It’s been a real short summer for Kraken first-round draft pick Berkly Catton, who’s gotten to live out plenty of childhood dreams within a matter of weeks.
That trend will continue next month when Saskatchewan native and Spokane Chiefs star Catton, 18, joins other top prospects, including Shane Wright, Ryan Winterton, Jagger Firkus and Carson Rehkopf, at his first rookie camp held at the Kraken Community Iceplex. The Kraken released their rookie camp roster Thursday, with Catton, selected No. 8 overall in June at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas, foremost among those receiving their first invites.
For Catton, his event-packed off-season has made it easier to keep his mind and body in full hockey mode, evidenced by the centerman’s standout performance at Team Canada’s recently completed Summer Showcase of top hopefuls for that squad’s entry in December’s upcoming IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship.
“Being a little kid, if you were to mention the NHL Draft and a World Juniors showcase, I would have been completely ecstatic,” Catton said Thursday. “So, I think that just going to those things was so cool. But it has been a pretty short summer.”
Catton is among the more dynamic of numerous talented hopefuls steadily progressing upward toward the Kraken and partaking in the rookie camp. Whereas top-end center depth hasn’t previously been as strong as other parts of the team, the Kraken can now envision Catton, Matty Beniers and Wright filling mid-ice spots on their top three lines in the not-too-distant future.
This year’s camp, starting in September, differs from prior ones in that it will end with selected Kraken youngsters flying to Los Angeles to partake in the seven-team NHL Rookie Faceoff tournament against prospects from the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Utah HC. The tournament, taking place Sept. 13-16 at the Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, Calif. will see the Kraken face Colorado on Sept. 14 and Vegas on the 15th.
No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini is already confirmed as playing at the event for San Jose.
The Kraken will wait until rookie camp to announce who will play for them, though younger prospects such as Catton, Rehkopf, Firkus, Jani Nyman, David Goyette, Jacob Melanson, Eduard Sale, Ty Nelson, Julius Miettinen of the Everett Silvertips and former Tri-City Americans stalwart Lukas Dragicevic are widely expected to be there.
Which gives Catton another childhood dream milestone to shoot for.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Catton said when asked whether the tournament ratchets up his already-high excitement level. “The only time I’ve really had the Kraken jersey on was when my name got mentioned that night at the draft. So, to represent the team would be really cool and I’m looking forward to it obviously.
“Just looking across and seeing the other teams wearing their jerseys and stuff will be really cool. Although it’s all rookies, I think it’s going to be some fast-paced and competitive hockey.”
Catton got a taste of a quicker pace at last month’s Kraken development camp and then the recent Summer Showcase tryouts for a Canadian team always a World Juniors gold medal favorite. Many observers came away touting Catton as Canada’s top performer, capped by his scoring twice in a 5-4 shootout loss to Team USA.
He feels his short summer and inability to get away from hockey more than a week or two at a time probably helped.
“I felt like going into that Showcase I still felt kind of fresh with the whole hockey thing,” said Catton, whose three goals and four assists tied him for fourth spot on the team in total points with No. 6 overall Utah HC draft pick Tij Iginla. “I thought I had a good camp and I definitely got some confidence from that.”
Among other things, he gained an appreciation for “just how important the details of the game are now” as he enters a world of much quicker and highly-skilled players.
“How important it is to just be in the right spot and when you do get those (puck) touches, just how valuable they are,” he said. “Playing those teams as especially with Canada, a lot of those guys are going to be in-line to make an NHL team. So, I think being with guys like that and playing against guys like that in the middle of summer was really awesome.”
His performance was so strong that a handful of pundits have already speculated he could play for the Kraken at some point this season. That could be a tall order given he’s still only 18 and penciled in for another Western Hockey League season with the Chiefs -- as he is ineligible to play professionally in the American Hockey League for two more years given his status as a teenage major junior hockey draft pick.
The upcoming rookie camp should provide a better indicator of where Catton stands with regards to pro players. Unlike the June development camp, the rookie camp will have Wright and Ryker Evans – both expected to feature full-time with the Kraken this coming season.
Other invitees include AHL regulars Ryan Winterton, Logan Morrison and Ville Ottavainen, who could also all be up this season with the NHL squad at some point.
Which is why Catton, now back in his hometown of Saskatoon, is desperately clinging to any rare bits of downtime he can find.
“The time I did have at home with family and friends, I really cherished,” he said. “And I took a step away from the game a bit, which is nice.”
And this time, at least, he’ll be able to take his family with him on the latest stop of his dream hockey summer. His parents, grandparents and a handful of others have already confirmed they’ll be in the stands watching Catton at Rookie Camp and hopefully at the California tournament right after.
“Wherever I go,” he said. “There’s usually a couple of people from Saskatchewan with me.”
