The 2024 NHL Draft is in the books. Today, we’ll dive deep on all eight Seattle Kraken draft picks with information from the Sound Of Hockey Big Board, three viewings at 2024 Kraken Development Camp, and all other sources of information we can muster. What kinds of players did the Kraken get? And what did Seattle tell us about the 2024 Draft with its picks? Let’s get to it.
Notably, the group includes only two defensemen. Ryker Evans has already amassed significant NHL ice time and projects to be a Kraken regular for the 2024-25 season. This will leave only defenseman Ville Ottavainen among the tier of projected future NHL contributors not yet playing in the NHL. There are intriguing prospects further away, including Caden Price and Lukas Dragicevic. And fan-favorite Ty Nelson will look to establish himself as a professional at the AHL level this year.
Overall, though, the team’s forward group has significantly more impact potential than its blueliners. This is mostly due to asset allocation. The team has spent only four picks in the top-three rounds of a draft on defensemen, against 10 picks on forwards. The team has also signed four undrafted free agents: three forwards and one goaltender. For these reasons, we suspected the Kraken would be more willing to invest on the blue line in the 2024 NHL Draft.
We did not focus as much on the team’s center depth, but Kraken general manager Ron Francis noted after Day 1 of the draft that Carson Rehkopf and David Goyette had moved to the wing full-time during the 2023-24 season. Assuming that position change holds into the future, the top prospect group above includes just three centers. Once factoring in Shane Wright’s likely graduation to the NHL, center depth was materializing as an important and under-discussed need as well.
Carson Rehkopf
The Kraken 2024 NHL Draft class
The Kraken began the 2024 NHL Draft with nine picks but traded two late-rounders (Nos. 169 and 201 overall) to Florida for one fifth-round selection (No. 141). The Kraken had previously traded their assigned fifth-round pick to Colorado for forward Tomas Tatar. The draft-day pick trade was only the second ever made by the Seattle Kraken or a team managed by Ron Francis.
Here are the eight draft picks Seattle came away with:
The team drafted five forwards, three or four of which project to play center long term, addressing a subtle organizational need. On the other hand, the team drafted just two defensemen, with the first coming in the third round. The team carried on its practice of drafting one goalie each year.
Experts give Seattle Kraken draft solid marks
Draft analysts graded Seattle’s draft positively, though typically not among the very best classes. Several questioned the team’s decision to bypass a blue chip defenseman at the top of the draft. Friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast Chris Peters captured the popular sentiment well, giving the Kraken a B+ grade, but with the following note:
What I do find a little concerning in the earlier days of the Kraken’s drafting, however, is the lack of high-end defensemen in their system. I don’t blame them for going for their best player available as opposed to one of the higher end defensemen when they drafted Catton, but there is going to have to come a time at some point where the team [prioritizes] defensemen in their drafting.
Mitchell Brown & David St-Louis, Elite Prospects: A
Kraken get solid value using a mixed draft strategy
In the end, the Kraken came away with six top-100 players on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board (tied for most in the draft) and five players in my top-100 data ranking (second-most in the draft). It was a good haul by those measures, but I’ll admit to feeling a bit of whiplash following the team’s draft strategy live, not to mention some disappointment at the continued lack of investment on defense.
Before the draft, I dug into data on the draft-eligible prospects, and I found a group of five statistical standouts at the top of the class that included four defensemen. After that I saw an average-or-worse draft class from the 40s onward. I believe the Kraken likely agreed with the latter point, but clearly held a different view of the draft’s top prospects.
After Macklin Celebrini–who was the consensus No. 1 overall prospect among scouts and data analysts alike–I saw blueliners Zeev Buium, Zayne Parekh, Artyom Levschunov, and Sam Dickinson as unique offensive defensemen. Buium’s 50 points in 42 NCAA games were the most ever by a first-time eligible NCAA defenseman. Parekh’s 96 points in 66 junior games was the most by a CHL defenseman in more than 30 years. Levschunov’s 35 points in 38 games were the most ever by a first-time eligible NCAA defenseman standing 6-foot-2 or taller. And Dickinson’s 70 points in 68 games were the second-most by an OHL defenseman standing 6-foot-3 or taller in the last 30 years.
Seeing an opportunity where supply met a need, I thought the Kraken would be thrilled to select any of these prospects if they were still available at pick No. 8. As it turns out, Buium, Parekh, and Dickinson were all available when the Kraken were on the clock. The team went a different direction anyway.
From a raw point production perspective, Berkly Catton out-produced all of the defensemen I named. In fact, he is one of only four first-time eligible CHL players this century to score 50+ goals and total 115+ points. The others are two soon-to-be Hall of Famers and the reigning Calder Trophy winner: Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Connor Bedard.
Looking at scoring data only, I had Catton as the sixth-ranked first-time eligible skater in the 2024 NHL Draft, ahead of each of the defensemen except Buium. Even so, I ranked Catton slightly lower than the four defensemen listed above in my final data ranking, which accounts for size (Catton is 5-foot-10), league value (Catton’s WHL is weaker than the OHL and NCAA), and relative positional value.
I suspect Seattle decided to go with Catton for one of two reasons. First, the team may have viewed offense, from a player who could be an NHL center, as the greatest organizational need. Second, the team’s scouts may not have been sold on the high-scoring blueliners, each of whom came with his own set of questions.
Also, we cannot entirely rule out the value the organization may see in drafting locally. Indeed, after Catton, the team stayed local drafting another WHL center in Julius Miettinen. Miettinen was well-regarded by most scouts, checking in at No. 41 on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. My data score ranking had him as a second-rounder too (No. 61 overall). So, the selection didn’t stray far from consensus value.
After that, though, the Kraken draft pivoted hard toward idiosyncratic scouting favorites. I suspect this is because the remainder of Seattle’s top targets that combined in-house scouting support and strong data profiles went off the board before Seattle’s next pick in a relatively shallow talent pool.
Nathan Villeneuve, Seattle’s pick at No. 63, is a checking center with the potential to push his scoring higher with more ice time. He was No. 91 on the Big Board and No. 71 in my data ranking. Likewise, the team’s pick at No. 73, defenseman Alexis Bernier, was drafted higher than those in the public community or my data analysis suggested (No. 122 on the Big Board; No. 341 in my data ranking). Ollie Josephson, the team’s fourth-round pick, was liked by scouts both in Seattle and elsewhere (No. 77 on the Big Board), but, again, his data lagged (No. 226 in my data ranking).
Toward the end of the draft, the team turned back towards strong data players who had dropped. The Kraken selected forward Clarke Caswell (No. 53 in my data rank) and defenseman Jakub Fibigr (No. 37 on the data) with its final two picks.
Jakub Fibigr
Kraken draft picks by the numbers: young, small, and junior-heavy
The Kraken selected the youngest draft class in the league—with an average age of 18 years, two months as of the 2024 NHL Draft. The class is more than a full year younger on average than the league’s oldest class, drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights. (Coincidentally, the Kraken’s three youngest 2024 NHL Draft picks, Kim Saarinen, Josephson, and Fibigr, were all born on the same day—July 22, 2006.)
Seattle was also one of eight teams not to select any re-draft candidates. Earlier in the organization’s development, Seattle selected several overage prospects because there were no prospects from earlier drafts blocking their path. This year’s approach is indicative of a pipeline with a steady flow of prospects ahead of the 2024 class.
Beyond drafting young, the Kraken also selected a class of relatively small players. Seattle took the second-shortest skater class in the league, with their seven drafted skaters averaging just a shade over 6-foot-0. (The team also selected goaltender Kim Saarinen, who stands 6-foot-4.) Their skater class is also the fifth-lightest, averaging under 182 pounds. By contrast, the Boston Bruins class of skaters stood almost 6-foot-4 and 204 pounds on average, both the top marks in the league.
Finally, no team committed more draft resources to Canadian junior hockey players than the Kraken. Seattle selected seven players from the CHL, tied with the Calgary Flames for most in the league. Seattle’s four draft picks from the WHL were the most of any team.
Scouting notes: “Berkly Catton is one of the most fun players to watch in this draft. Give him time and space, and he’ll make you pay; try to take it away, and he’ll cut through your formation anyway like a hot knife through butter.
“It’s on the rush where he’s most effective. A series of crossovers allows him to build speed as he plans his attack, reading and reacting to what’s in front of him, using a series of weight shifts and handling moves to navigate the neutral zone as he drives play toward the opposition goal. With this ability comes cunning in the form of a sophisticated delay game that allows him to level up and attack with support or connect with trailing linemates as they enter the play.” – Elite Prospects
Pick analysis: At development camp we saw a player who combines instant-adrenaline skating with elite ice vision and self-confidence. He’s the team’s most dynamic offensive playmaker at any level and should be a one-man solution to the Kraken power play within three years.
Round 2 Pick 40: Julius Miettinen, F, Everett Silvertips (WHL) Height: 6’3″ | Weight: 207 | Shot: Left Games played: 66 | Goals: 31 | Assists: 36 | PPG: 1.02 | Plus-minus: 27 | % of offense: 0.234 Big Board rank: 41 | Highest analyst rank: 22 (Button, HockeyProspect(dot)com) | Data rank: 61
Scouting notes: “Miettinen is a well-built, strong, 6-foot-3 center who works, wins battles, plays hard and can skate. He’s got some soft skill and power to his game. He protects the puck well and can play along the wall or go to the front of the net and make plays around the crease.” – Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
Pick analysis: Miettinen brings a player profile the Kraken system is currently lacking—a physically imposing, two-way forward who projects to stick at center long term. Elite Prospectscompares him to Charlie Coyle or Boone Jenner. Like those players, his game at development camp looked simple, but on closer inspection you start to understand how he intelligently puts himself in positions to win more than his share of battles and grind out the production a team needs to win.
Scouting notes: “[Villeneuve’s] an all-around forward who plays with good pace and isn’t afraid to mix it up along the boards. Villeneuve loves to spend time causing havoc in front of the net and plays a strong off-puck game compared to many others around this point in the list. His energy and feistiness will give him a shot in the NHL, even if he doesn’t have the pure skill to burn.” – Steven Ellis, Daily Faceoff
Pick analysis: I watched at least a half-dozen of Villeneuve’s games between monitoring David Goyette and getting a feel for Sudbury’s 2024 NHL Draft prospects. His physical edge, not to mention a fight or two, always stood out. So too did his pro-ready movements and game. He’s not flashy, but it all looks NHL-translatable, at least in a depth role. Scouts see a center in the long term, perhaps as a third-liner or an outstanding fourth-line player. Villeneuve didn’t stand out at development camp, but he plays a game that should shine brighter when the physicality ratchets up in training camp.
Scouting notes: “He’s a fast, agile defenseman who really knows how to utilize his skating ability. He loves using it to keep the tempo high, whether that’s with his gap control, man-to-man defending, breaking pucks out, or activating from the offensive blueline. Despite not being overly big he really plays hard and with an edge. He might never be a true specialist on either side of special teams, but he’ll be someone who can comfortably handle the responsibilities of both.
“The Drakkar are going to be top contenders in the QMJHL for the next two seasons, and Bernier seems like the type of player who elevates his game to new heights during a deep playoff run and then never looks back.” – McKeen’s
Pick analysis: Bernier’s a fluid mover and adept puck handler, and he was one of his junior team’s best players at breaking out of the defensive zone. Perhaps his strongest trait, according to scouts, is his hockey sense, which allows him to diagnose and shut down opposing offensive chances before they materialize. On the other hand, I don’t see clear winning traits in the offensive zone, which raises developmental questions.
Round 3 Pick 88: Kim Saarinen, G, HPK U20 (U20 SM-sarja) Height: 6’4″ | Weight: 181 Games played: 23 | GAA: 2.41 | Save %: .917 Big Board rank: 105 | Highest analyst rank: 56 (Kennedy) | Data rank: N/A
Scouting notes: “His 6-foot-4 frame does offer some clear advantages, especially covering high when he’s down… but he plays a surprisingly active style for someone of his stature. He keeps excellent access to his edges and remains patient when the puck is passed around the zone, capable of making quick adjustments in either direction… He’s also a difficult goaltender to beat on clean shots because of his above-average tracking ability.” – Elite Prospects
Round 4 Pick 105: Ollie Josephson, F, Red Deer Rebels (WHL) Height: 6’0″ | Weight: 181 | Shot: Left Games played: 68 | Goals: 12 | Assists: 35 | PPG: 0.69 | Plus-minus: -4 | % of offense: 0.22 Big Board rank: 77 | Highest analyst rank: 33 (Scouching) | Data rank: 226
Scouting notes: “Josephson is the type of forward who will always earn more love from coaches than from fans. He’s a steady center who is rarely one of the most skilled players on the ice but is usually among the smartest and the hardest working.” – McKeen’s
Pick analysis: Josephson’s an impressive athlete who moves well–even if the skating could still be cleaned up a bit. He brings pace in transition and is committed in every aspect of the checking game. I’d expect his scoring production to take a step forward in his draft-plus-one season. It’s easy enough to imagine a checking role as a professional. Whether he tops out in the NHL or AHL remains to be seen, though.
Round 5 Pick 141: Clarke Caswell, F, Swift Current Broncos (WHL) Height: 5’11” | Weight: 176 | Shot: Left Games played: 68 | Goals: 26 | Assists: 51 | PPG: 1.13 | Plus-minus: 17 | % of offense: 0.269 Big Board rank: 79 | Highest analyst rank: 36 (Scouching) | Data rank: 53
Scouting notes: “He’s so, so smart with how he times almost every move he makes on the ice. Finding open ice off the puck, creating open ice with it in every zone of the ice, reading breakouts and stopping defensive zone cycles, it’s just wonderful to watch… He absolutely needs to work on the skating as many have pointed out but I don’t think it’s that big of an issue, and the data indicates that if he improves there, he could be an elite player considering how good his output is already.” – Scouching
Pick analysis: Caswell’s junior scoring data justified a much higher selection. Before the draft I had him listed–along with Fibigr, actually–as an “alternative” for Seattle at No. 73. Caswell’s scoring touch was evident at development camp. The question with him is can he develop the complimentary skills necessary to succeed at a professional level. There is a solid baseline here, though.
Round 7 Pick 202: Jakub Fibigr, D, Mississauga Steelheads (OHL) Height: 6’0″ | Weight: 172 | Shot: Left Games played: 61 | Goals: 7 | Assists: 36 | PPG: 0.7 | Plus-minus: 13 | % of offense: 0.192 Big Board rank: 98 | Highest analyst rank: 54 (Kennedy) | Data rank: 37
Scouting notes: “He has a very well-rounded skill set. His mobility is above average, with his ability to build speed quickly out of cuts and pivots being his best strength. This helps him have a real positive impact on the transition game as he skates away from pressure and initiates the breakout.” – McKeen’s
Pick analysis: Like Caswell, Fibigr’s scoring data implied a much earlier draft pick. He also looked strong in his activations at development camp, even if the defense was an adventure at times. Fibigr reminds me a bit of Ryker Evans both in stature and in their draft-year profiles. Evans ultimately went undrafted in his first-eligible draft, only to be selected in the second round by the Kraken as an overager. I suspect Fibigr could follow a similar development path and could have been a much higher pick next year if the Kraken didn’t snatch him in the seventh round. A lot hinges on Fibigr’s ability to make defensive improvements.
The Deep Sea draft
In case you’re curious, I made an alternative “Deep Sea draft” for the Seattle Kraken as the draft was ongoing using my watchlist and pre-draft work. I assumed the same late-round trade the Kraken actually made.
Having seen Catton up close at development camp, I admit that it’s tough for me to contemplate a draft class without him now. Furthermore, my draft does not address the team’s need for depth at center, which I have come to appreciate more after looking at it since the draft. My draft also does not address a common criticism I saw of Seattle’s haul—that it included too many smaller players. My group has a similar average height and weight to the real Kraken class. In the end, it’ll be interesting to compare years down the road.
More draft and prospects content?
Draft season never really ends at Sound Of Hockey. I expect to have a capstone post looking at the league-wide 2024 NHL Draft trends and the performance of the Sound Of Hockey Big Board as a predictive tool. Then we’ll return after that with a Kraken prospect ranking including the 2024 draft picks and a preseason data-only look at the 2025 NHL Draft. So, stay tuned here if you like following the draft and Kraken prospects.
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.
The Everett Silvertips faithful were out in full force at Kraken Community Iceplex on Friday, July 5, as the Stucky Cup scrimmage (coincidentally named for former Silvertips equipment manager James Stucky) concluded Seattle Kraken Development Camp.
They showed off their support for not just the local NHL squad, but also two players of their own in Kaden Hammell and Julius Miettinen that they’ve seen develop through the years at Angel of the Winds Arena.
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) July 6, 2024
Hammell said he was thrilled when Miettinen was taken by the Kraken in the second round of this summer’s NHL Draft, and explained what some of the added benefits were of having an embedded connection like theirs.
“There’s always going to be that connection that you have when you’re battling nine months with a guy.” Hammell said. “It’s pretty awesome that we both get to go through the same experiences and we can connect on certain things that maybe other prospects in different organizations can’t.”
This process isn’t anything new for Hammell, however. Having been through his first full season as a prospect in the organization, the 19-year-old defenseman from Langley, B.C., evaluated the strides he’s taken since being selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft, as well as what steps he still needs in order to reach the next level.
Kaden Hammell’s experience in Everett and Seattle
It’s not always an easy process being traded in the middle of the season, but Hammell felt such a change of scenery could help further along his career. That it has.
Hammell was originally acquired by Everett via trade from Kamloops in January, 2023, as part of the same deal that sent Olen Zellweger to the Blazers, as well as landing the Silvertips the first overall pick in this past WHL Draft.
In 83 regular-season games since joining the Silvertips, he’s tallied eight goals and 43 points, consistently maintaining a half-point-per-game benchmark he’s been at for most of his WHL career. He also has had a few bruised knuckles along the way.
There’s more to Hammell’s game that he feels he’s unlocked, however, since arriving in Everett. He’s elevated from a stay-at-home, shut-down defensive role, to becoming more of a versatile and fluid player on both ends of the ice.
The Kraken selected Hammell in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft, and since the selection, he’s said that the Kraken development staff helped him to gain more confidence in his two-way game, with them telling him to “really own” his skillsets everywhere he goes on the ice.
“Having that versatility is the most important thing for my career right now,” Hammell said. “I’m making sure that I’m good in both zones, and creating as much as I can offensively.”
He showed flashes of offensive prowess down the stretch of last season, where he garnered eight points in his last 10 games. And while Everett fell in the second round of the playoffs to Portland, Hammell’s offensive involvement grew throughout the postseason, tallying three goals in nine games, with two of those coming on the power play.
Being 18 years old at the beginning of last season, former head coach Dennis Williams bestowed Hammell with an assistant captaincy position, a role he felt helped him grow closer to being a professional.
“I learned a lot throughout the year about what it means to be a leader,” Hammell said. “Especially going into the playoffs, I feel like that was a time where leadership was a super key thing to have.”
Despite getting an amateur tryout with the Coachella Valley Firebirds after the Silvertips season concluded, Hammell still has some distance to cover before making an impact at the professional level.
He will likely spend one more season in Everett, which isn’t the worst thing in the world considering the talent that’s brimming at the defensive position. And as one of the elder statesmen in the room, a full-time captaincy position could be in the cards for him.
Leading a loaded defensive group
The Silvertips’ back end might be one of the more talented groups in the league this season, and for some good reasons.
Before Hammell shared the ice with Miettinen at Kraken Development Camp in 2024, 2023 main training camp saw another Silvertips teammate of his in Eric Jamieson receive a camp invite.
Jamieson made the most of the opportunity and his offensive production jumped up last season to 10 goals and 32 points, leading to a sixth-round draft selection by the Calgary Flames.
Another one of Hammell’s defensive partners, Tarin Smith, was drafted in third round by the Anaheim Ducks after a breakout season with 44 points in 67 games.
“It’s an unbelievable spot. It’s a pro organization and they run things like no other place,” Smith said. “They treat us like pros and they expect us to act like pros. I feel like it’s one of the [best] spots for development in [the CHL].”
The group Hammell’s about to lead would be impressive by itself with him and the two additional NHL Draft choices set to return to Everett for the 2024-25 season, not to mention the expected added impacts from Niko Tsakumis and Cameron Sytsma.
But if and when they finally add their blue chip, exceptional-status phenom in Landon DuPont, Everett’s blue line all of a sudden could turn into one of the better units in recent WHL history.
“All hope is that [DuPont] comes,” Hammell said. “The whole team’s super excited to play with him and I know the organization is going to be thrilled to have him.”
Even with DuPont and management staff still not having put pen to paper just yet, it is expected to happen soon, and it’s safe to say this upcoming Silvertips season could be one of the more anticipated in the club’s history.
“I have full belief that they’re going to make the right decisions with the coaching and management staff,” Hammell said. “There’s nothing to worry about there. We’re gonna be an amazing team and we got a lot of firepower to work off of from last year.”
On Sunday, the Seattle Kraken announced the signing of 2024 third-round draft pick Kim Saarinen to an entry-level contract. That deal brought the team’s total number of NHL contracts to 50.
If this number rings a bell for you, it’s probably because you’ve heard mention of the “50-Contract Rule,” which limits how many players a team can have signed at any one time.
What is this rule, and what does it mean that Seattle now has 50 NHL contracts? Even the most dedicated fan would be forgiven for not knowing the nuances of this rule.
This is because discussion of the 50-Contract Rule typically lacks important context. Head over to the Seattle Kraken page on Puckpedia, for example, and you’ll see a simple note that Seattle has now used all 50 contract slots for the 2024-25 season. Is this true? Not really. What does it mean that Seattle has 50 NHL contracts? Puckpedia and other public resources don’t provide that answer. (To be fair, CapFriendly did not provide useful context either before it shuttered earlier this month.)
To make matters worse, even if the industrious fan sought out the source rule in the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”), the fan would likely come away with an incorrect understanding of how the 50-Contract Rule operates in practice. NHL teams actually follow a shadow rule—or, at least, a strained interpretation of the words in the CBA. Of course, this contributes to the flawed public discourse.
So, let’s dive into this sometimes-mentioned, rarely-explained 50-Contract Rule and consider what it means for the Kraken roster-building options moving forward.
The Kraken have 50 NHL contracts
Following Seattle’s initial wave of free agent signings at the beginning of the month, the team had 47 NHL contracts on the books for the 2024-25 season. Then, on July 5, the Kraken signed restricted free agent Eeli Tolvanen and 2024 first-round pick Berkly Catton to NHL deals, and, on July 14, the team signed Saarinen. This brought Seattle’s NHL contract total to 50.
Are the Kraken now hamstrung from signing any more NHL contracts this offseason? If so, does this mean that the team will have to trade (or terminate) a contract simply to sign a deal with unsigned restricted free agent Matty Beniers?
The answer is no, but let’s find out why.
The 50-Contract Rule explained
Under the CBA, an NHL team may have a maximum of 90 players on its “Reserve List” at any time. A team’s Reserve List includes all players signed to standard NHL player contracts (“SPC”) as well as all unsigned NHL Draft choices during the time period the team retains exclusive NHL negotiating rights with the player.
Below the 90-player overall limit, the CBA provides that a team is allowed “not more than 50 players signed to an SPC.” This is the “50-Contract Rule.”
Unsigned players or players who have signed a contract directly with an AHL or ECHL affiliate do not count toward this 50-contract limit. As of the posting of this article, Beniers has not agreed to a contract for the 2024-25 season, so he does not count under the 50-Contract Rule. Likewise, recent Kraken Development Camp invitee Landon McCallum does not count because he signed an AHL contract directly with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
With respect to existing NHL contracts, though, the 50-Contract Rule is subject to only one exception: “Age 18 and age 19 players who were returned to Juniors, and who have not played 11 NHL Games in one season, shall be exempt from inclusion in the 50 Player limit” (the “Juniors Exemption”). Separately, the CBA defines the word “Juniors” to mean the major junior leagues in the Canadian Hockey League.
Based on this black-and-white CBA language, one might reasonably conclude that an 18- or 19-year-old player becomes exempt from the 50-Contract Rule only after the player is returned to a CHL team to play the season. If the player has not yet been returned or the player is returned to play in some other non-CHL league, he is not exempt.
In reality, it doesn’t work that way.
Here is how the Juniors Exemption actually works: Signed 18- or 19 year-old players are, from the moment their contracts go into effect, exempt from the 50-Contract Rule unless and until the player is placed on an active professional (i.e., NHL, AHL, or ECHL) roster. This would typically happen coming out of NHL training camp. If the player is not added to a professional roster and instead returns to play with any other club team, the player continues to be exempt from the 50-Contract Rule.
If an 18- or 19-year-old player remains on the NHL roster to begin a year, the player counts against the limit, but could regain the exemption if returned to the player’s other club before playing 11 NHL games. For example, Shane Wright counted against Seattle’s 50-contract limit to begin the 2022-23 season, but became exempt again when he was assigned back to the CHL after having played only eight NHL games.
Finally, the Juniors Exemption applies to all 18- or 19-year-old players who have been or could be returned to other leagues, not just the CHL. For example, Oscar Fisker-Molgaard’s contract is exempt during the 2024 offseason even though he would be returned to the 2024-25 season in the SHL, the top-level professional league in Sweden.
The Kraken have room to sign Beniers or other NHL contracts
The Kraken have seven 18- or 19-year-old players who fall within the Juniors Exemption to the 50-Contract Rule:
Carson Rehkopf (Kitchener Rangers, OHL)
Eduard Sale (Kitchener Rangers, OHL)
Lukas Dragicevic (Tri-City Americans, WHL)
Caden Price (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
Berkly Catton (Spokane Chiefs, WHL)
Oscar Fisker Molgaard (HV71, SHL)
Kim Saarinen (HPK, Liiga)
Accordingly, contrary to what one would reasonably surmise from PuckPedia, it is fairer to say the Kraken are currently at 43 of 50 non-exempt NHL contracts under the 50-Contract Rule.
There is an outside possibility that Rehkopf or Catton could earn an extended look on the Kraken roster this fall after training camp—which would, at least temporarily, end their exemptions. But the most likely outcome is that all these exemptions will persist into the 2024-25 season.
The team will want to leave itself flexibility for in-season additions if the NHL roster is struck by injuries or performance declines. But with spots open for seven more NHL contracts, the team has more than enough room to sign Beniers and add a minimum-salary veteran free-agent scorer before the season, should it desire to do so.
It is good to have that option open to add another NHL contract rather than being hemmed against the limit. An NHL contract is always going to be more appealing to a free agent than an AHL offer or an invite to camp on a professional tryout agreement, for example.
Kraken contracts corner
We put out a call on Twitter for contract or CBA minutiae you’d like to see addressed in future posts. The 50-Contract Rule analysis was inspired by one such question. Continue to send questions our way on Twitter or in the comments below. In the meantime, here are a few more Kraken contract quick hits:
1. Future contracts and the 50-Contract Rule
One other important point of clarification when counting contracts under the 50-Contract Rule: A contract signed for a future season only counts against the limit during the league year when the contract actually begins, not at the time it is signed. For example, Lleyton Roed signed an entry-level contract with the Kraken on March 29, 2024, which began with the 2024-25 season. Thus, his contract counted against the limit only as of July 1, 2024, the first day of the 2024-25 league year, not earlier.
2. Draft picks and the Reserve List
The time period of exclusive control over a drafted but unsigned player varies depending on where the player was drafted from. To date, Seattle has lost exclusive negotiating rights to only one drafted player, Kyle Jackson. The signing deadlines for Seattle’s other drafted prospects are as follows:
3. Saarinen signing breaks new ground
Returning to where we began, the Saarinen signing is intriguing even in isolation. The team got a close look at the 6-foot-4 Finnish goaltender earlier this month at Kraken Development Camp. And, after that viewing, the Kraken decided to make Saarinen the first Seattle draft pick selected outside the first round to sign an NHL contract during the summer of his draft year. Saarinen also hops over two earlier-drafted goalies, countryman Visa Vedenpaa and Russian Semyon Vyazovoi, in earning a contract. Fair or not, this puts added focus on him for this coming season.
4. Qualifying offers and the timeline to sign Beniers
On June 30, the Seattle Kraken extended Matty Beniers a “qualifying offer.” Based on the formula in the CBA, the offer was a one-year, one-way deal worth $874,125. That process was merely a formality, though. Beniers was never going to accept that deal. The Kraken offered it because they were required to do so in order to retain Beniers’ restricted free agent rights.
The keen observer will note that Beniers’ qualifying offer may have expired at 2:00 pm PT yesterday, July 15. That is the default deadline for expiry of qualifying offers in the CBA (though a team can theoretically extend the deadline).
What does it mean if Beniers’ qualifying offer expired? Nothing really. The team and the player continue to negotiate directly on a contract. Since Beneirs does not have enough professional experience (four seasons) to qualify for salary arbitration under the CBA, the rarely-used “offer sheet” from another team is the only alternative available to the player.
I’ve seen questions about the timeline for resolution on Beniers’ contract. Typically, the salary arbitration procedure creates deadlines throughout the offseason that spur restricted free agent deals. But, as mentioned, Beniers does not yet have arbitration rights, so the sides cannot rely on that framework. Instead, they are left to negotiate without any specific offseason deadlines.
I’d imagine the team will do everything it can to get Beniers’ contract resolved before training camp—particularly since Beniers remains the face of the young organization. And it could be much sooner. Quentin Byfield, a player in a similar situation to Beniers, just signed a deal with the Los Angeles Kings on July 15. Last year, the Kraken signed (arbitration-eligible) Vince Dunn on July 21.
5. AHL eligibility under the CHL Transfer Agreement
Another question I often see on Twitter asks which Kraken prospects from the CHL are eligible to play in the AHL this coming year. For background, see this earlier post on the CHL Transfer Agreement when looking at Shane Wright’s situation.
In short, a player drafted from the CHL must be 20 years old by Dec. 31, 2024, in order to be eligible to be assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds for the 2024-25 season. If the player is younger than that, he must be offered back to his Junior team if he does not make the NHL roster out of training camp. The following signed prospects are eligible for an AHL assignment this year:
David Goyette (DOB: March 27, 2004)
Ty Nelson (DOB: March 30, 2004)
Jagger Firkus (DOB: April 29, 2004)
Additionally, Eduard Sale (DOB: March 10, 2005) is eligible because, technically, he was playing in the Czech Elite League when he was drafted, so the CHL Transfer Agreement does not apply to him. Sale has been playing in the CHL’s Ontario Hockey League since Seattle selected him in the 2023 NHL Draft. Andrei Loshko (DOB: Oct. 7, 2005) would also be eligible to play in the AHL if he signs a contract, but he is currently unsigned. Tyson Jugnauth (DOB: April 17, 2004) is also age-eligible, though the CHL Transfer Agreement doesn’t apply because he was drafted out of the BCHL.
Conversely, the following CHL players, though signed to NHL contracts, are ineligible for an AHL assignment absent an extraordinary exception or one-off agreement:
Carson Rehkopf (DOB: Jan. 7, 2005)
Lukas Dragicevic (DOB: Apr. 25, 2005)
Caden Price (DOB: Aug. 24, 2005)
Berkly Catton (DOB: Jan. 14, 2006)
6. AHL signings bring clarity to the depth chart
On July 12, the Coachella Valley Firebirds reportedly agreed to terms with four players.
Hearing the Coachella Valley @Firebirds have re-signed several depth pieces from last season's squad to AHL deals for 2024-25, including:
Kraken GM Ron Francis had indicated previously that he believed LaFontaine would return. These players join 20-year-old forward Landon McCallum as players reportedly signing AHL contracts with the Firebirds for the 2024-25 season. All of these additions qualify as “developmental” players (or are otherwise exempt) under the “Veteran Rule” at the AHL level.
I currently have the following players projected to compete for AHL roster spots:
Looking at the depth chart, there may be room to add one more piece on the blue line, perhaps even a high-end “veteran” piece. But, otherwise, the depth chart is looking fairly set.
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.
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.
Congratulations to Jessica Campbell who has made #NHL history as the league's first full-time woman hired as an Assistant Coach for the @SeattleKraken! https://t.co/W11Q41G3kB
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.
The on-ice portion of the Seattle Kraken’s Development Camp kicks off Tuesday as drafted, signed, or undrafted invitees take the ice at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Many of these players are unlikely to ever play for the Seattle Kraken, and those who do could be years away from making their debuts. However, it is always enjoyable to get these early in-person viewings of these players. For the newbies, it is an opportunity to get a baseline view of their skills, and for the players we have seen over the years, it is a chance to observe their progression.
Here are four players I am particularly excited to watch:
Berkly Catton
The obvious prospect to check out is the Kraken’s latest first-round selection, Berkly Catton. Many Pacific Northwest WHL fans in the area will have seen Catton play before, being that he plays for the Spokane Chiefs. Catton had 54 goals and 62 assists over 68 games for the Chiefs in the 2023-24 season. He is fast, creative, and has great hands to become a high-level NHLer. There should be plenty of space out there during camp to really showcase his skills.
Tyson Jugnauth
We have discussed Tyson Jugnauth’s interesting developmental journey in several forums. The defenseman, taken by the Kraken in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, started the 2023-24 season at Wisconsin. However, halfway through the college season, he left NCAA hockey to play with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. This change enabled Jugnauth to offensively shine. In his 13 games with Wisconsin, Jugnauth averaged 0.15 points per game, compared to being a full point-per-game player during the regular season with the Winterhawks. He is a dynamic offensive defenseman and helped create a lot of offense playing in the WHL.
Jugnauth remains unsigned by the Seattle Kraken and would be eligible to play for the Coachella Valley Firebirds should the Kraken sign him. This will be his third Development Camp with the Kraken, and it will be interesting to see how he currently stacks up against other prospects.
Carson Rehkopf
We have been enthusiastic about Carson Rehkopf ever since his first Development Camp, which happened last summer. He was one of the Kraken’s second-round selections from the 2023 NHL Draft and had a monster season for the Kitchener Rangers. He was second in the OHL in goals scored with 52, despite missing a good chunk of time when he was away from the team to represent Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Rehkopf is known for his shot and can score from anywhere on the ice. There is an outside chance that Rehkopf will stick with the Kraken when the regular season starts in the fall.
Lleyton Roed
The Kraken signed undrafted free agent Lleyton Roed in March after an impressive college season with Bemidji State, where he led the Beavers with 30 points in 38 games. He ended up playing five regular-season games and five postseason games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In those brief viewings, he looked very comfortable and noticeably quick for playing his first professional hockey games. Roed might be a few seasons away from contending for a Kraken roster spot, but we like what we see so far.
Camp details
Development Camp is not the most intense hockey you will see, but it is an excellent opportunity to observe the skill of these prospects and can give you an idea of who projects to play in the NHL one day. Camp will go from Tuesday through Friday, with an off day for the Fourth of July.
Tuesday, July 2: Doors open at 9:30 a.m.; group training sessions start at approximately 9:45 a.m.
Wednesday, July 3: Private viewing for Season Ticket Members only (advanced registration/ticketing required).
Friday, July 5: Doors open at 9:30 a.m. with scrimmages starting at approximately 10:00 a.m., followed by a hosted barbecue at 12:15 p.m. for the first 400 fans.
Here is the complete roster of who will be attending development camp:
If you are lucky enough to attend, let us know who catches your eye or your favorite moment.
Sound Of Hockey Prospect Week continues with today’s venture, a 2023-24 update on our truly reckless project from last offseason, ranking every NHL-affiliated skater prospect (both drafted and signed players) that meet two criteria entering the 2023-24 season. These players must (1) be younger than 25 years old, and (2) have played fewer than 50 NHL games. In addition, we’ll layer in some organization-level comparisons to investigate how the 32 NHL teams stack up.
As described yesterday when we looked at Seattle’s prospects through a similar lens, our “data-only” ranking is built on Thibaud Chatel’s NHL equivalency research and uses only quantifiable measures: prospect points per game and strength of the player’s current league, with adjustments made by me for prospect age and positional value. If you want more detail on methods, we went into it here, and feel free to drop questions in the comments below or on X (formerly known as Twitter).
For current purposes, it is likely sufficient to reiterate that there were no adjustments for subjective preferences or the “eye test” here. In that sense, this exercise is meant to complement traditional scouting assessments, not to be a replacement for that important work.
A data-only prospect ranking
Alright, without further preamble, you can find the full ranking of all 946 NHL-affiliated prospects meeting our criteria, with a lot of additional data on each prospect HERE.
Important note on using the data-only ranking: If you want to filter the data by various categories, highlight row 2, then select “Data,” “Filter Views,” and “Create New Temporary Filter View.” This will allow you to manipulate the data in a way visible only to you.
Here is summary information on the top 50:
How do the organizations stack up against each other? Let’s dig into that now.
Which organizations have the most young scoring talent coming?
The Seattle Kraken have more prospects in the top 50 of the overall (four) than any other NHL team.
In case you’re wondering whether we chose this initial threshold to cast the Kraken’s system in an artificially good light, it’s worth noting that Seattle Kraken prospect Jagger Firkus is prospect No. 51 in the ranking.
Of course, it’s much more valuable to have the No. 1 overall prospect in hockey than the number 50 prospect, so here’s a look at the aggregate 2023-24 season-adjusted NHLe for the same snapshot of prospects, by organization:
Drawing back a bit, here is how the top 100 prospects in this data-only ranking fall by organization. The logos closest to the Y Axis represent the highest-ranked prospects.
And, finally, here is a breakdown of how many top-200 prospects are in each organization:
Seattle’s prospects again measure up favorably, though its group is still not quite as deep as the very best prospect pools in the league, the Montreal Canadiens and the San Jose Sharks.
Finally, here is the aggregate 2023-24 season adjusted NHLe for the top-200 prospects, by organization:
Which organizations have the most young talent overall?
While we have learned a lot about which teams have the most young talent yet to play regularly at the NHL level, this doesn’t quite answer the question of which teams have the most young talent overall. After all, some of the very best young players–Connor Bedard, for example–never spend a moment playing junior or minor-league hockey after they are drafted.
To get an answer to the question of which organizations have the most (or least) young talent for the future, I compiled 2023-24 scoring data for all under-25 players on NHL rosters. Here are the results displayed graphically. The X Axis measures total scoring by the NHL team’s under-25 players. The Y axis measures the total adjusted NHLe by the system’s prospects ranking within the top 100.
Organizations in the top right quadrant have above-average young scoring talent in the NHL and outside it. Conversely, the cupboard is bare for the organizations in the bottom left, as they lack young scorers at any level.
The Kraken land in the top-left quadrant, among teams that don’t have much young talent yet established at the NHL level but have a lot coming. It makes sense that Seattle would be in this spot given that its draft classes are just now starting to mature outside of the very top draft picks that can make the jump to the NHL more quickly.
Elsewhere, the Sharks, Canadiens, Devils, Flyers, and Sabres appear well situated moving forward with young talent already on their NHL rosters and more coming. At the other extreme, the Lightning, Panthers, Oilers, and Islanders can’t bank on a pipeline of young scoring moving forward.
Which organizations are best positioned moving forward?
Of course, winning isn’t just about having young scorers. So, one last thing to look at is which organizations are both winning now and have highly ranked prospects coming. Again, top-right is where you want to be. Bottom-left is less than ideal.
Carolina and Winnipeg appear well situated with prospects coming to sustain their current success into the future. On the other end of the spectrum, even with Connor Bedard on hand, the Blackhawks need to add more talent to the organization. Drafting Ivan Demidov second overall would certainly help.
The Islanders and Oilers better win soon because the cupboard looks pretty bare for the future. On the other hand, the Sharks, Canadiens, and Kraken have reason to think things should improve going forward–though San Jose has a long road ahead to reach a competitive level.
* * *
What stands out to you? Anything else you’d like to know? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter/X at @deepseahockey and @sound_hockey.
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.
