Prospects Perspective: Playoff Mentality

While three Kraken prospects, Ryan Winterton, Jacob Melanson and Tye Kartye, have all started second-round series with their elite junior teams, the American Hockey League-affiliate Charlotte Checkers received a first-round bye for winning the Atlantic Division championship. They open play Tuesday in a best-of-five series with Bridgeport.

Winterton and his Hamilton Bulldogs beat rival Mississauga, 4-2, Thursday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Winterton notched a primary assist in the win, going deep in the Mississauga zone to lure defenders before passing to teammate Mason McTavish for the insurance goal that proved important with late-game pressure from the visiting Steelheads.
Winterton, a center and the Kraken's third-round draft choice last summer, is doing the little things right. Early in the third period, he blocked a shot and almost scored on the ensuing breakaway. In a first-round series sweep in which he scored a goal and added five assists in four games, he didn't back down from the constant physicality of play. Game 2 in Hamilton is Sunday afternoon before the series shifts to Mississauga Tuesday and Friday for Games 3 and 4.
The Kraken selected Melanson, a physical forward, in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Draft and he produced a 35-goal regular season in 54 appearances for his Acadie-Bathurst Titan squad in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. After returning from a shoulder injury and rehab, fellow prospect Winterton scored 21 goals in 41 games, putting him at the same 35-goal pace.
Melanson and Acadie-Bathurst opened a first-round QMJHL series with a 6-3 loss on home ice to the Halifax Mooseheads, who finished right behind Titan in the Maritimes Division and Eastern Conference. The two evenly matched teams meet again Sunday afternoon for Game 2. The series is best-of-five with Games 3 and 4 on the road for Titan.
Kartye, a wing, scored 50 goals for the Ontario Hockey League Soo Greyhounds this season. In a best-of-seven first-round series the Soo won in five games, Kartye played a starring role with five goals and two assists. In the first and fifth games of the series, both wins, he scored the first two goals for the Greyhounds. Like Winterton and Melanson, Kartye goes hard on both ends of the ice.
The Soo lost 5-3 in the opening game of Round 2 Friday at Flint. Kartye (four shots on goal) and his teammates dominated offensive-zone possession time, proven by 55 shots on goal. But Flint goalie Luke Cavallin delivered what hockey fans know as a staple of hockey postseasons, the "goalie steal." The Greyhounds can even the series and win one for the mothers in Sunday's Game 2 matinee on our day to celebrate moms across the U.S. and Canada.
After winning the AHL's Atlantic Division with final weekend heroics, the Charlotte Checkers have been practicing and working out to stay sharp while awaiting a second-round opponent. Their second-round, best-of-five series is now set. It begins on the road against the Bridgeport Islanders Tuesday and Thursday, then Game 3, plus Games 4 and 5, if necessary, will be in Charlotte before what has been a raucous fan base all year.
Goalie Joey Daccord and defenseman Dennis Cholowski both spent a week with the Kraken before returning to North Carolina to rejoin the Checkers. Daccord earned a start and Cholowski appeared in four games, looking comfortable and solid on both ends of the ice and recording two assists.
The Kraken's 2021 second-round draft choice, Ryker Evans, has been practicing with the Checkers for the last week after a stellar juniors season (14 goals, 47 assists, 61 games) and a developmental visit to the Kraken Community Iceplex. Evans, who signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Seattle that begins next season, is participating in the AHL playoffs on an amateur tryout basis. Whether he cracks the lineup is a decision entirely up to the Checkers coaching staff.
While Bridgeport finished sixth in the Atlantic Division, the Islanders and first-place Checkers split their season series four games apiece with Bridgeport leading in goals 24 to 19. Depth scoring is the key to Charlotte's season-long success, and it will need to continue in the playoffs. Kraken developing pro Alexander True was the team scoring leader with Max McCormick another prominent points-getter. On defense, Cale Fleury (back from Kraken duty) and Connor Carrick were both 20-plus assist contributors.
Those defenders, along with D-man Gustav Olofsson and goalie Daccord, are all big reasons why Charlotte is a league-leader in preventing goals. Daccord finished his AHL season with a hot run of 10 wins and allowing two goals or less in his final 15 appearances.