Firkus plans on big future with Kraken despite small stature

SEATTLE -- Jagger Firkus has yet to play his first NHL game, but the 19-year-old forward prospect is feeling like an established veteran following his second development camp with the Seattle Kraken last month.

Selected by the Kraken in the second round (No. 35) of the 2022 NHL Draft, Firkus is no longer a newbie on the Seattle hockey scene.

"As a second-year guy, especially with Seattle, there's not many prospects in the system," he said. "So, you kind of want to be a leader and make sure if there are any questions, you're a guy that's open to answer them."

Firkus has been the leading scorer the past two seasons for Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League; he finished 10th in the league last season with 88 points (40 goals, 48 assists), after he had 80 points (36 goals, 44 assists) in 2021-22, good for 14th in the WHL.

He could return to Moose Jaw for a third season, with aspirations of leading his teammates to a deep playoff run and perhaps even a WHL championship.

"I want to get a ring, if I'm being honest," Firkus said. "I think we're a really good squad coming in this year, so it's going to be an exciting year."

Getting to this point, where the NHL is on the horizon, has not been easy for Firkus (5-foot-10, 153 pounds); he always been considered undersized by coaches and scouts, and said he thought that's why he dropped to the fourth round (No. 82) in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

"I didn't think I was going to go the WHL route the whole time," Firkus said. "I thought I was going to go NCAA because I thought I needed a couple extra years to develop."

Instead, the decision to play in the WHL paid off. And though he's small in stature, his big shot has helped make him a top prospect for Seattle.

During the COVID layoff in 2020-21, Firkus worked incessantly to improve his shot under the tutelage of his brother, Abrose Firkus, a skills coach based in Lloydminster, Alberta.

"With all my time off, all I really did in my basement was just shoot pucks constantly," Firkus said. "So, I think that's a big thing for me that kind of made my shot get that big boom."

Firkus said his brother taught him the right way to release the puck to get the most out of his hockey stick.

"You have to really whip your stick to get the shot off well," Firkus said. "I think that's really the whole point of the new sticks nowadays is all you have to do is really put some weight into it and get some flex, and the release [speaks for] itself."

Last season also presented learning opportunities; Firkus participated in Kraken training camp in September and joined Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League for one game during its run to the Calder Cup Finals.

That's where Firkus saw firsthand the work professional hockey players put in, jumping into workouts even after the most strenuous playoff games.

"I think that's one big thing that I took away from it was how hard everybody worked," he said.

He also played one preseason game for the Kraken against the Calgary Flames, his father's favorite team when Firkus was a child.

"Even if it's just a preseason game, you're in an NHL arena, you're playing the Calgary Flames, a team three hours away from where I grew up," Firkus said. "You're like, 'Holy cow, this is really happening.'"