders with relative ease.
And the offensive toolkit is still very strong. He has every pass in his bag—stretch, saucer, cross ice, to space, you name it. And his shot is an asset from the blue line because it is accurate, and he has a knack for getting it through traffic and onto a teammate’s stick for a tip or onto the goaltender to create rebounds. He also has the confidence and skill to be a “rover” type, possessing the puck all over the offensive zone while scanning for teammates.
Overall, there is a lot to like in Dragicevic’s game, and the area where he is still developing is not for lack of skill. You can imagine it all coming together. He just needs to find consistency in his defensive reads and add a bit more physically. If he can do that in Coachella Valley over the next couple years, the Kraken may have a significant blue line piece for the future.
A postscript to our mid-season Kraken prospect ranking
Last week we published my mid-season effort at stack ranking 22 Kraken prospects. One thing I had intended—but failed—to explain was my thinking on including that specific number of players in the ranking. Originally, in preparing last week’s column, I ranked all of the prospects in the system. But as I returned to the list again and again, I realized that the notion of a “ranking” was less useful, and perhaps misleading, the farther I went down the list.
In the end, I landed on a group of 15 players I was comfortable with at the top, and then another seven players in the next tier down that I wanted to also address in some form or fashion. I considered characterizing these seven players as “honorable mentions.” Though I didn’t go that way—instead choosing to rank them 16-22—I wanted to clarify my opinion that there is significantly less space between these players when compared with the top 15.
I was prompted to revisit my thinking because of a couple questions I received relating to Ty Nelson’s placement at No. 20. I tended to agree with those thinking the ranking may have been a bit low. In the end, I wouldn’t put him firmly behind anyone from No. 16 onward on the list—particularly when he’s finishing from the blue line like in the good old days with the North Bay Battalion.
Everett Silvertips co-captain Kaden Hammell has quietly been an important part of Everett’s success this season. The right-shot defenseman led the entirety of the CHL in on-ice plus-minus for a long stretch of the season and still ranks near the top. (He is no longer atop the WHL list only because of the prodigious ice-tilting occurring in Spokane when Andrew Cristall and fellow Kraken prospect Berkly Catton are on the ice.) But Everett will have to make do without the 2023 fifth-round pick in the near term because Hammell is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Hammell hasn’t appeared in a game since Feb. 8.
After an eyebrow-arching demotion to the second-level Russian pro league a couple weeks ago, Semyon Vyazovoy, 20, has returned to the KHL with a vengeance. He started the last three games for his KHL team, posting two wins and a shutout. His .935 save percentage is second in the KHL—behind a player nearly a decade older than Vyazovoy. His 1.85 goals against average is also second in the league. Vyazovoy is an unsigned 2021 draft pick, but the Kraken will continue to hold his exclusive NHL negotiating rights indefinitely because he is a Russian national.
Jani Nyman | F | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Jani Nyman is your Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week after scoring three goals and adding two assists in three Firebirds games. In recent weeks, the Firebirds have elevated Nyman into a featured scoring role on the first line (with Ben Meyers and Daniel Sprong) and first power play. Every game Nyman’s teammates are finding him for at least a few looks in prime scoring areas, and Nyman is rewarding that confidence with pin-point wrist shots and lightning-strike one-timers. His 22 goals are fourth-most in the AHL. The arrow is pointing way up for Nyman right now. He may belong in a relatively flat second-tier of Kraken prospects (with Carson Rehkopf and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard) behind only Berkly Catton.
The last game to sneak into this data update was the Baie-Comeau Drakkar’s Thursday night game against the Saint John Sea Dogs, and, well, it was a notable one. Alexis Bernier’s Drakkar won it 14-0. Bernier had two assists and a plus-five (!) performance on the night.
Could Mølgaard be the next Seattle Kraken destined to garner Lady Byng Trophy votes? Despite playing a defensively engaged game, he has not taken a penalty in 30 SHL games this season.
Kim Saarinen had a tough week by the high standard he has set, conceding 11 goals in three starts. Still, he is getting the majority of the starts for his Liiga team, HPK.
With Ales Stezka recalled to the NHL following the 4 Nations Face-Off break, Philipp Grubauer seems set to continue as the 1A goalie in the AHL, at least for the short term. Grubauer met with the Coachella Valley media following a win Wednesday night and demonstrated his characteristic professionalism when addressing the demotion. For his part, Stezka may get his first NHL start this weekend with the Kraken playing back-to-back games in Florida and Tampa Bay on Saturday and Sunday.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Berkly Catton: 3
Clarke Caswell: 2
Tyson Jugnauth: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Andrei Loshko: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Carson Rehkopf: 1
Jani Nyman: 1
Kim Saarinen: 1
Nathan Villeneuve: 1
Ryan Winterton: 1
Semyon Vyazovoy: 1
Previewing the week ahead
Barrett Hall’s St. Cloud State Huskies take on Zaccharya Wisdom’s Colorado College Tigers in a two-game set this weekend.
In the WHL, the Everett Silvertips, minus injured Kraken prospects Hammell and Julius Miettinen, square off against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night (our own Darren Brown will be doing color commentary with Thom Beuning on the CHL app and 1090 AM). Catton and the Spokane Chiefs take on Jugnauth and the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday afternoon. Next Wednesday Dragicevic’s Prince Albert Raiders host Caden Price and the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
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.
Welcome to “Down on the Farm,” your weekly update on all things Seattle Kraken prospects. This week we’ll take a look at the progress of Seattle’s goaltending prospects, highlight two standout performance from Brampton Steelheads teammates, and, as always, get you all the data you can handle. Let’s dive in.
Kraken prospect question of the week: Checking in on the goalie prospects
Many of the comments on last week’s prospect update focused on the team’s goaltending prospects. Even though I’m not responding to a specific question posed there, I took that discussion as inspiration to check in on the progress of Seattle’s prospects who make a living getting hit by short cylinders of vulcanized rubber.
This past week was a tough one for Seattle’s netminders at the NHL level—and it was only slightly better for the team’s prospects. Big picture, it’s impressive that the Kraken have relatively young goaltending prospects taking regular starts in Liiga, the KHL, and the AHL. But the goalies in the system faced a lot of adversity this week.
Let’s start with a positive. Victor Ostman, 24, started a pair of games for the ECHL Kansas City Mavericks and posted two wins, one of which was a 23-save shutout. Overall, he stopped 44 of 45 shots, raising his season save percentage to .909. That mark is 10th best in the ECHL among goalies with at least 10 appearances. Ostman faced questions after a rough senior year at the University of Maine and an up-and-down NHL camp, but he has settled in well for Kansas City. Even if that’s where he spends the balance of the year—and we’re beginning to suspect that will be the case—there is still an NHL trajectory for him if he can continue stacking success. His stellar week earns him Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week.
For his part, Nikke Kokko, 20, took hard contact from a Texas Stars skater at 8:32 in the second period of the Firebirds’ game Thursday night, forcing him to depart. There was no definitive update postgame, but the team recalled Jack LaFontaine from Kansas City today, with two weekend games in San Jose on the horizon. That transaction suggests Kokko’s short-term availability is in doubt. On the bright side, the Firebirds came back to win Thursday’s game, so Kokko still does not have a North American professional regulation loss.
Jack LaFontaine has been recalled to the @Firebirds.
Ales Stezka, 27, was solid on Thursday, but struggled a bit in two losses earlier the week, allowing eight goals on 70 shots overall. Stezka’s play had been trending well in recent weeks and the Firebirds will likely be leaning on him even more heavily with Kokko out. While Stezka has been solid, he hasn’t given the Kraken strong reason to consider a promotion even following a few poor NHL starts by Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer.
Kim Saarinen, 18, continues to pile up starts at the Liiga level, which is good, but the production hasn’t been particularly strong. Saarinen’s .891 save percentage ranks 15th among goalies with at least 10 starts (in a 16-team league). One of Saarinen’s weakest starts came Thursday when he gave up five goals on 35 shots. To be fair, though, Saarinen’s team, HPK, has struggled overall and is currently 14th in the standings. Saarinen’s goalie tandem partner, Sami Rajaniemi, is right next to him on the save percentage leaderboard with a .890 mark.
Semyon Vyazovoy, 21, got off to a strong start in the KHL but has recently slid into true backup status for his club, drawing a start every week or two. He didn’t get into a game in the last seven days. It’s a disappointing development for the young goalie, who has posted above-average results at every step of his development path. His .919 save percentage is roughly league average for a regular KHL starter and is fourth best among KHL goalies under 22.
Visa Vedenpaa, 19, still hasn’t seen the ice since playing one period in a game on October 15. He is likely dealing with a long-term injury.
Notes on three Kraken prospects
Jakub Fibigr
Brampton Steelheads (OHL) | D | 18 years old | 25 games played | 2 goals | 11 assists | 0.52 PPG
2024 draft pick Jakub Fibigr opened eyes at Kraken training camp with his skating skill, prompting some commentary that he could be a seventh-round “steal.” If you’ve followed Sound Of Hockey’s draft coverage, though, you already knew that Fibigr was anything but a typical seventh-round pick. He slipped in the draft, but he was No. 98 overall in our consensus scouting ranking, and his draft-year scoring data would have had him even higher (No. 37 overall).
That said, Fibigr had a very slow scoring start for the high-flying Steelheads this year. He finally broke through on the offensive end last Saturday when he registered four assists in a 5-3 Steelheads win over Saginaw. He kept that momentum going with two more assists Wednesday against Guelph. He still trails his 2023-24 scoring pace by a wide margin, but if the last two games signal a hot streak, it shouldn’t take long to make his quiet start a distant memory. The talent is there to pile up points in a hurry.
Carson Rehkopf
Brampton Steelheads (OHL) | F | 19 years old | 25 games played | 18 goals | 26 assists | 1.76 PPG
Fibigr’s Steelheads teammate Carson Rehkopf had a great week both on and off the ice. As expected, he was named to Team Canada’s selection camp for the World Junior Championship—along with fellow Kraken prospects Berkly Catton and Caden Price. Fourth in the OHL in points and a natural shooter, Rehkopf is almost certain to make the final team (Catton is very likely to make it too). Rehkopf also has a strong chance to be named a team leader, given that he’s an alumnus of the 2024 team and one of Canada’s oldest eligible players.
For Brampton, Rehkopf poured in three goals and added four assists in three games this week. The Steelheads were a borderline ludicrous +9 with Rehkopf on the ice at 5-on-5. Needless to say, Brampton’s top line continues to dominate. (This is now the third time Rehkopf has put up production worthy of “Prospect of the Week” status, only to miss out due to another Kraken prospect’s performance. I’m sure he’ll be able to console himself with the World Juniors invite.)
Ben Meyers
Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL) | F | 26 years old | 15 games played | 7 goals | 7 assists | 0.93 PPG
Ben Meyers had a leviathan week for the Coachella Valley Firebirds, punctuated by a hat trick Thursday night that fueled a comeback win against the Texas Stars. Overall, he had five goals and an assist in three games. Mentally, I deemed him ineligible for the Prospect of the Week award since he’s over 25 years old, but it probably should have gone his way but for that.
Seattle’s prospects scored a lot over the last seven days. 20 different players had multi-point weeks. In addition to strong performances from Rehkopf, Meyers, and Fibigr, Clarke Caswell had three goals and three assists in three games.
Catton and Rehkopf continue their battle for Kraken junior scoring supremacy. Last week Catton held the lead, but he relinquished that spot to Rehkopf this week after the Steelheads forward recorded seven points.
Forward Justin Janicke is now second on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in scoring, following a two-goal, one-assist week. Defenseman Kaden Hammell’s +35 plus-minus is the best in the entire CHL (though he is closely trailed by several Silvertips teammates).
As detailed above, Ostman was the organization’s highlight in goal over the last seven days. Stezka played in all three games for the Firebirds after appearing as an injury replacement for Kokko on Thursday.
Saarinen’s Liiga numbers aren’t stellar but his continued usage in that top-level pro league as an 18-year-old is reason for continued optimism.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Berkly Catton: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Previewing the week ahead
Hammell, Julius Miettinen, and the Everett Silvertips host Caden Price and the Kelowna Rockets on Friday, and then square off against the rival Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night at Angel of the Winds Arena. Next Wednesday, Everett welcomes Tyson Jugnauth and the Portland Winterhawks.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds have three straight contests against the San Jose Barracuda over the next seven days (two in San Jose and one in Palm Desert). With a weekend back-to-back scheduled, I’d expect Jack LaFontaine to get an AHL start (assuming Kokko doesn’t bounce back rapidly). On the ECHL side of things, I expect Ostman to carry the load for the Mavericks.
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.
Welcome to Down on the Farm (written edition). Your favorite segment on The Sound Of Hockey Podcast comes to the website with a weekly check-in on all Seattle Kraken prospects. The goal is to delve deeper than we can on the podcast, featuring a prospect each week, and to broaden our coverage with a statistical update on every Kraken-affiliated player below the NHL level.
Typically, these updates will include the following data: (1) year-to-date performance, (2) the player’s production in the last week, (3) the player’s Data Score (for rough cross-league comparisons), and (4) the player’s schedule for the week ahead.
Starting next week, I’ll also plan to answer one Kraken prospect question each week, if you have them. So, send your questions in the comments of a previous week’s article, on X (formerly known as Twitter) @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey, or in the Sound Of Hockey Discord.
Niagara IceDogs (OHL) | 7 games played | 5 goals | 8 assists | 1.86 PPG | 55.5 Data Score
The Kraken drafted the Belarusian-born Andrei Loshko in the fourth round of the 2023 NHL Draft out of the QMJHL. He was traded within that league halfway through last season. This year he finds himself with yet another new junior club, the Niagara IceDogs; and this time he’s in an entirely new league too—the OHL. Loshko was a top-of-the-lineup player in the QMJHL, but he got caught up in a numbers game, as teams can only have a fixed number of European-born “import” players and players 20 years old or older. Fitting into both categories, Loshko was squeezed out.
At Kraken rookie camp, Loshko’s appeal as a prospect was apparent. He won contested puck situations and board battles, and consistently made plays to advance the puck or set up his teammates with simple, composed actions amidst surrounding chaos. His frame and speed combination appeared adequate for the professional level too. Overall, Loshko had the look of an effective role player with a realistic pro trajectory.
Following camp, Loshko returned to the IceDogs and has been on a scoring tear. He has five goals and eight assists in seven games played, for a 1.86 points-per-game (PPG) clip. He has scored in six of the seven games he has played in and is currently sixth in the OHL in scoring, tied with none other than Carson Rehkopf. Beyond the scoring, he has shown a knack for give-and-go plays in transition and in the offensive zone—a skill players often can carry into the pro game. This is encouraging. If he can maintain his career-best scoring pace, it will further bolster his profile.
Loshko is currently unsigned. As a 2023 draft pick out of the CHL, the Kraken have until the end of this season—June 1, 2025, to be exact—to sign Loshko to an NHL contract, or the team will lose his exclusive rights. His contract status will be one to watch as the season progresses.
Let’s Get Quizzical
The Kraken have drafted only one player out of the U.S. National Team Development Program. Whomst? Read on for the answer. (Hint: Kraken draft pick Matty Beniers played for the U.S. National Team Development Program but was drafted from the University of Michigan. So it’s not him.)
Notes on three more Kraken prospects
Berkly Catton
Spokane Chiefs (WHL) | 9 games played | 3 goals | 12 assists | 1.67 PPG | 55.0 Data Score
That one could look at Catton’s 1.67 PPG across nine Spokane Chiefs contests and shrug their shoulders is an indication of Catton’s established greatness in the junior ranks. After all, he averaged 1.7 PPG last season. That said, the scoring came with increasing frequency over the last week, as he tallied two goals and seven assists in four games, achieving a 2.25 PPG clip. He’s your Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week.
Nathan Villeneuve
Sudbury Wolves (OHL) | 2 games played | 0 goals | 1 assist | 0.5 PPG | 19.3 Data Score
After Villeneuve’s impressive preseason stint with the Kraken, he returned to his junior team, the Sudbury Wolves, as a still-suspended player. His 15-game ban related to a violation of the OHL’s social media policy and carried over from last year. He got back into game action this week, though, recording an assist in two games. More notably, he continued to agitate and mix things up physically, tallying a fighting major in just his second game back.
Justin Janicke
Univ. of Notre Dame (NCAA) | 2 games played | 1 goal | 3 assists | 2 PPG | 56.9 Data Score
An unsigned 2021 seventh-round draft pick, Janicke is likely one of the more under-the-radar Kraken prospects. Drafted out of the U.S. National Team Development Program—there’s your trivia answer—he has played the last four seasons for the University of Notre Dame. While his production has slowly ticked up over the years, he has never topped more than half a point per game in college, playing more of a forechecking role. Now, as a senior, he’s part of the Fighting Irish leadership group and has four points in Notre Dame’s first two contests. Janicke may not keep up this pace—as noted by Kraken Stats on X, his one goal was a strange one—nor ultimately get signed by the Kraken, but he was a standout in his first weekend of NCAA play and deserves to be highlighted.
Kraken prospect data
Our week-in-review tracking will begin next week, but, in addition to the note on Catton above, I’ll call out Alexis Bernier, who had two assists yesterday (Thursday) for Baie-Comeau Drakkar in a game against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. He was a +4 in on-ice goal differential over the last three games.
As mentioned above, Loshko and Rehkopf are in the top 10 in scoring in the OHL. Catton is in the top 10 overall in the WHL, with both Caden Price and Tyson Jugnauth in the top 5 in the WHL among defensemen—trailing only Tarin Smith and exceptional-status player Landon Dupont, both of the Everett Silvertips.
As a whole, Seattle’s goalie prospects haven’t gotten off to the strongest start, with no player’s save percentage currently above .900. That said, it is notable and encouraging that Semyon Vyazovoy has drawn six starts already in the KHL (Russia’s highest pro league), and Kim Saarinen, at just 18 years old, has five starts in Liiga (Finland’s highest pro league). Saarinen’s total is the second most among 18-year-olds in Liiga. Top prospect Niklas Kokko has yet to debut with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, with veteran Ales Stezka starting the team’s first two games.
Previewing the week ahead
The Kansas City Mavericks’ regular season opener is tonight (Friday) at 5:05 pm PT. You can catch that game on FloHockey. With the Mavericks joining the fray this week, only Ben MacDonald’s Harvard Crimson have yet to begin the 2024-25 hockey season. The Ivy League always starts later.
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard is still out with an injury he suffered in HV71’s regular season opener. He’s likely still a few weeks from returning.
The Firebirds have only one game in the next seven days, as their AHL schedule continues to be light in the early going. That game is tonight at 7:00 pm PT at San Diego. Again, you can catch it on FloHockey.
As is typical, the junior players have a busy slate of weekend games coming up. The Everett Silvertips and prospects Julius Miettinen and Kaden Hammell will take on the Portland Winterhawks and Tyson Jugnauth in Portland on Saturday. Prospect Caden Price will be back in Washington State over the weekend as Kelowna takes on Wenatchee on Friday and Tri-City on Saturday. You can catch those games, and all CHL games, on CHL TV.
Here are the games for the week ahead—from today through next Thursday:
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Reminder to send us your prospect questions, and we’ll plan to feature them in a future post. Also, if you have ideas for additional information you’d like to see or how to deliver it, let me know. I have a few improvements I’m going to roll out over the next few weeks, but I’d like to tailor this to what you all want to see.
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.
As the NHL preseason nears its conclusion, the Coachella Valley Firebirds roster is solidifying. The offseason brought significant changes to Coachella Valley, including a new head coach and a substantial roster turnover.
The Firebirds have two preseason games scheduled against the Milwaukee Admirals, both in Independence, Missouri: Oct. 4 and 5. Their regular-season home opener is set for Oct. 11 against the Bakersfield Condors. Training camp for the Firebirds started on Sept. 30, and with some AHL players spending part of that time still with the Kraken, the training camp roster has been a mix of projected ECHL and AHL players.
New Firebirds coach, Derek Laxdal, has been hired to replace Dan Bylsma, who was promoted to head coach for the Seattle Kraken. Assistant coach Jessica Campbell also joined the Kraken, leaving a vacancy that was filled by former WHL Saskatoon Blades coach Brennan Sonne. Assistant coach Stu Bickell will remain in his role.
Laxdal brings a winning mentality, boasting 15 winning seasons in 19 years as a coach. He has championship experience as both a player and a coach. As a player, he won the Calder Cup in 1990 with the Springfield Indians. As the coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings, he won WHL championships in 2011-12 and 2013-14, with the 2014 team also raising the Memorial Cup. Laxdal’s coaching career encompasses a wide range of levels, from the CHL to the NHL.
Laxdal commented on what fans can expect to see in the upcoming season, “You’re going to see a team I think that you have seen here before that competes night in, night out, competes hard on the puck. [It’s a team] that plays hard, that has great intensity and you’re going to see a little bit more skill level coming into the organization with all these young prospects.”
Roster overhaul
The Firebirds’ significant roster turnover was largely due to the veteran rule, which I discussed in July. This has opened up opportunities for Kraken prospects. There are 14 new faces on the team roster. Here’s a projected lineup for the team.
* New Firebirds for the upcoming season
David Goyette, Jani Nyman, and Lleyton Roed joined the Firebirds at the end of last season. While they gained some experience with the team, this upcoming season will be their first full campaign with the Firebirds. Therefore, they’re considered new players for the 2024-25 season in the table above.
Firebirds youth movement
The Firebirds are undergoing a youth movement as more young players, including several Kraken draft picks, join the team. This has resulted in a roster with a significantly lower average age.
A younger forward group
The forward group projected above has an average age of 23.1 years, a decrease of one full year from last season. Eight forwards are under 23, and five of these players will either make their professional debut or play in their first full year with the AHL club.
Jagger Firkus: The 2023-24 CHL overall scoring leader with 126 points, Firkus will transition to right wing this season. His size has always been a question, but his ability to succeed in his new position and maintain his scoring prowess at the AHL level will be crucial for his development.
David Goyette: A second-round pick by the Kraken in 2022, Goyette consistently improved his scoring and capped off his junior career by winning the OHL scoring race with 117 points.
Jani Nyman: Known affectionately as “Li’l Jani” by Sound Of Hockey, Nyman is anything but small. At 6-foot-3, 212 pounds, this right winger has a powerful shot and knack for finding open ice. In Liiga, Nyman finished second overall in goals scored with 26 in 48 games. This achievement is even more impressive considering it’s the fourth-most goals scored by an under-20 player in league history.
Lleyton Roed: A speedy undrafted free agent, Roed’s performance at Bemidji State earned him a Hobey Baker Award nomination. The Kraken quickly signed him to an entry-level contract. Sound Of Hockey’s own Darren Brown recently wrote a profile on Roed.
Eduard Sale: The 2023 first-round pick spent last season in the OHL where he recorded 38 points in 49 games. Given his young age and potential, it’s logical for him to join the Firebirds, allowing the Kraken organization to directly oversee his development. Coach Bylsma has praised Sale, “Being heavy on the forecheck and using the stick and feet to get there. And he’s starting to see more [opportunities on the ice].” Sale could still be returned to the OHL, but the Firebirds are giving him a look to see if he can play at the AHL level. If he can stick, it would allow the Kraken to get more of a hands-on approach to his development.
Returning youngsters Logan Morrison, Tucker Robertson, and Jacob Melanson will aim to build on their successes from last year and take the next step in their development.
Defense corps
Only three players return from last year’s defensive corps. The Firebirds also have three defensive players under the age of 23.
Ville Ottavainen: This big, 6-foot-5 defender has developed nicely. He provided more offensive punch than expected in his first year with the Firebirds, scoring 34 points. The right-shot defenseman has looked impressive in training camp with the Kraken and scored with a rocket one-timer against the Calgary Flames on Monday. He could be the first defenseman called up by Seattle if needed this season.
Ty Nelson: At 5-foot-10, 208 pounds, the sturdy Nelson doesn’t shy away from physical play. He excels at moving the puck and contributes offensively. This will be his first season in the AHL, and watching his game translate at the professional level will be something to monitor.
Charlie Wright: An undrafted free agent who signed a one-year deal with the Firebirds, Wright served as an alternate captain for his WHL team, the Saskatoon Blades. New assistant coach and former head coach of Wright and the Blades, Brennan Sonne, commented, “He’s done everything right. He’s one of the most underrated players in the league, honestly. He’s a pro, through and through. He’s meant the world to the team, as being so steady that whole time. His growth as a player, I just think it’s incredible the way he’s been able to produce offensively while still bringing what he’s great at, which is skating and his ability to shut players down.”
With this roster, the defense is getting slightly younger, going from an average age of 25.1 to 24.8. This assumes Wright (Charlie, not Shane) remains in the AHL. If he is sent to the ECHL, either Ryan Jones or Jake McLaughlin would take the final spot, raising the average age to 25.6.
However, with Cale Fleury being waived Thursday by the Kraken for the purposes of reassigning him to Coachella Valley, the defensive picture could be a little more solidified Friday if he clears.
Goaltending
The Coachella Valley Firebirds will enter the season with Ales Stezka as their starting goaltender. Stezka is the only Firebirds goalie to see preseason action with the Seattle Kraken, appearing in two games. The backup role is less certain, but Niklas Kokko appears to be the frontrunner.
Niklas Kokko / Jessica Campbell
In Kansas City, we would expect the Mavericks to start Jack LaFontaine in goal, with Victor Ostman serving as the backup.
Influx of young talent
The Firebirds roster has experienced a surge of promising Kraken prospects this season. This influx of young talent, combined with the team’s established veterans, promises a thrilling AHL campaign. While the team may have some growing pains, watching the players’ development will be a treat for fans. Firebirds games, along with those of their ECHL affiliate, the Kansas City Mavericks, are available for streaming via subscription on FloHockey.tv.
As the Firebirds gear up for the new season, expectations are high. With a younger squad and a new head coach at the helm, the team is looking to make a strong impression. Will they be able to compete for a playoff spot? Only time will tell.
Let us know your questions and predictions for the upcoming season in the comments below. You can also follow me @blaizg on x.com.
The Kraken remain captain-less (for now), along with Utah, as one of the two remaining NHL teams without a full-time captain in place. But just because there is no captain at the moment doesn’t mean there aren’t leaders beginning to blossom elsewhere within the organization.
Seattle has steadily built its farm system by way of players who felt destined to lead by example one way or another on their own squads. Whether it be scoring tons of points, laying hits, or just being all-around solid players, there have been expectations set forth by the development staff for them to take on the responsibilities of a leader.
Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma was adamant about seeing young players continue to grow as leaders with their junior teams this upcoming season.
“It’s their job to take that and be leaders with their own careers,” Bylsma said. “It takes the lessons they learned, taking what they saw here [at training camp] and adding it to their game going back to juniors and having a great season.”
The Seattle Kraken have leaned heavily on the Western Hockey League through the last few draft cycles, but it looks to be paying dividends this season. No Kraken prospects were full-time captains on any team anywhere in the CHL last season. But for this season, there will be four, and they were all named this week in the league closest to home.
Clarke Caswell, Swift Current Broncos
After coming close to reaching the WHL Finals last season, the Eastern Conference finalist Swift Current Broncos had a lot of players graduate through the system last season.
Those exits left an opportunity for Kraken forward prospect Clarke Caswell to further his progression with the Broncos, and he was named the captain of Swift Current last week.
The fourth-round selection in 2023 had 23 goals and 77 points while playing all 68 games for the Broncos in 2023-24. Caswell, 17, mentioned Yanni Gourde as a player he got to shadow during his time at Kraken training camp.
“They work really hard,” Caswell said. “They never take days off. It’s their job to play hockey, so coming to the rink prepared is what I’m going to bring to the team.”
Ollie Josephson, Red Deer Rebels
Selected in the fourth round of this past NHL Draft, Kraken forward prospect Ollie Josephson was named the captain of the Red Deer Rebels on Thursday.
Josephson, 18, looks like a prime breakout candidate this season for the improved Rebels, after he tallied a career-high 47 points, also while playing all 68 games for the Rebels in 2023-24.
Meet our leadership group for 2024-25!#RDREBELS I #WHL
This one’s been alluded to by Sound Of Hockey for some time this past half-year or so, but it was finally confirmed on Friday night by the Everett Silvertips. Kaden Hammell, along with Eric Jamieson, was named a co-captain for the 2024-25 season, continuing a loose franchise tradition of carrying two captains for the season.
The native of Langley, B.C., has blossomed into a premier shutdown defenseman in the WHL, while also continuing to develop an offensive element to his game year after year, similar to Jamie Oleksiak.
Hammell, a fifth-round pick in 2022, spoke about the type of group he envisions leading.
“There’s a lot of guys that bring leadership to the room,” Hammell said. “The biggest thing is making sure everybody’s comfortable and having fun this year. We’ve got a pretty good team, so we want to make sure that we’re super competitive but having fun on and off the ice.”
There may not be a more valuable leadership opportunity in junior hockey right now than the chance to be the first real veteran mentor for a star-bound talent in fellow defenseman Landon DuPont.
Berkly Catton, Spokane Chiefs
Finally, and easily the biggest tongue twister of the bunch (Captain Catton), Berkly Catton was named captain of the Spokane Chiefs on Saturday night.
Not much more needs to be mentioned about arguably the best prospect in the Kraken’s system. Catton, 18, has been with the Chiefs throughout his whole WHL career and has seen them grow from bottom dwellers to one of the favorites to win the U.S. Division this season.
He wowed with his 116 points in 68 games in 2023-24, which parlayed him into the eighth overall selection in this summer’s draft. He’s poised for yet another standout season.
A few other Kraken prospects were assigned leadership roles as assistant captains on their respective CHL teams, including Kraken defensive prospect Caden Price for the Kelowna Rockets (third-round pick in 2023) and dynamic forward prospect Carson Rehkopf for the inaugural Brampton Steelheads (second-round pick in 2023).
The Seattle Kraken’s commitment to developing leadership within their ranks is evident, with several prospects stepping into captaincy roles this season. With talented players like Caswell, Josephson, Hammell, and Catton leading their teams, the future looks promising for the Seattle franchise. As these young leaders gain valuable experience, they are bound to play a significant role in the Kraken’s future success both on and off the ice.
Header photo: Kaden Hammell poses with fellow members of Everett leadership group. (Photo/Everett Silvertips)
