When the Kraken’s opening night roster was announced, many were surprised to see Berkly Catton’s name among the forward ranks. He sat a few games, but thanks to an injury to Jared McCann, Catton has found himself into the lineup as a regular. He has now played nine games – the maximum amount of games allowed in one season until the first year of his Entry Level contract kicks in and they burn a year.

Now, the question that remains is, “What do the Kraken do with Catton?”.

Due to his age, Catton is unable to play in the AHL as a regular until he turns 20. This means that his two options are thus:

Returning to the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL to play against 16-20 year olds

Remain on the Kraken’s regular roster

Option 1 is tempting, but it’s also a bit of a dead end: Catton is way too good for the Canadian Hockey League. If sent back, he would almost certainly be bored out of his mind and his growth would minimize. Sending him back to the CHL would be a miss by Botterill and co.

With no sign of McCann imminently returning to the team, and Gaudreau being another 2-4 weeks away from a return, Option 2 for Catton to stick around for the long haul seems much more likely, in my opinion. Keeping Catton around the big league allows him time to work with the coaches, continue his growth and practice regime, and occasionally get some ice time in a game. Once McCann returns to the team, the Kraken should do the same as they handled Wright: Make Catton a healthy scratch for five consecutive games. Once the five games are up, Catton is able to be sent to the AHL for a 14-day conditioning stint. This would allow him to get into several games as a top-line forward, while not affecting the regular NHL roster.

Once that stint is up, the Kraken should allow Catton to represent his home nation and play an integral role on Team Canada for the World Juniors. That would allow him time to play against the best 18-20yr olds in the world assuming he’s chosen for this upcoming tournament*.

Of course, the Kraken could also suffer some more injuries, creating opportunities for increased ice time. Given the fact that Catton is averaging just under 13 minutes of ice time per game, it is clear the Kraken are focused on his growth in a different way than Wright, who averaged only 8:29/game. More ice time typically means more opportunities. His underlyings are also pretty solid; boasting 2.11 Expected Goals per 60, and is top 5 in shooting attempts; both in general and unblocked. Catton has three assists through his first nine NHL games, and while his first goal still eludes him, it is highly likely we will see his name in the scoring column quite a bit throughout his career.

One thing is clear: Catton is likely in the NHL to stay. Here’s hoping he can just continue his growth in the NHL, rather than getting it cut off.

* = Which they should, it just requires Hockey Canada to make the bizarre leap of playing their best players.