Fast Start By Young Kraken Forwards Bodes Well

Berkly Catton answered a handful of postgame questions following a home-opening Kraken win before finally emitting a true smile. 

Catton this season, 10 pounds of muscle stronger and carrying a more stoic demeanor than his 19-year-old self of 12 months ago, seems to be purposefully recasting his image into that of a maturing, NHL-ready player. But he couldn’t suppress his boyish grin, a feature throughout last season as a teenage Catton experienced highs and lows of living out a childhood NHL fantasy in real time, when the topic of scoring his first goal of the season against the Flames was raised. 

“The first goal of the year, it’s always nice to get it out of the way,” Catton said. “It took a little long last year so, it’s always nice to get that out of the way and kind of keep going from here.” 

Catton is one of several Kraken players forming part of an emerging young core ages 25-and-under. And among that core, the team in its first four games has seen two goals from Shane Wright, 22, two more from Mackie Samoskevich, 23, and singles from Matty Beniers, 23, Kaapo Kakko, 25, and, of course, Catton, 20. 

Beniers and Kakko are far more battle-worn that the others, having been through a combined 11 full seasons between them. But for the remaining  youngsters, still working in many ways to establish an NHL footing, taking pressure off getting that first goal allows them to settle down and get to work on stuff beyond fast-start symbolism. 

Veteran players who go a long time without a goal can also feel it. But they’ll have lengthy, successful track records to mentally fall back on. That’s obviously isn’t as much the case with younger players. Catton himself described what his experience was like a year ago when he appeared in 27 games before potting his first NHL goal on Jan. 6 against Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins. 

“When you’re in a drought like that, you start to think the puck’s not going to go in when you shoot it,” Catton said. “You think it’s going to hit something while it’s on its way in and stay out.” 

Hardly a surprise, then, to see him score a second goal that same Bruins game. Once you remember that pucks you shoot actually can wind up in the net, it slows the self-doubt and provides confidence to keep trying.

“Yeah, 100% it’s a lot of weight off the shoulders for sure,” Catton said that night.  

Sure, we sometimes think of professional athletes being robots without the same worries the rest of us have. But they’re real people, too, especially in their early 20s when they want to leave a good impression while on their first job. Just like we all were at the office, in the plant, or wherever we first got paid daily for something. 

You can preach to a young player about a “two-way game” or a “200-foot game” – important traits, to be sure – but half of that game involves offense and even the sturdiest veterans eventually crave goal scoring validation. Catton spoke about how veteran teammates last season tried to keep him upbeat as he’d worked to generate more scoring chances without them immediately paying off. 

“They’ve been nothing but great to me,” Catton said. “A lot of the guys have gone through droughts. Probably not that long, but they’ve gone through them. And they just kind of told me to keep going and eventually it would go in.” 

Catton by late December had even changed uniform numbers hoping, in part, to shed the immediate past and look for better outcomes ahead, swapping out No. 77 for No. 27 – previously used by the traded Mason Marchment. It was the same number Catton wore the prior season with the Spokane Chiefs when every puck he shot seemed to find the back of the net. 

“Honestly, a new number is almost like a fresh start,” Catton said at the time. “And it was a new year, so a ‘fresh start’ was my mindset. Obviously, realistically it probably doesn’t make any difference. But maybe, psychologically it’s like having a fresh start. So, I think that part helped me a little bit.” 

So, that’s now out of the way for Catton this season just a few games in.  

Samoskevich carried a different type of pressure into his Kraken home debut, having already gotten a couple of seasons of first-goal waits off his shoulders. Still, like any team newcomer, the onetime Florida Panthers winger wants to show home fans he’s worthy of all the hype.

That was demonstrated in a big way Sunday as, not long after Catton’s goal, Samoskevich outraced opponents down the ice, seized the puck after a long defensive zone clearance by Brandon Montour, then scored on a nifty breakaway move. His first Kraken goal secured, Samoskevich then didn’t hesitate when housemate Beniers fed him a second period tee-up pass that was buried in the back of Calgary’s net for his second of the game. 

With less on your mind, such routine shots become, well, routine. 

Wright used a Catton pass late in that same Flames game to score his first goal of what looms as an important season for his personal development. Then, one game later against Vegas on Tuesday night, Wright scored his second goal. He and young linemates Catton and Kakko now have four goals, five assists between them. 

“We’re just playing confident with the puck and we’re playing with speed,” Wright said of his line with Catton and Kakko. “That’s how we have to play. We have to play fast and we have to transition quick.” 

And on and on it goes. 

“If you look at Berk last year he waited quite a while for that and so it’s nice to see it happen right now,” Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said. “Any time you come to a new team, or a new organization it’s nice to get going too as far as Mackie (Samoskevich) is concerned. “So, good. It bleeds confidence.” 

Again, nobody ever gets named Team MVP based on how quickly your first goal comes. But if it helps lead to a season of 30, or 40 goals, that’s where such discussions start happening. 

With Catton, Samoskevich and other Kraken youngsters, the hope is more along the lines of taking a step forward in developing their all-around games. The early scoring won’t hurt, bolstering an overall Kraken forwards group accounting for 14 of the team’s 15 goals thus far. 

A year ago, when the Kraken got off to a strong start despite dismal offensive production, much of the talk was about defensemen doing all the scoring. When the season ended with the Kraken averaging just 2.73 goals a game, the lack of scoring by forwards was pointed to as Exhibit A in needed improvement. 

So, it’s been a really strong start up and down the team’s deep and competitive forward trios. Four Kraken forwards are averaging at least a point-per game, with Jared McCann at five and Jordan Eberle, Chandler Stephenson and Kakko at four points each. Two more forwards, Wright and Beniers, have three points apiece.  

Eleven of the forwards already have points. Ten have scored goals. Four have multiple goals. 

So, the start has been there. Now, they can all, young and veteran alike, focus entirely on the task at hand so they’ll still be performing at the season’s finish line.