Fiddler ready to 'put in the work' after being drafted by Kraken

LOS ANGELES -- Blake Fiddler received a text from one of his summer skating buddies Friday, offering him some advice on how to handle the emotions of the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft.

The message came from Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn.

"I told him, 'Don't worry about where you're going to go, you're going to be an NHL player one day so just try to enjoy it,'" Benn told NHL.com.

Fiddler, a defenseman from the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, went in the second round (No. 36) to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, Day 2 of the draft.

He had hoped he would and thought he could be picked in the first round on Friday, but when that didn't happen Fiddler, the son of former NHL forward Vern Fiddler, thought about that text from Benn, the advice he received from his dad's former teammate who remains a close friend.

"In my heart, I thought I'd be getting picked yesterday, but for me it didn't matter," Fiddler said. "The draft means nothing. It doesn't matter when you go. It's the work you put in after. I still have a lot to prove and a long way to go, but I'm always looking to put in the work."

That comment was then relayed to Benn.

"Perfect," the Stars captain said. "So, he is listening a little bit. That's good."

Fiddler said not going in the first round puts a chip on his shoulder to prove people wrong.

"I'll definitely have a little bit of fire in my stomach," he said.

His dad loved hearing that.

"He's grown up in a hockey culture and I never got anything for free, and he's seen that," said Vernon Fiddler, who played 877 NHL games despite never being drafted. "Obviously, his path is going to be different than mine, but I've reminded him time after time that this draft doesn't mean anything, it's what you do after it when you know a team is interested in you and committing to you. I love it that he has that chip on his shoulder because that's what we do, we prove people wrong. You have to continue to do that if you want to be a hockey player."

Not only did his dad do that, so has Benn, who waited until the eighth pick in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Draft, No. 129, to hear the Stars call his name.

All he's done is produce 956 points (399 goals, 557 assists) in 1,192 games with Dallas, winning an Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer in 2014-15.

"I've known (Blake) forever now, since he was a little guy running around our room when I was playing with Vern," Benn said. "To see him grow up, and I've been following him his whole career, he's such a good kid and he's turned into a great hockey player. He's got quite the work ethic for a young kid and obviously wants to make the NHL, and I think he's well on his way.

"He's such a good skating hockey player for his size. Being a right shot, big (defenseman), I think he's going to turn into a great hockey player and one the Kraken can rely on to just be a steady, good puck-moving defenseman that can log a lot of minutes."

Fiddler, listed at 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, was ranked 26th among North American skaters in the 2025 draft by NHL Central Scouting. He had 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in 64 games in the WHL this season after he had 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 63 games as a WHL rookie in 2023-24.

He played for the United States at the 2025 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and is on the radar to play for the U.S. at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.

"Last summer we were skating a couple times a week and I was just so impressed with his skill, with his mobility for such a young kid and a big kid," Benn said. "For his size, comparing him to myself, how good he is now, he's years beyond what I was at that age."

Fiddler also has the advantage of knowing what it's like to be in the NHL world having grown up in it, being born when his dad was playing for the Nashville Predators and moving, and eventually settling, in Dallas, where Vern played from 2011-16.

"I pretty much lived the lifestyle too," Fiddler said. "I was just a little version of him, I felt. I am constantly surrounded by it all and I think that helped me growing up knowing what it takes. I know what it takes to make the NHL and what's going to help get me there."

In addition to Benn, he regularly participates in summer skates with Stars forward Tyler Seguin, and Dallas-area natives such as Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman, Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones and his brother, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Caleb Jones.

He also works out with the Stars' team trainer.

"He sees the routines every day," Vern Fiddler said. "When you see that you just don't know any different. Blake has that advantage. Some guys don't know how hard it is until you've been in it, but he's been in it. Even with him dropping a bit (in the draft) I think that chip on his shoulder is going to help. But at the same time you have to put him in front of good people to develop that are going to invest in him to become better. I know Seattle does that and we couldn't be happier."