The Kraken have reassigned forward John Hayden to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, according to a team announcement on Wednesday. They now have an open roster spot, which could be filled by one of their four injured reserve-bound players. That would most likely be Kaapo Kakko, who has yet to play in the regular season due to a fractured hand but was upgraded to day-to-day last weekend, head coach Lane Lambert said (via Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times).
Hayden, 30, started the season with the Firebirds after clearing waivers but was recalled to Seattle on Oct. 17. The move came in the wake of an IR placement for center Frédérick Gaudreau, who’s still got a few weeks to go in his recovery from an upper-body issue. Hayden played in three straight games to begin his recall, but came out of the lineup last week and hasn’t played since, sitting in the press box for Seattle’s last three. He’s been succeeded as Seattle’s interim fourth-line center by Ben Meyers, who was brought up a few days after Hayden’s recall in the wake of an injury to Jared McCann.
In his three NHL games this season, Hayden had a minus-one rating and saw 10:05 of ice time per contest. The veteran of 272 career games went 6-for-15 on faceoffs (40%) and recorded two blocks and seven hits. The call-up marked the 10th consecutive season of big-league action for Hayden, arguably the epitome of an NHL/AHL tweener with over 180 games to his name at the minor-league level as well.
Hayden, an alternate captain with the Firebirds, only got into one game for them before being summoned to the Kraken. Now in his fourth year in the organization, he’ll look to get his season underway in earnest after posting an 11-16–27 scoring line in 44 games for Coachella Valley last year. He can remain on the roster for up to 18 days on future recalls before he needs waivers again to head back to the AHL.