Expanding Young Core, Veterans Guide Kraken

Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans admits the start of training camp feels a lot different now than his first experience five years ago as a second round draft pick.

A big part of that is Evans and a bevy of talented young Kraken players forming an emerging core expected to do more than just learn from veterans. Evans and Matty Beniers, both from the very first Kraken draft class, are two elder statesmen from that core of eight players aged 25-and-younger the team is counting on to help it make strides this season.

Players arrive for medicals and testing Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s first on-ice session of Kraken Training Camp, pres. by Starbucks, hoping the franchise’s sixth campaign builds off the prior one that saw them in a playoff position heading into the stretch run.

“That was really great getting to play in games that meant something,” Evans said. “We put ourselves in that position and got to play in some bigger games. Now, it’s a matter of going that extra step and taking it further.”

That extra step will involve the Kraken winning more of those meaningful games than they did with a 7-17-2 finish last season after the Winter Olympic break. For that to happen, they’ll need a push from the younger group that includes Beniers, Kaapo Kakko, Evans, Berkly Catton, Shane Wright, newcomer Mackie Samoskevich, Ryan Winterton and Jacob Melanson.

But this isn’t a case of the team going all-youth, results be darned. Instead, that maturing core of young players – already seasoned with NHL experience – has been surrounded by a veteran group to help maintain a competitive edge and positive growth environment while the team continues to evolve.

The Kraken re-signed winger Bobby McMann to a long-term deal that keeps him in that veteran group alongside Brandon Montrour, Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann, Vince Dunn, Adam Larsson and Chandler Stephenson. As mentioned already, much of that group, minus departing free agent veterans Jaden Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak and winger Eeli Tolvanen, kept the Kraken in a playoff spot the majority of last season before the late freefall.

The strategic blending of veterans with the ever-maturing young core won’t have much time to gel this preseason. An expanded 84-game NHL schedule starting Oct. 1 in Calgary means the preseason was shortened, with the Kraken opening the first of only four such contests – down from six -- this Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Vancouver Canucks.

Evans joked that he feels “old” at age 24 but ready to help take that important next step of winning bigger games while continuing to grow the younger group. And that growth will extend beyond this season as well, as an extended crop of youngsters in Jani Nyman, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Jagger Firkus and top draft prospects Jake O’Brien, Chase Reid and Julius Miettinen look to crack the NHL roster.

For now, it’s about stabilizing the NHL environment so the rapidly expanding young core can mature in optimal and competitive conditions. Evans knows he and others younger have a role to play in keeping the Kraken competitive.

“A lot of it’s going to depend on us generating more offense,” Evans said. “Offensively, there’s a lot we can build upon off last season and that starts in the back end with some of us.”

Both back there on defense and up front as well, where Beniers, 23, enters his fifth NHL season expected to center a top line that could potentially include onetime University of Michigan college teammate Samoskevich, 23, acquired from the Florida Panthers last June. The addition of Samoskevich along with extending McMann, gives the Kraken a very different look speed-wise on their top lines and could open things up for a playmaker like Beniers.

“I don’t know whether I’m a veteran yet, but I’m definitely older and getting on the other side,” Beniers said with a chuckle. “It’s my fifth year. I’ve played 300 games now. So, it’s a fun spot to be in because I’ve had that other (younger) perspective very recently.

“The veterans do as well, but it’s a lot more recent for me and so I have that ability to connect with younger guys and what they’re going through.”

Beniers, of course, won the Calder Trophy four seasons ago as the NHL’s top rookie with a career high 24 goals and 57 points. His 30 assists and 50 points last season were his most since the rookie stint as he moves well beyond some of the growing pains experienced during a tough sophomore campaign.

Such struggles are nothing new for any young player, no matter how dazzling their rookie debuts. What separates this year’s young Kraken core from prior editions is that it seems poised to take a step beyond the growth stage to where it can contribute equally.

Like Beniers, Kakko, 25, was a No. 2 overall draft pick – from 2019 where Beniers was in 2021 – and also needed several seasons with the New York Rangers to get his NHL footing. He began to finally break out with the Kraken after a mid-season trade in 2024-25 and last season – following an injury that sidelined him the first six weeks – was one of the team’s stronger players the latter half and finished with 13 goals, 27 assists in only 65 games.

And there’s also Wright, still only 22 and now entering his third full NHL season. Like Beniers, his first campaign saw Wright start strong with 19 goals and 44 points before dropping off to 12 goals and 27 points his sophomore season.

Now, the hope is Wright will move beyond his initial growing pains as well and solidify his NHL standing.

As for Samoskevich, also entering his third season, the Kraken should provide opportunities he didn’t see while playing with a championship level Panthers squad. Even with limited ice time in Florida, Samoskevich produced seasons of 31 and 32 points.

There’s no doubt the Kraken need upside from some of their older and youngest players alike. McMann, 30, was given a chance on top Kraken lines after a trade from Toronto last March and scored 10 goals in 18 games to finish with 29 goals between both clubs.

While he almost certainly won’t continue that initial Kraken scoring pace, the team hopes his late-blooming evolution enables McMann to flourish among other proven producers.

They include longtime winger McCann, 30, who battled lower body injuries last season and still produced 20 goals in 52 games for the highest Kraken scoring percentage when healthy. Kraken captain Eberle, 35, also led the team with 26 goals and 55 points in a comeback season.

And while not all players will repeat such feats there is hope for offsets from others like former junior hockey phenom Catton, 20, who last season had an early NHL baptism-by-fire.

The former No. 8 overall selection from 2024 will be looked at to jump significantly from his seven goals and 10 assists in 66 games in making his NHL debut straight out of major junior hockey.

As for goaltending, the Kraken have a solid 1-2 punch yet again with Joey Daccord and veteran Philipp Grubauer.

So, as Evans alluded to, much of the improvement will be expected from putting the puck in the net as opposed to keeping it out. The Kraken fared fifth worst in NHL scoring last season at just 2.73 goals per game.

And that’s where the young core must shake off the training wheels and contribute more to the bottom line. Beniers admittedly feels more of a leadership responsibility for the young core and overall team.

He became more vocal in the dressing room a season ago as he grew more confident about his NHL game.

“Yeah, we have younger guys,” Beniers said. “But the way I look at it, when I came in, I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I have leeway because I’m a young guy when I mess up.’ And I don’t think somebody like Berkly (Catton) is looking it that way with his game.

“I think Berk’s coming in saying, ‘I want to be one of the best players on the team – if not the best player on the team.’ And that’s the way I was coming in. So, I think it’s a little bit of us setting the standard and also a bit of those (younger) guys and how they’re feeling and them setting the standard for themselves.”

Wright has been setting an example for younger players since arriving in Kraken Rookie Camp four years ago fresh off being drafted No. 4 overall. Not much has changed and he said he’ll still look to do that this time around in “setting a standard, setting a culture” for what the team expects.

That includes winning more of the games the team couldn’t pull out when it mattered most a season ago.

“We were right there for a lot of the season and just couldn’t pull it through towards the end of the year,” he said. “But we know now that we can get to that position and stay in that position. It’s just about being a little more consistent.”

Wright knows he’s personally capable of more consistency from an offensive standpoint and plans to hold himself accountable for supplying some of the team’s missing output.

“I just want to be a big offensive contributor, obviously,” he said. “And I think that’s an area the team can be better at overall, obviously. But yeah, I want to be able to chip in more and be trusted in a lot of those situations.”

Plenty within the team’s younger core will get a look in those situations out of sheer numbers and necessity. The departures of Schwartz, Oleksiak and Tolvanen weren’t all filled by veteran additions.

Also, like the Kraken franchise itself, the team’s young core is no longer brand new. That core may still need veterans to surround it and keep it competitive while the team’s evolution continues.

But likewise, those veterans can’t go it alone. There is no longer mere hope, but actual expectation, that the young Kraken core will take the next step to contributing on a more equal footing with older counterparts as the franchise evolves beyond expansion into its second half-decade.

“It’s going to be fun to see what happens,” Evans said. “I’m looking forward to it.”