Sound Of Hockey is thrilled to present its second ever video edition of the beloved podcast segment, Goalie Gear Corner. This time, Chris Driedger joins our own Darren Brown to talk through his Vaughn setup and his mask that pays homage to the history of Seattle hockey.
If you missed our first Video Goalie Gear Corner, featuring Joey Daccord, that can be found here.
Seattle Kraken coach Dave Hakstol walked into a packed media room at Kraken Community Iceplex on Monday, looked at the many reporters and cameras that had assembled there, and said wryly, “Looks like everyone is excited for Game 73.” When general manager Ron Francis walked into the room a few minutes later, he shared a similar sentiment to Hakstol, joking, “This is more media than [at the NHL Trade] Deadline.” Was anticipation for Tuesday’s largely meaningless game in Calgary the reason for all the media attention on this random Monday morning in April? Perhaps. But the more likely explanation for the sudden local sports spotlight was the arrival of No. 2 overall draft pick, Matty Beniers, who made his debut in Kraken colors at Monday’s practice.
The on-ice session, which was open to the public, had a different kind of buzz than most practices for the Kraken this season. Although open practices have always been well attended, the bleachers were filled to the brim for this one, as late-arriving fans wandered around trying to squeeze themselves into the few remaining spots on benches. Meanwhile, team employees assembled in bunches around the office windows that overlook the primary practice rink, hoping to get their first in-person glimpse of Seattle’s prized prospect.
When Beniers finally stepped on the ice, a loud cheer rose up through the crowd. He spent the next 45 minutes participating in line rushes and power play walkthroughs, and doing all the things that an NHL player does during an NHL practice.
In those rushes, Beniers centered a line between NHL All-Star Jordan Eberle and fellow Boston-area native, Ryan Donato, with whom Matty already has familiarity.
“[Eberle] is a great player. I was fortunate to be out there with him,” Beniers said with a chuckle. “It’s pretty cool, obviously, coming from college and you’re right out there… I also played with Ryan Donato too out there, and I kind of grew up with him a little bit. He was always around, and I’d work out with him, so it’s really nice to have him by my side too because he’s a familiar face, and I’m pretty comfortable with him.”
Hakstol played it coy on whether Beniers would make his NHL debut during the team’s road trip to Calgary and Winnipeg and urged that expectations be tempered for the 19-year-old. “Let’s just slow down,” Hakstol said. “My big thing for [Beniers] is to be able to come into our dressing room, become comfortable in that environment with his teammates, work hard every day, and enjoy the process of adjusting to this level.”
Still, all signs seem to be pointing toward a debut on Tuesday against the Flames, as Beniers himself confirmed that his family will be in attendance for that contest.
Whether that first game does come on Tuesday or some other night, Beniers thinks he will be ready for the challenge and excitement of the moment. “I don’t think I’ll have a ton of nerves,” he said. “I think once the game starts, it’s hockey. I’ve been doing it for my whole life, so once you kind of get on the ice and the game starts to get going, you really forget about it.”
Francis recalled his own very hectic first week as an NHL player, in which he bounced back and forth between the OHL and the NHL, and confirmed the team has no intention of doing anything like that to their young blue chipper. “We want to make sure we give him every opportunity to be successful,” Francis said. “You grow up your whole life dreaming about playing in the National Hockey League, and you only get that one opportunity to play your first game, so I’m sure he’ll be excited about it. We’re looking forward to having him wearing that Kraken jersey No. 10 and seeing him out on the ice.”
+ Haydn Fleury was present and accounted for at practice, but was wearing a red non-contact jersey and a tinted visor. Fleury has not played since Seattle’s March 22 win against the Arizona Coyotes.
+ Kraken team dog, Davy Jones, also came out to celebrate the arrival of Beniers. Davy has officially grown up way too fast.
+ Hakstol was asked about the play of Karson Kuhlman, who has carved out a consistent lineup spot for himself since returning from injury a month ago. The Kraken coach heaped high praise on the hard-working forward. “He’s the epitome of an every-dayer. And that’s the best compliment I can pay any player. He shows up and he works and he does his job and he does it very very well day in and day out. He’s a guy that you can play in a lot of different situations. He’s very reliable defensively, but not just because he’s defending. He’s a guy that can get you out of your zone and make the guys on the other side have to defend.”
For months, the talk around the Kraken campfire has been rife with speculation that touted prospect and No. 2 overall pick, Matty Beniers, would sign with Seattle as soon as his college season ended. On Sunday, the waiting and speculation came to an end when the standout 19-year-old center tweeted a graphic of himself skating on Elliott Bay, with the caption “See you soon.”
The Kraken PR team followed up Beniers’ tweet with a tweet of their own, confirming that the deal was done.
“We’re excited to welcome Matty to our organization,” said Kraken general manager Ron Francis, via press release. “He capped off a productive career at Michigan with a trip to the Frozen Four and has impressed our staff over the past couple of years with his leadership and strong two-way game. We’re looking forward to working with him as he takes the next step in his development.”
Added Beniers, “It’s truly an honor to join the Kraken organization, and I can’t wait to get started.”
It is unclear at this time when Beniers will debut, but it would make a lot of sense for him to join the team for practice on Monday at Kraken Community Iceplex, then quickly hit the road for back-to-back games in Calgary and Winnipeg.
Beniers is just four days removed from the end of his sophomore season at the University of Michigan. His star-studded Wolverines lost 3-2 in overtime to the Denver Pioneers on Thursday in an exciting NCAA Frozen Four semifinal.
“Although we fell short of our goal, I loved my time with Michigan and am looking forward to the next step in my journey,” Beniers said. “Being drafted last summer was surreal, and I’m excited to get to Seattle.”
Signing Beniers now means the Kraken will burn the first year of his three-year, entry-level contract, so he will become a restricted free agent following the 2023-24 season. Being that there are only 10 games left, the team surely would have preferred to hold off on bringing him into the fold until after the season. But as Francis mentioned just prior to the NHL Trade Deadline, top prospects generally want to get beyond their ELC’s as soon as possible and onto more lucrative deals. So, burning that first year is the cost of doing business with elite, young players.
A 6-foot-1, 174-pound center that hails from Hingham, Mass., Beniers went through the US National Team Development Program before joining the Wolverines as a true freshman. He won a gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship as the youngest skater on Team USA, then played with pros at the IIHF World Championship, where the Americans took home a bronze medal. Beniers also had the honor of participating in the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February and was especially dynamic in a thrilling three-on-three overtime period in a quarterfinal loss to Slovakia.
Beniers had an exceptional two-year college career and progressed nicely between his freshman and sophomore seasons. He led Michigan and the entire Big Ten with 43 points (20-23—43) in 36 games this season after notching 24 points in 24 games last season. As an 18- and 19-year-old in the NCAA, he was playing against players several years older than him, and he succeeded every step of the way.
His game is responsible at both ends of the ice, but don’t expect him to light it up offensively right away. We think that will take a couple seasons at least, as he adjusts to the pace and skill of the NHL. Still, he has the maturity and physical ability to be an effective everyday player immediately.
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to get a Three Takeaways story out to the masses. Putting one together after a 2-0 Seattle Kraken road victory over the Chicago Blackhawks—a win that also sealed the season series—sure does feel like a nice way to get back in the groove.
The Kraken came out flying on Thursday and dominated the first period, but predictably failed to register a goal in the opening frame. Things evened out as the game went on, but thankfully Alex Wennberg scored a stunning goal, Jordan Eberle added some late insurance, and that was all Philipp Grubauer and his thieving posts would need to sneak past the bumbling Blackhawks.
Coach Dave Hakstol summed up the win pretty well: “Grubi was good tonight, our penalty kill was good tonight, and that’s the difference in the hockey game.”
Here are our Three Takeaways.
Grubauer got the 20th shutout of his career and second of the season, stopping 29 shots along the way. He only faced three shots in the first period, as the Kraken did everything right (other than score), but the play really ramped up in his end in the second and third.
He came up large on several occasions, including in the first shift of the game, during some tough penalty kills, and in the closing minutes when he was without a stick and facing six Chicago skaters.
“We dominated the first period, but first shift of the game, he’s gotta face [Patrick] Kane in a point-blank situation. That’s a great save,” Hakstol said. “We get through the kill and the situation at the end of the second period, and right at the start of the third, as [Carson Soucy] comes out of the box, now he’s gotta face [Alex] DeBrincat coming down the right side. So those are a couple of saves that were really important. He looked real confident tonight.”
Grubauer also got a bit lucky late in the game when Kane and Seth Jones rang back-to-back shots off the right post. He calmly and quietly thanked the iron for its service by giving it a soothing pat with his catch glove.
As the end of the second period started coming into focus, Ryan Donato took the game’s first penalty after he interfered with Taylor Raddysh right off an offensive-zone face-off. Then, just off the ensuing face-off at the other end, Soucy caught Raddysh with a high stick and drew blood, meaning Soucy would sit for four minutes. It was an interesting four seconds for Raddysh (ironic, since radishes are inherently boring) but a bad situation for the Kraken.
Seattle’s PK unit came up huge in killing 1:56 of five-on-three time, thanks to some textbook positioning and shot blocking. It then followed that up with an aggressive five-on-four kill that almost resulted in a short-handed goal for Jared McCann.
“We got a clear off the initial draw,” Hakstol explained. “That builds momentum for the penalty kill, and the five-on-three really stands out. The guys did an outstanding job there.”
Grubauer thought the PK effort carried over from Wednesday night in St. Louis, when the Kraken spent way too much time in the penalty box. “Even yesterday, I think we gave up one [goal], but we killed off eight minutes,” he said. “Today too, five-on-three, huge part of the game. We did the right things, we pressured at the right times, we blocked some shots, we were in the lanes… PK, hell of a job today.”
Feast your eyes on this dazzling dangle from Alex Wennberg.
The eventual winning goal broke a 0-0 tie early in the second period. Wennberg picked up a loose puck at the blue line and faked a shot. Jake McCabe bit on the fake, hook, line, and sinker, and looked like his feet had frozen into the ice. Then, with a head of steam built up, Wennberg swung around the temporarily frozen McCabe and made goalie Kevin Lankinen look equally silly before calmly depositing the puck into a yawning cage.
“Little mini-breakaway, good fake,” Grubauer said. “As a goalie, you gotta stay patient. [Wennberg] cut across and did a really great job faking out the goalie and put it in the net. Great goal, made us win the game.”
Said Wennberg, “I got a little speed, so I was going to fake the shot, and just see if I could get the space, and I feel like I really found a way to beat him around. And then after that, it goes fast. You just trust your instincts.”
Ok, well, then it’s safe to say that Wennberg’s instincts are pretty good, because that was certifiable filth.
It’s fun to see a goal like that from a team that generally has trouble scoring, and it’s fun to see a win like that from a team that generally has trouble winning.
Will we see Matty Beniers on Saturday when the Kraken welcome the Calgary Flames? We shall see…
The good news… correction, the GREAT news is that Joey Daccord is back on Sound Of Hockey for his second appearance, and he is once again electrifying! The bad news is that Darren has COVID. But that’s ok, because he has a great time talking to Joey (via Zoom, obvi), and that makes everything better.
The boys are confident that you will love this second interview with Daccord, who shares some awesome stories about playing in Charlotte, getting called up to Seattle, and being part of the Kraken’s home opener.
Before the interview, John, Andy, and Darren recap the Kraken games against Los Angeles, Vegas, and Dallas, then give some general NHL news. After the interview, they shift the show into segments, with the first being an NCAA Frozen Four edition of Games on the Radar. They then move to Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, Tweets of the Week, and Three Stars.
It’s a battle this week, but this show is a very fun one.
SUBSCRIBE! ENJOY! REVIEW!
The good news… correction, the GREAT news is that Joey Daccord is back on Sound Of Hockey for his second appearance, and he is once again electrifying! The bad news is that Darren has COVID. But that’s ok, because he has a great time talking to Joey (via Zoom, obvi), and that makes everything better.
The boys are confident that you will love this second interview with Daccord, who shares some awesome stories about playing in Charlotte, getting called up to Seattle, and being part of the Kraken’s home opener.
Before the interview, John, Andy, and Darren recap the Kraken games against Los Angeles, Vegas, and Dallas, then give some general NHL news. After the interview, they shift the show into segments, with the first being an NCAA Frozen Four edition of Games on the Radar. They then move to Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, Tweets of the Week, and Three Stars.
It’s a battle this week, but this show is a very fun one.
SUBSCRIBE! ENJOY! REVIEW!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Kraken goalie Chris Driedger did what he could Wednesday night, but his mates couldn’t find the offense in support of him. Driedger, making his fourth start in five games, kicked away 32 shots, but it wouldn’t be enough as the St. Louis Blues outlasted Seattle in a 4-1 win at the Enterprise Center.
Driedger gave Seattle (22-41-6) a chance, but the Kraken took too many penalties and could not cash in on opportunities against the Blues and goalie Ville Husso who turned away 28 shots.
After Jordan Eberle pulled the Kraken to within 2-1 in the second period, Jordan Kyrou delivered what would be the deciding blow at 2:34 of the third period. With the puck bouncing in close, Kyrou would knock it out of the air and past Driedger for his 23rd of the season and gave the Blues a two-goal lead at 3-1.
“Batted it out of the air,” Driedger said. “It’s kind of a tough one to read off a couple guys and it just pinballed around you. Good hand-eye by him. Tough to react to that one when it’s right in front of you. Obviously want to stop them all so would have liked to have that one, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.”
Ryan O’Reilly wrapped the scoring up with an empty-net goal to make it 4-1 at 18:45.
The Blues entered the game with the NHL’s second ranked power play and got seven looks with the man advantage Wednesday. Seattle killed off six of those chances thanks to Driedger’s play, but killing that many penalties takes a toll on a team and disrupts flow and line combinations.
“When you have to kill seven minor penalties thats takes a lot of energy,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Our killers did a good job tonight, but it’s seven power plays to none until very late in the third period, that tilts the ice.”
Brayden Schenn had two assists and St. Louis (39-20-10) got goals from four different scorers to pull the Blues within one point of the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division.
Eberle had the lone goal for the Kraken and Ryan Donato set a new career high in points after picking up an assist. While the final deficit read three goals, the Kraken played better than that might indicate.
They took 57 percent of the unblocked shot attempts at 5-on-5 but were unable to capitalize in what is a familiar refrain this season.
“We had opportunities, that wasn’t a problem. We had chances to score,” Eberle said. “You got to finish those but at the other end, we gave up too much and Driedgs was there and played well. Driedgs was there to make a lot of saves. I think we got to tighten up defensively and just dial it in a little bit offensively.”
A harbinger of how the game would go, Driedger and the Kraken penalty kill had to endure three St. Louis power-play chances in the game’s opening nine minutes. They almost got through it and had several chances themselves to score shorthanded. But after one such chance, the Blues got the puck going the other way, had numbers, and Robert Thomas cashed in at 8:38 of the first with a wrist shot to Driedger’s right to make it 1-0.
“We had a good kill going,” Hakstol said. “We had a couple good opportunities, and we got a little bit greedy and that led to a quick breakdown. That was a huge momentum piece in the game.”
It was the only shot that the Blues garnered on the power play while Seattle managed three.
The Blues doubled their lead, 2-0 at 7:56 of the second after Schenn’s cross-ice pass found Justin Faulk at the back door with an open net waiting for him.
Eberle cut the lead to 2-1 with a goal on the doorstep at 9:55 after Will Borgen’s shot rebounded off bodies in the crease.
“Tonight is disappointing,” Hakstol said. “I’m not sitting here saying I’m not disappointed because we didn’t come here to lose close. Seven minor penalties is too much. I would like to have had another opportunity or two on the power play that I felt like we earned with some of these close, close calls. But that being said, there’s things that we can do better. We’ll look at what we expect ourselves to do a little bit better in those areas for the back-to-back tomorrow night in Chicago.”
+ Donato’s assist on Eberle’s goal was his 26th point this season which eclipsed the 25 he totaled in 2018-19 between the Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild.
+ Thomas tallied to extend his point streak to seven games (4-8—12) and establish a new career high.
+ Seattle defenseman Cale Fleury played his first game since being called up from the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers Wednesday. He totaled 13:44 of ice time.
Before midweek back-to-back games Wednesday in St. Louis and Thursday in Chicago, the Seattle Kraken got in a quick practice Tuesday morning at the Kraken Community Iceplex.
Quick was the key word as the team skated for about 35 minutes so they could get on a plane Tuesday afternoon headed for St. Louis.
“Trying to take advantage of the minutes and make sure we’re taking the time that we need, but also not trying to overdo it,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “If you look at our game in the last couple of weeks here, we’ve played a pretty simple game. We’ve played hard so we’re just trying to continually reinforce the basic areas systems-wise. We can do that by touching on one or two drills, whether it’s morning skate or practice or by doing it through a little bit of quick video before and after practice and games.”
Entering the game against St. Louis on Wednesday, the Kraken are 5-4-1 in the last ten including wins over the Dallas Stars and on the road against the Los Angeles Kings, two teams either in the playoffs or fighting for a spot.
Defenseman Cale Fleury was in Charlotte Monday, getting ready to tee off at a team golf tournament when he got the call that the Kraken were going to bring him up to Seattle. He finished the front nine before leaving the course to pack and get on a plane to Seattle.
“I think it should be good to kind of help set myself up for the future here and kind of show guys what I can do,” Fleury said. “I think I performed pretty well last time I was up here. I felt like I fit in pretty well and I think it’s just kind of a confidence thing coming into the spot.”
Seattle has been playing the last couple of games with no healthy scratches as Haydn Fleury and Jaden Schwartz continue to be out with injury. There was no update on the injured players from Hakstol, but having Cale Fleury with the big club gives the team some insurance.
Hakstol hinted that we might see Cale Fleury in one of the two games during the week.
“Cale was up earlier in the year, did a really good job,” Hakstol said. “When we were in Boston and New York he played with a lot of poise at that time. He’s gone back, and he’s been a top guy in Charlotte and done a really good job there and helped them to a real good playoff position. He’s earned the opportunity to come up and play and get a good opportunity to get in on this road trip.”
With the Checkers in the AHL, Fleury has scored seven goals, with 26 assists and 33 points through 58 games.
His brother, Haydn, did not practice on Monday but did last week with a no-contact jersey and had a long workout in the morning prior to Friday’s game with Vegas. It’s unknown if the two Fleury brothers will play as a pair as they did when Cale was called up earlier in the season.
“Obviously, it’s always good even when we can see each other,” Cale said. “I like when I can stay at his place when I’m here, especially with his young kid.”
Hakstol didn’t give any hints to what his lineup will look like in St. Louis, but the forward lines at practice Monday were the same as they were for Sunday’s win against the Stars.
The coach was mum about which goaltender would get the call first. Both have been playing well, especially Chris Driedger who has started three out four games and won twice. He was especially good in the third period on Sunday when he made 13 saves to preserve what was a one-goal lead for most of the frame.
“Driedgs is coming off of a performance where he battled hard and he got the win,” Hakstol said. “That’s a good situation going into the next game, so we have a decision to make… That’s their job, to make that decision a difficult one and then my job is to make the choice as to who is starting.”
As the Seattle Kraken wind down their inaugural season in the NHL, fans will undoubtedly start to turn their attention to the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. The Kraken were very active during their first NHL trade deadline in the middle of March when they made six trades that returned 10 draft picks over the next three years. Combined with three draft picks they accumulated before the start of the 2021-22 season, plus the standard seven picks per year that all teams get, the Kraken will have 34 picks over the next three NHL Entry Drafts.
Seattle also has the second most picks in the upcoming 2022 NHL Entry Draft with 12 picks.
To help better understand the value of those draft picks, we are going to spend some time framing how these picks translate to NHL players and when we might expect some of them to make it to the NHL. For the purposes of this analysis, we are excluding goalies from the data. Goalies have a very different timeline on their path to the NHL and will be the subject of a future story.
Every player’s path to the NHL is different, and some take longer to develop into regular NHL players. So it is not just about when they break into the league, but what they do when they get there. We will be using ‘games played’ as the metric to assess the long-term contributions of draft picks. Of course, there are other ways to evaluate a player’s ability and contribution, but for now, this metric will let us keep it simple.
Here is a look at the games played by draft round for players drafted from 2010 to 2017.
This chart signifies the importance and value of first-round draft picks as almost sure things to make the NHL. Returns for players selected in the second round tend to drop off quite a bit, as 28 percent have yet to play an NHL game. The steeper drop comes in the third round where close to 50 percent of the players have not and might not ever play in the NHL.
It is important to note that the data could be understating expectations since several players are still active and will continue to accumulate games played as their career continues. For example, Kraken forward Kole Lind was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the 2017 draft. He has only played in 20 career NHL games and is poised to be a regular in Seattle’s lineup next year.
It is not a perfect projection, but directionally, we feel this is a good indicator on setting the expectations for eventual returns from draft picks.
This also does not mean that players taken later than the third round are useless. Johnny Gaudreau, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Jaccob Slavin were all fourth-round picks that have played over 300 games in the NHL. The chart should just drive the point home that the more picks you have, even in the later rounds, the better your odds that you may find the next John Klingberg (fifth round), Brendan Gallagher (fifth), or Mark Stone (sixth).
It is also important to evaluate when we should expect a drafted player in the NHL. It is rare that we will see players drafted in the summer and then playing in the NHL the following season. In fact, there are usually fewer than five players drafted that play more than 25 games the very next season.
Here is a look at the players that made the jump to the NHL immediately after their draft year.
Based on this information, it is safe to assume that we will not be seeing any of the Kraken’s four second-round draft picks playing in Seattle next season. But the question is, when can we expect them to play in the NHL?
We looked at when players “make it” in the NHL by determining when a player plays his first 25-plus-game season in relation to his draft year.
As expected, players taken in later rounds take a bit longer to break into the NHL compared to earlier rounds. For first rounders, the biggest spike of players (57 players) breaking into the NHL comes in the second season after their draft year but years three (44 players) and four (40 players) still have a lot of first-round draft picks breaking into the NHL. Second-round draft picks tend to break into the NHL in seasons four (39 players) and five (34 players) in relation to their draft year.
This should temper some expectations on when we will see the likes of Ryker Evans (second-round selection in 2021) and all the other future second-round draft picks putting on the Kraken jersey.
There is a general feeling in the hockey world that Ron Francis drafts well. Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin are often the poster boys for this belief in Francis’ drafting abilities, but how does he do across all draft rounds compared to his peers?
If we isolate the Carolina Hurricanes draft picks while Francis was the general manager, we can compare his drafted players with the rest of the league in that same timeframe.
This is a relatively small sample size, but you can see that Francis’ first-round draft picks might have under-performed a bit compared to the rest of the league. But across the rest of the draft, he does better than the rest of the league. This should be encouraging for the Kraken who have 11 picks after the first round in this upcoming draft.
It is also worth noting that two of Francis’ picks are about to jump tiers. Both Jake Bean (first round, 2016) and Morgan Geekie (third round, 2017) are expected to bump into the 101 to 200 games tier this week.
Francis’ track record is solid, and the early evaluations of the Kraken draft picks selected last summer have been encouraging. Kraken fans should also feel good about the bounty of picks accumulated at the trade deadline, but remember that it can take time for players selected to become regulars in the NHL.
Kevin Korchinski picked the puck up at the half boards on a Seattle Thunderbirds power play during a January game against the rival Portland Wintherhawks. He thought about shooting but instead held on to the puck, stickhandled past a defender, and slung a shot from the slot. The puck made it through traffic and was tipped in by one of Korchinski’s teammates for a goal.
It just happened to be ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ night at the acesso Showare Center, an annual charity event were the fans throw stuffed toys onto the ice when the home team scores the first goal. As Korchinksi hugged his teammates, they found themselves in a shower of plush bears, lions, and other animals.
Korchinski’s play was subtle, but it allowed traffic to form in front of the net, and his shot was perfectly placed to allow his teammate to tip it in for a goal.
It’s that kind of offensive acumen that has landed the defenseman on the NHL Central Scouting list as an ‘A’ rated prospect for the 2022 NHL Draft. Korchinski, 17, is the highest-rated prospect from the U.S. Division and is one of the Western Hockey League’s best defensemen.
“I’m excited about my game,” Korchinski says. “It’s improved at both ends and I think I’m more confident. The stuff in the offseason paid off, and I’m kind of seeing the work get rewarded, so it’s been awesome.”
Seattle selected the 6-foot-2 defenseman with the 10th overall pick during the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft and this year he’s a big reason the Thunderbirds are having a resurgent season. Korchinski runs the offense, mans the power play, and logs top minutes for Seattle, which is looking to make a long playoff run this spring.
He benefited from the COVID-shortened WHL schedule last year. With a young roster and no playoffs to worry about, the Thunderbirds gave Korchinski more ice time in elevated situations that a 16-year-old rookie might not normally get.
“It really helped me kind of see the pace of the league,” Korchinski says. “Get to know the guys and just kind of see what I had done offseason and the work I had to put in heading to this year.”
Korchinski is projected to be a prospect that hears his name called sometime in the mid-first round to mid-second round in July.
Nobody is going to confuse Korchinski for a throwback, stay-at-home defenseman. He is every bit the modern defenseman who is an offensive threat, can skate, and move the puck with the best of them.
He’s a power-play quarterback and through 61 games with the Thunderbirds this season he has four goals and 51 assists – 24 of which have come on the power play.
“Definitely my skating, my puck moving ability and just my offensive instincts,” he says, self-scouting his strengths. “I’m always trying to create offense and always trying to put the puck in the back of the net, whether it’s a pass or shot.”
Korchinski’s game has drawn a lot of comparisons to Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore. Those that have seen them both play feel that they have similar skating ability and can take the puck from coast to coast. Theodore looked to score more while Korchinski is happy to set up teammates.
Those comparisons have made it back to Korchinski and he’s just fine with it.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot,” he says. “Being compared to guy like that, it’s unbelievable. He’s one of my favorite players. He’s unbelievable. And just being an ex-Thunderbird, it’s really cool.”
By comparison, Theodore scored 19 goals, 31 assists, for 50 points in 71 games during his draft year with Seattle.
Korchinski is not only looking to hear his name called by an NHL team this summer but wistfully looks at the potential of some day representing Canada at the World Junior Championship, something he certainly is on pace to be in the mix for.
“It’d be an honor to go to the World Juniors,” he says. “ It’s something that I grew up watching… I actually went to it in Montreal in 2015, flew down there with my family. It’s something that I just love. It’s something that every Christmas I watch and my dad’s really passionate about so it would make him really happy if I played.”
One player on the gold medal winning Team Canada that season in Montreal? Theodore.
Like most junior defensemen, Korchinski knows that he has to continue to work on his strength. He says that is the offseason plan, but for now, he wants to help the Thunderbirds go as far as they can in the postseason.
On this play, Korchinski shows off his skating, stickhandling, and vision as he circles the zone and finds a wide-open teammate on the doorstep for an easy tap in goal.
It’s not all offensive play however. Here, Korchinski retrieves the puck, gets away from two forecheckers and gets the puck up the ice and out of his own zone.
Korchinski controls the play and can make even-strength play look like a Seattle power play. Here he reads the ice and makes a perfect pass for a goal.
In this clip, he calls for the puck, gets it, walks the blue line to create a lane and shoots. His shot is deflected and Seattle scores on a rebound.