‘Decentralized’ NHL Draft Holds Kraken Suspense

LOS ANGELES – A busy week-plus for new Kraken general manager Jason Botterill culminates here the next two days as a “decentralized” NHL Draft unfolds at the L.A. Live Peacock Theater with the team continuing to put picks to use.

Up to now, two of those pending 2025 picks have been turned into trade acquisitions by Botterill in winger Mason Marchment and center Frederick Gaudreau. Whether Botterill continues to wheel and deal ahead of Friday’s scheduled No. 8 overall selection or before Saturday’s seventh round culmination remains to be seen.

“At the end of the day, we’re making a commitment to improving our roster,” Botterill pledged of his stockpile of draft pick capital when named to his new GM position two months ago. “And whether that’s…trades -- the easy part of my job right now is the draft capital that’s at my disposal. And whether we make those selections, or we utilize it to make trades.”

Thus far, the trade executed with Dallas last week for Marchment involved shipping off a fourth rounder this year and a third rounder next. And then Thursday’s deal with Minnesota required an additional fourth round selection this year to get it done.

That still leaves the Kraken with the No. 8 pick in Friday’s opening round, same as a year ago in Las Vegas when the team selected Spokane Chiefs junior hockey star Berkly Catton in that spot. Catton, 19, just finished another dazzling junior hockey season, leading the Chiefs to the Western Hockey League Final, ahead of getting a shot at making the Kraken this coming fall.

When Kraken amateur scouting director Robert Kron and his staff gather with Botterill this time around, it won’t be here in Los Angeles but back in Seattle. The “decentralized” draft being attempted by the NHL for the first time will see commissioner Gary Bettman on-hand at the Peacock Theater stage accompanied by top prospects expected to go early.

One delegate from each team will also be on-hand to announce the pick. That Kraken honor will go to team investor Jerry Bruckheimer, the famed Hollywood producer whose new F-1 feature film on Formula One car racing starring Brad Pitt is also hitting theaters this weekend.

Meanwhile, Botterill, Kron and company will be headquartered in a Kraken “war room” lounge just off their practice dressing room area at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Upstairs, at the 32 Bar & Grill, the NHL Draft Watch Party starts at 3:30 p.m. Friday for members of the public to gather and watch the first round unfold on TV.

KJR 93.3 FM will be broadcasting live from the draft party, with menu specials on food, discounts for season ticket members and special guests dropping by for appearances as well.

Nobody really knows how the televised version of this draft setup will look compared to previous ones that had entire team staffs on the venue floor and working the room for trade deals. A majority of team front offices had pushed for this more remote draft formula, arguing that the previously more crowded logistics had made it chaotic and difficult to make decisions on picks and orchestrate trades in-person.

And for teams without a top-10 overall pick, trades often become distinct possibilities. This year’s No. 1 overall designation is widely expected to be granted to Erie Otters junior hockey defenseman Matthew Schaffer by the New York Islanders. After that, three centermen, Michael Misa, Anton Frondell and Caleb Desnoyers, are expected to round out the top 4.

But beyond those names, the first round appears pretty wide open. That leaves the Kraken plenty of options as to what they’ll do next.

Up to now, the Kraken have taken exclusively forwards in the first round of their initial four drafts. Three of them were centers in current Kraken regulars Matty Beniers and Shane Wright, along with junior star Catton. The lone exception was 2023 prospect Eduard Sale, now playing the wing for AHL Coachella Valley.

And there should be at least a couple left over from a talented pack of center prospects by the time the No. 8 selection rolls around for the Kraken to continue that prior positional trend. Most notably, one or two of James Hagens from Boston College, Brady Martin from the Soo Greyhounds, where Kraken president of hockey operations Ron Francis played his junior hockey – Roger McQueen from the Brandon Wheat Kings and Jake O’Brien from the Brantford Bulldogs.

There is also a winger that could drop to the Kraken in Porter Martone from the Brampton Steelheads. He’s a 6-foot-3, 208-pounder who brings a physical game others have compared to that of Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.

Martone would fit the bigger, stronger trend the Kraken have wanted for their higher-line wings of late – evidenced by the Marchment and Kaapo Kakko acquisitions and prospect Jani Nyman knocking on the NHL door. And with the center positions already taken up by Beniers, Wright, Chandler Stephenson and likely Catton long term, broadening to the wings for forward talent makes sense.

But as usually happens in such cases, it could largely come down to the best remaining talent available regardless of position. For instance, a 6-foot-5, 197-pounder such as McQueen stands out size-wise from the types of centers the Kraken already have other than their 6-foot-4, 200-pound second round draftee from last year in Julius Miettinen of the Everett Silvertips.

As for defensemen, the Kraken could get a crack at Seattle Thunderbirds prospect Radim Mrtka, a 6-foot-6, 218-pounder from Czechia who only started playing organized hockey three years ago.

Kraken scouting director Kron hails from Czechia -- where Mrtka played all his hockey until joining the Thunderbirds last November -- so he’d likely have an inside track as to how the defender projects compared to the available forwards.

Other potential top D-men beyond projected No. 1 Schaeffer include Kashawn Atchieson from the OHL and Jackson Smith from the WHL Tri-City Americans.

Adding to the suspense over what the Kraken might do before or after that initial selection is the draft haul secured at the trade deadline last March by current Kraken president Francis while he was still the team’s GM. Francis obtained first round picks in 2026 and 2027, one of the second round picks this year and a second rounder in 2027 by dealing away forwards Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Brandon Tanev.

That security of future top-end picks in hand leaves the Kraken the option of dealing away at least one of their three selections in the top two rounds this weekend. Whether they do so or not, the suspense should keep Kraken fans glued to their sets on both days as the answers start to unfold.