Kraken Ride Next Wave To Preseason Victory

Oscar Fisker Molgaard was among a bevy of young Kraken prospects racing around the locker room with Saturday morning energy and purpose.

This wasn’t just an ordinary preseason game they were preparing to play Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena in front of the visiting Vancouver Canucks. What became a 4-2 victory for the home side was one of only four preseason affairs they’ll play this year, down from the usual six or so given an expanded 84-game regular schedule that needed accommodating.

Given all that, guys like AHL centerman Molgaard, who’ve already tasted NHL action and want more of it, have limited time to make their case in front of Kraken brass. Same for other AHL players still looking to make their NHL debut, not-to-mention junior hockey draft picks about to embark on professional careers.

Throw it together, knowing this initial preseason test for the youngsters could well be their last if they don’t perform, the hyped-up mood inside the room was a lot more than you’d expect for a game that won’t count in the standings.

“I hope so – it’s the NHL, so we’d better be happy,” Molgaard, who centered a top line with Jani Nyman and Freddy Gaudreau, said after a morning skate at Kraken Community Iceplex. “I mean, this is our dream job, and this is what we’ve worked hard all summer to do. So, I mean, I’m excited to get going for real this time.”

Saturday’s contest provided fans an interesting look at the next wave of top Kraken prospects expected to begin pushing their way into the NHL lineup over the next year or two. The new NHL collective bargaining agreement stipulates veterans with 100 or more games of experience can’t play in more than two preseason affairs, so the Kraken will mostly frontload the youngsters Saturday and again Sunday night in Calgary while the NHL regulars will mainly play the final two matchups.

Molgaard is at the tip of that next-incoming wave alongside AHL forwards Nyman and Jagger Firkus and defenders such as Tyson Jugnauth and Ty Nelson, not to mention recent junior hockey graduates Jake O’Brien and Julius Miettinen.

Nyman and Nelson got Saturday’s scoring started with a pair of first period goals, then Molgaard began a third period scoring play with a nice no-look pass to Gaudreau, who fed Logan Morrisson on a bang-bang play in the slot for a 3-0 lead.

Kraken veteran Gaudreau lauded some of the “smart players” he teamed up with in this one, saying they looked comfortable and were making the right plays. On Molgaard, who he played with a bit last season, Gaudreau feels he’s already another step better.

“He competes, he skates, he has such good skills and he sees the game,” Gaudreau said. “I really like him as a player and it feels like all of those things I just mentioned got elevated throughout the summer. It’s really fun to see.”

Kraken head coach Lane Lambert felt Molgaard had looked “scrambly” in some of the Prospects Showcase games in Abbotsford, B.C. last weekend, mainly because of the mixed caliber of play overall.

“He just keeps getting better when sort of the structure of the game gets better,” Lambert said. “I thought he played very, very well.”

Kraken goalie Joey Daccord stopped all 14 shots faced the first two periods before Nikke Kokko came on in a scheduled third period appearance. Kokko kept the shutout going until Braeden Cootes got Vancouver on the board with just under nine minutes to play.

Arshdeep Bains then scored on the power play with just over four minutes to go to make it a one-goal affair. But O’Brien restored the two-goal margin fewer than two minutes later off a nice set-up in the slot from Jacob Melanson.

Molgaard, who won’t turn 22 until next February, got going for “real” last season when the Kraken promoted him for 13 games over multiple stints during what was also his AHL debut campaign. The ascension was quicker than many expected for the second round, 20^thoverall pick from 2023 out of the lesser known but emerging hockey nation of Denmark.

Three prior years in the tough Swedish Hockey League pro circuit have helped Molgaard mature beyond his years as have stints with Denmark’s national team at last February’s Winter Olympics in Milan and the prior year’s IIHF World Hockey Championships. But there’s nothing like an NHL taste to get young players hungry for more and so the twinkle-eyed Molgaard entered the day eager to show off more of what he can do.

“The big strength for me this year is coming in here with confidence and feeling more comfortable,” he said. “I think that’s the main thing and I’m hoping that’s something I can bring on to the ice as well.”

Molgaard showed off some first period speed in this one, beating a defender down the right side and sweeping in briefly alone before being thwarted by Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo.

Besides Molgaard, his Saturday night wingman, Nyman, also played in 28 Kraken games last season – initially breaking camp with them – and another dozen matchups the prior campaign.

It would be Nyman opening the scoring on the power play at 8:29 of Saturday’s opening period on a shot netminder Tolopilo whiffed on with his glove. 

Defenseman Nelson is coming off a pair of high-level campaigns in Coachella Valley and scored Saturday's second Kraken goal by wristing home a puck from the high slot with only five seconds to play in the opening period. 

And then there’s centerman O’Brien, who had the goal and drew an assist on Nyman’s opening strike. The team’s No. 8 overall pick from last year is expected to make his pro debut this fall so this was a nice gateway to that. Normally a quiet, focused type, O’Brien didn’t deviate from that mindset as he quietly packed up from the Saturday morning skate preparing to play as the night’s third line centerman.

O’Brien said after the game he’s gotten bigger in workouts ahead of his first pro season and that it’s had an impact in camp already.

“I just feel like getting bumped off pucks is a lot harder for me now,” he said. “Last year maybe I get kind of bumped and then they get the puck away. This year I can kind of fight for myself. So it's good.”

Kraken coach Lambert wants to see where the younger players are at in their development given he’ll have limited chances to do so in person from here on. Lambert also wants to see how quickly they fit into his highly structured systems of play in case there’s an in-season decision on promoting them.

Nelson used some of that on his first period goal, moving up aggressively into the high slot to snare a loose puck and wrist it through a maze of players.

“They want us to be in tight and close fast on plays,” Nelson said. “And it was just an opportunity there where the puck spotted out, and I was able to you know just kind of open myself up and put it in the back of the net.”

As with Molgaard and others hoping to see the NHL at some point this season, Nelson knows these limited games carry additional meaning.

“There's only a certain amount of opportunity that you get to show at these now shortened camps,” he said. “So, you’ve got to give it your all and give it your best effort and make sure you're playing within the system and are doing whatever the coaches tell you.”