Down on the Farm - Firkus steps forward for Firebirds

“Down on the Farm” is your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. This week we’ll highlight Jagger Firkus’s significance to the Firebirds offense in the early going and check in on his development. After that we’ll have news, notes, and video from around the Kraken system, a prospect data update, and a preview of the schedule ahead, as always.

If you have a Kraken prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X or BlueSky @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey. Let’s dive in.

Second-year forward Firkus leads scoring attack for Firebirds

As we have talked about, the task facing the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season is significant. The roster is the youngest in the AHL. And, in reality, the team is even younger than it looks on paper. The team’s only player older than 30 years old, Max McCormick, is out for the season.

Beyond youth, there was also the question of where the scoring would come from. Five of last season’s top-six scorers are not currently on the roster, and the Firebirds didn’t add any marquee AHL veterans to replace that production. Last year’s No. 3 scorer, Logan Morrison, leads this year’s squad in goals. But who else would elevate?

In this context, Jagger Firkus has stepped forward. The winger was the Firebirds’ No. 7 scorer last year as an AHL rookie. This season he leads the team with 14 total points (4 goals and 10 assists). As of this writing, that total is tied for the fifth most in the AHL and tops all U22 players.

When we highlighted Firkus last season, we noted that he was building a base of skills necessary to succeed as a professional winger. Those skills are still there, but his usage has evolved this season, in part due to the needs of the team. Last year he was a complementary scorer from the middle-six who needed to perform two-way hockey to contribute. This year, he has taken on a featured scoring and power-play role.

By design, he is often the top player in the defensive zone looking for disruptions along the blue line or for an outlet pass to transition through the neutral zone into a rush chance. In my viewings, this has lessened his overall defensive-zone involvement, particularly the frequency of—and exposure to—low board battles. This has highlighted his stronger off-puck attributes: his instincts and hands. It has also created a lot more space for his offense.

A year and change into his professional career, I’m more confident in his ability to transport the puck through the neutral zone. He has always had the passing skill to find open teammates. But I had some questions about his ability to get through opposing forechecks with the puck on his stick because he lacked a dynamic skating gear. After 80 games of professional experience, he has found a way with short-area agility, stickhandling, and savvy. Put differently, he’s closer to Matty Beniers on the rush than Berkly Catton. While he’s not at Beniers’ level, this is a strong indicator of his ability to drive play moving forward.

In the offensive zone, his vision is his calling card. He has the potential to be a plus passer. It seems like he’s creating multiple high-danger chances for his teammates every game, sometimes in creative and unexpected ways. Add in a shot that can be deceptive and precise, and there is a real package of skills there. (He showed off most of those offensive skills in the Oct. 24 game excerpted above, scoring two goals and adding an assist.)

He’ll need to keep pushing those offensive skills to another level if he’s going to earn a top-six featured scoring role in the NHL. It’s still more likely he’ll need to carve out a complementary role, which will, again, put his two-way skills in focus. Can he make that work? I’m more confident than ever, but there’s still development road left there.

Notes on four more Kraken prospects

Maxim Agafonov | D | Toros Neftekamsk (VHL)

Defenseman Maxim Agafonov returned to the lineup for Toros Neftekamsk on Friday, Nov. 14, after being absent for multiple weeks. I suspect an injury was involved, but we’ll be monitoring his playing time moving forward. Before missing this stretch, he had been a stalwart on the blue line in the lower-level professional league in Russia (the VHL) and even earned a game in the top professional league (the KHL). It was an impressive early-season run for the 18-year-old 2025 fifth-round pick.

Jakub Fibigr | D | Brampton Steelheads (OHL)

Jakub Fibigr, a 2024 seventh-round pick, has turned up the dial offensively this year. With five goals and ten assists through 16 games, Fibigr ranks within the top ten in total points and goals among OHL defensemen. Beyond the scoring, Fibigr is delivering as a true No. 1 in minutes for an underpowered Brampton Steelheads team. Despite a -18 overall goal differential, Brampton is +8 in Fibigr’s even-strength minutes. Fibigr’s plus-minus is by far the best on the team. The next closest skater is +3.

Ville Ottavainen | D | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)

Ottavainen tallied two points in two games for the Firebirds last week but missed the team’s most recent game with a lower-body injury. The team has deemed him day-to-day. The Firebirds recalled Zach Uens from the Kansas City Mavericks in a countermove.

Kim Saarinen | D | HPK (Liiga)

Saarinen has not drawn any league starts over the last couple of weeks because he has been away with the Finland U20 team at a World Junior Championship precursor event. He started two of Finland’s four games, stopping 43 of 50 shots faced. Less encouragingly, Finland dropped both contests, one to Czechia and the other to Switzerland. And while Saarinen started games two and four, Saarinen’s primary competitor for the WJC crease, Petteri (“Mr. Showtime”) Rimpinen, started games one and three and won both. The WJC job is likely Rimpinen’s to lose at this point, particularly given that Saarinen’s Liiga play cooled considerably over the last month.

Bonus: Reese Hamilton | D | Regina Pats (WHL)

Over the summer, the Kraken invited undrafted, but once highly regarded, defenseman Reese Hamilton to development camp. He impressed in that setting, reminding all in attendance of his strong résumé before a disappointing draft season that saw him log 14 points in 59 games. Well, Hamilton has already topped last year’s point total (with 15), and in only 20 games. Despite being undrafted, Hamilton is not a free agent. He will be eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft. If the numbers are any indication, he’s looking like a pick again, whether in Seattle or elsewhere.

#SeaKraken camp invite Reese Hamilton scores off a feed from Berkly Catton at Kraken Development Camp. pic.twitter.com/x5MYUV5wis

— Deep Sea Hockey (@DeepSeaHockey) July 3, 2025

Highlights of the Week

Nathan Villeneuve and Jake O’Brien showed off some silky hands this past week.

Some slick hands are on display for the Play of the Week!

— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) November 12, 2025

Nikke Kokko came up with one of the best saves you’ll see in the Firebirds’ 6-3 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

NIKKE K🚫KK🚫!@Firebirds | @TheAHL | @SeattleKraken #LetsFly #AHL #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/hQzhEwkxxy

— FloHockey (@FloHockey) November 12, 2025

Kraken prospects data update

With 6 points in 3 games, Firkus is your Sound Of Hockey Player of the Week. Morrison and J.R. Avon had highly productive weeks for the Firebirds, piling up 5 points each across three games.

Julius Miettinen leads the WHL in plus-minus with a +22 mark. His 28 points are eighth in the league. He is the only player in the top ten in both scoring and plus-minus in the WHL.

Nikke Kokko started two games in his return to the lineup and won both. He posted a .923 save percentage in the process.

Semyon Vyazovoi continues to prove himself as one of the KHL’s best U25 players, not just goaltenders.

Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker

2: Kim Saarinen, Julius Miettinen

1: Jake O’Brien, Semyon Vyazovoi, Nathan Villeneuve, Ollie Josephson, Jagger Firkus

Previewing the week ahead

The Deep Sea Hockey Game of the Week is a 1:00 pm PT Saturday matchup between Fibigr’s Steelheads and O’Brien’s Bulldogs.

Tracking 2026 NHL Draft prospects: Chase Harrington

Last week we highlighted Spokane Chief Mathis Preston as perhaps the best draft-eligible WHL U.S. Division player. His strongest competition for that distinction may be Chase Harrington, who also plays for the Chiefs. Harrington, a 6-foot power forward, has 7 goals and 6 assists in 18 WHL games this season.

Recent prospect updates

November 7, 2025: Caden Price looks the part in pro debut

October 31, 2025: College hockey seasons under way for Kraken prospects

October 25, 2005: Mølgaard is an all-situations contributor as an AHL rookie

October 17, 2025: Tyson Jugnauth earns important role with the Firebirds

October 10, 2025: Firebirds drop the puck on the 2025-26 season

October 3, 2025: Catton makes his case for the NHL Roster

September 26, 2025: Junior seasons begin, J.R. Avon settles in

Curtis Isacke

Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.

Down on the Farm – Firkus steps forward for Firebirds

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