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Kraken Recall Shane Wright

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The Kraken have recalled top forward prospect Shane Wright from AHL Coachella Valley, per a team announcement Sunday.

Wright’s recall gives Seattle a crowded roster up front. Another pair of youngsters, Logan Morrison and Ryan Winterton, were recalled from Coachella Valley last week and have both factored into the Kraken’s last three games. Seattle GM Ron Francis certainly seems intent on giving the future of his organization a chance in the majors down the stretch with playoff hockey no longer in the conversation, Wright included.

The 20-year-old Wright was the consensus top prospect in the 2022 draft class for quite some time, but a slightly underwhelming draft year and some impressive performances from his peers allowed him to slip to the Kraken, who held the fourth overall pick. His post-draft season was rocky, too. He made Seattle out of camp after signing his entry-level contract in 2022 but played sparingly over the first few weeks of the season. His consistent healthy scratches allowed Seattle to take advantage of a loophole in the NHL/CHL transfer agreement and give Wright his first taste of AHL hockey, assigning him to Coachella Valley on a conditioning loan for a two-week stretch. The Kraken then loaned him out to the Canadian national junior team, with whom he recorded seven points in seven games while serving as team captain en route to a gold medal, before returning him to OHL Windsor to close out the season in major junior play.

While Wright would have been ineligible for full-time AHL assignment this season as well, as his 20th birthday fell after Jan. 1, he was awarded an exception by the CHL and reported to Coachella Valley to kick off the 2023-24 season. That’s where he’s remained outside of two brief recalls to Seattle in November and December, ranking fifth among a deep offense with 20 goals, 23 assists and 43 points in 56 games. It’s been a solid but not overly impressive showing for the former OHL rookie of the year, who was also held without a point in three games of major league action with the Kraken earlier this season.

It’s unclear if the Kraken intend on keeping Wright in the NHL for the remainder of the stretch run, although there’s nothing stopping them with ample cap space and no roster limit. He’s still in the first season of his entry-level contract, which didn’t take effect last season because he played less than 10 NHL games. That could repeat again this year if he fails to hit the double-digit mark, something the Kraken would like to do to extend his value. Thus, don’t expect him to play more than six of Seattle’s nine remaining games. If his ELC defers again, he’ll reach restricted free agency in 2027.

Seattle Kraken Recall Cale Fleury, Reassign Gustav Olofsson

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In a minor tweak to their blue line, the Seattle Kraken have made a change at the bottom of their defensive core. The organization announced they have recalled defenseman Cale Fleury on an emergency basis, and have reassigned Gustav Olofsson to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

For the second year in a row, Olofsson has spent much of the season at the AHL level, receiving his first call-up of the year on March 26th. Managing three games for the Kraken last year, Olofsson has only suited up in one for Seattle this season, registering zero points in 14:57 of ice time.

At the AHL level, Olofsson has not been much of an offensive threat either, only scoring 14 points in 61 games for the Firebirds since joining the Kraken organization. Fleury, on the other hand, has been much more productive at Coachella Valley, scoring six goals and 32 points over 60 games this year alone.

Nevertheless, Fleury has not played for the Kraken yet this season after tallying one assist in 12 games for the team last year. Now, the former 87th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft will have the opportunity to play bottom-pairing minutes for Seattle moving forward.

Kraken Sign Lukas Dragicevic To Entry-Level Contract

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The Seattle Kraken have signed top defense prospect Lukas Dragicevic to his entry-level contract (Twitter link). The deal will carry a $950K annual-average-value (AAV). Seattle drafted Dragicevic in the second-round of the 2023 NHL Draft, using a pick acquired in the trade that sent Mark Giordano to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s the 12th player from the second-round to sign a pro deal.

Kraken Sign Forward Lleyton Roed

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The Seattle Kraken have joined in on the NCAA free agent market, signing forward Lleyton Roed out of Bemidji State University. The team has confirmed the deal as a two-year, entry-level contract with a $950K average-annual value (Twitter link – corrected to a two-year deal by CapFriendly). The deal was first reported by FloHockey’s Chris Peters.

Roed is turning pro after his sophomore season with Bemidji. He’s been the team’s top scorer in both seasons, totaling 61 points across 74 appearances. In fact, his career 0.82 points per game marks the highest rate a Bemidji player has scored since Owen Sillinger in 2022 – and Matt Read in 2011 before him.

Roed, 21, joined Bemidji after just one season in juniors hockey, scoring 41 points in 60 games with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. He’d otherwise primarily played in Minnesota high school hockey and went undrafted through his eligibility in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 drafts. He moved to college in the subsequent season and has been performing well ever since, flaunting fantastic play when the puck is on his stick. Roed has great agility and is able to control the puck and his skating to work out of awkward positions and find his teammates. It makes him a great set-up man, though his eye for plays often lands him in a scoring position as well. While his game could afford more explosivity off of the puck, Roed has adapted well to the harder-hitting and defensive-minded NCAA. That could help him a lot as he now moves to the AHL, though he’ll still need to adjust to the pace of a pro game.

Seattle Kraken Recall Defenseman Gustav Olofsson

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The Seattle Kraken have recalled defenseman Gustav Olofsson from the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL on an emergency basis. The 29-year-old has yet to dress this season for the Kraken but did get into three contests for the team last season in which he was held scoreless.

After earning two NHL recalls last year, Olofsson signed a two-year two-way extension with the Kraken last June and has spent the entirety of this season in the AHL dressing in 41 contests registering a goal and seven assists while posting a +15.

A native of Boras, Sweden, Olofsson was originally drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL entry draft by the Minnesota Wild. He spent five seasons in the Wild organization dressing in 56 NHL games before spending three seasons in the Montreal Canadiens system and then eventually signing with the Kraken in 2021-22.

Since signing with Seattle, Olofsson has seen limited NHL action but has been a key component to the Firebirds AHL success, including dressing in 26 playoff games as Coachella Valley came within a goal of winning the Calder Cup last season.

If Olofsson can see NHL action during his recall he will still be in search of his first NHL goal as he has 11 career assists in 62 career NHL games.

Ryker Evans Out Day-To-Day

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  • The Kraken lost big-time last night, 5-1 to the Canadiens, but that wasn’t the only downside of the game. Promising rookie blue-liner Ryker Evans sustained a lower-body injury in the first period and is out on a day-to-day basis, head coach Dave Hakstol told Scott Malone of ROOT Sports NW. The 22-year-old has formed one of the better depth pairings in the league this year when used with veteran Brian Dumoulin, as they’ve controlled 61.4% of expected goals through 142 minutes of action, according to MoneyPuck. That’s 10th in the league among pairings with at least 100 minutes together this season. Through 25 contests, Evans has eight points while logging 18:30 per game and has remained on the roster since being called up on deadline day.

Kraken Recall Logan Morrison, Ryan Winterton

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The Kraken have recalled forwards Logan Morrison and Ryan Winterton from AHL Coachella Valley on emergency loans, per CapFriendly. The emergency designations suggest multiple forwards are questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Ducks.

If Morrison slots into the lineup, it would mark his NHL debut. The 21-year-old center is in his first professional season with Coachella Valley, where he’s done quite well with 15 goals and 40 points in 60 games. It’s an earlier recall than expected for the Guelph, Ontario native, who inked an entry-level contract with Seattle as an undrafted free agent in April 2023.

It was a tough road to the pros for Morrison, who went undrafted in 2020 as a member of the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and was shut out of the 2020-21 campaign entirely when the league canceled its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He responded well, though, rattling off 100 points in 60 games the following year en route to a league championship, also capturing the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for the postseason MVP after he potted 17 goals in 19 playoff games. The 6’0″ pivot also earned OHL First All-Star Team honors last year, recording 40 goals and 94 points in 56 games split between Hamilton and the Ottawa 67’s.

An extremely sportsmanlike player, Morrison has only recorded 2 PIMs through his 60 minor-league contests. He’s benefitting greatly from Coachella Valley’s optimally deep development environment, which boasts nine double-digit goal-scorers this season.

This is the second NHL call-up for the 20-year-old Winterton, who played his first three major league games across a five-day stint in early November 2023. The 2021 third-round pick and longtime teammate of Morrison with Hamilton averaged just 8:12 through his trio of appearances, however, and notched just one shot on goal without getting on the scoresheet. His possession stats were quite poor as well, despite seeing most of his time in the offensive zone, posting a 37.1 CF% at even strength and a -0.5 expected rating.

Things have gone considerably better for Winterton in the minors, where, like Morrison, he’s having a strong first professional season. Once one of major junior hockey’s most prolific players at getting pucks on net, Winterton is tied for second on Coachella Valley in goals with 21 in 55 games. He also leads the squad with a +26 rating.

Kraken Notes: Dunn, Schwartz, Oleksiak

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In unfortunate news for the Seattle Kraken blue line, Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times reports that defenseman Vince Dunn did not travel with the team for their game tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. This will mark Dunn’s seventh straight game that he has been unable to suit up, dealing with an upper-body injury suffered a little over two weeks ago.

Dunn originally sustained an injury on a play that warranted a suspension, receiving a hit from behind from Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil. It has been the first major injury to Dunn that he has suffered throughout his tenure with the Kraken organization.

Seattle has heavily missed him, as he has been the team’s best defenseman for the last three seasons. Without their top defensive cog in the lineup, the Kraken has produced a 1-4-1 record in Dunn’s absence, averaging 3.83 goals against per game.

Other Kraken notes:

  • Shefte also reported that Jaden Schwartz would be a game-time decision for tonight’s action. Schwartz has missed the last four games for Seattle as he is dealing with an undisclosed injury. Similar to the rest of his tenure with the Kraken organization, this will mark the fourth time this year that Schwartz has missed game action due to injury.
  • Lastly, in yet another blow to Seattle’s blue line, the team does not sound optimistic about Jamie Oleksiak’s availability tonight (X Link). Earlier today, the team did recall defenseman Cale Fleury on an emergency basis, and he will likely play in his first NHL game of the season tonight.

Kraken Recall Cale Fleury

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The Kraken announced they’ve recalled defenseman Cale Fleury from AHL Coachella Valley on an emergency basis. As such, one of the Kraken’s six healthy defenders may be unavailable for tonight’s contest against the Golden Knights. That could be Jamie Oleksiak, who Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times said participated in morning skate but missed some of Seattle’s game earlier this week against the Sabres. Fleury’s emergency recall does not count toward the Kraken’s four post-trade deadline standard recalls.

Fleury has been recalled once this season in a peculiar paper transaction on deadline day but has otherwise spent the entirety of 2023-24 with Coachella Valley. He doesn’t have any NHL games logged this year after playing in multiple games in each of the last two seasons with the Kraken. The 25-year-old was the Kraken’s expansion draft selection from the Canadiens in 2021.

This is Fleury’s first season suiting up for the Firebirds, as the franchise didn’t exist during Seattle’s inaugural season, and he didn’t see any AHL time last year. The former captain of the WHL’s Kootenay Ice has done well, recording five goals and 29 points in 57 games with a +20 rating. Coachella Valley sits first in the Pacific Division and second in the entire league with a 37-13-5-3 record.

In 62 NHL games dating back to his debut with the Habs in 2019, however, Fleury has been a nonfactor. He’s been held to just one goal and one assist throughout that time, averaging decidedly bottom-pairing minutes at 14:11 per game. His possession metrics have been decent for his role, rocking a 50.5 CF% at even strength, but owns a career -2.1 expected rating in relatively advantageous two-way usage. There isn’t much there to suggest he should be moved higher up in the lineup.

The 2017 third-round pick has one year remaining on a two-year deal he signed last July. He carries a $800K cap hit and will be an RFA with arbitration rights in 2025.

Western Notes: Scheifele, Vilardi, Dunn, Kovalenko

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The Winnipeg Jets could be getting major reinforcements back soon, with the team hopeful that Mark Scheifele will return to the lineup on Friday, per Scott Billeck with the Winnipeg Sun. Billeck also shared that Gabriel Vilardi will remain out on Friday. Vilardi has been out since February 29th with an upper-body injury, missing the team’s last seven games. The extended absence has continued a season of injuries for Vilardi, who has now missed 27 games on the season.

Scheifele missed Winnipeg’s Wednesday night game with illness. He continues to lead the Jets in scoring, with 19 goals and 57 points in 58 games. The Jets simply haven’t been the same team without Scheifele, averaging a measly 1.57 goals-per-game in his absence compared to 3.22 goals-per-game with him in the lineup – leading Winnipeg to a 2-5-0 record without their top forward.

Scheifele’s importance to the Winnipeg roster can’t be understated, placing plenty of weight on his game-time decision ahead of Friday’s matchup. If he can’t go, the Jets will need to rely on one of David Gustafsson or Rasmus Kupari. Gustafsson has been Winnipeg’s de facto fill-in this year, with four points in 31 games, though Kupari’s role as a natural center could earn him a leg-up, even despite his sole assist through 27 games this season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Seattle Kraken will be without defenseman Vince Dunn for the fourth straight game, per Scott Malone with Root Sports. Dunn has been Seattle’s top defender this year, averaging over 23 minutes of ice time for the second-straight season. Dunn has managed 11 goals and 45 points in 57 games on the season, scoring at nearly the exact same pace as he did last season, when he posted a career-high 14 goals and 64 points in 71 games. Without Dunn, Seattle has promoted top young defender Ryker Evans back into an NHL role. Evans has five assists in 19 games this season – the first games of his NHL career – though he’s still searching for his first career goal. Evans has also managed two goals and 15 points in 25 AHL games this year.
  • The Colorado Avalanche could be adding a major boost even after the Trade Deadline, with Russian forward Nikolai Kovalenko reportedly headed to America soon, per Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now, as well as a social media post from Kovalenko’s barber. The Avalanche drafted Kovalenko in the sixth-round of the 2018 NHL Draft, with the winger since emerging as a strong option for the KHL’s Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The 24-year-old scored 11 goals and 35 points in 42 KHL games this season, after posting a career-high 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games last season. He will look to carry that same scoring energy onto the high-offense Colorado lineup.

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