After sorting through video on scores of prospects, crunching numbers on thousands more, and reading countless reports, rankings, and mock drafts, I approach the finish line of the pre-draft process stuffed with impressions and opinions, both broad and specific. As NHL Draft Week continues here at Sound Of Hockey, this pre-draft notebook is my repository for those thoughts and also my opportunity to address community questions gathered over the last few days.
Today, I’ll cover a dozen topics, ranging from 2026 NHL Draft prospect tiers and a take on the league-wide draft pick trading spree to Kraken-specific draft thoughts.
For now, let’s empty the notebook, working our way from more general draft topics to more granular thoughts and questions.
1. Trades! Trades? Why all the trades?
If there is one thing we know about the NHL Draft, it is that picks in the top 10 are rarely traded. Despite significant public speculation, year after year teams stick and pick at the top of the first round. A top-five pick had not been moved since 2008.
Well, this year has been quite different. The No. 9 pick has already been traded twice. It first moved in the Brady Tkachuk deal between Florida and Ottawa, then was later flipped to San Jose for William Eklund. The No. 4 overall pick also changed hands, moving from Chicago to Buffalo for Bowen Byram. Trade rumors continue to swirl around San Jose’s No. 2 pick, Buffalo’s No. 4 pick, and Seattle’s No. 7 pick, too. From my vantage, there are three reasons why this is happening.
First, as I have mentioned on the podcast throughout the year and wrote about more than a month ago, this draft leaves a bit to be desired in the top 10. Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are legitimate high-end players, but the next tier of prospects looks more like mid-lottery talent than top-five prospects in an average or better draft.
This may have caused a team like the Chicago Blackhawks to conclude that Bowen Byram was a better bet to provide value than any of the players who could have been available at No. 4—particularly now that the tea leaves seem to be pointing toward San Jose selecting Stenberg at No. 2. (To be clear, even in draft-class-adjusted terms, my humble opinion is that Chicago significantly overpaid in that deal.)
Second, the free-agent class is as barren as it has ever been. For teams seeking immediate-impact upgrades, trades are likely the best path to adding talent without crippling their cap situation.
Third, we had an atypical situation where the Florida Panthers, a team in the middle of its title-contention window, were drafting in the top 10. The Panthers, like the Vegas Golden Knights and a few other franchises, have attacked contending windows by moving first-round picks for complementary veteran pieces. It just so happens that the Panthers continued that practice this year with a pick inside the top 10.
Or maybe NHL general managers just wanted to have a little fun for once. Maybe that was it.
2. Evaluating the Mackie Samoskevich trade
The Kraken were ahead of the trade-market curve in the team’s deal sending the No. 25 overall pick (acquired from Tampa Bay) and a 2027 second-round pick to Florida for 23-year-old winger Mackie Samoskevich. As I have argued, this is precisely the profile the Kraken should be targeting in trades.
As for the compensation, while it may be more than some anticipated, it is roughly “fair” within this trade market and for a 23-year-old player with Samoskevich’s statistical profile.
Historically, the deal has echoes of Montreal’s 2023 trade for Alex Newhook. Montreal traded Nos. 31 and 37 overall in the 2023 draft for Newhook, who was then 22 years old with 159 games played, 27 goals, and 36 assists on his résumé. In a near carbon copy, the 23-year-old Samoskevich has played 156 games with 27 goals and 36 assists. (For those inclined toward advanced statistics, Samoskevich’s profile is stronger than Newhook’s was at the time.)
Fast-forward to the current trade frenzy, and I think we can safely call it a “seller’s market.” Based on our Sound Of Hockey trade value chart, the draft capital Seattle paid is approximately equal to the No. 17 overall pick. Washington paid more for Jordan Kyrou, adding both a player and a prospect to the package. Ottawa moved a higher pick (No. 9 overall) for William Eklund. Calgary paid more for Simon Nemec, sending two first-round picks plus a second-round pick in the deal. Let’s just say Chicago gave up much more for Bowen Byram.
Adjusting for player age and quality, Seattle did fairly well in comparison with these other deals. It was no “bargain.” The Kraken had to pay full freight. But it was not an overpay, either.
3. 2026 NHL Draft tiers
Returning to the thought above about the tiers in this draft, here is my humble view of where the various prospect levels shake out. I gave some thought to the order within the tiers, arranging the players based on a subjective evaluation from those with the fewest questions and least risk to those with the most. That said, this exercise is mostly about how I view the horizontal tiers, which I set based on each player’s realistic upside.
To be clear, I have only watched the top players a handful of times and the lower-tier players even less than that—sometimes only once or twice. I used my personal impressions, blended with scouting consensus and scoring-profile strength, to build these tiers, but they’re certainly not the be-all and end-all.
4. Upside at the top of the draft
One of the questions I received in the Sound Of Hockey Discord asked which player projected to go between No. 5 and No. 12 had the most upside. I thought this was an interesting framing, particularly since the Kraken are slated to make their first pick in this range. These are the Sound Of Hockey Big Board players in question: Carson Carels, Viggo Bjorck, Keaton Verhoeff, Alberts Smits, Daxon Rudolph, Wyatt Cullen, Malte Gustafsson, and Ethan Belchetz.
At their peak projections, I see Carels and Verhoeff as No. 1 defensemen. Rudolph edges into that territory as well. If I had to choose based on a pure best-case scenario, I’d go with Verhoeff. Among forwards, Cullen probably has the highest overall upside as a skilled, All-Star-caliber winger with plus size and strong skating.
5. Top defense prospects in historical context
Another inquiry I’ve seen, in a couple of different forms, asks to put the top defenders in this class into context, often by comparing it to the 2024 class that saw six defenders drafted in the top 12. Could we see something like that happen again? It’s possible.
Doing my best to eliminate the creeping bias of the 2024 class’s post-draft performance, I believe I would stack the players this way based on my evaluation of them at the time of the draft:
Zeev Buium (2024)
Zayne Parekh (2024)
Chase Reid (2026)
Carson Carels (2026)
Sam Dickinson (2024)
Daxon Rudolph (2026)
Keaton Verhoeff (2026)
Artyom Levshunov (2024)
Alberts Smits (2026)
Carter Yakemchuk (2024)
Anton Silayev (2024)
Malte Gustafsson (2026)
The top four are fairly close and could be called “Tier 1.” The next four are very close—almost tied—and form Tier 2. The final four form a third tier. All told, I would put this defenseman class ever so slightly behind the 2024 group.
6. Two important players that confound me
I have spent the most time in recent weeks trying to form a concrete opinion about two top-10 prospects in this draft, and I have to admit that I haven’t been very successful. One is a forward and one is a defenseman. Let’s start with the forward.
Viggo Bjorck is a player I like. He impressed me at the World Juniors and the U18 World Championship, and many analysts I trust have expressed support for him.
Yet, I cannot get past his size and production. He is 5-foot-9 and did not score much this year, even in league-adjusted terms. While No. 6 on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board, Bjorck is only No. 19 on our data-only watchlist. He plays bigger than his size, is a heady player, and does countless little things right. All of this is good stuff, but when you are talking about taking a smaller player at the top of the first round, he needs to bring elite offensive tools or production. Bjorck showed neither in his draft year, unless you want to count his hockey smarts as an elite offensive trait. He had six goals and nine assists in 42 SHL games.
On the defensive side, no player is more pivotal to the Kraken’s draft plans than Keaton Verhoeff. The 6-foot-4 defenseman brings a physical edge, a good defensive stick, and some scoring touch. He is viewed as a leader and person of high character off the ice. He was also regarded as the player most likely to unseat Gavin McKenna as the first overall pick coming into the season.
Yet, I developed some reservations when watching the player and reading reports from prominent analysts. There’s a bit of awkwardness in the way he moves, and he gave up the puck far too much under pressure. I have no doubt he can play NHL games, but if he’s going to be your No. 1 defenseman, he needs to be able to retrieve pucks and break them out under heavy pressure. This is a high bar that others in this draft class might not clear either, but I saw enough to be concerned.
How do we sort it all out with these two players? I’m still trying. If you have the answer, let me know.
7. With the Kraken’s first pick…
The most frequent question I have received is the most obvious and most important: Who will the Kraken pick at No. 7 overall? For that answer, you’ll have to wait for our forthcoming Seattle Kraken mock draft, but I will say I think it comes down to the players within my third tier (Malhotra, Verhoeff, and Rudolph), mentioned above. Beyond those players, it wouldn’t necessarily surprise me if Bjorck were the pick. I would still be a bit unsure how to feel about it, though.
8. Trades and No. 7 overall
Alright, that was unsatisfying, but should the Kraken trade the No. 7 overall pick rather than draft a player anyway? After all, contender Florida, mid-table team Ottawa, and builder Chicago all made the choice that a top-10 trade was the better path.
Unless it is a means of acquiring a true first-line or first-pair player, I’d say no. Even if it’s a below-average draft, this top 10 still has players I view as likely long-term contributors in the top half of an NHL lineup. I do not think it makes sense to move that asset for a young defenseman who could still realistically be available, such as Alexander Nikishin, nor for other forwards in Samoskevich’s tier, such as Mason McTavish. I’d rather continue to pursue those types of players with lesser picks.
Jason Robertson remains the wild card. A package of the No. 7 pick, Jared McCann and two future first-round picks has to get the conversation started. In the end, though, I would wager the Kraken make the No. 7 pick.
9. Players who could surprise or disappoint relative to the Big Board
Reading the tea leaves of recent draft coverage, it wouldn’t surprise me if Xavier Villeneuve (Big Board No. 21) fell below his Big Board position, perhaps out of the first round entirely. It’s possible Nikita Klepov (No. 20) could be more of a late first-round pick at this point after bypassing the NHL Draft Combine. Conversely, it would not surprise me to see Viggo Bjorck (No. 6) go within the top five and oversized defenseman Maksim Sokolovskii (No. 44) outperform his Big Board position.
10. The Samoskevich draft pick
You have to give to get, and the Kraken gave up an asset with value—the No. 25 overall pick—for Samoskevich. The Florida Panthers used a similar pick (No. 24) in 2021 to draft Seattle’s new winger.
In preparing for Seattle’s selection at that pick, I developed the following preference list of potential targets at No. 25:
Nikita Klepov, LW (No. 20 on the Big Board) J.P. Hurlbert, RW (No. 22) Ilia Morozov, C (No. 23) Casey Mutryn, RW (No. 32) Liam Ruck, C/W (No. 25)
Klepov and Hurlbert scored at prolific rates in junior hockey and bring enough physicality and skill-set diversity to translate to the NHL. Ilia Morozov brings size to the center position and projects as, at least, a strong defense-first player.
Following my mock draft rules — which assume prospects come off the board in Big Board order — I likely would have projected Mutryn to the Kraken at No. 25. He’s a 6-foot-3, physical, good-skating forward prospect from the U.S. National Team Development Program. Maybe my viewings caught him at his best, but I really liked how his style of play could translate to the NHL. If the offense doesn’t come, he’s still an identity player in your bottom six, which is something the Kraken could have used in the system. He seemed like a good fit.
Ruck is another prolific junior scorer, but I have more questions about how his game will translate professionally than I do about Klepov’s or Hurlbert’s.
In the unlikely event that any of these players slide to No. 38, I would be interested if I were drafting for the Kraken.
11. Day-two value picks
Here are a few prospects projected to go in each round on Day 2 of the draft that the data suggests could be underrated relative to their Big Board ranking:
Round 2 Adam Valentini, F, Univ. of Michigan (NCAA), Big Board No. 45 Ryan Roobroeck, F, Niagara IceDogs (OHL), Big Board No. 47 Pierce Mbuyi, F, Owen Sound Attack (OHL), Big Board No. 58
Round 3 Jonas Lagerberg Hoen, F, Leksands IF U20 (U20 Nationell), Big Board No. 69 Alan Shaikhlislamov, F, Tolpar Ufa (MHL), Big Board No. 74 Blake Zelinski, F, Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL), Big Board No. 75 Mikey Berchild, F, USNTDP (USHL), Big Board No. 77 Lavr Gashilov, F, Avto Yekaterinburg (MHL), Big Board No. 80 Matias Vanhanen, F, Everett Silvertips (WHL), Big Board No. 93
Round 4 Evan Jardine, F, Youngstown Phantoms (USHL), Big Board No. 99 Landon Hafele, F, Green Bay Gamblers (USHL), Big Board No. 100 Dayne Beuker, F, USNTDP (USHL), Big Board No. 108
Round 5 Julien Maze, F, Regina Pats (WHL), Big Board No. 138 Braidy Wassilyn, F, London Knights (OHL), Big Board No. 139 Ryan Brown, F, London Knights (OHL), Big Board No. 148
Round 6 Ludvig Andersson, F, Örebro HK U20 (U20 Nationell), Big Board No. 170 Jonas Woo, D, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL), Big Board No. 173 Bode Laylin, D, Tri-City Storm (USHL), Big Board No. 190
Round 7+ Philippe Veilleux, F, Val-d’Or Foreurs (QMJHL), Big Board No. 195 Jasper Kuhta, F, Ottawa 67’s (OHL), Big Board No. 216 Justin Graf, F, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL), Big Board No. 233 Cooper Soller, F, Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL), Big Board No. 279 Oliwer Sjostrom, D, IF Björklöven (Allsvenskan), Big Board No. 285 Jet Kwajah, D, Madison Capitols (USHL), Big Board No. 290
12. The Seattle Kraken and local connections
The Kraken have not been afraid to dip into the local junior ranks over the years, drafting Julius Miettinen and Kaden Hammell from the Everett Silvertips, Berkly Catton from the Spokane Chiefs and Lukas Dragicevic from the Tri-City Americans.
Could the Kraken make a similar pick this year? On the goalie front, I like the statistical profile of Tobias Tvrznik (No. 125 on the Big Board) of the Wenatchee Wild. He could be available when the Kraken select twice in the fourth round. Among skaters, I like the playmaking ability Everett Silvertips forward Matias Vanhanen (No. 93) brings, along with his rapport with Miettinen. I am not sure he makes it to the fourth round, and the Kraken do not have a third-round pick. I would be a bit surprised to see them take him as high as No. 38, but I like the player.
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Any draft opinions you want to get “on the record”? Any comments, criticisms, or questions on the points above? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on X (@deepseahockey or @sound_hockey) or Bluesky (@deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com).
Header photo of Matias Vanhanen by Evan Morud courtesy of the Everett Silvertips
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.
When Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke held his end-of-season press conference in April, he raised eyebrows by indicating that the organization would bring in a third party to audit every facet of the team’s hockey operations procedures. It wasn’t intended to draw a ton of attention, but it ended up doing just that. While this type of review isn’t unusual in professional sports, it was (perhaps incorrectly) interpreted by some as a sign that sweeping changes were coming.
Now, the company selected to run the audit—the Sportsology Group, led by former Chelsea Football Club executive Mike Forde—has completed the first phase of its process after spending roughly 80 hours with team leadership and interviewing staff across 14 departments.
“We didn’t want an echo chamber,” Leiweke said in an interview with Kraken Hockey Network’s Ian Furness. “We directed [Sportsology] to turn every stone to ask the hard questions.”
The audit was designed to give the organization a clear, unbiased assessment of what it has done well in its first five years and where it can improve. While some fans may have expected immediate restructuring or a dramatic overhaul, that was never the intent.
At the same time, the Kraken are being careful about how much they reveal. Understandably, they don’t want to tip their hand to other teams around the NHL, but they also recognize the importance of transparency with a fanbase that has grown restless over the lack of on-ice success.
To that end, Leiweke sat down with Furness to share a high-level overview of the findings and also sent a letter to season ticket members on Tuesday.
“We brought in the Sportsology Group, an independent consulting firm that advises professional sports organizations around the world, and asked them to bring fresh eyes to our hockey operations,” Leiweke said in the letter. “They confirmed our strengths and identified areas where we can improve and evolve, including building brain trust, capabilities, and alignment across talent evaluation and player development.”
New hires reflect findings
One thing we have not heard is that jobs are being cut as a result of this process. Sportsology did not come in and recommend sweeping personnel changes. Instead, they identified opportunities where the Kraken could beef up their staffing, including improvements on how the Kraken develop their players.
There are already strong foundations in place. The Coachella Valley Firebirds provide an excellent environment for prospects, and several young players have worked their way into full-time NHL roles. But the question remains: are those players reaching their full potential?
It’s something we’ve wondered about as well. While players like Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, and Berkly Catton project as capable top-six contributors (Beniers already is that), none has clearly emerged on a trajectory toward stardom. And beyond that group, there are others who have flirted with NHL roles but haven’t taken the next step. Is there a way to accelerate that process?
Seattle is attempting to address that question through recent hires. Assistant coach Pascal Vincent arrives after two seasons as head coach of the AHL’s Laval Rocket, where he was AHL coach of the year in 2024-25, bringing a strong development background. Meanwhile, former Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz returns to the organization in a player development role.
The goal, as Leiweke put it, is not just to be good in this area—but to be the best.
More cohesion needed in hockey ops
Details are limited when it comes to how the front office operates, but one clear takeaway from the audit was the need for greater cohesion across hockey operations.
Exactly what that looks like is still intentionally murky, but it aligns with Leiweke’s mention of improving “capabilities and alignment across talent evaluation.” In simpler terms, it’s about ensuring that all departments—scouting, analytics, management, etc.—are working together as efficiently and effectively as possible.
A move that reflects this is the hiring of former Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin as an assistant GM. Allvin brings extensive NHL experience, including a Pacific Division title in 2023-24 and three Stanley Cups in varying roles from his time in Pittsburgh. He’s not being brought in to run the show, but rather to add another experienced voice and help strengthen the overall decision-making process.
Plenty of questions remain
If you were hoping for a detailed, step-by-step roadmap to contention, you won’t find that here. But to their credit, the Kraken followed through on their promise to take a hard look at themselves and identify areas for improvement. That, in itself, carries value.
And while Seattle has already made some notable moves this offseason—re-signing Bobby McMann and acquiring Mackie Samoskevich—there’s still a long way to go to reach the “prolific” offseason Leiweke also promised. Perhaps this audit is just the beginning of what’s to come.
The Kraken will continue to work with Sportsology moving forward, as they continue to implement the suggested changes.
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.
NHL Draft Week continues here at Sound Of Hockey with, arguably, my most anticipated post every year. Today, we have the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. As part of our draft process, we also published a midseason version of the Big Board, which you can check out here.
What is the Big Board? First, it’s a compilation of reputable draft analyst and public scouting service lists. This year, we gathered ranking data from 18 sources. From that list, we then build a “Big Board rank” using a calculation that weights the depth and accuracy of each source. More on that process below.
The Sound Of Hockey Big Board also provides information on each player’s measurements, statistics, and playing experience for the 2025-26 season, mostly drawn from Elite Prospects, NHL Central Scouting, and the NHL Draft Combine.
All told, the Sound Of Hockey Big Board covers more than 13,000 draft-eligible prospects. The version published here covers the top 500. The full version will be shared on the Sound Of Hockey Patreon.
Based on what we have seen, we continue to believe the Sound Of Hockey Big Board is the most comprehensive public source anywhere for draft-prospect information compiled in one place. It is also a pretty strong indicator of what teams across the NHL will do on draft day, particularly early on.
So, study the Big Board, bookmark it, share it, and return to it often throughout this week and as the picks start coming off the board at the 2026 NHL Draft, which begins Friday, June 26, at 4 p.m. PT.
Also, check out our video hub, which we believe is the most comprehensive source of prospect gameplay video available anywhere.
The Sound Of Hockey Big Board
Here is a summary of the top 500, including each player’s key information and 2025-26 scoring data from the highest league in which they appeared in at least 10 games.
And here is a full breakdown of the list-by-list rankings for the top 500.
Draft analyst and public scouting lists consulted
We used the following 18 sources to build the final 2026 Big Board:
We consolidated the various rankings into a single composite ranking using a weighted geometric mean calculation. Why do we use a geometric mean? If you’re curious, you can find an applicable explanation from a different context here. Weights were assigned based on our assessment of the depth of experience, sourced reporting, and scouting insight reflected in the component lists themselves.
For example, TSN‘s list, which is built on conversations with scouts, receives more weight than a single journalist’s list. Likewise, the voluminous work done by independent scouts at Elite Prospects receives more weight, and so forth.
Sound Of Hockey‘s Data Score is utilized at the lowest weight, with the design of giving order to the full version of the list for players unranked by any of the other 17 sources consulted.
Caveats on using the Big Board
At this point, a few more words on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board and its uses are likely in order.
As you scroll through the rankings on the Big Board, you will see that sometimes only the top five ranked prospects are identified. This is because those rankings are behind a paywall. To access Corey Pronman’s full ranking of prospects, for example, a subscription to The Athletic is required. While we utilized all of the individual rankings listed above to develop our composite list, we will not be sharing subscriber-only individual rankings.
As you get to the players’ 2025-26 data, you will note that the Big Board displays only the data from the highest league reached by each player. This is simply for ease of presentation.
The Big Board does not reflect our views on these prospects. We at Sound Of Hockey have read reports, watched some videos, and crunched a few numbers. I’ll be sharing more thoughts of my own before the draft, but that is not what the Big Board exercise is about. The Sound Of Hockey Big Board is a weighted tabulation of public draft rankings, scouting lists and analysis from across the hockey world. A player’s ranking has nothing to do with whether any of us here at Sound Of Hockey “like” the player or not.
If you’re looking for more on our preferences, stay tuned this week. We also published a “data-only” watchlist earlier this spring. And we made a top-10 mock draft after the NHL Draft Lottery.
Finally, it bears emphasis that a composite ranking is not the be-all and end-all. In many ways, finding the “best” public list and trusting it is preferable. A consensus board cannot explain why one prospect is ranked higher than another, and it certainly cannot displace the work of scouts, draft reporters, or even number crunchers.
But a composite ranking can provide some added information. Think of it as the cherry on top of the sundae, not the sundae itself.
In the first year of this Big Board, I used the case of Brad Lambert as an example (coincidentally, the nephew of new Kraken head coach Lane Lambert). This year, Xavier Villeneuve or Ryan Roobroeck could be similarly instructive cases. These players are talented but viewed as risky for various reasons, leading to widely varying rankings on individual public boards. We synthesize that information with a composite approach that can exploit the wisdom of the crowd. Villeneuve’s final ranking, for example, may blend the upside and risk, placing him in a “fair” position.
Final thoughts
It is possible we see more surprises and chaos near the top of the first round than is typical. The top two players in this draft play the sport’s least valuable and easiest-to-obtain position (winger). After that, the draft offers a number of defensemen and two centers, all with clearly contrasting skill sets that could appeal to one team but not another. It will be fascinating to see how it plays out.
The 2026 NHL Draft kicks off with Round 1 on Friday, June 26, at 4:00 p.m. PT. Rounds 2 through 7 begin on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. PT. We will have plenty of coverage here leading up to, during, and after the draft.
What do you think? Any misses or other surprises in the rankings? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on X (@deepseahockey or @sound_hockey) or Bluesky (@deepseahockey or @soundofhockey.com).
Header photo of Daxon Rudolph by Evan Morud courtesy of the Everett Silvertips
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 Seattle Kraken have made their first big splash of the offseason, acquiring right wing Mackie Samoskevich in a trade with the Florida Panthers. In return, the Kraken traded the 25th overall pick in this year’s draft, as well as a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 draft. The conditional pick will be either the Columbus Blue Jackets’ or Winnipeg Jets’ second-rounder, whichever ends up being the higher selection.
Samoskevich is a 23-year-old Connecticut native who spent two years at the University of Michigan, including one season with Kraken center Matty Beniers.
“Mackie is a talented young player who we are excited to bring into the fold,” said general manager Jason Botterill. “He has speed, skill and scoring ability. A Stanley Cup champion with the Panthers in 2025, Mackie’s a player who can contribute offensively and add a spark to our lineup.”
Samoskevich is a restricted free agent, so he still needs a new contract, but the Kraken now hold the young winger’s rights. Seattle will need to issue him a qualifying offer by June 30 to retain those rights and eventually sign him to a new deal. Per CapWages.com, his next contract is projected to come in around $3 million per year.
Sound Of Hockey’s own Curtis Isacke has already put together an All Shifts video of Samoskevich:
On a loaded Panthers team, Samoskevich had a bottom-six role. That said, his offensive skill earned him two minutes per game on the power play, including time on the top unit, where he scored 10 points with four goals and six assists.
Overall, Samoskevich has scored 63 points over the past two seasons, including 27 goals. The speedy winger also gets the puck on net, finishing with 161 shots, fourth most on the Panthers, while playing just 14:28 per night.
Listed at 5-foot-11, Samoskevich is not afraid to throw his body around, delivering 136 hits this past season. While that is not quite Jacob Melanson territory, as Melanson recorded 188 hits in 36 games, it ranked third on the Panthers roster and would have been third on the Kraken as well.
Samoskevich was drafted 24th overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
The Kraken traded a similar pick, No. 25 overall in 2026, for a promising young forward who is already established at the NHL level. The conditional second-round pick is worth the return, as any player drafted 25th overall would likely need three to four more years of development, with no guarantee of becoming a regular NHL player. Historically, 56.3 percent of 25th overall picks have played 100 or more NHL games. Samoskevich has already played 156.
At 23, Samoskevich already has a Stanley Cup to his name. Although he is still young, bringing that winning experience to the Kraken should be a positive. He has a good shot and is not shy about shooting from the faceoff dots or getting to the dirty areas in front of the net.
We will see where Samoskevich slots into the lineup after training camp, but I would expect him to get a promotion from his role in Florida. My first guess would be that he starts out on the third line with Shane Wright.
This was an excellent trade for the Seattle Kraken and strong work by general manager Jason Botterill. What are your thoughts on the trade? Leave your comments below.
As we have done in years past, our Sound Of Hockey NHL Draft Scouting Video Hub is a compilation of shift-by-shift gameplay videos for hundreds of draft-eligible prospects. With the 2026 NHL Draft just a week away, there is no better time to actually put eyes on the prospects you have heard so much about.
Bookmark this page and come back to it throughout the next week. We will be unveiling 32 additional prospects each day in the countdown to the 2026 NHL Draft, which begins on Friday, June 26, at 4:00 p.m. PT. The videos will be published roughly in the order of the forthcoming 2026 Sound Of Hockey Big Board. (I say “roughly” because final public draft boards are still coming out, so the final Big Board is still being built.) Then come back early and often after the draft results start rolling in to get a look at your team’s new players.
Sound Of Hockey patrons will have immediate access to the full list, including additional videos for top prospects. We have seven games compiled for Gavin McKenna, for example.
If you’d like to track future draft videos as they come out, subscribe to the DeepSeaHockey YouTube channel here.
The Scouting Video Hub
Below you will find shift-by-shift videos for the top five 2026 NHL Draft prospects on the Sound Of Hockey Big Board. For all other prospects, click the video link in the table embedded below.
Gavin McKenna | Left Wing | Penn State Univ. (NCAA)
Ivar Stenberg | Left Wing | Frölunda HC (SHL)
Chase Reid | Right Defense | Soo Greyhounds (OHL)
Caleb Malhotra | Center | Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
Carsen Carels | Left Defense | Prince George Cougars (WHL)
The full video hub (sorted alphabetically to facilitate searching for specific players):
Concluding thoughts
Looking for more 2026 NHL Draft content? We have you covered here at Sound Of Hockey. Check out our recently published final 2026 NHL Draft Data-Only Watchlist. As explained in that post, we used publicly available, quantifiable measures to identify top players of interest in the draft. We also had a top-10 mock draft shortly after the draft lottery.
We will soon be publishing our annual Sound Of Hockey Big Board, which compiles the opinions of a score of public analysts and scouting services into a single consensus 2026 NHL Draft ranking. We also plan to have a notebook column and a 2026 Seattle Kraken mock draft posted before the draft clock starts ticking next Friday.
In the meantime, we hope you find this Scouting Video Hub to be a useful resource in preparing for and reviewing the NHL Draft. I explained my desire to increase public access to the draft in the first version of this Scouting Video Hub. If you’re curious to learn more about what started this annual project, check that out here.
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Who stands out to you? Any technical issues with the videos? Do you have a question you’d like to see addressed in our pre-draft notebook?
Leave your comments or questions below, or find us on X (@deepseahockey and @sound_hockey) or Bluesky (@deepseahockey and @soundofhockey.com).
Header photo of Brek Liske taken byEvan Morud, courtesy of the Everett Silvertips.
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 Seattle Kraken can learn some major lessons from the Carolina Hurricanes, who completed a historic run through the playoffs and lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup as the NHL’s best team on Sunday.
Led by a forward-thinking scientist/blogger/stathlete-turned-general manager, Eric Tulsky has pulled several rabbits out of his hat over the last two seasons while molding his roster into the perfect blend of players to fit the unique, high-pressure style of hockey that head coach Rod Brind’Amour demands.
What’s interesting about Tulsky’s approach is that every personnel move seems to be made with an eye toward how a player fits into that high-pressure, high-shot-volume system. That clear-eyed vision for a specific—and truly unique—style of play helps Carolina identify the types of talent to target for secondary and tertiary roles. At the same time, Tulsky has done a masterful job of acquiring big-time players who help drive the bus.
Heck, even after taking a massive swing to land Mikko Rantanen last season and seeing negotiations to retain him go belly-up, Tulsky made the best of the situation and somehow came out ahead. Remember, he acquired Taylor Hall as a throw-in as part of that deal, and Hall ended up being a point-per-game player in these playoffs.
Then, recognizing the risk of losing Rantanen for nothing, Tulsky cut his losses and flipped him to Dallas for Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks. At 23 years old, Stankoven’s 11 goals in the postseason led the Hurricanes. It’s safe to say Stankoven fit the vision.
The Kraken may never play a style like what we saw from the Hurricanes, but what can general manager Jason Botterill and the rest of the front office take away from Carolina’s run? A lot.
Establish an identity and never waiver from it
What is Kraken hockey? Five years in, we still don’t definitively know the answer to that question. For a brief flash during the team’s second season, Seattle’s style was defined by staunch defense mixed with a balanced, four-line attack that came at opponents in waves and generated scoring from throughout the lineup.
But the organization quickly moved away from that balanced approach, effectively letting the entire high-scoring fourth line go after that season. Morgan Geekie—who scored 39 goals this season for the Boston Bruins—and Ryan Donato—who scored 31 goals in 2024-25 in Chicago were both allowed to leave via free agency, with Seattle even declining to extend a qualifying offer to Geekie. Daniel Sprong also departed before returning for a failed second stint last season.
The point is, it felt like the Kraken were starting to figure out what kind of roster could succeed, as long as they got scoring from all four lines. But after reaching the second round of the playoffs, then-GM Ron Francis quickly changed course, reverting to a more traditional makeup that featured a grinding fourth line rather than one capable of producing offense. The problem is that successful teams with classic grinding fourth lines also tend to have a true first line—something Seattle has never really had.
The good news is the Kraken don’t need to do an about-face to replicate what the Hurricanes built. Based on two of their three coaching hires, there’s no question this organization values tight defensive structure, not the shoot-from-anywhere mentality that defines Carolina’s game. If that’s the long-term vision, winning through defense and a balanced attack, that’s fine. But Seattle needs to commit to that identity with every fiber of its being.
Playing a Carolina-style, high-pressure, high-volume game is not the lesson here. Instead, the lesson is to understand who you are, who you want to be, and ensure that every personnel decision supports that vision. Does a player on your roster help at both ends of the ice? If not, he may not be a fit. Can a potential acquisition contribute in all three zones? If so, pull the trigger. If not, don’t make the deal.
Depth plus top-end talent
As we saw with that second-year Kraken team—and again with this Carolina group—depth matters. Seattle can lean into that defensive identity (if that is truly what it decides to be) by continuing to build a foundation of players who do the right things in all three zones.
But if it commits to that approach, it will also need a small collection of game-breaking forwards—the types of players who, when given even a small window, can capitalize on chances and change a game in an instant.
The Kraken haven’t really had those players to date, save for perhaps Jared McCann, who once scored 40 goals but is coming off a lackluster, injury-marred season. Adding a true high-end scorer or two this summer, while continuing to supplement the rest of the roster with reliable two-way players, could move the needle back toward playoff contention.
Players like Dylan Larkin (we don’t believe he would want to come to Seattle) and Robert Thomas would help in both ways, as might—to a lesser extent—a middle-tier player like Jake DeBrusk, guys who can score and also play responsibly in all three zones. The Kraken could also go in a different direction and add a forward who is more offensively minded like Jason Robertson or Jordan Kyrou, but then they may want to supplement such an acquisition with a purely defensive move to balance it.
Regardless of what route they take, there is an obvious need for an injection of high-end talent, and finding such players who still fit the vision (whatever that may be) is a serious challenge for the front office. Even if they land a big fish, will the Kraken become a Stanley Cup contender by next season? Of course not. But with several big names rumored to be available this offseason, there is an opportunity to get meaningfully better.
Enjoy the fruits of draft-and-develop labor
It was fascinating to see two teams with such different roster-building philosophies—Vegas essentially saying “to hell with the draft,” and Carolina building its core through homegrown talent—meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
Seattle has quietly built a strong pipeline of prospects and young players. Matty Beniers is growing into a true leader, Shane Wright is close to establishing himself as a full-time NHL contributor (though he could perhaps benefit from a change of scenery), Berkly Catton and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard appear ahead of schedule, and Jake O’Brien is on the way, along with several others. That pipeline will only deepen at the 2026 NHL Draft in a couple of weeks.
Considering how many players on Seattle’s roster last season were either drafted by the organization or developed within its system, this has been an area of real progress. Those young players will continue to improve as they enter their prime years, meaning this approach should pay increasingly larger dividends.
Drafting and development are long-term plays, and we’re only beginning to see the early returns. But as Carolina has shown, a core of homegrown players can serve as the bedrock of a contender with a sustained window for success.
That window is built through drafting and development, but trades can accelerate it. As a result, it may behoove the Kraken to begin dealing from this position of strength—though only with that identity question firmly in mind. Does a young player fit what this team wants to be? If not, he could be used to acquire someone who does.
No more philosophical resets
Part of the narrative over the past couple of seasons is that the Kraken’s unexpected success in Year 2 threw a wrench into Ron Francis’s long-term plan. Suddenly, the timeline was accelerated, and the organization drifted away from its original slow-build approach.
More recently, much has been made of the team’s ongoing “audit” this offseason—something we at Sound Of Hockey don’t believe was ever intended to draw as much attention as it did. What that process should ultimately deliver, however, is clarity around the question of what this team wants to be.
Seattle has leaned toward a structurally sound identity, and if that’s the path it chooses, it can absolutely work. But then Jason Botterill and his front office must fully commit to that vision—through every draft pick, every personnel decision, and every hire.
The Kraken don’t need to replicate Carolina’s style of play; doing so would essentially mean starting over. Instead, they should learn from the principles that helped the Hurricanes reach the top of the mountain—and apply them in a way that makes sense for Seattle.
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.
