When the Kraken’s 2025 third-round draft choice, Will Reynolds, was in the prospect pool for the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League U128 draft as a 16-year-old, he stood under six feet tall. On Saturday, Reynolds joined the Kraken organization as a 17-year-old, 6-foot-3, 188-pound defender who is the third-youngest player eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft by virtue of not turning 18 until mid-August.
“The truth is his body continues to grow and we haven’t seen that finished product at this point,” said Gordie Dwyer, head coach for Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who demanded that a 16-year-old Reynolds be part of a major trade deadline deal in the 2023-24 QMJHL season. “I’ve been fortunate to know the player here in the Maritimes since Will was in peewees. “Will was a major part of the trade coming back to us. We had a good second half, and we created an upset in the first round of the playoffs as Will hit his feet underneath him at this level.”
This season, Dwyer and his coaching staff placed the Kraken prospects on the third pair to start this season with the idea to build off his season in the Q. By midseason, Reynolds’ self-assured, effective play warranted a move to the second pair.
“He was getting more confident and more physical and just really adapting really well at 17 years old,” said Dwyer. “Toward the end of the year, we moved him up to our top pair. He just became a real go-to guy, especially on the defensive side, able to play against top lines on the other side every night.”
By regular season’s end and the playoffs, Reynolds was averaging more than 20 minutes per game and led all defensemen in shorthanded time on ice. That’s as a 17-year-old.
“As one of the youngest players in the Draft, it helps that the development is still ongoing,” said Robert Kron, Kraken director of amateur scouting. “He’s an excellent skater. He’s a tall kid already at six-three. He’s going to grow physically. He moves the park extremely well. He plays a very mature game. For a young kid, he moves the puck up ice extremely well, joins the rush and is always in the right spots. The physicality [against opposing forwards] is coming.”
Kraken scout Trevor Steinburg, who lives in Halifax, NS, was the first among Seattle personnel to see Reynolds play in person and has been on Reynolds' watch all season, getting to both the prospect and his family (his father played competitive hockey in Canada too, including against Kraken scout Mike Dawson).
“I like Will’s projection,” said Steinburg. “He’s a big kid and a very good skater, great inside edges, and he's good at going back for pucks. He plays with his head up. I think he can be an incredible shutdown player. He’s very coachable. You can give him a script and he can play it out.”
Steinburg joked that “sometimes I wish Will would play more, quote, ball hockey, end quote, because I think he's got a little bit more skill in him.”
The Kraken scout said Reynolds’ physicality increased as the past season unfolded and that the young prospect liked how it enhanced his performances against top forward lines. Steinburg is particularly positive about Dwyer guiding Reynolds over the next two seasons in the QMJHL. “Gordie is a hard-nosed coach,” said Steinburg. “He's really coaching on how Will projects with the chance of making the NHL. I know Gordie is going to challenge him on that, to make sure Will takes on a bigger role.” For his part, Dwyer concurs: “Absolutely, we are excited about Will, not just as a top pick for Seattle, but for his future with our hockey team over the next two years. We feel like he's just starting to scratch the surface, whether that's getting top-line assignments or becoming that first-minute, last-minute type of defenseman you want on the ice in all situations. We definitely feel Will has that ability. There's a lot of room for Will to continue to develop. We're going to focus on driving that development.”
