Corey Pronman (infamous as of late for saying Adam Fox isn't a top 10 defenseman) put out a bunch of re-draft articles and I thought it'd be interesting to compile the listed Kraken players from our first 4 drafts.

Kraken draftees not mentioned were not included in Pronman's redraft, which ends at his "Has a chance to play games" tier – so anyone not on the list is someone he doesn't think is going to at least get a decent shot at the NHL.

Draft Year Player Tier Drafted at Redraft Change
2021 Matty Beniers 3: Bubble star and top of lineup 2 5 – 3
2021 Ryker Evans 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 35 15 + 20
2021 Ryan Winterton 7: Projects to play NHL games 67 34 + 33
2021 Semyon Vyazovoy 8: Has a chance to play games 163 59 + 104
2021 Ville Ottavainen 8: Has a chance to play games 99 61 + 38
2022 Shane Wright 4: Top-of-the-lineup player 4 3 + 1
2022 Jani Nyman 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 49 27 + 22
2022 David Goyette 8: Has a chance to play games 61 61 + 0
2022 Jagger Firkus 7: Has a chance to play games 35 69 – 34
2022 Niklas Kokko 8: Has a chance to play games 58 77 – 19
2022 Ty Nelson 8: Has a chance to play games 68 82 – 14
2023 Eduard Sale 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 20 31 – 11
2023 Carson Rehkopf 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 50 34 + 16
2023 Caden Price 8: Has a chance to play games 84 73 + 11
2023 Kaden Hammell 8: Has a chance to play games 148 77 + 71
2023 Lukas Dragicevic 8: Has a chance to play games 57 106 – 49
2024 Berkly Catton 3: Bubble star and top of lineup 8 5 + 3
2024 Julius Miettinen 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 40 24 + 16
2024 Kim Saarinen 6: Middle-of-the-lineup player 88 38 + 50
2024 Nathan Villeneuve 8: Has a chance to play games 63 71 – 8

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6592372/2025/09/11/nhl-redraft-2021-hughes-guenther-johnston/

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6592365/2025/09/10/nhl-redraft-2022-slafkovsky-cooley-wright-2/

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6592359/2025/09/09/nhl-redraft-2023-bedard-carlsson-fantilli/

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6592343/2025/09/08/nhl-redraft-2024-celebrini-buium-demidov/

4 comments

  1. Some takeaways I had from the lists

    The Kraken have drafted a LOT of guys who are likely to be NHL players or borderline NHL players. Their late-round drafting has been very good in this regard. They are finding guys who will be or have a decent change to be NHL players.

    From what I can tell only a single 1st or 2nd round pick, 2023’s 52nd overall Oskar Fisker Molgaard, is not listed. I know Dylan from ECH is quite high on OFM so it’s possible even he turns into an NHLer.

    That said, the Kraken have very few prospects in the best tiers. Only Catton, Wright, and Beniers, are in the top 5 tiers indicating they are “Bubble top and middle lineup” players – aka the top half of an NHL roster. Catton and Beniers top out at tier 3 while Wright is in tier 4.

    The front office’s challenge in future seasons will be making sure guys like Beniers, Wright, Catton, and O’Brien hit their ceilings and bringing in additional players to provide them with high-skill teammates to play alongside. They should be able to count on having options to fill out the bottom half of the roster, especially at forward, internally with young players which may give them flexibility in spending big to acquire talent at the top of the roster.

    Of course this requires identifying the correct players to bring in that fit our needs and acquiring them through trade or free agency.

  2. Here’s my takeaway: If Ron Francis were a thing, he’d be a safe. A boring, average, underperforming safe.

  3. This is really great – thanks for putting it together

    Overall thoughts:

    2021 is turning into a very solid draft 5 years later

    Pronman has Firkus rated lower than most, which I think is fair – but I would argue he should also have Sale rated equally low, but he’s a tier higher

    I like how high he is on Miettinen – but I would argue that Fisker-Molgaard not being on this list is a bit odd, as they project to be similar level players in the NHL. Miettinen is much more physical, but OFM has a strong 2-way game that should see time in the NHL as high as the 3rd line

    I think overall he’s a little lower on our defensive prospects as a whole than he probably should be

    This is a very encouraging list though. If we’re making smart moves in free agency to add to the top 6, and not holding onto our lower ranked prospects if they can be packaged for upgrades – we’ll be in fantastic shape

  4. I put little stock in any of this. Prospect rankings and redrafts of guys in the first year or two of their careers are no better than astrology. You can go back and look at these lists from 10-15 years ago and have a good laugh at the number of misses by self-styled experts.

    These guys don’t even know how to predict how a season will go when the rosters are already at training camp (in September 2024 Vancouver was supposed to dominate the Pacific, Nashville the central, Rangers were a behemoth, no one expected much of Montreal, LA was supposed to fall off, I could go on). How they think the next decade and a half will go for a prospect is just a shot in the dark.

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