As American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley prepared for Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round Calder Cup Playoffs series Tuesday, the Kraken’s newly named general manager, Jason Botterill, was talking up the talent due to take the ice in the southern California desert. That would include the likes of the Firebirds' leading goal scorer Jani Nyman (who scored 28 for CVF and three more for the Kraken during a 12-game NHL stint), AHL First-Team Rookie All-Star Nikke Kokko (earning an impressive 20 wins), and rookie defenseman Ty Nelson (progressing to top-four minutes along with duties on the penalty kill and power play units).
Botterill, an assistant Seattle GM over the first four seasons and NHL Drafts, led the player development group among other duties. He identified the prospect pool (which includes draft choices and undrafted signed free agents) as one of the key factors in place for becoming a perennial NHL playoff team (the others are ownership support, a passionate fan base, and NHL players who want to play and live in Seattle.
“We have a pipeline of young players coming or pushing for spots on the NHL roster,” said Botterill during his opening remarks at the Tuesday press conference in the Kraken Community Iceplex lobby to announce Botterill as GM and Ron Francis as president of hockey operations. “The future is very bright.”
Early Success in Player Development, Need ‘Roster Opportunities’
Botterill noted the prospect system has already produced regulars, including first-rounders Matty Beniers and Shane Wright from 2021 and 2022, plus defenseman Ryker Evans (2021 second-rounder) and the undrafted Tye Kartye filling in so ably for Jared McCann during the 2022 playoff run after his AHL Rookie of the Year season with Coachella Valley. There are certainly others who will be afforded all chances to make the roster as early as next season’s opening night, including a 2024 first-round draft choice who, at 18, is a current co-scoring leader in the Western Hockey League postseason.
“What I'm excited about is we’re not just putting all our hopes on one player,” said Botterill. "It's a group of players. I think that's how you really gain success down the road, if there's that inner competition for the call-ups, inner competition pushing each other. That's what we've created with Coachella Valley [he helped CVF’s vice president of hockey and business operations, Troy Bodie, build out the franchise]. It's the young players pushing up into our organization wanting to be a part of things ... “We will need roster opportunities open for competition from our young players [at this fall’s training camp and September to come].”
There are even draft choices finishing their junior or European seasons who will be pushing for possible spots during this spring’s AHL postseason. Botterill named 2024 second-rounder Nathan Villeneuve, who joined CVF after his junior season, as a player who adds a physical element for the Firebirds on a line with 2021 fifth-rounder Jacob Melanson and veteran center Mitchell Stephens. Another couple names: 2023 second-round draft Mulgaard Bulldog came over from his season in the top Swedish pro league to play a formidable eight AHL games, scoring two clutch goals and impressing in all the offensive/defensive details that coaches and player development staffers love; he left this weekend to join Team Denmark for the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championship. Then there’s Belarus-born 2023 fourth-rounder Andrei Lashko, who scored two goals on his first two pro hockey shots in his AHL debut Saturday.
“When our prospects come up to Seattle, they're going to have to fight for ice time,” said Botterill. “They're doing that already in Coachella Valley. They're looking around and they're pushing each other in practice for ice time [during games]. That's going to just allow them to have more success up here. I love that [Kraken director of player development] Jeff Tambellini and his staff have communicated so well with [Firebirds coach] Derek Laxdal and his staff there. Now the younger prospects are getting playoff experience to hopefully further push him along.”
