Like other Kraken prospects, 2022 second-round draft choice Jani Nyman is hoping his time with American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley this spring includes some postseason time on ice. Over his first weekend with the Firebirds, the Finnish forward made a good case for playoff inclusion. He punctuated his physical style of play by scoring the winning goal in Sunday’s win over San Diego.
When Nyman scored a shootout-winning goal for Team Finland over host Sweden in the 2024 IIHF World Juniors Championship this past winter, he displayed skilled moves, especially for a 19-year-old with a 6-foot-3, 212-pound power-forward-type frame. In that same game, he scored a goal late in regulation to push the game into overtime and the victorious shootout.
Last Sunday in the southern California desert after a long, happy trip (chronicled by Kraken colleague Alison Lukan), Nyman showed why fans can be excited about his size and strength. With veteran defenseman Gustav Olafsson passing to partner Connor Carrick to set up a shot on goal, Nyman was battling 6-foot-3, 204-pound San Diego defenseman Drew Helleson for the net-front position. Helleson, a 23-year-old Anaheim 2019 second-round draft choice who appeared in three games with the Ducks last season and starred at Boston College, gave Nyman a shove to throw him off balance. Didn’t work because Nyman kept his balance and goal-mouth disturbance to redirect the puck and seal Coachella Valley’s 45th win and Western Conference-leading 100 standings points. Nyman was named First Star of the Game and has discovered quickly the Firebirds fever among CVF fans.
Nyman debuted in a Friday game, playing with Tucker Robertson (2022, fourth round) and newly signed college free agent, Lleyton Roed. On Sunday, he was elevated to play on the second power play unit and third line with veteran forward John Hayden and promising center Logan Morrison (another undrafted free-agent signee last spring after an outstanding juniors career). Morrison, of course, had just returned from the Kraken roster, turning heads during his NHL time.
On the ‘Roed’
Roed, who signed with Seattle after his Bemidji State squad didn’t get an invitation to the NCAA Division I men’s hockey tournament, has played in four games with the Firebirds. He also scored his first AHL goal in his second game, joining Ville Petman on a rush up ice on April 7th against the Abbotsford (B.C.) Canucks. Petman took the puck over the line, then slipped a pass to the lefty-shooting Roed, who quick-released a shot that whipped through bodies, and the second of two Abbotsford goaltenders, the first pulled after the first four goals of a 7-2 Firebirds win.
Finns to the Fourth Power
A secondary assist went to 2021 fourth-rounder and defenseman Ville Ottavainen, who's been earning coach Dan Bylsma’s praise and trust all season. It’s his 25th assist in his rookie AHL season, second among CVF defensemen. Only veteran Cale Fleury (27) has more. Both Ottavainen and the aforementioned Petman, along with defenseman Peetro Seppala, all Finns, have no doubt welcomed and helped Nyman in making his adjustment to both AHL hockey and the U.S.
Dragicevic on ‘D’
One more note about Kraken prospects making positive AHL debuts. Defenseman Lukas Dragicevic joined Coachella Valley after Western Hockey League Tri-Cities didn’t qualify for the postseason. Dragicevic, drafted last summer in the second round (57th overall), has appeared in two games, logging 20-plus minutes of time on ice and quarterbacking the Firebirds' second power play unit. He has one assist and is another prospect turning heads with what player development coaches and scouts like to call translatable skills.
Ontario Hockey League: Scoring Stars, Series on the Brink
Tuesday was a productive night in the scoring columns for many Kraken prospects playing in the Canadian Hockey League playoffs, but not so much for some Seattle hopefuls whose teams are facing steep disadvantages in their respective playoff series.
Right to the good stuff: 2022 second-rounder Jagger Firkus (35th overall) notched three assists in WHL Moose Jaw’s road win over Swift Current to go up 2-1 in the series. After going down 1-0 in the first period, Firkus earned the primary assist on a tying power play goal and added another assist later in the frame to help the Warriors stake a 3-1 lead. But Swift Current rallied in the middle period to tie the game at three, then Firkus set up what turned out to be the game-winner. Firkus now has four goals and nine assists in seven playoff games.
Belarus-born center Andrei Loshko (fourth round, 2023) continued his strong postseason in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and helped his Rouyn-Noranda squad climb back into its second-round playoff series against Victoriaville in the ‘Q’. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Loshko scored a goal and added two assists in a 4-1 road win that brings the series to 2-1 Victoriaville. Loshko now has nine points (5 G, 4 A) in eight postseason games after averaging a point per game during the regular season. Loshko notched a pair of goals in Game 2, a high-scoring 7-6 outcome.
In the Ontario Hockey League, prospects Eduard Sale (2023, first round) and Carson Rehkopf (2023, second round) are staring at a 0-3 standing in a second-round series with the London Knights. Sale scored his fifth goal of the postseason, and Rehkopf notched two assists, but their Kitchener Rangers dropped a 6-4 decision to London, which built leads of 3-0 and 4-1 before Kitchener roared back with three straight goals (Rehkopf assisted on the second one, scored by Sale, and the tying goal too). It was 4-4 by early third period before London posted the game-winner mid-period and added an empty for the final result. The teams meet again Thursday in Kitchener with the Rangers looking to extend the series.
Kraken 2022 second-rounder David Goyette and the Sudbury Wolves are in a similar 0-3 hole after their 5-2 lead on home ice after two periods vanished with North Bay scoring three goals to tie the game in regulation to push the game in overtime. Kraken prospect and North Bay star defenseman Ty Nelson earned the primary assist on the tying goal, a power play score with three minutes left in regulation. North Bay then spoiled Sudbury’s night with an overtime winner 12 minutes into OT. Nelson, an alternate captain for North Bay the last two seasons, has three goals and three assists in eight playoff games.
