Kraken’s Draft Momentum Continues on Day 2

Saturday morning’s second-round clock at the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo officially started at 8:15 a.m. But for most teams, picking in the first half-dozen slots meant staying up late Friday and waking at dawn to finalize their preferred prospects at Nos. 33 to 38. The Kraken, positioned at the 38th overall pick, had identified a few players they wanted at the spot. But five teams potentially stood in the way, prompting some exploring of trading back in the draft order in the event those prospects were plucked from the board.

Ryan Jankowski, assistant general manager, and Robert Kron, director of amateur scouting, were side-by-side at the head table, hunched over laptops. Nearby at a side table, assistant GMs Alexandra Mandrycky and Patrik Allvin were similarly scoping the situation at hand. GM Botterill was fielding calls and texts on his phone. 

No surprise, since the Kraken organization has thrived with second-round picks in past drafts. Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans was the pick at No. 35 overall in the inaugural 2021 draft and has played 166 NHL games. Finnish winger Jani Nyman, 49th overall in the 2022 second round, has notched 40 NHL games while 2023 second rounder Oscar Fisker Molgard appeared in 13 NHL games this past season and starred for Team Denmark at both the 2026 Winter Olympics and 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championships.

Another 2022 second round pick, Jagger Firkus (No. 35 overall), totaled 21 goals and 35 assists for 56 points in 63 games for AHL Coachella Valley this past season and was top three in AHL postseason scoring. Botterill made it clear Firkus would have made his NHL debut except for an injury that caused the team to allow him to fully recover for the AHL playoffs.

At Seattle’s turn Saturday morning during the eight o’clock hour, right winger Casey Mutryn of the U.S. National Team Development Program remained happily available.

“Nice! Nice!” said Botterill when the Mutryn pick was official amid applause and raucous cheers from the scouts and staff. “I like it!

Mutryn was captain of his U18 squad and, per Kraken scout Tom O’Connor, was the “first name everybody picked” when teammates surveyed at the NHL Combine were asked to name three players they’d take with them in their careers. 

“He's so mature, so polished,” said O’Connor, who first saw Mutryn at age 13 because the second rounder lived and played in a town 20 minutes from the scout’s Massachusetts home. “He played up on the [USNTDP] team as an underage player last year. He played [high school hockey]. He's been around older players his whole life ...He’s 6-foot-3, a good skater, good hands, he’s good around the net and he’s competitive. I think he can grow into being a middle six forward who is hard to play against, goes to get the pucks for the more skilled teammates and can play the net front on the power play. He’s tough and smart enough to kill penalties. He could really play any situation.”

A short while later, Kron was grabbing a water in the players’ lounge adjacent the locker room aka draft room for the weekend. He had a quick conversation with Kraken head coach Lane Lambert about Mutryn, emphasizing the 17-year-old’s combination of “power and skill.” The 200-pound prospect is one of the younger draft-eligible players, turning 18 on July 5.

Kraken Keep One Fourth-Round Pick, Trade the Other

After tabbing highly regarded Chase Reid at No. 7 overall Friday and Mutryn in Saturday’s  opening hour, Seattle kept the good vibes and draft momentum going with six more picks despite none in the third round. But the third round was not quiet for Botterill and his assistant GMs. Teams were calling about trading for the Kraken’s two fourth-round picks at numbers 99 and 102. More than one offer was on “maybe” status until it became evident the Kraken could get a desired player at 99th overall. When one NHL GM called, Botterill replied at that point: “We’re married to 99, open on 102.”

That prospect in the 99th overall slot was Russian-born player Viktor Fedorov, the third Russian prospect in the Kraken prospect pool and first-ever forward. Fedorov dominated in his country’s top juniors league last season before being called up to the pro club, Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo in the elite pro Kontinental Hockey League for the final 13 games of the season. Kron said Fedorov “looked like he fit in at the KHL level.” Assistant GM Mandrycky made sure to call out credit to Russia-based scout Alexsandr Plyushev.  

From there, Botterill fielded a couple of final offers from teams wanting to move up to the 102nd pick held by Seattle. The New York Rangers trade proposal won out with Seattle receiving NYR’s picks at No. 131 and No. 148. Quick explainer: Each NHL team has a chart that assigns value to every pick across seven rounds in terms of potential for that prospect to develop into an NHL player. So, in the particular math, Nos. 131 and 148 calculated to having similar value to No. 102.  

When the trade proposals came in, Botterill checked the values with assistant general manager Mandrycky, who oversees research and development, including analytics, among other responsibilities. She approved, and the Kraken transitioned to a pair of picks in the fifth round, which in the 2021 Draft uncovered Kraken fan favorite Jacob Melanson, who led Seattle in hits last season despite playing just 36 games.

The two fifth-round selections delighted the two scouts who’d watched and reported on those prospects the most this past season. Finn Kearns, a defenseman from St. Andrew’s College high school in Ontario, went 131st while another D-man, Luken “Hawke” Huff from Cedar Rapids of the junior-level United States Hockey League (USHL) was the 148th overall pick. Fun fact about Huff: He is the first Washington-born prospect, hailing from Mazama, WA, near North Cascades National Park, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Seattle. 

Hearing from the Scouts, North American Version

Kearns was scouted most frequently by veteran Mike Dawson, who smiled ear-to-ear when the draft room clapped hard and long for the Kearns selection. Dawson was in on Kraken D-man Ryker Evans back in 2021 and his grin was even wider Saturday. 

“A year and a little bit ago, at the end of the Ontario Hockey League season, Finn got into a playoff game for Sudbury in Kingston, where I live,” said Dawson during a break. “He laid a guy out with a big hit, got in a big scrap and got everybody's attention. I started tracking him this year. I knew his dad growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, where I'm from. We went to the same elementary school, but I hadn't seen the dad in probably 30 years ... Tony [MacDonald], Chris [MacDonald, no relation] and I took Finn out to lunch. We had a really great visit, a three-hour lunch with him and his dad. We all walked away saying we'd love to get this guy. He’s exactly what we think our team needs.”

Dawson expanded on that team need for a player like Kearns. 

“He knows what his strengths are,” said Dawson. "He knows he's not a power play guy, but he knows he can be a shutdown and physical defenseman who brings toughness and sticks up for teammates. He's allergic to his teammates being pushed around. He takes great offense, personal offense, if anybody tries to bully one of his teammates and he deals with it. That's hard to find these days ... you could drop this kid in any era of hockey and he'd be just fine.”

When Huff was the pick at No. 148, Kraken scout Thomas Plante was most decidedly fired up, standing and pumped about a player whom he watched many times. Plante was so excited he had to pace for minutes afterward before stopping to share the moment with fellow USA-based scouts Eddie Olczyk and O’Connor. Plante, part of the Kraken scouting staff since the founding of the franchise, was still elated an hour later in the player lounge, 

“He is kind of a hidden gem,” said Plante. “It was his third year being eligible for the draft. He wasn't at any of the major prospect showcases in the U.S. He wasn't even on the NHL Central Scouting rankings. Watching him the last few years, he was in Minnesota high school and then made a rough transition to junior hockey. This year he just exploded.”

What happened is, after a stellar performance in heralded Minnesota high school hockey, Huff joined a USHL team loaded with older defensemen, all six on track to play for major NCAA programs. Huff didn’t get much ice time. When traded to Cedar Rapids, he won the admiration and trust of Mark Carlson, the USHL’s all-time winningest coach (pointed out by Olczyk, who noted Kraken prospect Zaccharya Wisdom, 2023 seventh rounder, played for Carlson too). 

“Behind the scenes, talking to his old coaches, the people around him, we liked the character part of [Huff], said Plante. “This kid’s got resilience, he's got drive, he's basically got everything we look for from a character perspective. You kind of fall in love with the individual. But he was a first-team USHL defenseman this year. The stars aligned [for Saturday’s pick] and I couldn’t be happier.”

When Botterill stepped out of the draft to call Huff, the GM queried Plante on whether to use Huff’s given first name or nickname. 

“Oh, definitely call him ‘Hawke’,” said Plante. 

“Hawke!” said Botterill, laughing as he walked off phone in hand. “Love these calls!”

In the hallway, the Kraken hockey boss told Huff how much he was looking forward to seeing him at development camp, which starts Sunday off-ice and Monday on-ice. He added: “We’re happy to have you and really impressed how much you have improved over the last couple of years.”

Hearing from the Scouts, Europe Version

As the sixth round started just after 12 noon, the Kraken went European, selecting Swedish-born Ola Palme, yet another defenseman (the draft haul finished with five D-man prospects and three forwards).  Palme’s choice drew loud hoots and claps for Sweden-based scout Marcus Fingal. 

Let’s just say Fingal was not as demonstrative as the aforementioned Plante, but still thrilled to see a player he’d followed closely this past season. The 6-foot-1, 188-pound defender played in Sweden’s top juniors league and added five games with the Vaxjo Lakers club in Sweden’s top pro league, where he’ll likely play next year. He has been training with the big club this summer. 

Fingal was happy to talk about Palme and joy was all over his face discussing the Swede’s rise to become an NHL prospect. 

“I've seen [Palme] many times this season,” said Fingal. “He plays not far from my hometown. His season started out a little slow, I would say, but he grew as the season continued. In the end, I really liked what I was seeing. First of all, he’s not a small guy. He’s got a good frame and he built a lot of confidence. He likes to be creative with the puck. He's not just robotic. He’s still a raw D-man who needs some time to fill out, but there’s something there. He likes to jump into the offensive play, but he doesn’t cheat ... It’s fantastic for him to already be up there [with the top pro club]. The big team, they've been winning a lot lately. He’s going to be up there with a lot of veterans and can learn from them.”

Seventh Round Completes Upbeat Weekend

The draft room was high-spirited all day Saturday after a rousing Friday night with widely and highly-ranked Chase Reid available at No. 7 overall. In the seventh round Saturday afternoon, the Kraken picked defenseman Rylan Singh from the Ontario Hockey League Guelph franchise and finished their D-heavy draft with a forward, Pennsylvania-born centerman William Tomko, who played for USHL Sioux City last year and has committed to NCAA Ohio State. 

“I’ve got a lot of time for Will Tomko,” said Eddie Olczyk. “He’s another prospect who faced some adversity and became a two-way center with plenty of potential.”

Robert Kron agreed that players such as Tomko and other 2026 draft choices, including first rounder Reed, can benefit from early adversity as young players.

“The earlier the prospects have faced adversity, you can see they will understand that [importance] later in [a hockey career],” said Kron. “You're going to run into the things that separate them from other prospects. They’re faced with the choice: either fold or learn from whatever adversity you are facing and go from there. For Chase [Reid], he got cut in Waterloo [USHAL team] and shortly after became an elite defenseman in the OHL. It is important to face the adversity, and more importantly, learn how we deal with it.”