Kraken Development Camp Helped All Prospects Grow

Swedish left-wing prospect Loke Kranz knows as well as anybody that the round you’re drafted in often has little bearing on your future potential in pro hockey. 

As he packed his bags following Thursday’s conclusion of his second Kraken Development Camp, Kranz, 19, selected 218th out of 224 players overall in last year’s seventh and final NHL Draft round, pondered where he’s come since. After impressing here at last year’s camp, notching two assists to earn third star honors at the “Stucky Cup’’ – the name given the annual scrimmage of team prospects -- Kranz went home to Sweden and played well enough last season to make that country’s gold medal winning squad at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. 

“My confidence was very high coming into the season,” the 6-2, 192-pound power forward said, adding his showing at the Kraken camp boosted his mindset exponentially. “Then, when you get a call from the national junior team, it gets even higher. So, coming back here, I was even more confident this year and now next season, it will be even higher when I start playing again.” 

Seventh rounders playing well at the Stucky Cup – so named after Kraken assistant equipment manager James Stucky – is apparently becoming quite the thing. Alongside Krantz, fellow Swedish seventh rounder Michael Annborn, drafted 205th overall, scored the winning goal late in last year’s contest while Thursday’s game saw last week’s seventh round, 204th Kraken selection, forward William Tomko, 19, score two goals and add an assist in a 4-1 victory for his Team Blue over Team White. 

Kraken player development director Cory Murphy wasn’t sure whether seventh rounders playing so well amid other top prospects is a result of feeling they have a lot to prove. He cautioned not to read too much into draft positioning when it comes to pure competition. 

“You’re still getting a pretty good hockey player in the seventh round,” Murphy said with a chuckle about U.S. National Development Team Program product Tomko. “We’ve loved his energy since day one of coming here. I think he’s made the most of the opportunity to go out and show that and he got rewarded.”

Murphy overall liked what he saw from the team’s 25 invited prospects, especially the new draft class that included first rounder Chase Reid and second rounder Casey Mutryn. The main goal beyond gauging their fitness and skill level is familiarizing them with the team’s staff and expectations. 

“We want them to come into the building, meet the staff, familiarize them with everything that we have here so that when they do come back again, it’s not new to them,” Murphy said. “But we also want to give them something to take away on the ice. Something they can take into their training. Areas of focus.” 

Defenseman Blake Fiddler, a second round, 36th overall pick in last year’s draft, said his first development camp last summer led to a strong performance this past season with the major junior Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. Fiddler, who won’t turn 19 until next week, overcame an early knee injury and finished with 11 goals, 25 assists and three more points than last season in one fewer game. 

“As I left training camp the coaches just wanted me to keep getting better with my habits and keep working on everything,” said Fiddler, who’ll play for the University of Denver this season. “So, I think my defensive game has grown in closing plays, defending off the rush and my skating’s taken stride so it’s helping me in the offensive zone as well.” 

First-time development camp attendee Mutryn, who turns 18 on Sunday and was chosen 38th overall in last week’s draft, said he’ll try to apply what he learned this week to his coming first season playing for Boston College. 

“The resources we have here are second to none,” he said. “They’re invested in us and it’s up to us to kind of take what they give us and develop and become the best players that we can.” 

That’s what Swedish seventh rounder Krantz, who was on a golf course in his homeland during last year’s draft and didn’t know the Kraken had picked him until getting a phone call telling him to get on a plane to Seattle, has been trying to do with his hockey future ever since that improbably late NHL selection.  

After putting up 20 points in 18 games for his domestic junior squad, Krantz was promoted for 30 games with Linkoping HC in the top-level pro Swedish Hockey League. He’ll head back there this fall as a 19-year-old looking to build off that and make it to North American pro hockey after that. 

Krantz is the first to admit that playing well at last year’s Kraken camp helped shatter some of the mystique around draft selection and showed him he could stick with other top prospects his age. But it also gave him the tools he needed to maximize his performance at Sweden’s top amateur and pro levels. 

“Yea, yes, absolutely,” Krantz said. “It just gives you more of a good overall picture of yourself and where you stand. Between all the testing and your work with the coaches, it helps you prepare for where you need to be.”