Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Niklas Kokko

Kraken Recall Philipp Grubauer, Assign Niklas Kokko To AHL

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Late in January, the Kraken decided to place Philipp Grubauer on waivers to allow him to get some extended time with AHL Coachella Valley to try to get him back on track.  It appears they’re content with how he performed as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the veteran from the Firebirds.  In a corresponding move, Niklas Kokko was assigned to Coachella Valley.

Grubauer struggled in his first three seasons with Seattle, failing to record a save percentage of .900.  But this year, things went much worse.  Prior to his demotion, the 33-year-old put up a 3.83 GAA and a .866 SV% in 21 outings, numbers that are dead last among netminders with at least 20 appearances.  That’s hardly the type of performance they’re expecting from someone carrying a cap charge of $5.9MM through the 2026-27 season.

With the Firebirds, Grubauer was better but his numbers were still relatively pedestrian for a long-time NHL veteran.  In seven appearances with them, he posted a 2.87 GAA with a .893 SV%.  Now that he’s back with Seattle, his likely goal over the next seven weeks will be to try to play well enough to not be considered for a contract buyout this summer.

As for Kokko, he made his first career NHL appearance on Tuesday, making four saves on six shots in half a game against St. Louis.  The 20-year-old is in the first season of his entry-level deal and has fared well in the minors, putting up a 2.44 GAA and a .909 SV% in 21 games with the Firebirds.  With Coachella Valley in a three-way battle for the top spot in the Pacific Division, Kokko will now get into some meaningful action down the stretch.

Kraken Recall Niklas Kokko

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Kraken have swapped backup netminders. They announced they’ve summoned rookie Niklas Kokko from AHL Coachella Valley, sending down Ales Stezka in a corresponding move after he made his NHL debut in yesterday’s loss to the Lightning. Seattle also returned defenseman Cale Fleury to Coachella.

It’s the first NHL recall for Kokko, who Seattle selected 58th overall in 2022. Now the organization’s top goaltending prospect, the 20-year-old is having a strong rookie season in the AHL – especially considering his age. The 6’4″ goalie has made 21 appearances for the Firebirds with a 2.44 GAA, .909 SV and a 15-4-1 record. He leads qualified rookie netminders in wins and GAA, although he’s one of two who’s yet to record a shutout.

He made the jump stateside last summer after spending the 2023-24 campaign on loan to Kärpät and Pelicans in Liiga in his native Finland. He finished the year with a .926 SV% in 13 games for the latter club and led them to the league’s final postseason round. Kokko didn’t crack The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s recent ranking of Seattle’s top 15 prospects, but it’s hard to ignore the numbers he’s put up over the last couple of seasons.

Stezka, 28, surrendered three goals on 22 shots against the Bolts for a .864 SV% in his debut. The 28-year-old Czechia native had been serving as Joey Daccord’s backup ever since the Kraken waived and reassigned ex-starter Philipp Grubauer to Coachella Valley but only got into a game after Daccord made six consecutive starts on either side of the 4 Nations break. A free agent signing out of the Extraliga’s HC Vítkovice in 2023, he’s posted a .902 SV% and a 2.99 GAA in 25 AHL games this year with a 9-12-8 record. That’s down considerably from last year, where he logged a .914 SV% and a pair of shutouts in 27 games.

Kokko is waiver-exempt, while Stezka isn’t. Seattle won’t want Kokko to sit without playing as Daccord’s backup for long periods. Still, it does make sense to have him come up occasionally for spot duty to delay the exception of Stezka’s temporary waiver exemption.

Maintaining waiver-exempt status is also the chief reason for Fleury’s demotion. He’s been sent between leagues endlessly this season whenever the Kraken need injury insurance on defense, but he hasn’t spent enough time on the roster to warrant clearing waivers again after initially passing through them during the preseason. The 26-year-old has squeaked into Seattle’s lineup seven times this year, recording an assist with a plus-two rating while averaging 12:20 per game with a 48.4 CF% at even strength. He’s tied for the team lead in the minors with a +10 rating and has 6-12–18 in 32 appearances.

Kraken Re-Assign Niklas Kokko To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

It was a successful year for Kraken goaltending prospect Niklas Kokko who played in his native Finland.  While the season has come to an end over there, it hasn’t ended for him as Seattle has re-assigned him to AHL Coachella Valley, per the AHL’s transactions log.

The 20-year-old was a second-round pick back in 2022, going 58th overall, and, after a quiet post-draft year, really took off this season.  Kokko started the season with Karpat in Finland’s Liiga but was loaned out to Pelicans midseason.  The move worked out quite well as he received more playing time and his new team took off in the standings.

Kokko posted a 1.49 GAA with a .926 SV% and four shutouts in 13 games (while not losing a single one in regulation time) following the loan before authoring a strong postseason run.  He helped lead Pelicans to the league finals (beating Karpat along the way), putting up a 1.81 GAA and a .925 SV% in 17 contests before they were eliminated by Tappara.

Kokko is already signed by the Kraken and will now get his first taste of the AHL while the Firebirds are participating in the playoffs.  With Coachella Valley’s goalie tandem (anchored by veteran Chris Driedger) both eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer, Kokko could find himself as the new starter as soon as 2024-25.

Pacific Notes: Eichel, Canucks, Kokko

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After placing forward Jack Eichel on injured reserve only two days ago, the thought was that the injury was not serious, and Eichel would only be missing a maximum of three games with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the organization announced today that Eichel underwent successful lower-body surgery, and would be out on a week-to-week basis.

This injury news will certainly change the trajectory of the Golden Knights’ season for some time, as it would for any team operating without their top option at the center position. Moving forward, with Eichel for at least the next week or two, Vegas will continue to operate with Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy centering the top two offensive lines.

Scoring at a point-per-game pace for the second straight year with the Golden Knights, Eichel joins a growing list of injured players in Vegas, a reality that has led to a rough patch in the season for the organization. As the injuries continue to pile up, after starting the year as the top team in the NHL, the Golden Knights are 6-9-0 in their last 15 games, being outscored by a margin of 11 goals over that stretch.

Other notes:

  • Having already been one of the most aggressive teams on the trade market this season, the Vancouver Canucks are still looking to add at this year’s trade deadline. In a quote reported by Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the General Manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin, stated, “I think I owe it to the players. We know that they are capable of playing at this high level. And if they continue to do that, it’s on me to support them and give them opportunities to be successful”. Even though another trade could put Vancouver over the top in the Western Conference playoff race, Allvin will have to get creative in any move, as the team only has a projected $1.22MM available in deadline cap space.
  • In a confirmed transaction according to EliteProspects, the Seattle Kraken have loaned goaltender Niklas Kokko to the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga. Kokko was originally a second-round selection of the Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft and suited up for Team Finland U20 in the 2023-24 World Junior Championships only a few weeks ago.

Seattle Loans Niklas Kokko To Finnish League

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

While the Kraken signed prospect goaltender Niklas Kokko to his entry-level deal back in May, he won’t be making his North American debut right away.  Instead, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that Seattle has loaned him back to Karpat in Finland for the upcoming season.

The 19-year-old was a second-round pick by the Kraken back in 2022 (58th overall) after a strong showing with Karpat’s Under-20 team.  Last season, he moved up, splitting the year between Finland’s top two professional divisions, getting into nine appearances in the top-level Liiga and 14 more in the second-tier Mestis, posting save percentages of .901 and .903 respectively at the two levels.

While Kokko is eligible to play in the AHL at 19 since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he likely wouldn’t have received much playing time with Coachella Valley.  With Seattle bringing back Joey Daccord, either he or Chris Driedger will be the odd one out in training camp behind Philipp Grubauer with the loser of that battle ticketed for the Firebirds pending waivers.  Meanwhile, Ales Stezka is expected to play in the AHL this coming season after spending 2022-23 in his native Czechia.

That would have made Kokko the third-string option in the minors and faced between the options of giving him limited playing time in the AHL, regular minutes in the ECHL, or loaning him to stay at home, they’ve made what seems like the logical choice.  His contract, which officially begins this season, will instead slide a year and still have three years remaining on it heading into 2024-25.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top