With four minutes left in the first period of Thursday’s preseason home game between Vancouver and the Kraken, the visitors were attempting to agitate Seattle prospect Jacob Melanson. But the 2021 fifth-round draft choice kept his composure.
Melanson scored the first goal of the game about six minutes earlier and one shift before had uncorked another shot on goal and tried to tip in his own rebound. Throughout the first period, Melanson was skating hard, generating chances with linemates Shane Wright and Devin Shore while bodying opponents doing his own agitating without any trips to the penalty box.
“They [the Canucks] knew he was on the ice,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol after the game. “He got to the net, and stirred things up. He played hard, he played physical.”
Both Hakstol and linemate-for-the-night Shane Wright, who assisted on the goal with a skilled no-look backhand pass, referred to Melanson as “a hard-working guy.”
That first period demonstrates progress for Melanson, who scored 50 goals and added 49 assists in 59 Quebec Major Juniors Hockey League games last regular season and 15 more points (eight goals, seven assists) in 14 playoff contests. Last fall he played a handful of shifts in the first period of a preseason matchup with Edmonton before getting whistled for a 10-minute match penalty and a subsequent two-game suspension handed down from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for an illegal hit to the head on Oilers forward James Hamblin.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound forward has blossomed as a goal scorer while working with the Kraken’s player development group to curb his time in the penalty box or street clothes during games. Weekly calls and video study were a huge help for Melanson.
“With my big body, it’s about being able to still be that physical player but also be a little safer out there, not take too many penalties, and be able to put the puck in the net,” said Melanson during a pre-training camp sitdown. “We took that bit of my game and focused more on angling and getting the puck first, then putting the body into it once I get the puck.”
Melanson’s next test of his poise and physical/goal-scoring balance will come with American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley. The 20-year-old was reassigned Friday along with five other prospects, including fellow member Ryan Winterton (3rd round) of the Kraken’s inaugural draft class. The Firebirds skate in their first training camp session Sunday and the defending AHL Western Conference champions will open the season at home at a sold-out Acrisure Arena on Oct. 13.
“Some people might not understand in the moment of the game it’s really fast and you don’t have much time to think about what you’re doing,” said Melanson. “You have to slow your thoughts down and bring everything together. It’s a matter of teaching your mind to slow it down a little bit, which is big.”
Melanson says he has learned to concentrate on his play and consistency in how he incorporates his physicality rather than analyze how referees might be calling penalties on a given night.
“If someone makes a call you don’t think is a penalty, you’ve just got to take it and move on,” said Melanson.
Along with Kraken organizational teachings, Melanson credits his skating coach and physical conditioning coach for helping him gain speed and muscle over the three years since being drafted by Seattle.
“Getting my skating up to par enables me to be in situations to get those goals,” said Melanson. “And my strength trainer being able to put muscle on me helps me in the tight areas, being able to get pucks in the corner, win loose pucks, and use my big body to fight off those big D's [defenseman].”
Melanson will no doubt be delighting Firebirds fans soon and embracing the “hard-to-play-against” approach of the Kraken and Firebirds systems of play. Before he dives into his first season of a three-year entry-level contract, it seemed the right time to clear up just how the power forward pronounces his last name. It is: “Mah-LAHN-son” and thinking of the Italian cultural hub of Milan is helpful.
Smiling, Melanson said he’s heard his surname pronounced “different ways.” The guess here is Firebirds and Kraken fans alike will get it right in goal-scoring moments to come.
