Getting a ‘Reid’ Inside Seattle Draft Room

When Kraken general manager Jason Botterill connected by phone with 2026 first-round draft choice Chase Reid at the top of the 5 p.m. hour Friday, he was clear about the level of excitement inside the Seattle draft room when the pick was announced.

“You should have seen our room,” said Botterill filling in the 18-year-old who was the top-rated defenseman and No. 2 overall in the NHL Central Scouting final rankings of North American prospects. “We were so fired up, the room just exploded. You are the perfect pick for the Kraken.”

The room was profoundly jovial and vocal once it was clear Reid was available at No. 7. There were lots of smiles and an upbeat mood as preceding picks steered the Michigan native to making the trip to the Pacific Northwest this weekend for the start of the 2026 Kraken Development Camp. The group of executives and scouts were clearly thrilled with how the draft was breaking in their favor, getting a player at seventh overall that they had highly ranked in their own internal previews.

“There was a lot of emotion in the room there,” said Botterill when meeting with local media outside the Kraken locker room. “Our scouts have worked so hard throughout the entire season. You go through different mock drafts, go through different scenarios, being prepared for different outcomes. So many things fit well in selecting Chase. His offensive upside, size, a great skater who has played international hockey already. He did an excellent job for Team USA at the World Juniors, went on a great playoff run in the OHL this past year. He’s a late bloomer who continues to improve his game. How he plays the game, I think, will fit very well in Lane’s [Lambert] system here. We're ecstatic to have Chase part of the Kraken organization.”

Lineup Inside the Draft Room

The Seattle hockey operations group was positioned in the team locker room at Kraken Community Iceplex when the draft started at 4 p.m. Botterill was at a head table with assistant general manager Ricky Olczyk to his right and assistant general manager Ryan Jankowski to his left and director of amateur scouting Robert Kron to Jankowski’s left. To Kron’s left, director of research and development Namita Nandakumar was in place with an open laptop. Across from her, to Olczyk’s right, were newly hired assistant GM Patrik Allvin and assistant GM Alexandra Mandrycky, who has been part of the hockey brain trust since the summer of 2019.

The aforementioned group flashed big smiles when the Reid selection was official as team scouts lining two long side tables were applauding with plenty of cheers and whoops. Kron, who led the applause, was soon after circling the room to congratulate the scouting staff, especially those who’d scouted Reid in the Ontario Hockey League this past season. Jankowski, who oversees amateur scouting and player development, was next to make the rounds thanking and congratulating the scouts, but not before first giving a quick shoulder massage to Kron. The former long-time NHL player, Kron, was leading the scouting efforts for his sixth draft with Seattle after working for years in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.

“We felt this year there were a lot of top defensemen,” said Botterill, in a good mood during his 20 minutes with the local media.  “Let's just say there were a lot of defensemen that projected to be top four. We certainly had Chase very high on our list.  As [the draft] was progressing, you're hoping it might be a situation where he comes to us. Once Calgary ahead of us made their decision, we were ecstatic to know Chase is going to be part of our group.”

Blending Analytics and Scouting

Earlier this week, Kron was huddling with Nandakumar. It was a common sighting all week as the Kraken finalized their internal prospect rankings going into Friday night’s opening round and rounds two through seven Saturday. The final list is over 120 names, whittled down from nearly 300 draft-eligible players.

While the Kraken scouting staff is expansive, covering North America and Europe from as early as August and as late as June, the team’s hockey operations group considers analytics a vital component of selecting draft picks as well. Nandakumar has been part of the Kraken effort to blend scouting and analytics long before the team’s first draft in 2021. She arrived after impressive work with the National Football League Philadelphia Eagles to lead the development of a computer model that helps the Seattle front office to evaluate prospects across the various leagues, conferences, countries and continents. 

This is the first Kraken draft night for assistant general managerJankowski, part of NHL front office staffs drafting amateurs the last two decades. His contributions have proven fruitful with chosen players from early to late rounds that all hockey fans would know. Jankowski, who joined the team last August, greatly admires and appreciates the data analytics group led by assistant GM Alexandra Mandrycky.

“It's a little bit harder on the amateur side [to compare skill levels in contrast to pro scouting] because you have so many players playing in so many different areas,” said Jankowski. “The R-and-D team does a great job to equalize that as best as we can. You see shifts now because the junior leagues [Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League] weren't as strong this year, because a number of their top players are going to college [due to a new rule]. We are using the ’R-and-D’ tools to paint a better picture of the player and how he performed in the league that he was in.”

Jankowski said he has been wowed by the data analytics model from first look: “I was so impressed with the database, the [in-house] website, the information for a hockey nerd like me. The information we have and where it's housed is top-notch. It's the best that I've seen. We have much greater comfort in knowing the prospects. That’s the great part about the R-and-D group with Alex and Namita and the R-and-D team. They're on top of all the details and everything.”

Reid Shines at WJC, Rooms with 2025 Second Round Blake Fiddler

To that point, along with Reid standout season with storied Ontario Hockey League franchise Sault St. Marie, Botterill made a point of talking about the 2026 first rounder’s performance on the international stage at last winter’s 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. As a younger teammate, Reid totaled two goals and two assists in five games, turning heads with his stellar play in all zones and displaying an offensive upside that had the draft room clapping hands and backs. That Reid is a right-shot defenseman is a plus in Botterill's mind.

“Right-handed shot defensemen are in demand in the National Hockey League,” said Botterill. “But, overall, just how he plays, when you watch video of him, Chase always has his head up. He has a nice combination of being able to skate his way out of trouble. He also has his head up nonstop to make a quick outlet play. For being such a young player on Team USA, you saw how he was able to make that transition to international hockey so quickly.  Hopefully he makes the transition to college next year [playing for the highly regarded NCAA Michigan State program] and then eventually to the National Hockey League.”

Happily for Reid, he already has a close friend in the Kraken organization. He and 2025 second rounder Fiddler were roommates for Team USA at the 2026 World Juniors. During a video call media availability, Reid said Fiddler “had so many great things to say” about the Seattle organization.

Excitement and Vibe Extends to 32 Bar & Grill

Not far from the Kraken locker room at the Iceplex in the Northgate neighborhood, fans were getting a strong dose of hope when Reid was the pick at No. 7. Colleague and three-time Emmy-winning Kraken Hockey Network analyst Alison Lukan provides the good vibes report:                  

• Fans started showing up at 2:30 – an hour and a half before the draft began and by the time the broadcast started, 32 Bar & Grill was at full capacity – more than 150 Kraken fans filled every table, packed the bar and took advantage of standing room all around. There was a line at the door to get in.
• All the while, 32’s food and beverage staff were not just taking care of their guests in the restaurant, they were making sure the Kraken’s front office and scouting staff had meals while they prepared for the first round.
• As the crowd watched the first six selections, you could feel the anticipation build in the assembled crowd. When the pick for Chase Reid was announced, loud cheers erupted throughout – it was pretty exciting.
• After meeting with assembled media, general manager Jason Botterill headed to “32” as well to chat with KJR 93.3’s Ian Furness, Mike Benton, Everett Fitzhugh and Al Kinisky on their broadcast that was live streaming in the restaurant. The Kraken GM once again praised Reid’s strengths of skating, speed and hockey IQ.
• Other radio guests included 2025 first rounder Jake O’Brien and Reid along with director of amateur scouting Robert Kron.

Alison Lukan provided additional reporting for this story.