Kraken Prospect Berkly Catton, Like You Haven’t Seen Him Before

Above photo shows Spokane Chiefs center Berkly Catton (27) against Medicine Hat in WHL Championship Series.

Say, Seattle Kraken fans, been down in the dumps since Brandon Tanev and his googly eyes were traded to Winnipeg at the March deadline? Tanev’s wide-eyed headshot photos are harder to replace on a roster than a first-pairing defenseman.

Never fear, Kraken faithful. As the old saying goes, when a Brandon Tanev door closes, a Berkly Catton window opens. That’s right – Seattle’s 2024 1st round draft pick, a scoring machine for the WHL Spokane Chiefs, has accepted the challenge.

That’s Catton, straining his retinas for the montage cover of the WHL Championship media guide (image of the full cover at left).

No surprise that the 19-year-old is giving his all; Berkly followed a 54 goal, 62 assist 2023-24 season for the Chiefs with 38 goals and 71 assists this past regular season.

Somehow, Catton has ramped up his production in the postseason, scoring eight goals and adding a whopping 28 helpers in his first 15 playoff games, leading Spokane into the WHL Championship against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The center hasn’t slow down in the final, scoring his ninth playoff goal in Game 1. And that was just the appetizer. Sunday night (May 11), he scored two more (10th and 11th of the playoffs), added an assist, and was named 1st star as the Chiefs evened the Championship Series at one game apiece.

Oh, and the headlamp peepers weren’t Catton’s only new look. He also cultivated an impressive playoff beard (image at right).

Kraken fans may get to see more of Catton next season. Players and others within the organizations have spoken like Spokane won’t be his full-time destination in 2025-26.

Jugnauth Juggernaut

Catton wasn’t the only Kraken prospect making WHL headlines. Portland Winterhawks blueliner Tyson Jugnauth has been awarded the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as league Defenseman of the Year.

The 20-year-old led all WHL defensemen in scoring with 13 goals and 76 assists (3rd among all skaters) in 65 games. The Kelowna, B.C. product also led the WHL with 35 power play assists, and his 89 points were 13th-most in the league.

From the WHL press release: “Jugnauth’s impressive season included six assists in a 7-2 win over the Vancouver Giants on Dec. 7, 2024. He’s tallied 130 points (20G-110A) in 106 career WHL regular season games. Jugnauth is also a member of the 2024-25 WHL Western Conference First All-Star Team.”

Seattle selected the 5-foot-11, 171-pound blueliner in the 4th round of the 2022 NHL Draft.

Firebirds Extinguished In AHL Playoffs

For the first time in their three-season existence, Seattle’s AHL farm team in Coachella Valley won’t represent the Western Conference in the Calder Cup Final. The Firebirds season ended in the 2nd round May 9, losing three games to one to the Abbotsford Canucks.

Lack of offense doomed Coachella Valley, and injuries to core players doomed the offense. The Firebirds scored just two goals total in their three losses to Abbotsford. Over six postseason games against the Canucks and Calgary Wranglers, CV finished 0-17 on the power play.

Kraken goalie prospect Nikke Kokko was a standout, finishing the playoffs with a 2.26 GAA and .913 save percentage.

“This series could’ve gone either way,” Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal said to the Desert Sun. “A bounce here, a bounce there. That’s playoff hockey and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. We were missing some of our key players, but we had chances to tie it up and it didn’t go our way. But we’re very proud of our guys.”

Already looking ahead, Laxdal commented, “We’ve got a ton of kids coming over next year. We’re going to be even younger. But it’s going to be exciting.”

Kraken Badly In Need Of Compass, Says One Writer

Someone in Seattle must have once run over Josh Wegman’s dog. Wegman, news editor for TheScore.ca in Canada, had little nice to say about the current state of the Kraken. Even his one bit of team-specific praise, for the defense corps, seems odd considering Seattle finished 24th in goals allowed per game.

As for the rest, Wegman lists deficits of “No elite players and no direction. The Kraken are stuck in NHL purgatory: not good enough to contend, but not bad enough to bottom out for high draft picks.”

The indictment continues. “(As GM), Ron Francis tried to make Seattle immediately competitive by overspending in free agency. But the results aren’t great: just one playoff appearance in four seasons and several bad contracts.” Wegman chalks up Dan Bylsma’s dismissal as coach after one season to “Francis’ impatience,” concluding the Kraken front office harbors “unrealistic expectations of a flawed roster.”

News From Utah Is, Uh, What’s The Word… ‘Enormous’

Random Seattle thoughts on the new nickname for Utah’s NHL team, the former (but stubbornly unacknowledged) Arizona Coyotes, who will henceforth be known as the “Mammoth.”

Team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement, “It stands as a symbol of who we are, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.” How “unstoppable” could a species have been that went extinct thousands of years ago?

Along with the Kraken, Lightning, Wild and Avalanche, Mammoth becomes the fifth “singular” NHL team nickname – because, I suppose, elephants hate socializing. What’s that? I’m told they love socializing.

As for the logo, mountains in the head, tusk forming a “U”, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

The Kraken color scheme is known as Deep Sea Blue, Ice Blue, Shadow Blue, Boundless Blue, and White (plus the Red Alert eye). The Mammoth color scheme is known as Rock Black, Mountain Blue and Salt White.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, “The team is adopting ‘Tusks Up’ as its rally cry.” Really? Has anyone tried saying “Tusks Up” out loud? Was the runner-up slogan, “She sells seashells on the seashore?”

Headlines we look forward to seeing:
“Tusk, Tusk – Mammoth Lose Again”
“Mammoth Haven’t Won Since Pleistocene Epoch”
“Wild & Woolley Finish For Mammoth”