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2022 NHL Prospect Watch – Seattle Kraken – WHL Network

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With the 2022-23 NHL season on the horizon, we’re putting a focus on current and former WHL players looking to make their mark at the next level.

The 2022 NHL Prospect Watch series will feature some of the current and past WHL talent recently drafted or signed to NHL contracts, and having appeared in fewer than 50 NHL games.

Our series continues with a look at the prospect pool of the Seattle Kraken.

Ryker Evans
Defenseman Ryker Evans begins his full-time professional career this winter after graduating from the WHL in the spring of 2022. The product of Calgary, Alta. scored 14 goals and totaled 61 points to lead all Regina Pats defensemen in scoring, earning East Division Second All-Star Team honors in the process. Evans, who led the WHL in assists by a defenseman in 2020-21, was selected by the Kraken in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft, and was the first WHL player drafted by the franchise.

Jagger Firkus
Forward Jagger Firkus led the Moose Jaw Warriors with 36 goals and 80 points during the 2021-22 WHL season, parlaying his WHL success into a second-round selection by the Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft. Firkus, from Irma, Alta., added six goals in 10 playoff games for Moose Jaw, as the Warriors reached the Second Round of the 2022 WHL Playoffs. Over the course of his WHL career, Firkus has totaled 108 points in 111 regular season and playoff games after being selected by Moose Jaw in the fourth round of the 2019 WHL Draft.

Cole Lind
Former Kelowna Rockets forward Kole Lind appeared in a career high 23 NHL games in 2021-22, totaling eight points for the Kraken after being selected by Seattle in the 2021 Expansion Draft. Lind, from Shaunavon, Sask., began his NHL career in the Vancouver Canucks organization after being selected in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft. This past season, Lind put up 35 points in 46 AHL games at Charlotte. He twice surpassed the 30 goal mark with the Rockets, doing so in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Lind also participated in Kelowna’s run to the 2015 WHL Championship.

Alexander True
A WHL Champion with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2017, forward Alexander True spent the bulk of the 2021-22 season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. The Danish forward scored 18 goals, totaling 42 points while also making eight NHL appearances with the Seattle Kraken. True spent three seasons with the Thunderbirds from 2014-2017, first appearing in an NHL contest with the San Jose Sharks in 2018-19.

Carsen Twarynski
Former Calgary Hitmen and Kelowna Rockets forward Carsen Twarynski spent the 2021-22 season with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, with whom he totaled 18 points over 71 games. Twarynski, from Calgary, Alta., was selected by Seattle in the 2021 Expansion Draft after making 22 NHL appearances over the previous two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. He spent four full seasons in the WHL, starting with Calgary in 2014-15 before being traded to Kelowna midway through the 2016-17 campaign. He scored 45 goals in his lone full season as a Rocket the following year.