The Seattle Kraken announced Wednesday afternoon they had recalled two young forwards from the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL: Shane Wright, Seattle’s 2022 first-round pick, and Ryan Winterton, Seattle’s 2021 third-round pick. Wright logged only eight NHL games last season, while Winterton, if he were to play Thursday in Colorado, would be making his NHL debut.
These moves were a surprise until (later on Wednesday) Geoff Baker of the Seattle Timesreported that Kraken forward Jordan Eberle had suffered a deep laceration in his leg at Wednesday’s practice. Jaden Schwartz stepped on a puck and lost his balance, leading to the injury. Baker also reported that a second unnamed Kraken forward was dealing with an injury coming out of Tuesday’s game against the Coyotes that could affect that player’s ability to play Thursday night in Colorado.
As recounted by Baker, Kraken general manager Ron Francis expressed optimism that the team may have “dodged a bullet” with Eberle’s injury, but Seattle was awaiting official results from an MRI before reaching any conclusions on the duration of Eberle’s potential absence from the roster.
As for Thursday’s game, it sounds like one, or perhaps both, of Wright and Winterton should be out there. What else do we know? How do all the roster pieces fit together? Why were Wright and Winterton selected for recall? How long will they stay with the Kraken? Let’s dive into those questions and more.
Fitting the roster pieces together
It may come as a surprise that Seattle was able to add two new forwards to the roster, but the Kraken have been playing shorthanded and with open roster spots for a while.
The team began the season with only 22 roster players, one below the maximum roster size of 23. While teams often carry two extra forwards beyond the 12 forwards who may suit up in a game, Seattle started with only one–Tye Kartye.
In the time since the puck dropped on the season in Las Vegas, the Kraken have lost forwards Brandon Tanev and Andre Burakosvsky to injuries and placed both on injured reserve, opening their roster spots for a replacement. Before Wednesday, the team had recalled only Devin Shore from Coachella Valley as an injury replacement. This left Seattle with just 12 healthy forwards and two open roster spots.
When Eberle was hurt Wednesday–and another player’s injury apparently lingered–the team did not have any fill-ins ready on the roster. This prompted Seattle to recall players from Coachella Valley.
Since the team is not cap-constrained at the moment, Seattle had the option to recall any AHL forward on an NHL contract. Why did the team choose Wright and Winteron over more experienced forwards like John Hayden or Max McCormick who have logged games with Seattle in the past? Let’s take a look.
Wright and Winterton surging in Coachella Valley
The simplest answer is that both Wright, 19, and Winterton, 20, have been playing well and producing offense. Wright has tallied three goals and two assists in his last four AHL games, including an overtime game-winning goal on Oct. 29.
Wright’s total is second-most on the team in that four-game stretch, tied with Winterton’s identical total of three goals and two assists. Winterton is a rangy, skilled player, who has seen his development frustrated by injuries and a lost season when the OHL shut down due to the pandemic. When he’s been able to take the ice, he has been productive.
Wright could slide into Eberle’s role on the power play. He has been manning the wing on the Firebirds’ second power-play unit, looking for his perimeter shot. But Wright also has a feel for playing in the slot (where he often finds himself at five-on-five) and could move directly into Eberle’s bumper role.
For his part, Winterton brings special teams value too, having earned a role on the top penalty-killing unit in Coachella Valley. The Eberle injury aside, the penalty kill is likely a greater area of organizational need given the team’s struggles in this area recently.
Finally, it is worth noting that Wright and Winterton have spent significant ice time together in recent weeks and have found success playing off each other. This tandem dates back to Kraken training camp when they were often grouped with Tye Kartye. Could we see that line together again Thursday? It may be too inexperienced a grouping for the coaching staff’s liking, but we’ll learn more at Thursday’s morning skate.
What about the other options in Coachella Valley? Hayden is more of a bottom-of-the-lineup grinder at the NHL level. I suspect the team wanted for more offense if it is going to be without Eberle (and Burakovsky) for a stretch of time.
McCormick is the only other Firebird who was producing offense at a higher rate than Wright and Winterton over the last couple weeks, but I suspect the Kraken would prefer to leave their AHL captain in place unless it’s a long-term or near-permanent change.
Wright and Winterton’s recall may be brief if one or both of the new injuries reported Wednesday aren’t long term and Brandon Tanev returns to the lineup in the coming weeks. Still, the recall is just reward and encouragement for two young players who have played well in the AHL.
Upward roster pressure has been missing this year
Seattle’s success last season was frequently ascribed to its depth of NHL-caliber forwards. The team deployed players like Ryan Donato, Morgan Geekie, or Daniel Sprong on the fourth line, and at times scratched one or more of those players due to their depth, but those players had the talent to score in bunches if matched against opposing depth units.
The internal competition for playing time was a big part of the story too. The players knew that if they let their pace or details slip even temporarily, they might be out of the lineup in favor of another player looking to take their spot.
Much of Seattle’s vaunted depth left in free agency, but still the team was poised to have strong internal competition for playing time on the eve of the opener in Vegas. One of Karyte or Kailer Yamamoto had to sit that night. Both are skilled players–not your average “healthy scratch”-type.
Unfortunately for the team, injuries struck immediately. Since that opening game the team has not had the same upward lineup pressure. If a player was struggling, there was no viable threat to substitute him out of the lineup.
The addition of Wright and Winterton may provide a jolt to the remaining roster players. Wright was a top draft pick, and Winterton comes with strong pedigree as well. If Wright and/or Winterton crack the lineup Thursday night, and play well, others struggling through laggard starts to the year will find themselves with new external motivation to pick up their play.
Shane Wright skates at Kraken Community Iceplex (Photo/Brian Liesse)
The return of ‘contract corner’
Digging deep into the minutiae of this transaction, Baker noted that Wright’s recall was on an “emergency” basis. What are the implications for Wright and the team of this designation? It turns out, not much. But I’ll explain how it works under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for those who are curious.
A team can recall a player on an “emergency” basis if it can show that it has fewer than 12 healthy forwards, six healthy defensemen, or two healthy goaltenders.
The immediate benefits to a team of an “emergency” recall as opposed to a “standard” recall relate to the salary cap–if the team is at the limit, there is some relief–and eligibility for waivers if a player is not waivers exempt–a player’s NHL time on an emergency recall, if fewer than 10 games or 30 days on the roster, will not count toward the requirement for the player to be placed on waivers again under a “standard” recall scenario.
Neither “benefit” of the emergency designation applies here. Seattle is not at the upper salary limit and Wright will remain waivers exempt no matter how many games he plays with Seattle this season. So, there is no obvious rationale (in any remotely probable scenario) for using the emergency designation on Wright, aside from the fact that the team can use the designation and there is no downside to it.
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.
What a roller coaster of emotions that game was for the Seattle Kraken, as they snuck by the Detroit Red Wings to earn their second win of the season Tuesday. It also put Seattle off on the right foot to start this current four-game road trip, which will now take them to face three teams that were in the playoffs last season in Carolina, Florida, and Tampa Bay.
The Kraken had a two-goal lead heading into the third period, but they let it slip away on three goals from Detroit’s highly lethal power play. Seattle scored a late power-play goal of its own to tie it, then won it in with a hair under 5 ticks left on the overtime clock.
EBERLEEEEEEEEE! 🚨 #SEAKRAKEN WIN WITH 4 SECONDS LEFT IN OVERTIME!
Raymond hits the post, then McCann (eventually) sets up Eberle for the game-winner at the other end.
“Obviously that hurt a little bit with the power plays,” Jaden Schwartz said. “But we stayed with it, got back on the hunt, back on the forecheck, continued to work. And it paid off. Wins aren’t coming easy right now, so we’ve got to dig in and play the full 60 is probably the bottom line right now.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a thrilling 5-4 Kraken overtime win against the Red Wings.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): What a night for Jaden Schwartz
While most Kraken players have struggled to score so far this season, Schwartz has gotten himself off to a pretty solid start. He was outstanding Tuesday, with two goals (including one on the power play), bringing him to four goals in seven games this season.
Schwartz has been something of a fixer of lines for coach Dave Hakstol during his tenure with the Kraken, often moving up and down to help players start producing. That’s because he brings a hard, tenacious style of play, and he’s willing to get into the net-front area; it’s a style that also plays nicely with the manpower advantage.
“Just trying to be competitive in there,” said Schwartz. “Every game is a little bit different. Sometimes you’re fighting for space, sometimes pucks find you.”
One thing that’s been interesting about the way he’s been deployed on the power play, Schwartz is often seen taking draws for his unit, though he isn’t a true center. On the team’s first power-play goal at 5:16 of the second period, he took the draw and partially won it to his left. With the puck contested against the wall, he hustled over to support the board battle. As soon as he saw Matty Beniers pull the puck back to Vince Dunn at the point, Schwartz turned and sprinted to the blue paint.
A missed Dunn pass to Kailer Yamamoto caromed fortuitously off the end wall and right to Schwartz, who got good wood on a backhander to chip it over Ville Husso. That got Seattle level in the game at 1-1.
SCHWARTZ! 🚨
And it's a power-play goal!
Schwartz wins the face-off, then hustles right to the front of the net. Dunn intentionally fires it off the end boards, and it pops out to Schwartz, who whacks it past Husso. #SeaKraken
Schwartz followed that up with just a big, old fashioned clapper off a rush at 17:54 of the second, beating Husso again and giving the Kraken a 2-1 lead.
Schwartz’s biggest play of the game came with time ticking down on Seattle, which had a late power play and a 6-on-4 advantage with goalie Joey Daccord off for an extra skater. Schwartz didn’t get a point for it, but when Jared McCann tied the game with 1:22 left in regulation, it was Schwartz that was right in front of Husso, wreaking havoc.
Oh, and we can’t forget Schwartz also got away with a fairly blatant stick throw to break up a scoring opportunity late in the second period, and Tye Kartye scored soon after that to make it 3-1 Kraken.
A theme for me in this game was (once again) special teams. The Red Wings power play unit came into the game white hot, with a 39 percent power-play success rate on the season. Meanwhile, the Kraken had one of the top five penalty kill units in the league with a 93.8 percent kill rate.
Something had to give, and it did. Detroit scored three goals on six power-play opportunities with all three goals coming in the third period. It was a tough period for the penalty kill unit who, in my opinion, actually looked solid and played better than the data shows. There were no glaring mistakes on the PK, and the failures on this night looked more like a combination of a lethal Detroit power play unit clicking and no lucky breaks for the Seattle killers. I don’t see a big cause for concern, even though the three goals against did raise eyebrows.
On the other side of the special teams equation is the Kraken power play, which has struggled this season. Objectively, it has been better as of late. Coming into the Detroit game, Seattle had three power-play goals over 12 opportunities in the last four games. That is a 25 percent power-play conversion rate, which would be close to the top 10 in the league if the Kraken did not go zero for six in the first two games of the season.
The Kraken potted two power-play goals against Detroit, including McCann’s dart to tie the game with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation.
MCCANN CAN! 🚨 TIE GAME!!!
McCann with the rocket, but look who is right there in front, taking away Husso's vision… What a game by Jaden Schwartz.
The Kraken are now 13th in the league with a 21.7 percent conversion rate.
Even so, I still think the Kraken are struggling at getting set up off their offensive-zone entries, so I wanted to check that with data. A proxy I’ve been using for power-play offensive-zone time is shot attempts per two minutes of power-play time.
The Kraken still rank relatively low, but this might not be the best metric, considering Washington is first in this category and has the second-lowest power-play conversion in the league. On the other hand, Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Dallas all rank in the bottom five in power-play conversion rate on the season, so that does align with this metric. It is something we will continue to monitor.
Takeaway #3 (Curtis): After falling behind late, Kraken were resilient
The Kraken very easily could have let this game get away from them at the end of the third period. The pendulum of emotion had swung and swung hard against them. Entering the third with a 3-1 lead, the team saw three consecutive Detroit power-play goals put them at a one-goal disadvantage just over half way through the final period.
“It’s important to get results, and we felt like we played a real good first two periods,” Hakstol said. “And even on specialty teams, we did a nice job in those first two periods. And all of a sudden, it was kind of a wave of power plays. They’ve been rolling on their power play, and they made good on them. So to be able to push back– we’ve done it a couple of times now. We haven’t gotten rattled, we haven’t gone away after giving up a lead, so we did that again tonight.”
Instead of lamenting the calls against them–including a soft holding goal on Alex Wennberg that created the power-play opportunity Detroit used to go ahead–or conceding to their misfortune after a tough opening stretch in which they had lost five of six games, the Kraken got to work.
From 10:26 in the third onward, Seattle outshot Detroit 10-2. The team’s tenacious effort generated two third-period power plays as well. McCann drew the second call and then capitalized on the opportunity himself with a pinpoint wrist shot from the top of the right circle. McCann also set up Jordan Eberle for the game-winning goal with just five seconds left in overtime, after the Kraken again had the puck for most of the five minutes (and got some puck luck with a post hit by Lucas Raymond).
McCann spoke after the game about composure and a consistent mindset as the key to overcoming adversity in the third period: “It was a grind. We stuck with it–didn’t change a thing.”
The team’s goal moving forward is to build on the confidence a win like this can deliver. “We need to play with a little bit more swagger like we had last year, toward the end of the year,” McCann said. “We need to find that.”
The puck drops at 7:00 pm PT tonight on a new season for the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s AHL affiliate. Between Josh Horton, me, and the rest of the Sound Of Hockey team, we hope to bring you more Firebirds and Kraken prospect coverage than ever this year. We’re brainstorming a few ideas on how to do that, so we hope you follow along. Let’s start our journey in the desert by reacquainting ourselves with the team, previewing the lineup, and identifying a few storylines to follow early this season.
But, before we get to that, an important public service announcement: The Firebirds’ opener tonight, October 13, against the Bakersfield Condors is free to stream on AHL TV. Check it out here.
Recapping the 2022-23 Season
In their inaugural season, the Firebirds made quite the impression. Coachella Valley racked up 103 points in the standings, second in the AHL only to the Calgary Wranglers. The team was strong across the board in the regular season, checking in with the third most goals scored and second best goal differential among the 32 AHL clubs. That strength extended into the goal with Joey Daccord tallying .918 save percentage in 38 regular season games.
The season culminated with a championship run that came agonizingly close to the Calder Cup. In their record-setting 26th postseason game, the Firebirds made it to overtime of game 7 of the finals against the Hershey Bears before a Mike Vecchione shot snuck by Joey Daccord to deliver victory to the AHL’s oldest franchise. Hard to imagine a tougher end to the season, but it is also hard to imagine a team and a fanbase that had more fun along the way than the 2022-23 Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The 2023-24 lineup
On October 10, 2023, the Coachella Valley Firebirds reassigned eight players to the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL, including 2022 7th round draft pick Kyle Jackson. This brought some clarity to the team’s initial roster, which stands at 27 players:
The team rotated the lines and pairs in their only preseason outing on October 8, 2023, so we don’t have a great sense of precisely how these players will fit together when the team takes the ice on Friday night.
Last season we often saw Kole Lind and captain Max McCormick skating together on a top line (often centered by the departed Alex True). I wouldn’t expect that change. Andrew Poturalski and Cameron Hughes were also stalwarts in the top-six, and I’d expect that to continue as well. On the blue line, the team’s top two left-shot defenseman return in Gustav Olofsson and Ryker Evans, but there has been some shuffling on the right side.
Without the benefit of being at practice or the preseason games, here is a guess (and I emphasize guess) at a lineup the team could deploy Friday night:
If the team holds out Shore or Hayden based on the injury situation in Seattle, I’d expect one of Robertson or Melanson to draw in.
Having shared this guesswork, I’ll also caution against overreacting to a veteran-heavy opening night lineup if Robertson, Melanson, or Ottavainen aren’t in there, for example. The team did not have much preseason ice time, particularly after the team’s first exhibition was canceled due to a power outage. After the Friday night opener, the team does not have another regular season game for eight days. This leaves ample runway for the Firebirds to practice and evaluate its group of young players before game number two.
How the Firebirds stack up around the AHL
Though several Seattle Kraken drafted prospects have begun to arrive in the desert, the team is still a year-or-two away from a “normal” situation where draft picks are regularly cycling in-and-out. As a result, the team remains heavy on veterans. According to data tracked by Elite Prospects, the Firebirds will start the 2023-24 season as the tenth-oldest AHL team based on average player age. (The Firebirds were the fifth-oldest AHL team by the same metric last year.)
This year’s squad will be increasingly reliant on speed and skill. While the team ranked among the top-ten tallest and heaviest teams last season, based on player averages, many of the squad’s larger players up front and on the blue line departed in the offseason. This leaves the team in the no. 25 in the league average player height and middle-of-the-pack in player weight.
The skill should still be there though. The team returns two top-20 scorers in Max McCormick and Kole Lind, another just outside the top-30 in Cameron Hughes, and a player in Andrew Poturalski who has led the AHL in scoring in the past (though he missed time with an injury last year). Add to this stable of veteran scorers a wave of younger players that have scored effectively at junior levels and the team should do well putting the puck in the net.
Finally, as I noted earlier in the summer, this is one of the more expensive rosters in the AHL. The Kraken have invested heavily in a winning development program. The product in Palm Desert should remain strong.
Andrew Poturalski skates at Climate Pledge Arena (Photo/Brian Liesse)
Key departures
The team sees its starting goaltender (and one of its emotional leaders), Joey Daccord, and third leading scorer, Tye Kartye, begin the season with the Seattle Kraken. Beyond that, the team lost its sixth leading scorer, Jesper Froden and inaugural Kraken Alexander True and Carsen Twarynski in free agency. On the blue line, the team lost its top scoring defenseman, Brogan Rafferty, and an experienced, tough player in Matt Tennyson. I don’t have many questions about the team’s scoring ability, but goal prevention will be an area to watch early in the season.
Key additions
Former Charlotte Checker and offensive-minded, right-shot defenseman Connor Carrick rejoins the Kraken organization for the 2023-24 season. In doing so, he’ll be reunited with former Checker teammate and fellow righty defenseman Cale Fleury, who will begin the season with Coachella Valley after sticking in Seattle for the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign. Marian Studenic is a proven and prolific AHL goal scorer up front the team added in free agency.
Coachella Valley also welcomes a group of six Kraken prospects to the team, each of whom could play a role at some point during the season: Shane Wright, Ryan Winterson, Tucker Robertson, Jacob Melanson, Logan Morrison, and Ville Ottaivenen.
Three storylines to watch early in the season
Shane Wright. This is the big one. Wright logged 32 games with the Firebirds last season, mostly in the playoffs, but it was amidst a “planes trains and automobiles” season that likely left his head spinning. This year, there is no such uncertainty about where he’ll play or how much he’ll play. Kraken GM Ron Francis told the media after Wright’s reassignment that the team had given Wright areas to work on and the team was looking forward to seeing him play heavy minutes in all situations. Wright’s development is the biggest storyline to follow from the Kraken perspective because the young forward’s potential is so high if he can put the pieces together.
Shane Wright skates during camp scrimmage (Photo/Brian Liesse)
The goaltending tandem. Chris Driedger should be the stronger half of a tandem in goal as he comes back from an ACL injury at the 2022 World Championships. If he can start to show he is still the player that the Kraken targeted and signed to be one of the team’s NHL goalies before its inaugural season, interest may grow internally and from other clubs to get him back to the NHL.
Driedger’s partner, Ales Stezka, is also interesting. Stezka is coming off an elite season in the Czech Extraliga, which is one of the best professional leagues in the world. Already 26 years old, he’s entering his goalie prime. If he can translate his high level play to North America, he’ll put Coachella Valley in a great position to win this season and give the Kraken a lot to think about when it comes to extending the relationship beyond Stezka’s current one-year deal.
Prospects that acclimate quickly. The story of Tye Kartye is well-known at this point. Despite coming in as an undrafted free agent, Kartye forced his way into the lineup of a talented Coachella Valley club last year. Then, as the season progressed, he worked his way up the lineup, and eventually he skated with the Kraken in the playoffs.
Is there a rookie that takes the same trajectory this year? That’s a hard standard to live up to, but it starts early in the season with ice time. Which young players have gained the coaching staff’s confidence and have seized a role?
Lesser known players like Morrison, Robertson, and Melanson all have the potential to do it. Morrison brings skill and offensive instincts if he can up his skating game like Kartye did. Robertson is a 200-foot center with high level hockey sense who could emerge if he can score just enough. Melanson is a physical player and agitator with enough skill to score in a professional lineup if he can maintain his sandpaper play style against bigger and faster competition. All eyes will be on them from Seattle.
It is no secret that an area where the Seattle Kraken have an opportunity to improve this season is their power play. That’s not to say it was horrible all last season – Seattle ranked 21st in the league – but isolating just playoff teams, they ranked 14th out of the 16 teams that qualified for the postseason. We recently posted a breakdown on how the team looks to improve the power play by starting off with a different look this season.
To get a better understanding of how the power play performed last season, I spent some time digging into the numbers and wanted to share my findings.
Pre-Burakovsky/Post-Burakovsky
There is a commonly cited theory that the Seattle Kraken power play took a huge hit when Andre Burakovsky went down with a season-ending groin injury in 2022-23. Let’s look at the numbers.
With a 0.9 percent drop in production after the injury, that theory might have merit. The fact of the matter, though, is that power play percentages drop later in the season.
At the time of the injury, Burakovsky led the team in power-play points with 14 and was second among forwards with 126:37 of power-play ice-time. Losing a weapon like Burakovsky was significant, but I do not think the team will improve drastically this season just because Burakovsky is back. The Kraken do need to make other tweaks, as Darren laid out in his article last week.
Power-play possession
There were times last season where it felt the power play was spending a disproportionate amount of time on the power play outside of the offensive zone. Some of this sentiment was driven by low face-off percentages with the manpower advantage. A common scenario was that the Kraken would start a power play with an offensive-zone face-off. They would lose the draw and possession, and the opposing team would clear the puck out of the zone, killing 10 to 15 seconds of the Kraken power play.
Although not a perfect proxy for possession, the Kraken were second to last in power-play face-off percentage last season.
The other area where the Kraken appeared to struggle without Burakovsky was offensive-zone entries. I am unaware of publicly available (a.k.a. “free”) data on zone entries, but one thing we can evaluate is the rate of shot attempts on a power play. Again, it’s not perfect for analyzing offensive-zone possession time, but it is a very good proxy, since the more often you have the puck in the offensive zone, the more likely you will have a shot attempt.
To show my work, I counted all the shot attempts (shots, blocked shots, missed shots) on a power play then divided by a team’s total power play to get shot attempts per power-play second. To make the number more relatable, I multiplied the shot attempts per power play second by 120 seconds. That gets us a shot attempt rate per two minutes, the usual length of a power play.
Using the shot attempts rate by power play time, we can see that the Kraken did have an issue with possession on the power play last season. The Kraken ranked 25th and last amongst playoff teams in generating shots per two minutes of power play time. We do not know the root cause of this issue, but it is probably a combination of face-off percentage on the power play, zone entries, and maintaining possession in the offensive zone. This shot attempt rate is something we will keep an eye on in the coming season.
Dry spells
During training camp last week, coach Dave Hakstol called out droughts and a lack of consistency that hurt the power play last season.
I certainly remember the Kraken going through dry spells, but I have always thought that is part of the cyclical nature of a hockey season. This is another area to focus on this season. Are the dry spells shorter and less frequent? Let’s hope so.
Who is getting the PP time?
Finally, I wanted to look at who was getting the power-play ice time and identify any potential changes for the upcoming season. To do that, I wanted to look at how the power-play time changed over the season, particularly before and after the Burakovsky injury.
The table shows that Eeli Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde picked up the extra time when Burakovsky went down in early February. With Burakovsky starting this season healthy, you can anticipate his power-play time to come back, but Tolvanen should remain on the power play with the departure of Daniel Sprong in the offseason. Sprong was on the ice for 40 percent of the Kraken’s power play when he was in the lineup.
Power play outlook
Without any substantial personnel changes to the Seattle Kraken roster this offseason, the changes will need to come from within. Getting Burakovsky back to start the season will certainly help, but the team will need to create different looks and options if it expects improvement in production. The Kraken’s new approach has showed promise in preseason. Will it carry over to the regular season?
Welcome to the inaugural Deep Sea Blue Chips, a ranking of the top Seattle Kraken prospects according to public scouting services and prospect analysts.
As mentioned on Episode 252 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, I compiled seven public sources providing rankings of the best prospects in the Kraken system and built an overall composite ranking. The sources I used are:
Similar to my process in building the Sound of Hockey Big Board, an NHL Draft prospect ranking, I built this list using a weighted geometric mean calculation. Why did I use a geometric mean? Read up here. Weights were assigned based on our assessment of the depth of experience, sourced reporting, or scouting insight factored into the component lists themselves.
How do the Deep Sea Blue Chips compare with the data-only list I made earlier in the offseason? Where does it depart from the views of Kraken fans polled via social media? Let’s start with the Blue Chips list and then I’ll take a look at those other questions.
Deep Sea Blue Chips
You can view the full list in Google Sheets HERE. The sheet includes each player’s composite rank and a lot more data about each player.
Important note on using the Deep Sea Blue Chips Google Sheet: 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.
The fans weigh in
Is there anyone you think is underrated or overrated in our inaugural Deep Sea Blue Chips? Without divulging the list, I asked a few Sound Of Hockey community members on various social media platforms to make their own ranking of top Seattle Kraken prospects. I fashioned their answers into a composite list too. Here is what our (highly unscientific) sample of 12 Kraken fans came up with:
The fans are much higher than the scouts on forwards Jacob Melanson and Kole Lind, as well as Tye Kartye and Ty Nelson, but lower on 2023 defenseman draft picks Lukas Dragicevic and Caden Price, among others. Who do you think has it right?
The spreadsheets would like a word
A couple weeks ago I published a “data-only” ranking of every NHL-affiliated skater prospect. As detailed in that piece, I built the ranking based on Thibaud Chatel’s NHLe work. I didn’t rank goalies, but the Kraken skaters checked in as follows:
The data suggests David Goyette and Logan Morrison might be underrated by the scouts and the fans. On the other hand, draft year NHLe calculations raise some questions about the future potential of players like Eduard Sale, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, and Carson Rehkopf, for example. Do you think the scouting-based Deep Sea Blue Chips rank is better? Or do you favor the approach emphasizing scoring data?
Next Up: Discussing the year ahead
Your Sound Of Hockey prospect contributors discuss the Deep Sea Blue Chips ranking, the prospects we’ll be watching this season, and a few bold predictions. Any topics or players you’d like us to cover? Drop us a note on Twitter or in the comments below.
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.
With a new crop of prospects from the 2023 NHL Draft, the Seattle Kraken’s farm system is starting to take shape.
The third draft class for Seattle was quite the haul, with 10 picks, four of which were selected in the top 60. Especially with some prospects from Seattle’s debut class graduating from junior hockey to Coachella Valley in the American Hockey League (AHL), the impact of the Kraken scouting staff’s diligence will be felt more now than ever before.
Below is one prospect to watch in the NCAA, Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), Western Hockey League, and AHL for this upcoming season.
NCAA – Ben MacDonald (F)
Entering his first season at Harvard, the 19-year-old forward is coming off nearly a point-per-game season with the West Kelowna Warriors, where he scored 50 points in 52 games. The Kraken are clearly high on the Massachusetts native, having traded a pair of fourth-rounders for the privilege of taking MacDonald in the third round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
OHL – Carson Rehkopf (F)
Perhaps an upset pick over Eduard Sale, one of the Kraken’s several second-round picks in the most recent NHL draft is described as a high-energy, high-upside type of prospect. The Kitchener Rangers forward is off to a blistering start in the OHL preseason and could be in for a monster season.
#SeaKraken prospect Carson Rehkopf in OHL preseason action tonight: 3 G, 2 A, 5 PTS, +4, 10 SOG
He now has 5 G, 6 A, 11 PTS, and 27 SOG in 4 GP this preseason.
He’s the choice by default as the lone Kraken prospect in the ‘Q,’ but thankfully for this exercise, Loshko is a pretty interesting prospect. The Belarussian center is entering a new situation after the Chicoutimi Sagueneens dealt him to Rouyn-Noranda. The 6-foot-1 forward finished with 70 points to lead the Sagueneens last season.
WHL – Lukas Dragicevic (D)
An analytical darling in the 2023 draft, Kraken statheads and WHL fans alike were likely thrilled to see Dragicevic in the Kraken system. The 57th overall pick, Dragicevic is a skilled defenseman capable of driving offense and running a power play.
He was already a point-per-game player as an 18-year-old, and the sky’s the limit for the Americans in a seemingly wide-open U.S. Division this upcoming season.
Overseas – Oscar Fisker Mølgaard (F)
His entertaining appearance on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast aside, Fisker Mølgaard is set to play for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League again after putting up four goals and three assists in 41 games last season. Noted as a detail-oriented center, we’re curious how his offensive game ticks up in his 19-year-old season.
AHL – Ryan Winterton
A significant shoulder injury limited Ryan Winterton the past two seasons, but when healthy, the 20-year-old forward was a dynamic force, especially in last season’s playoffs in the OHL with the London Knights. There, he posted 29 points in 21 games – including a 12-game point streak.
With two consecutive OHL finals appearances, including a Memorial Cup bid with Hamilton, under his belt, Winterton has little to prove in junior hockey. We’re excited to see how he fits in Coachella Valley alongside prospects like Tucker Robertson and Kyle Jackson.
Josh Horton
Josh Horton is a freelance writer, former newspaper journalist, and erstwhile Western Hockey League writer for the Everett Herald and The Spokesman-Review (Spokane). He is NOT a juggler, nor is he a former professional baseball player. Follow him on Twitter @byjoshhorton.
