Welcome to “Down on the Farm,” your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. This week we’ll cover the latest prospect news from Kraken training camp, as well as the week that was for Kraken prospects playing in junior leagues and overseas. For our feature this week, we reviewed every shift from Berkly Catton’s five preseason games to evaluate where he stands in his quest to become an NHL regular. Let’s dive in.

Catton proves he is ready for NHL time, but must continue to develop

Though the Kaapo Kakko injury likely ended any conversation on whether Berkly Catton will make the NHL roster to begin the year (he will), Catton has been very active this preseason attempting to show that he is ready for a full-time NHL role. From my perspective, there has been far more good than bad.

Catton began camp playing center where he showed the speed necessary to traverse the rink end-to-end, getting low in support in the defensive zone before joining or leading the rush the opposite direction. This is an important trait for a center in new coach Lane Lambert’s system, which asks a lot of its centers defensively. From the center position, Catton was all over the ice hunting the puck. He won more than his share of puck battles and was undaunted physically even if he wasn’t able to body defenders away from the puck due to his stature.

Offensively, Catton regularly set up his teammates with crisp, pinpoint passes to take open ice in transition or for shots in the offensive zone. There were shades of rookie Shane Wright in Catton’s passing game where Catton would rush a no-look feed not realizing he had another split second to make a more accurate pass. As with Wright, this is correctible with repetitions at pro pace.

Similarly, Catton was overly aggressive at times, particularly with east-west passes along the offensive and defensive blue lines. The NHL game is all about speed and pressure, and those plays could lead to bad turnovers as opponents scout and key in on it. Taking the simpler north-south play more often and trusting his puck possession skill a bit more will help him there.

In transition, Catton is one of Seattle’s best players already with the pace, puck handling, and vision to dice up opposing forechecks and get into the offensive zone with possession. This was even more notable when he was playing on the wing in the latter portion of the preseason. At the wing position, Catton is more likely to find himself high in the defensive zone when a turnover occurs, and this gives him a chance to create breakaway chances or other transition advantages (as he did early in the Vancouver game, see below).

Catton has a quick release on his shot and good offensive instincts to get to the scoring areas where he can find rebounds, deflections, or passes from his teammates. That said, the shot is not particularly hard or pinpoint by NHL standards right now. This is something that a 19-year-old player can continue to develop.

Most concerning from an NHL perspective is his instinct to tie up an opponent with his stick after losing a puck battle. We talked about this as something that showed up in his junior games. It was particularly glaring in the team’s final preseason game when he took three minor penalties on plays of this kind. Put simply, that cannot happen. Catton will be off the team if he’s taking penalties with regularity. The solve for Catton is in more conservative body positioning that protects against a breakaway, even if he loses some advantage in a puck battle, and in trusting his feet more defensively. He can catch just about anyone if he’s skating.

Kraken reassign 20 players to the AHL, waive Meyers and Stephens

Last Saturday the Kraken reassigned forwards J.R. Avon, Jagger Firkus, David Goyette, Justin Janicke, Andrei Loshko, Ian McKinnon, Jacob Melanson, Logan Morrison, Carson Rehkopf, Lleyton Roed, and Eduard Sale, defensemen Lukas Dragicevic, Kaden Hammell, Tyson Jugnauth, Ty Nelson, Gustav Olofsson, and Caden Price, and goaltenders Nikke Kokko, Jack LaFontaine, and Victor Ostman to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

All of these players could be reassigned to the AHL directly without waivers because they were either signed to AHL contracts (Janicke, McKinnon, Olofsson, and Lafontaine) or waivers-exempt. Melanson is the only player in this group that I thought had a legitimate chance at the Opening Night roster. I still believe he has a shot to play NHL games this year if he can keep pushing.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, the team waived forwards Ben Meyers and Mitchell Stephens for the purpose of reassigning those players to the AHL. If no other teams claim them, they will join the Firebirds too. Waiver claims will be reported at 11:00 am PT on Friday, Oct. 3. Meyers and Stephens are top depth players who will play in the top-six for Coachella Valley and should see NHL games at some point during the year.

Within the last week, the team has also placed injured forward Kaapo Kakko (out six weeks) and defenseman Ryker Evans (out six-to-eight weeks) on injured reserve, which opens their rosters spots for other players.

These moves, along with one more noted below, leave the team with 26 players in camp for 23 spots. Forwards Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Ryan Winterton, and Jani Nyman, and defenseman Ville Ottavaien, could all be reassigned to the AHL without waivers. Forwards John Hayden and Tye Kartye, defenseman Cale Fleury, and goalies Matt Murray and Philipp Grubauer would all require waivers to be reassigned. One or both of the backup goalies will stick to begin the year. (I suspect the answer will be “both.”)

It’s also worth reminding that Catton cannot go to the AHL because of his age and the CHL/NHL transfer agreement that bars 19-year-old CHL players from the AHL.

Notes on three more Kraken players

Max McCormick | F | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Coachella Valley Firebirds announced that the team’s first and only captain, forward Max McCormick, would miss the season with a hip injury. This is a difficult blow for the AHL club, both from a leadership and production perspective. McCormick had a knack for getting to the goal front and producing when the Firebirds most needed it. The team made it to the Calder Cup Finals both years McCormick was healthy and in the lineup for the AHL playoffs before faltering without him last year.

The Kraken television broadcast mentioned John Hayden as the captain of the Firebirds during a preseason contest earlier this week. It would be a worthy title for Hayden, assuming he’s not needed on the NHL roster to begin the year.

Nathan Villeneuve | F | Sudbury Wolves (OHL)

In addition to the AHL reassignments noted above, the team also reassigned injured forward Nathan Villeneuve to his junior team, the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL, leaving Catton as the only 18- or 19-year-old junior-eligible player still in camp. While Villeneuve was always a long shot to remain with the team after camp, the injury was a disheartening development for a young player who was pushing for the second-straight camp displaying some pro-ready aspects of his game. Instead, he’ll look to finish his junior career on a high note before turning pro after his OHL season ends.

Julius Miettinen | F | Everett Silvertips (WHL)

Julius Miettinen missed all of Kraken camp with an upper-body injury, but he was back in the lineup for the Everett Silvertips right away, and he made an immediate impact. He scored twice and added an assist in last Friday’s game against the Wenatchee Wild. After adding another assist on Saturday, Miettinen is your Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week.

The Finnishing touch 🇫🇮
Julius Miettinen’s 2nd of the night puts @WHLsilvertips up 3-1. #WHLOpeningWeek | @SeattleKraken | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/0uwz9xCpPz

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) September 28, 2025

Kraken prospects data update

Loke Krantz also had a case for player of the week, scoring two goals and recording an assist in his only game for Linkoping HC U20. The degree of difficulty involved in tallying three points immediately after missing a few weeks with an injury tipped the scales in Miettinen’s favor, though.

Beyond Miettinen, Jakub Fibigr, Jake O’Brien, Blake Fiddler, and Will Reynolds also returned to their junior lineups last weekend. Fibigr, O’Brien, and Fiddler wasted no time getting on the scoresheet.

Semyon Vyazovoi returned to the crease for Salavat Yulaev Ufa for the first time in more than two weeks. The raw results were not spectacular (five goals against on 37 shots), but it was good to see him back in net and playing a full game for the first time this season. He’ll look to build on this performance moving forward.

Kim Saarinen continues to draw regular starts for HPK and perform well. He was 2-0-1 this week with a 1.99 goals-against average. Among all Liiga goalies with at least five starts, Saarinen is first in GAA (1.79) and second in save percentage (.912).

Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker

2: Kim Saarinen

1: Julius Miettinen

Seattle’s Finnish prospects are now three-for-three, though you could argue the Swedish Krantz was unjustly denied this week.

Previewing the week ahead

Barrett Hall and St. Cloud State kick off their NCAA season today, Oct. 3, against Augustana University. Zaccharya Wisdom will likely debut for his new NCAA team, Western Michigan University, next Thursday, Oct. 9, against Ferris State University.

The Deep Sea Hockey Game of the Week is a matchup in Sweden’s U20 league between Krantz’s Linkoping HC and Karl Annborn’s HV71. Annborn had been playing up with the senior HV71 team, but he was absent from the senior lineup on Thursday, Oct. 2, which could indicate he’s back with the U20 team. If so, we’ll get our first Kraken prospect head-to-head game of the 2025-26 season.

Tracking 2026 NHL Draft prospects

If you’re here, you likely have an affinity for following players who will be the next stars of the NHL game. We recently published our preseason 2026 NHL Draft watchlist. Consensus top prospect Gavin McKenna will make his NCAA debut for Penn State University on Friday. You can watch the game on NHL Network or the NHL YouTube page.

Recent prospect updates

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

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

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.