SEATTLE – A couple of weeks ago, Kraken rookie Berkly Catton found himself jostling for position on the ice with an opponent, unsure of who it was in the moment.

After a few seconds he realized who he was in the middle of jousting with.

“I was coming back in the D-zone and I was kind of tussling with a guy trying to get back, and I look and it’s McDavid,” Catton recalled. “In the moment, you don’t really think about it. It’s just another player. But then maybe after the game, or even on the bench you’re like, ‘that’s Connor McDavid.’ So that’s cool.”

There have been several firsts for Catton through the first month of his NHL career as a 19-year-old. His first game. His first point. And earlier this week against Chicago, his first game starting at his natural position of center after playing as a winger to that point.

“I’m getting to experience different types of roles and stuff like that, but it’s been great. The guys have been so good and just talking with guys on the bench even, and learning stuff that way it’s been great,” Catton said. “I think every game and every day has been a learning experience, and like I said, just trying to become the best version I can while I’m up here.”

There is another first nearing arrival related to Catton: the first major decision on how the rest of this season ends up playing out for the young forward.

Catton played in his eighth game of the season Wednesday night against San Jose, leaving him and the Kraken with one more game to play with before a decision must be made about his entry level contract (ELC).

As a 19-year-old, Catton’s ELC is eligible to be slid back by a year if he plays in less than 10 NHL games during the season. Essentially, the team gets an extra year of Catton playing on an entry contract if he stays under the 10-game mark.

It is the same situation the Kraken faced with Shane Wright a few years ago. In Wright’s case, Seattle stopped the clock and limited Wright to eight games.

Will they do the same with Catton?

An answer could come as soon as this weekend.

The best option

Ultimately, Catton probably should be playing some of this season in Coachella Valley in the AHL. But as a 19-year-old, Catton is stuck in the purgatory of not being able to be assigned to Coachella Valley aside from conditioning purposes. Either he stays with the Kraken or he goes back to the Western Hockey League with Spokane. It is a rule that will change starting next season as part of the new NHL collective bargaining agreement.

Even in just eight games, Catton has shown he is capable of staying in the NHL long-term. He played his first six games mostly on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, before head coach Lane Lambert wanted to see how Catton looked playing center.

So it was back to his traditional position against Chicago and again Wednesday night against San Jose.

“I think he’s embraced the wing position and for him to move to center we wanted to have a little look at how that looked for him,” Lambert said. “Being a center man in the National Hockey League is no easy chore. I thought he handled it fairly well. I do think that at times he might have been in between wing and center, which in fairness to him is understandable. But certainly I love the fact that he wants the puck on his stick.”

Right now, the Kraken need Catton in the lineup due to injuries to Jared McCann and Freddy Gaudreau, making it likely he will eclipse the 10-game mark. But there is also a scenario that when McCann and Gaudreau return Catton could become a regular healthy scratch. If he was scratched for five straight games, he could be assigned to Coachella Valley on a two-week conditioning stint. But that is a stopgap, not a solution.

The numbers game

While reaching the 10-game mark would mean using up a year of Catton’s entry level contract, there’s another in-season marker that might be just as important. As noted by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on the “32 Thoughts” podcast this week, there is another benchmark for players when it comes to team control.

When any player reaches 40 games spent on the active roster – even if they are scratched – that counts an accrued season toward arbitration eligibility and eventually unrestricted free agency.

So while the 10-game mark has received most of the attention, the 40-game benchmark is also noteworthy.

How much the 40-game mark becomes a consideration for Catton could come down to whether he is permitted and included on Team Canada for the World Junior Championships beginning Dec. 26 in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Canada’s training camp is scheduled to begin on Dec. 12 and if Catton is included for the WJC, any Kraken games missed during that time would not count to his season total.

The Kraken do not play their 40th game until Jan. 5 in Calgary – which coincidentally is the final day of the World Juniors. If Catton does play in the WJC, he would likely miss 12-15 games, meaning his 40-game mark could get pushed almost to the Olympic break in February.

Seattle is not the only team in this position this season. For example, Calgary’s young defenseman Zayne Parekh played in his 10th game last weekend. Same with San Jose defenseman Sam Dickinson, who played in his 11th game against the Kraken on Wednesday, or Pittsburgh’s Ben Kindel, who already has five goals in 12 games. Like Catton, all were selected in the 2024 draft.

Those teams opted to go with development and experience for those players over worrying about the contract situation. Catton and the Kraken are next up making that choice.