Plenty of Kraken prospects are on the move these days. Three Seattle draft choices in the Western Hockey League and Ontario playoffs series are headed to the second round in the quest to win league titles and advance to the coveted Memorial Cup tournament. Others have been eliminated from the Canadian Hockey League postseason, with several soon traveling to Coachella Valley to be part of the American Hockey League Firebirds playoff run, getting in plenty of practice time while the team has a first-round bye and awaits a second-round opponent. Let’s catch up on some performances and itineraries, plus a prospect-centric wrap on Coachella Valley’s regular season:
Hats Off for Firkus
Kraken 2022 second-rounder and No. 35 pick overall, Jagger Firkus, notched a hat trick for Moose Jaw before a raucous home crowd to seal a Game 5 win and series victory over Swift Current in a best-of-seven second-round matchup. Moose Jaw now moves on to the Eastern Conference final against Saskatoon, which posted the best record in the WHL this year and swept its first-round series.
The 4-2 Moose Jaw win was full of drama, and Firkus’ decisive goals formed all sorts of plot twists. After Swift Current scored to grab an early first period lead, Firkus answered just 38 second later to knot the game. He scored the go-ahead-stay-ahead goal later in the frame on the power play. He then completed the natural hat trick on another man-advantage strike in the second period. From there, Moose Jaw absorbed one third-period goal from the visitors, then kept the lead and iced it in the final minute with an empty-net score.
“To score goals, it’s fun, especially with a crowd like tonight,” Firkus said to Britton Gray of CJME 980 AM of Regina, SK, after the win. “It means a lot to us and definitely gives us an extra jump. We are looking forward to the next series and seeing what [the crowd] can do.”
Firkus scored seven goals against Swift Current and added four assists. He has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in nine playoff games to date. That ranks second in the WHL postseason scoring stats. Games 1 and 2 will be in Saskatoon starting Friday.
Jugnauth, Portland Advance in WHL West
On the other side of the WHL postseason bracket, the chalk has prevailed, with Portland eliminating Everett and Kraken prospect Kaden Hammell (5th round, 2023) in a four-game sweep. Hammell scored in Game 4, and the Silvertips jumped to a 3-0 lead. But No. 2 seed Portland roared back to take the game and series in overtime. The Winterhawks will now face top-ranked Prince George in the Western Conference final.
Kraken 2022 fourth-rounder Tyson Jugnauth was a key performer for Portland. The Winterhawks defenseman scored his fourth goal of the series in Game 4 and added four assists during the sweep. He was impressive in all zones and has earned the coaching staff's trust to be on the ice for both power plays and penalty kills. He finished the series plus-9 for goals scored while he was on the ice. Jugnauth decision to leave NCAA Wisconsin earlier this season (and where he played as a freshman last year) has turned out to represent quite the upside for the player, WHL team, and the Kraken pipeline.
Portland travels to Prince George for the first two games of the Western Conference final. Prince George eliminated Kelowna and Seattle prospect Caden Price to earn the spot. Price finished his WHL postseason with a goal and ten assists in 11 games.
From OHL to AHL: Goyette Hurries to SoCal, Rehkopf Signs
With his OHL club, Sudbury, knocked out of the playoffs last Thursday, Kraken forward David Goyette was assigned to Coachella Valley, where he impressed Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma last postseason. Bylsma was hoping Goyette could make it to southern California to play in CVF’s regular-season finale at home. It all worked out, thanks to swift work by the Kraken hockey operations staff, and Goyette played well, especially given the hurried weekend travel. The just-turned-20-year-old forward was a wing on the second line, plus had time on the second-unit power play.
Kitchener was similarly swept out of the OHL playoffs. As a result, Kraken 2023 second-rounder Carson Rehkopf, second in the OHL with 52 goals during the regular season, officially signed a three-year, $950,000 average annual value (AAV) entry-level contract with Seattle on Sunday. He will report to Coachella Valley this week.
“We saw tremendous progress from Carson as he set multiple career highs this season,” said Kraken GM Ron Francis. “We are excited for him to officially join our organization.”
Wright Scores with Six Seconds Left in Weekend Thriller
Coachella Valley dropped a shootout home loss to San Diego Sunday afternoon to finish the AHL regular with the best record in the Western Conference and second to only defending Calder Cup champ Hershey for best record in the league (the two teams went to Game 7 overtime last spring to decide the cup winner). But Kraken fans take note: CVF was down, 3-0, after the first 20 minutes before notching three goals in the third period (one by Logan Morrison, back with the Firebirds after an impressive showing with the Kraken). Fellow prospect Jacob Melanson picked up the assist to continue his strong play down the stretch run of the regular season.
Sunday continued a weekend comeback trend that CVF would rather not need to repeat much in the playoffs (action will start April 30/May 1 range). That said, down 4-1 entering the third period against rival San Diego Saturday night on the road, the Firebirds scored three times to send the game to overtime. Shane Wright, who scored four goals and added an assist in his five games during his recent call-up with the Kraken, scored with four minutes left (during a 5-on-3 power play) to bring the deficit down to one goal. Wright then knotted the game with six seconds remaining in regulation, with the primary assist going to linemate Ryan Winterton (another prospect who impressed in recent action with the Kraken).
Along with Wright and Winterton, fellow prospects Morrison and Jani Nyman were on the ice for those final seconds of regulation, coming through with the clutch scoring play. Coachella Valley won the game in overtime on a goal from veteran Marian Studenic.
It was Wright’s 22nd goal of the season and capped a head-turning, trending-up season noted and praised by Kraken GM Ron Francis, Firebirds coach Dan Bylsma and, when with the Kraken late in the year, veteran alternate captains Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz.
“I think he's come a long way in the last year in his development,” said GM Francis about Wright, the team’s first-round pick (4th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. “He's much more confident, he's having fun again playing the game and the stint he had up here, I'm not sure it could have gone much better other than if he got the hat trick [during a two-goal road game in Anaheim] ... Here's a kid 19 years old in the American League with 22 goals and 47 points [in 59 games] That's pretty impressive for a young kid. We see a bright future for Shane in the organization. I don't think there's any reason why he couldn't make our team coming out of camp [this coming fall].
Along with Wright and the others, Jani Nyman was sharp in the final weekend of the AHL regular season, scoring his second goal over his first five pro games in North America. The sizeable Finnish winger tallied on a rebound shot four-and-a-half minutes into the third period to spark the comeback. Francis noted during his Monday press conference that Nyman broke a record set more than 40 years ago for most goals scored by an under-20 player with 26 goals in Finland’s highly respected top-tier pro league, Lliga.
“He has an elite shot and has showed it on multiple occasions,” said AHL coach Bylsma, who noted that though Nyman didn’t score during an April 17 game against Tucson, “Jani registered six shots with several very good scoring chances.”
Look for “Depth of the Sea/Playoffs Editon” stories every Thursday during the postseason for all Kraken prospects still on the ice, plus occasional news updates on Mondays.
