Development and Dreams

Hockey dreams will be as prevalent as practice pucks at the Kraken's second post-NHL Draft development camp when team prospects take to the ice Sunday. There will be split squads to afford more personal attention to each of the 35 participants, but a unifying factor remains: Every Kraken prospect has eyes on the goal of playing in the NHL.

"Our biggest objective is to give every one of our prospects the opportunity and the resources to make the NHL," Kraken director of player development Jeff Tambellini said last August when he began his role. "It's a big, the big step going from junior hockey, college hockey or European leagues, into the American League and then the National Hockey League."

In all, there are 20 forwards in camp, plus 10 defensemen and five goalies. Twenty-four players are Kraken draftees, while nine more players (including three goaltenders) are invitees and two are undrafted free agents signed by the Kraken. Logan Morrison is a notable free agent signee who was teammates with 2021 third-round pick Ryan Winterton (in camp) during their juniors careers. Morrison is a right-handed center who totaled 40 goals and 54 assists in 56 regular season games with two Ontario Hockey League juniors teams and then notched 10 goals and six assists in 11 playoff games with the Ottawa 67's.

"It's our job as a whole staff to help these players navigate that transition, make them better players, make them stronger off the ice," said Tambellini. "We set their training schedules and help with all the details that go into being a pro."

To date, the Kraken's player development path has been fruitful. Matty Beniers was a headliner at the last two Kraken development or "dev" camps. Last week he accepted the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.

Seattle's 2022 first-round pick, Shane Wright, will take on the role of mentor to fellow prospects on and off the ice all week at Kraken Community Iceplex with his latest entries to his hockey portfolio including eight NHL games (and his first goal), captaining a 2023 Team Canada gold medal team at the IIHF World Championships and joining the AHL affiliate Coachella Valley for 24 games in which the Firebirds won the Western Conference championship and came up one overtime goal short of winning the league title.

Undrafted free agent Tye Kartye advanced from his final juniors season in the 2021-22 to become the AHL rookie of the year award winner along with playing 10 games for the Kraken during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Kartye scored on his first-ever NHL shot and totaled three goals in the NHL postseason.

There's more: 2021 second-round pick Ryker Evans led all AHL defensemen in postseason scoring and was third overall among all AHL skaters. He made the AHL all-rookie team while proving the Kraken's amateur scouting staff right for insisting (GM Ron Francis called it "pounding on the table") that Seattle pick Evans early on the second morning of the 2021 NHL Draft.

All four players were on the ice last summer - but only Wright will be there this year - when the prospects convened for development camp. Make no mistake this camp's participants - 20 forwards, 10 defensemen and five goaltenders - know those stories and probably all of the stats and awards involved. It will inspire them to follow their own hockey pursuits and not question why there might be skill sessions this week without sticks or pucks.

The prospects will benefit from the guidance of the organization's NHL and AHL coaching staffs, plus Kraken player development staffers and two guest coaches, Katelyn Parker and Lennie Childs, who are part of the leadership mix via the Female Coaches Development Program and BIPOC Coaches Program respectively. All of the leaders lived out their own hockey journeys as players. Tambellini, for one, was a star for NCAA powerhouse Michigan before playing 261 AHL games and 281 NHL games over six seasons, before playing five years in Europe and mixing in one more AHL season.

"I was able to go through the process myself and understand what it feels like to go from being a prospect to transitioning to the American Hockey League," said Tambellini. "I got to see where I had success and see where I could have done. It's really important to build a [player development] staff that has had different experiences in the process.

Every one of these players coming into the Kraken organization has a different story and a different path. It's up to us to find a way to connect to these young men and work with them, whether on the ice or off the ice."

All 10 players selected in last week's 2023 NHL Draft will be on the ice Sunday through Wednesday. Their work with the player development group started as soon as the draft choices reached the Kraken suite at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. There will be a mix of hockey and fun activities over the camp days.

Each prospect across the 35 players in town will have personalized training and conditioning plans in place upon departure. Like all prospects already in the system, the 2023 draft class will be hearing at least weekly from player development coaches. Tye Kartye referenced those calls when discussing his breakout season as a pro.

Same for 2021 fifth-round draft choice Jacob Melanson, who credited the player development phone calls (which can integrate videos of a prospect's play) with helping him become a still-physical player while penalized less. One result was a 50-goal season from Melanson. Center Kyle Jackson, a 2022 seventh-round pick, said similar phone calls fueled his improved faceoff percentage from season start to the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

The development camp will conclude with a three-on-three scrimmage Wednesday at 12 noon. The friendly competition is open to the public and the Kraken will host a barbecue for fans after the event.