Kraken 2nd Rounder Blake Fiddler Raised Around NHL

LOS ANGELES – Growing up amid his father’s NHL teammates gave new Kraken defenseman draftee Blake Fiddler the foundation needed to build towards his own professional career.

That foundation for a 17-year-old somewhat sized and wise beyond his age was a big part of the Kraken trading up Saturday to make their selection two spots higher and secure the 6-foot-4, 209-pound right-handed shot. They dealt their 38th and 57th overall picks in the second round of the NHL Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 36th and 68th selections and used the earlier of those on the son of longtime NHL centerman Vern Fiddler.

“Growing up, I pretty much lived the (NHL) lifestyle, too,” Blake Fiddler said. “I was just a little version of him. I was constantly surrounded by it all and I think that helped me growing up. I know what it takes to make the NHL and what’s going to help get me there.”

The Kraken certainly feel that way, having made the strong skating playmaker their second highest draft pick of a defenseman ever as the final day of the “decentralized” draft unfolded at the LA Live Peacock Theater. He went just one spot below where Ryker Evans was selected 35th overall four years ago.

The Kraken followed up the Fiddler pick by using their third-round selection – acquired from the Flyers in swapping their remaining second round slot – at 68th overall on another defenseman in Will Reynolds, a 6-foot-3, 188-pound left-handed shot from Acadie-Bathurst of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

Reynolds is another 17-year-old that won’t turn 18 until August, making him one of the youngest players in the draft. He’s been touted as a good rush-stopping defender with room to grow on his ability to break out of his own end with the puck.

Given his age, he’ll have plenty of room to grow his slender frame and two more years of junior hockey before becoming AHL eligible. Unlike Fiddler, who some had felt could be a late first-round pick, Reynolds was not on-hand at the draft as only predicted first-rounders and some second-round hopefuls chose to attend the newly formatted event.

The earlier Kraken move to grab Fiddler came one day after they used their opening round pick on a forward for the fifth time in five drafts, taking Brantford Bulldogs center Jake O’Brien with their eighth overall selection. O’Brien was also the fourth centerman chosen by the Kraken in five opening rounds.

Given that tendency towards first round forwards, the Kraken viewed the opportunity to nab Fiddler as akin to landing a late first round defenseman to bolster their stockpile of blueline prospects.

Fiddler scored 10 goals and added 23 assists this past season, his second campaign with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. He also captained Team USA last year at the Under-18 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup tournament in which he scored once and added three assists in five games.

Two months ago, he again played for Team USA at the U18 world championships – scoring twice and adding an assist in seven games -- in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Tex. where he was raised. He’d begun the past season with the U.S. National Team Development Program before returning to Edmonton with the Oil Kings.

Fiddler’s dad, an Edmonton native, played 877 NHL games over 14 seasons as a centerman for Nashville, Dallas, Phoenix and New Jersey. He returned to the Predators for their Stanley Cup Final run, his last NHL season in 2016-17, where he teamed briefly with newly acquired Kraken center Frederick Gaudreau.

Father and son were seated together at the draft, including on a disappointing Friday night when Fiddler wasn’t chosen. His father had gone undrafted as a 20-goal man for WHL Kelowna in the late-1990s and only broke into pro hockey as an ECHL free agent signee by the Arkansas RiverBlades.

He then bounced around the AHL and ECHL for parts of five seasons before getting a full-time NHL chance. So, he had some reminders for his son Friday about handling the opening round results.

“Obviously, I was never drafted and there are a couple of different things that go into that,” Vern Fiddler, 45, said. “But our motto at home is you roll up your sleeves and you try to get better every single day no matter what you’re feeling or what could happen.

“Even yesterday, it was like ‘Tomorrow will be a new day and it’s another opportunity to find a team that likes you’,” he added. “And then you roll your sleeves up again and you get back to work.”

His father said the Kraken were one of the teams “on our list” of top destinations to land because of a reputedly strong focus on player development. Improving as a player was a big reason his son made the decision to leave their longtime Dallas home, where he’d played youth and elite level hockey his whole life, to move to Edmonton for a WHL schedule modeled closely to the NHL and an Oil Kings squad known for development.

“These kids can’t just go somewhere and play hockey,” he said. “They have to continue to get better and have the resources to learn from their mistakes.”

Though Blake was born in Nashville during his dad’s first Predators go-around, he spent his formative years in the Dallas area where his father played five seasons for the Stars. It’s where he spent most of his NHL locker room time and still hangs around and skates during the summer with Stars players such as his dad’s good friend Jamie Benn and others like Tyler Seguin.

“It’s just one of those things that when you’re around those people it forces you to see where you have to get to,” his dad said. “And what you have to put into the game to get out of it.”

Blake Fiddler agrees with that, saying he’s learned plenty already in his two WHL seasons.

“They gave me a lot of opportunity as a young player in the league,” he said. “So, I got to be able to play a lot of minutes as a 16-year-old and that really helped me last year.”

Playing internationally for Team USA’s U18 squad also helped elevate his game.

“I think I just continued to grow my physicality – my physical game,” he said. “That and shutting down other teams’ top lines. It’s something that I take pride in, shutting down top lines and defending really hard.”

Something his dad’s past NHL buddies still preach to him. Fiddler is particularly close with Stars captain Benn, 35, who texted him right before the draft telling him to “take it all in” no matter what happens.

“He’s been in the NHL for so long now, you’ll notice the little details skating with him,” Fiddler said. “The 2-on-1s, how you can’t overcommit on 2-on-1s or else guys at the next level will just slip it through your feet.

“Just the little things. He’s really been a big help.”

Just as the Kraken hope the little difference makers already part of Fiddler’s hockey upbringing will provide a big help to them down the road.