Thirty young Kraken hopefuls opened up the first official practice sessions of the preseason on Thursday morning at the Kraken Community Iceplex (KCI).
The ones to watch for me moving forward are the last two 1st-round NHL Draft picks, both centers, Berkly Catton and Jake O’Brien. Both were taken 8th overall, Catton in 2024.
We already know O’Brien is going back to the Ontario Hockey League this upcoming season, but it’ll still be fun to see how he stands up to the other prospects in this first go around.
Catton is a bit more of a wild card.
After attending Seattle’s camp last fall, Catton went on to play a dominant season in the Western Hockey League as captain of a Spokane Chiefs team that went all the way to game-7 of the WHL Final. They lost to top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Gavin McKenna and the Medicine Hat (Alberta) Tigers.
Barring a ground breaking performance at the Kraken’s big camp, Catton will return to the WHL. There’s a chance he could stay with the NHL club and play up to nine regular season games before a decision has to be made on where he plays the remainder of the season. If he’s surprisingly good, he’ll stick around at the expense of someone else and burn a season off his entry-level contract.
More on Catton, his size issues, and his off-season regimen, shortly.
In the meantime, Seattle’s big club remains a work in progress up the middle. They’ll try to succeed with depth.
The “kids” continue camp on Friday morning with a shot at making the squad that will play in the Kraken Prospects Showcase on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks prospects in Everett at the Angel of the Winds Arena.
There are 30 players at the rookie camp; 20 will dress for Saturday. The same two organizations play another game on Sunday at 4 pm at KCI.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken’s Dunn Ready For Resurgence
