The Kraken sent defenseman Ryker Evans to AHL Coachella Valley on Sunday, per a team announcement. With Seattle wrapping up their season last week, the rookie blue-liner returns to the minor leagues to suit up in playoff action with the Firebirds.
Evans, 22, was passed over when he was initially eligible for the NHL Draft in 2020, but his follow-up campaign with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats in 2020-21 made him a second-round pick by the Kraken the following offseason. The Calgary native has immediately cemented himself as the organization’s best up-and-coming defenseman, making a seamless transition to professional hockey after his major junior career wrapped up with Regina in 2022.
Last year on the farm with Coachella Valley, Evans immediately logged top-pairing minutes on one of the best teams in the AHL, taking home All-Rookie Team honors, an All-Star Game nod, and leading all minor-league rookies in assists with 38. His playoff run was exceptional, recording 26 points and a +13 rating in 26 games as the Firebirds lost to the Hershey Bears in the Calder Cup Final.
After another strong start in the minors, Evans received his first NHL call-up in December. He ended up playing more for the Kraken this season than the Firebirds, making 36 NHL appearances compared to 25 AHL games. Coachella Valley has one contest left on their regular-season schedule, a tilt against San Diego in a few hours, that Evans may suit up in before playoff action gets underway later this week.
Evans was strong in his first NHL showing, consistently receiving top-four minutes down the stretch with top blue-liner Vince Dunn injured. He had a goal and nine points in 36 games, and despite his -5 rating, had strong possession metrics. Seattle controlled 54.05% of shot attempts with Evans on the ice at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick, the most of any qualified Kraken defenseman this season. As a result, the left-shot defender has likely locked down a spot on the 2024-25 opening night roster.
Coachella Valley has clinched first place in the Pacific Division and the first-round bye that comes with it. Their playoff run will begin with a best-of-five division semifinals series against the lowest-seeded Pacific team to win their best-of-three First Round series. He’s got one season left on his entry-level contract, which carries an $897.5K cap hit.
Meh. 5-on-5 possession stats are kinda stupid. Of course your numbers will be better if you’re out there with the best players on the team as the other 4. He wasn’t good.
I’d even suggest that if the kraken had played Oloffson instead they’d’ve won several more games than they did. And yeah, I heard they’re “preparing for the future.” It’s the future playoff revenue that justifies icing a worse team than is available. Playing one worse but younger player for 36 games is going to make all the difference between playoff money now and a future dynasty. Ha!
5 on 5 possession stats are the best stats we have. And in terms of 5 on 5 expected goals percentage Eveans is one of the best in the league, not just on the team. He looks like a top 4, all situations defenseman for the next decade. He was way better than good.
I don’t know what games you watched. But i watched them all, and Ryker played very well for the Kraken. I don’t see how playing anyone else instead would have made a difference in the outcome of the season.
For the record, I watched them all. What I saw was a guy with a long leash, a ton of time on the power play, a lot of 5-on-5 with the strongest D partner on the team…and a lot of pucks in our net, coupled with not many points for (and several of them flukey (think chaos in front of the net or Yanni tipping in his off-net shot), a – +/-… sorry, I just fail to see how that’s good or “way better than good” lol. If he ever plays Top 4 minutes on a cup-winning team, I’ll buy you both a fancy dinner. Remind me! I’m good for it! And also for the record, why as a kraken fan would I *want* him to be bad? You can say what you want and argue the relative value of stats to support your claim, but if your argument is that he’s “going to be” great, it’s apples to oranges. I’d love it if he becomes great, particularly if he’s still on the kraken (eek). I just don’t see it happening based on what I saw with my eyes, numerical records being what they may. Statistically it’s unlikely someone will be struck by lightning but it might be more common if we didn’t have the eyes/senses to tell us maybe it’s not a good time to go outside during an electrical storm. My point is, his 5 on 5 stats may be something but they could also be something else depending how people use their senses in regard to who makes it onto the ice. I prefer to think about what happens before stats are recorded and I trust my judgement, and welcome the opportunity to be proved wrong. I guess we’ll see how it goes over the next 10 years.