Reading – and Upping – His Game

As a Kraken prospect with prodigious stats as both a goal scorer and playmaker, it’s natural to ask 2022 second-round draft choice David Goyette: How does he decide when to shoot or pass when a scoring chance develops in the offensive zone?

Our flowing conversation halts for several beats. Goyette exhales an “aaaah” as he mentally frames his answer.

“For me, it's a lot of instinct and just reading the game while the play is going on or even just knowing what move I'm going to make before the play even happens,” said Goyette, who turns 20 in late March. “When I was younger, making the right play [pass or shoot] at the right time was a big thing for me to work on.”

Goyette explained what he means by “reading the game,” a major indicator of a player’s hockey IQ, which, along with skating speed and agility, is paramount to what the Kraken hockey brain trust looks for in a player.

“I think the easiest way to describe it is I read where my teammate is gonna be when the play develops and what the opponent is going to do, see where the opponent’s stick is gonna be, see where my passing lane is gonna be,” said Goyette after the pause. “I read if the defenseman is gonna go with my teammate, if [the passing lane] is gonna be available at the time. Maybe it won't be available. If I decide a play has to be made, I’m gonna take the shot. I am reading off the opponent and my teammate at the same time.”

Goyette has been making a multitude of good decisions this season, helping his Sudbury Wolves team to challenge for the top spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. Sudbury is 33-18-3-3 for 72 points, just one behind Brantford’s 73 with both squads having played 57 games going into weekend action. Goyette not only leads the Wolves in scoring, but he is also the leading scorer across the entire OHL, East and West. Fellow Kraken draftee Carson Rehkopf (a 2023 second-rounder) has more goals (47) but Goyette’s 36 goals and 59 assists for 95 points top all OHLers with the next players six points behind.

In his first 18 games this season, Goyette had notched five goals – he was not satisfied with that – and a much more formidable 19 assists. Since mid-November, he has scored 32 goals in his last 39 games. Plus, he maintained his assist-every-game rate by notching 40 assists in those last 39 games.

“The ground he's made up in the last couple of months [in the OHL scoring race] has been remarkable,” said Sudbury general manager Rob Papineau. That's his commitment to wanting to help this team win, wanting to be part of something special. He’s got his team goals and as a [NHL] drafted player, he's got his personal goals. He balances those two things really well.”

To that point, the OHL announced Friday that Goyette is the league’s player of the month for February for his eight goals, 17 assists and 25 points in 13 games. That’s just shy of averaging two points per game and certainly helped fuel the Wolves’ 8-4-1 record for the Leap Year month.

Maybe even more importantly, Goyette works weekly with the Kraken player development staff to review and keep enhancing his play in the defensive zone, including “stopping on pucks, being in the right place [for forechecking] and lots of stick details”. Papineau says his leading scorer’s D-zone prowess will be part of tightening up Sudbury’s defensive performance during the rugged OHL playoffs.

Goyette took it upon himself last season to be a leader on a team that was on the young side, giving regular ice time to 16-year-olds more than many opposing teams. His mentoring was no small part of a couple of teammates getting drafted last summer and another two more this July, said Papineau. The Sudbury GM made a point to tell Goyette and other leaders that the franchise has never finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference or won an OHL championship (twice going to the finals in 2007 and 1976) since joining the league in 1972.

“It's a special year,” said Goyette. “We’re all aware of [the chance to make history with the best record in the conference] and being a part of this run. We're just looking to close out the season here by finishing first and then have home-ice advantage here going into the playoffs.”

Goyette and the draft class of 2022 (birth year 2004) didn’t get the experience of learning with older teammates due to the canceled OHL 2020-21 season. In Goyette’s case, it didn’t deter his adjustment at the next level. He scored 33 goals and added 40 assists for 73 points in 66 games during the 2021-22 season. Goyette was asked that season to fill the top-line center role, replacing Quinton Byfield, the former Wolves star who was the second overall choice in the 2020 NHL Draft and now is logging first-line minutes as a wing with the Los Angeles Kings.

Not backing down from the challenge of following the high-profile Byfield was one big plus for his draft status. Another trait as to why he was an attractive pick at No. 61 overall for Seattle was Goyette’s character (another Kraken prospect must-have), which Papineau said was top-shelf since first meeting him.

“We scouted him quite heavily and took him in the first round [of the OHL’s draft of 16-year-olds],” said Papineau. “The conversations were always really good and really enjoyable with David. He's a very mature guy.”

Yet Papineau noted Goyette’s soft spot for his family, which had moved from their native Quebec province to Ontario to better position David and two younger brothers to learn English and, for David, pursue a possible pro career by playing highly competitive youth hockey.

“When David first got here, like a lot of young guys that leave home like that, there was a little element of homesickness,” said Papineau. “He comes from a very tight family. That's normal. Watching him come through that [to play such a key role], then talking to him after he returned from Coachella Valley [Kraken American Hockey League affiliate], which is much farther from home, and how much he enjoyed it has been so great to see. He’s excited to help us to a big finish here, but he's also excited for his future.”

Goyette played two regular-season games with the AHL Firebirds, then seven more (notching a pair of assists) during the team’s deep run to a Western Conference title and Game 7 of overtime in the finals. CVF head coach Dan Bylsma liked what he saw in Goyette and found the time to work with him in video sessions.

Goyette said he keeps in regular touch with fellow 2022 draft class members Jagger Firkus (who leads the major juniors Western Hockey League in scoring), Ty Nelson (whose North Bay team is right behind Sudbury in the OHL conference standings), and AHL center Shane Wright.

“I was rooming with Shane for a bit [last spring],” said Goyette. “We've been playing against each other pretty much our whole lives, but here I was now living with him, getting to know him, learning from him, and seeing the kind of person he is.”