Kartye AHL Rookie of Year

Coachella Firebirds forward Tye Kartye was named winner of the Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award as the American Hockey League's outstanding rookie on Thursday. He was signed by the Kraken as a free agent from major juniors Sault Ste. Marie last March.
Kartye, who starred for the same Ontario Hockey League juniors team for which Kraken GM Ron Francis and all-time great Wayne Gretzky played, started the AHL season with four goals and 10 assists in his first 29 games for Coachella Valley. Then he went on a tear as the calendar flipped to 2023. In 20 games during January and February, the 21-year-old Kartye (pronounced "kar-chee-ay") notched 10 goals and 10 assists in 20 games. He followed it up with 11 goals and six assists in March to be named AHL Rookie of the Month. He finished this season as the top AHL rookie scorer with 28 goals and 29 assists for 57 points and earned a spot on the AHL Rookie All-Star team, along with teammate and 2021 second-round draft chose Ryker Evans.

"Tye represents a great development story," said head coach Dan Bylsma recently. "Undrafted, unheralded, he has done nothing but come to training camp, find out what he needs to work on, and put in the work on and off the ice. Tye is consistently working in practice on the details and habits of his game. The results are evident in his play."
The 5-foot-11, 202-pound Kartye is clearly learning the ropes of physical two-way play while understanding aggressive defense portends scoring chances and offensive production. He finished third in scoring among all Coachella Valley skaters behind veterans Max McCormick and Kole Lind.