Welcome back to Top Shelf Prospects, the column that brings you the next crop of professional hockey players. As we go through the summer of 2023, each day our LWOS Prospects Writers will bring you a look at one NHL team’s top prospects or other topical articles. Be sure to bookmark the site, follow Ben Kerr, Kyle Pereira and Frederik Frandson on Twitter, and spread the word for the site that will bring you analytical and critical profiles and scouting reports! You can find all the articles here as well as our extensive NHL Draft preview. Today, we look at the 2023 Seattle Kraken Top Prospects. 
For those wondering, the cut-off for what is or isn’t a prospect is typically about 50 NHL games played (including playoff games) or 25 years old. However, these are not hard or fast rules; we may make some exceptions depending on the circumstances.
2023 Seattle Kraken Top Prospects
1.) Shane Wright
Wright can do it all offensively. He is a pure goal scorer with an excellent array of shots and a lightning-quick release. His wrist and snapshots are very heavy and the quick release can fool goaltenders. He also has a good one-timer. Wright has a knack for getting open and finding space to get his shot off. He also has the quick stickhandling to toe-drag the puck and opens up shooting lanes. Wright can use those quick hands to score goals in tight to the net as well. He can pounce on a rebound and put it in a tight spot. He also has the hand-eye coordination to get tip-ins on teammates’ shots or to bury a quick one-timer on a pass. Wright can also deke a goalie in tight.
He also can play the role of playmaker. Wright controls the puck and speeds up the game or slows it down as necessary. His soft hands combined with his skating make him an excellent playmaker. He can make plays with the puck while moving at top speed. He also has the ability to control the puck on the cycle, giving his linemates time to get open. When they do, he can throw a tape-to-tape pass through tight passing lanes. Wright seems to see the play developing quicker than his opponents and his hockey IQ and vision are elite. He even does well to win battles on the boards and in front of the net.
2.) Eduard Sale
The next of the Kraken prospects is another forward. Sale is an excellent playmaker off the wing. He pairs excellent skating with very good hands and stickhandling ability. Sale is able to carry the puck through the neutral zone and create effective zone entries. He also has the vision and the passing skills to set up teammates. Sale is a creative player who will try things that other attackers will only dream of. His shot has decent power and is accurate but he can stand to use it more often.
Sale will need to get stronger to handle the rigours of playing on smaller ice. He will also need to improve his defensive game. These things can be taught though, while Sale’s offensive skill is something that is a natural talent.
3.) Jagger Firkus
Firkus is an absolute sniper. He has a tremendous array of shots. Firkus shows excellent power and accuracy with his wrist shot and snapshot. He also has very good hands. He can toe-drag and change the angle of his release just before letting the shot go. This creates issues for goalies as they have trouble picking up the shot off his stick and setting up to make the save. He also has a very good one-timer. Firkus has a knack for finding soft spots in the defence and positioning himself to take a pass from a teammate and fire it on the net. With his soft hands, he can also make a quick move to create a shooting lane and get off his own shot. He can even score with his backhand. Firkus also scores in tight to the net, with his soft hands and ability to beat goalies.
Firkus can also be a playmaker. His ability to move laterally and his soft hands can shake defenders and open up passing lanes. He is very good at setting up on the half boards on the power play. Firkus controls the puck and can set up his teammates when they get open. One issue though is his lack of size and strength. He can be pushed off the puck when defenders catch him. He also has issues in winning battles on the boards and in getting to the dirty areas of the ice. Firkus is competitive and is not afraid to play in these areas, but the lack of size and strength is a bit of a liability.
4.) Ryker Evans
Evans is very good in transition. He combines his skating with good puckhandling ability to avoid forecheckers and skate the puck out of the defensive zone. He can continue to carry the puck through the neutral zone and makes efficient zone entries. Evans also has very good vision and passing skills. He makes a strong first pass out of the zone, hitting a teammate in motion and allowing them to transition into an offensive chance. Evans can also make a long breakaway pass to a teammate if they get behind the opponent. His passing skills and poise with the puck extend to quarterback the play from the blue line. He finds open teammates and can set them up for scoring chances. He can use some work on his shot.
5.) Jani Nyman
You can never have too much goal scoring and that what this next of the Kraken prospects is. Nyman is a pure sniper. He has an outstanding array of shots and loves to use them. Nyman gets great power and accuracy on his shots. He can score with his powerful wrist shot, snap shot, slap shot, and one-timer. His release is also lightning quick and he has the ability to vary the release point to fool goaltenders. Nyman loves to shoot the puck and will do so from anywhere on the ice. He has a knack for finding the soft spots in the defence and getting open for a pass from a teammate. Nyman is particularly lethal when taking a shot from the right face-off circle. He can also score in tight to the net, with his soft hands helping him to elevate the puck while close to the goalie.
6.) Tye Kartye
Undrafted, Kartye looks like a real find for the Kraken. He put up 57 points in 72 games in the AHL last season. Kartye even earned a call-up to the NHL, playing for the Kraken in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In 10 games, he scored three goals and five points. Kartye has a powerful wrist shot and a good release. He can also score with his one-timer. A smart, player Kartye makes good decisions with the puck and has a knack for finding open ice and putting himself in scoring positions when he doesn’t have it. He is also a good playmaker, with strong passing skills and good vision. The biggest thing holding him back is lack of speed and power in his skating. However, Kartye has worked hard to improve in these areas since being signed by Seattle. That said, there is still room for continued improvement.
7.) David Goyette
Goyette is an elite skater. His stride is long and powerful. He has an excellent first step and outstanding acceleration. Goyette is amongst the fastest prospects out there. Goyette has outstanding stickhandling ability. He can make plays with the puck while moving at top speed. When this is combined with his excellent skating ability, he is absolutely deadly off the rush. He is excellent in transition, carrying the puck through the neutral zone and creating openings for himself and his teammates. He has very good vision and often makes the smart play with the puck. However, when the play slows down in the zone, his offence is not quite as dynamic. His lack of size and strength sometimes leads to him losing the puck and not creating a play. He needs to be a bit quicker at keeping things moving and finding the open man.
8.) Oscar Fisker-Molgaard
Fisker-Molgaard uses his excellent skating ability to allow him to play a 200-foot game. Despite the fact that he is undersized, he gets in quickly on the forecheck and creates pressure on opposing defenders, forcing them to make mistakes. He also marries his skating with excellent stickhandling ability, allowing Fisker-Molgaard to make plays at top speed. He is excellent in transition, creating space in the neutral zone and generating effective zone entries. Fisker-Molgaard also has the vision and passing skills to set up teammates. A responsible player, he gets back to his own end quickly and plays a strong defensive game. He needs to work on adding power to his shot to really excel at the next level.
9.) Ryan Winterton
Winterton is a very good shooter. He has an excellent wrist shot. It has very good power as well as a quick release. He is also able to pick corners with accuracy. His snapshot is also very effective. Winterton loves to work off the half-boards on the power play. From that position, he is also effective with his one-timer. Winterton is willing to fight to get to the middle of the ice and play in dirty areas. He uses his quick hands in order to deke defencemen and get his shot off. These quick toe-drags and the change of his release point also fool goaltenders. Winterton is more than willing to get to the net. When he gets there, he can tip in shots and pounce on rebounds.
He plays a north-south type of game and is not the most creative player out there. However, he is good defensively and brings value in his work in his own end of the rink as well.
10) Ty Nelson
Nelson has an absolute rocket of a slap shot. He also does a good job of moving laterally to open up shooting lanes and get the puck on the net. Nelson understands that if he keeps his shot low and on the net, he increases opportunities for his teammates to create screens, get deflections, and pounce on rebounds. He also does a good job of adjusting his feet and his hands if the pass is slightly off and still gets off a powerful one-timer. Nelson has a good wrist shot and snapshot as well. He gets them off with good accuracy and power and a quick release. Nelson uses these shots off the rush and in pinching in from the point to fire the puck from the top of the faceoff circle.
Nelson pairs his good skating with strong puck handling skills. He can carry the puck out of the defensive zone and through the neutral zone. His ability to avoid defenders, move through traffic and create separation helps him to generate effective zone entries. Once in the offensive zone, Nelson has poise with the puck and can control and quarterback the play from the point. He has good vision and makes creative passes through tight lanes. Nelson is very effective on the power play but can also create offence and start the rush at even strength. He loves to join the rush and push the pace.
Seattle Kraken Top Prospects Sleeper Pick: Jacob Melanson
The sleeper pick of the Kraken prospects is a strong talent. Melanson may only come in at five-foot-eleven but plays much bigger. He is a punishing checker, able to cause havoc on the forecheck as well as lay the body in his own end and the neutral zone. He is willing to mix it up with opponents and play in the tougher areas of the ice. Melanson is a goal scorer with a quick release and hand-eye coordination to score in tight to the net. That is often where he is found, screening goalies, looking for loose pucks and creating issues for opposing defences. He can continue to work on his skating in order to take his game to the next level at the pro level.
In the System: Seattle Kraken Prospects
As a new team, the Seattle Kraken have not had the time to build up their farm system full of prospects. However, there are some valuable players outside the top ten, who are still worth keeping an eye on. They include Niklas Kokko, Ville Ottavainen, Tucker Robertson, Kyle Jackson, Luke Henman, Peetro Seppälä, Ben MacDonald, Kaden Price, Carson Rehkopf, and Lukas Dragicevic.
Main Photo: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
