Kraken Hopeful Jake O’Brien Up For Top OHL Award

Kraken prospect Jake O’Brien has spent much of what’s likely to be his final major junior hockey season preparing for the professional career that comes next. 

And his work on faceoffs, puck movement, defensive coverage and other elements of his game hasn’t detracted one bit from O’Brien’s overall excellence, which on Thursday got him named a finalist as the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player. That Top 5 nomination came as little surprise to Kraken player development consultant Zac Dalpe, who was in the stands Wednesday night watching O’Brien score the winning goal for his Brantford Bulldogs against the Barrie Colts in Game 1 of their OHL Eastern Conference playoff showdown.  

O’Brien is widely expected to turn pro next fall regardless of whether the NHL and major junior teams revise their longstanding agreement and allow one or more 19-year-old draft picks to play in the AHL. And Zalpe said O’Brien, who won’t turn 19 until June, has spent much of this past OHL season preparing as if he’ll be in the AHL or up with the Kraken if need be by October. 

“He wants work on faceoffs because he knows that’s important,” Dalpe said. “He wants to watch video on playing with pace and getting through the neutral zone as a transporter and doing it to get defensemen to back off the line. He’s starting to really understand that side of the game. Whereas maybe a kid like that is usually just wondering how to get open on the power play. 

“His hockey IQ is so high that you don’t want to take the stick out of his hands,” Dalpe added. “You just want to add more clubs to his bag, so to speak. It’s been a growth, for sure, but over the last month and a half, two months, it’s really taken off. The message from us has been just that. And it seems like he’s been susceptible to it.” 

The four other finalists beyond O’Brien include his opposing Colts playoff centerman Cole Beaudoin, winger Nathan Aspinall of the Flint Firebirds, center Sam O’Reilly of the Kitchener Rangers and forward Nikita Klepov of the Saginaw Spirit.   

Recent past winners of the OHL’s top award include NHL stars Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner and Wyatt Johnston as well as San Jose Sharks rookie Michael Misa, drafted No. 2 overall in 2025. 

Drafted No. 8 overall by the Kraken last June, the 19-year-old centerman joins Berkly Catton as the NHL team’s second prospect in as many years to become an MVP finalist in his major junior league. Catton was barred by current rules from playing in the AHL at age 19 this past season and thus spent the entire campaign with the Kraken in lieu of being returned to his Spokane Chiefs junior squad in the Western Hockey League.

Like Catton, O’Brien appears to have little left to gain from returning to his OHL team next season. 

In three OHL campaigns, he’s become the all-time leading Bulldogs point-getter with 255, scoring 73 goals and adding 182 assists. He had 98 points ahead of the Kraken drafting him and added 93 more in 13 fewer games this time around despite all his added work on developing skills beyond his offensive numbers. 

His 65 assists this season led the entire league. 

Lofty point totals for junior hockey stars can be inflated by huge amounts of ice time that isn’t sustainable at the pro level. Thus, the additional work in becoming an all-around player often dictates how quickly a top forward prospect – especially at the tough center position – adjusts to pro hockey and becomes a productive NHL player. 

A former OHL Rookie of the Year at age 16, O’Brien adopting more of an early pro mindset has been helped by his mother, Amy Turek, being a former National Women’s Hockey League player who owned and operated a hockey school for girls in their Toronto area hometown. O’Brien said last summer she’d given him plenty of advice on what it will take to reach the next level. 

“Just hard work and stay humble,” he said. “Just going into each day not thinking you’re the best and just getting in the work every day and getting better. Right after this, I’m going to get right back to work, into the gym and hopefully to the NHL.” 

O’Brien’s two goals and one assist in the OHL conference final opener was his seventh multi-point game of this year’s playoffs. He now has five postseason goals and 13 assists overall, while continuing to focus heavily on playing with a quicker pace and what Dalpe calls more “bite” to his game beyond scoring. 

For Dalpe, who lives in Brantford and has spent plenty of time with O’Brien on and away from the ice all season, that mindset is often what separates top amateurs from becoming their best pro versions.  

“You talk about it a lot and it’s a buzzword, but the process is so important in player development,” Dalpe said. “And trusting that and using the resources that you have, which he does, it’s all been fun to watch. Because he’s had some really great success here in some really important hockey games.”