"He scores goals, and he scores goals in a lot of different ways," Kraken general manager Ron Francis said after Seattle selected Firkus in the second round (No. 35) of the 2022 NHL Draft. "He's got the fancy nickname with the 'Firkus Circus.' He finds a way to score goals and that's tough to do. Hopefully, he can score goals for the Seattle Kraken."
Firkus (5-foot-10, 153 pounds) had 80 points (36 goals, 44 assists) in 66 games for Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League last season. He finished the season ranked 12th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. It was then when some scouts likened him to Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner, who was 10th in the NHL last season with 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists).
"That's really cool being compared to Mitch Marner," Firkus said at Kraken development camp last week. "It's mind-blowing for me. I think that's really cool if people say that. That's a really big compliment for myself so I'm never going to deny that. I think his creativity is impressive."
Firkus also had ties to his new team before Seattle chose him with one of its four second-round selections. He's from Irma, Alberta, the same hometown as Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy, a lifelong friend of Firkus' older brother, Ambrose.
"We are from a town of 500 people and it's a super small town," Firkus said. "It's pretty cool that I got to be able to come here. [Soucy has] been my older brother's best friend since I can remember. I remember playing mini-sticks with him since I was like 3 or 4 years old. So it's pretty cool. It's unbelievable."
Firkus made a splash with his performance in the CHL Top Prospects game on March 23, when he had a goal and an assist and was named player of the game.
"I was always a highly confident guy and always will be, but I think that just it opened eyes for me," Firkus said. "I know that there's a lot of people watching that game. There's lots of media around that game, so it was awesome to go out there. I thought it was just another game for me. I didn't overthink it; it was just me going in there and playing my game and I'm happy that it did open a couple of eyes."
Firkus will most likely return to Moose Jaw following Seattle training camp this fall. Whether the Kraken have the next Marner on their hands remains to be seen; for now, Firkus is soaking in all he can and trying to adjust to things like having fans at practice, which was the case during development camp and something he has not seen before.
"It's a little bit more pressure in that kind of practice than in a regular practice," he said. "But you've just got to treat it like practice and just go out there. You're just trying to get better and better. You can't be afraid to make mistakes. That's one big thing.
"If you make mistakes, it's a practice still, and you can still go through another rep in about 10 minutes or whatever. Don't worry about it. Just go out there and try to find your best."
