Kraken Activate Berkly Catton And Ben Meyers
The Kraken welcomed back a pair of forwards to their lineup tonight against Dallas. The team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Berkly Catton and Ben Meyers have been activated off injured reserve.
Catton is in his first NHL season and it has been one with multiple starts and stops between injuries and early-season game management while they decided on if they’d keep him up for the full year. The 20-year-old was a prolific point producer in junior but prime offensive minutes have been harder to come by this season as he has just 11 points in 40 games while logging just 12:23 of playing time per game.
Catton had been dealing with an upper-body sustained late last month against Toronto. However, thanks to the Olympic break, he wound up only missing three games despite being sidelined for a month. While he would have been eligible for a short-term AHL conditioning stint coming off an injury – he’s not eligible to play there otherwise this season – that won’t be the route that Seattle takes.
As for Meyers, it has been a good week for him. Not only has he been cleared to return from his lower-body injury that cost him more than a month, but he also signed a two-year extension just yesterday. The 27-year-old has 11 points in 31 games this season after having just eight over his first 75 appearances, spanning four years.
Seattle had one open spot prior to these moves. To create the other spot, winger Tye Kartye was designated as a non-roster player. There is no word on what has happened for him to be placed there or when he might return. The 24-year-old has eight points and 98 hits in 40 games so far this season.
Kraken Sign Ryan Winterton To Two-Year Extension
It has been an eventful evening for the Seattle Kraken, announcing that Ryan Winterton has been signed to a two-year contract extension worth $1.125MM per season. The forward would have become a restricted free agent after the season, now with a nice increase from his current $828k entry level deal. Winterton’s contract news came out tonight along with teammate Ben Meyers‘ extension.
A third round selection of Seattle in their inaugural 2021 draft class, Winterton has emerged as a nice find with a strong bottom six potential. Standing at 6’2″, the 22-year-old recorded at least 35 points in each of his two AHL seasons, now breaking through as a regular in the lineup. Across 54 games so far, the Ontario native has 15 points, missing just two contests to this point.
Back in August, Winterton was listed as the Kraken’s ninth-best prospect by Steven Ellis of The Fourth Period. A franchise whose efforts to build a contender immediately proved ineffective, with shuffling behind the bench, Seattle has finally started to assemble a formidable next wave of young players; Winterton helping round out the group with a high floor outlook.
Winterton’s development is still a work in progress, as his possession metrics at even strength remain below average, but he’s shown real improvement from last season’s -11 in just 12 games, now into the positives across his 54 games. Serving as a penalty killer in the team’s bottom six, he offers enough speed and puck skills to carve out a role under Head Coach Lane Lambert.
Now locked up until after the 2027-28 season, where he’ll still remain under team control, Winterton is expected to grow further over the next two seasons on his way to becoming a fixture of Seattle’s lineup.
Kraken Sign Ben Meyers To Two-Year Extension
The Seattle Kraken shared that Ben Meyers has been signed to a two-year extension worth $1MM per season. The forward’s one year deal worth $775k was set to expire this summer, where he would have become an unrestricted free agent.
Undrafted, the 27-year-old represented his home state as a Minnesota Golden Gopher from 2019-22, working his way up to becoming team captain and a Hobey Baker Award finalist. Notable considering recent events, Meyers was a proud member of Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. As NHL players were not allowed to participate, he landed into the global stage out of college, posting four points in as many games.
Upon the conclusion of his impressive collegiate career, Meyers caught the attention of Colorado, who signed him to a two-year contract, subsequently jumping right into the show and scoring in his NHL debut. Things came a bit harder for the forward after the blur of his first professional action, as in 2022-23 he scored four goals with no assists in 39 games with the Avs, leading to a split across the campaign with time in the AHL.
Meyers remained productive with the Colorado Eagles, posting 49 points in 62 contests across 2022-24, but opportunities proved limited with the elite Avalanche. In March of 2024, he was dealt to the Ducks for a 2024 fifth round draft selection. The trade gave him an opportunity to return to an NHL lineup, where Meyers played out his contract but after just two assists in 14 games, Anaheim chose not to keep him.
Undeterred, Meyers then signed a one-year deal with Seattle worth $755k for 2024-25, where he ended up spending the year with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Meyers lit it up with 51 points in 57 games, leading the team and earning another extension for this year with a shot to stay at the NHL level.
His patience has paid off, as Meyers is now a key depth player for the Kraken. Across 32 contests so far in 2025-26, he has recorded 11 points, a nice increase after just seven in his first 75 at the highest level. Important for any fourth line penalty killer, Meyers has spent just four minutes in the box all year. His 53.4% face-off win percentage is a career best.
Having addressed their depth forwards, GM Jason Botterill can turn his attention to key veterans such as Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, Eeli Tolvanen who all expire after the season. Meyers’ Kraken are back in action tomorrow in Dallas, but as he’s currently on IR with a lower-body injury, it will be without the newly signed man, pending further announcement.
Image Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Jakub Fibigr Commits To Ohio State University
- According to his Instagram account, defenseman prospect Jakub Fibigr has committed to Ohio State University for next season. The 19-year-old Czech was drafted by the Seattle Kraken in the seventh round of the 2024 NHL Draft. He’s scored nine goals and 33 points in 44 games split between the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads and Windsor Spitfires this season.
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Two Prospects Receive 20-Game Suspensions In AHL
A pair of NHL prospects will be waiting quite a while before they can play their next game. Earlier this week, the AHL announced that Rockford goalie Stanislav Berezhnoy and Coachella Valley forward David Goyette have received 20-game suspensions for violating the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substance Program. The program essentially replicates the NHL’s penalties for violations, meaning that this is a first-time offence for both players. They will be ineligible for recall to the NHL while serving their bans.
Berezhnoy is in his first season in North America after the Blackhawks signed him to a two-year, entry-level contract last summer. The 22-year-old has played in 15 games so far this season for the IceHogs, largely serving as Drew Commesso’s backup. Berezhnoy has a 5-9-1 record with a 3.18 GAA and a .888 SV% in those outings. He received a brief NHL recall in January when Chicago’s starting tandem was unavailable but didn’t see any game action.
As for Goyette, he’s in the second season of his entry-level deal. Drafted in the second round (61st overall) by the Kraken back in 2022, the 21-year-old was a productive scorer in junior but that has yet to translate to the pros. Goyette had 282 points in three OHL seasons (spanning 197 games) but had 18 points in 54 outings with the Firebirds last season and has just 10 in 47 appearances in 2025-26. He hasn’t seen any NHL action so far in his career.
Both players will be able to return before the playoffs. Berezhnoy is eligible to return on April 11th while Goyette can play one day sooner. At that point, there will be just over a week left in the AHL season and if either team is still fighting for a playoff spot since then, it could be risky to put them in after being off for so long.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare To Retire
After 10 NHL seasons and parts of another 14 seasons in pro leagues in Europe, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare is retiring. The French national team captain, whose first Olympic appearance came to an end this morning with a quarterfinal loss to Germany, told reporters postgame that “this is it” for his international career, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Bellemare, 40, last played in the NHL with the Kraken in 2023-24. He’s spent the last two seasons with HC Ajoie in Switzerland, playing a pivotal role in helping them avoid relegation to the second-division Swiss League last year. His offensive production is greatly diminished this season, with just one goal and 10 points in 32 National League games, and he has a -15 rating. With only five regular-season games left on Ajoie’s schedule this year and locked into last place in the league, it’s unclear whether Bellemare plans to return to the team after his Olympic performance or make a clean break now.
Bellemare’s pro career began in 2002-03, as a 17-year-old with Rouen in France’s top league, then called the Super 16. He became one of the league’s top producers over the next few years, making his first appearance on the national senior team at the 2004 World Championship, but didn’t attract any NHL interest. He made the jump to a more competitive circuit with Sweden’s Leksands IF in 2006, playing in the second-division HockeyAllsvenskan. He spent three years there, leading the league in goals in 2008-09, before making another jump to Sweden’s top flight with Skellefteå.
Only after another five seasons with Skellefteå, where he won two SHL championships and was arguably the league’s top defensive forward, did Bellemare finally land an NHL contract. In 2014, he landed a two-way deal with the Flyers and, at age 29, immediately became a fourth-line, penalty-killing fixture in Philadelphia. He was never the offensive threat he was in Sweden, averaging just six goals and 12 points per 82 games, but rarely missed time and even garnered some outside Selke Trophy consideration by his third year in Philly.
Bellemare was ticketed to become an unrestricted free agent in 2017. The Flyers tried to avoid that by signing him to a two-year, $2.9MM extension in March, but they left him unprotected in that year’s expansion draft, and the Golden Knights picked him up. He wasn’t one of the many assets Vegas flipped following the draft, instead staying with the club through its storybook inaugural season in a familiar role as their fourth-line center. He hit double-digit assists in the regular season for the first of three times he’d do so in his career, before adding three points and a +6 rating in 20 playoff games in Vegas’ miracle run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
A free agent again in 2019, Bellemare would spend the rest of his career on short-term deals. He first signed a two-year pact with the Avalanche, where he hit a career-high 22 points in 69 games in his first year, before landing another two-year deal with the Lightning on the heels of their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. He made it back to the Final with the Bolts in 2022, only to lose to his old teammates in Colorado. After being limited to 13 points and a career-worst -9 rating in 73 games for Tampa in 2022-23, he hit the open market again and signed a league-minimum contract in Seattle.
Only in Bellemare’s last year in the league did he fall out of regular usage. He served as more of a 13th/14th forward for the Kraken than a fourth-line fixture, only suiting up 40 times while averaging 9:50 of ice time per game. After notching four goals and seven points for Seattle, he made it clear he wanted to extend his NHL career for at least one more season. With no guaranteed offers, he returned to the Avs on a professional tryout, but was released late in training camp. He then headed to Switzerland, where he had 10 goals and 28 points in 34 games for Ajoie last season before his age finally seemed to catch up with him in 2025-26.
While Bellemare’s offensive utility was limited, he’s arguably one of the most durable pros of his generation and is, by all accounts, an incredibly well-liked teammate. He also developed into a legitimate asset in the faceoff dot after a rough start to his career in that regard in Philly. From 2017 onward, Bellemare won 53.4% of his draws in over 4,500 attempts. His ability to stay in the lineup also provided incredible peace of mind for lineup cards. From 2014 to 2023, only 34 players logged more appearances than Bellemare’s 660.
Bellemare finishes his career with 138 points and a +22 rating in 700 games. He nearly broke even in shot attempts at even strength – an impressive feat for a defensive specialist – and also averaged 72 hits per 82 games. He garnered an estimated $11.3MM in career earnings, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR congratulate Bellemare on an excellent career and wish him all the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images.
Poll: Which Team Should Make The Biggest Push For Shane Wright?
A weak Western Conference has the hot-and-cold Kraken still squarely in contention for a playoff spot. Seattle had won six of eight entering the break, moving them into third in the Pacific Division and tied with the Ducks for the second wild-card slot (although the Kraken have three more regulation wins).
Despite teetering on the edge of a berth all season, general manager Jason Botterill’s overall deadline strategy appears to be as aggressive as possible. 2022 fourth overall pick Shane Wright is one name that could very well be on the move after reports last month indicated they were open to dangling him as the big fish to land a major upgrade for their top-six forward group.
While it would normally be surprising to see a team so uncertain of its short-term outlook being willing to dangle such a high-value young asset, Seattle has assembled a deep prospect pool over the last few years that can easily handle the loss of Wright. Even just considering centers, they’ve supplemented him with two more top-10 picks in Berkly Catton in 2024 and Jake O’Brien last year.
The desire to give Wright a fresh start elsewhere appears to come from both player and team. That makes sense considering Wright has had his ice time reduced from last season under first-year head coach Lane Lambert, despite coming off a strong 19-goal, 44-point effort in 79 games in his first extended look in NHL minutes in 2024-25.
As a result, this year his production has dipped to 11 goals and 22 points in 56 games. That’s a points-per-game decrease from 0.56 to 0.39, accompanied by a 10-second drop in ice time per game.
The Ontario native has also struggled in the two most important secondary areas for a center – faceoffs and possession control. He’s winning just 37.9% of his draws this year after hitting 44.4% last season while controlling 46.3% of shot attempts at even strength. The latter number is particularly disappointing considering he’s been given sheltered usage, starting over two-thirds of his shifts in the offensive zone.
Nonetheless, there are a few teams looking to move out a top-six piece that wouldn’t benefit from a 22-year-old center with the pedigree of being a top-five pick. Which sellers should be the most aggressive in trying to ensure they strike a deal with Kraken and recoup Wright?
Calgary Flames
Even among sellers, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team with two tangible top-six forwards – with term – to use as trade chips. If Seattle wants to make a push for either Blake Coleman or Nazem Kadri, the Flames are asking for Wright as the starting piece of the return, especially for the latter.
They’ve done well to build out their prospect pool on defense (particularly the right side) and on the wings, but they’re missing a clear-cut top-six piece down the middle long-term, especially with Samuel Honzek appearing to shift to the wing full-time and Cole Reschny‘s slighter frame likely making him a better fit at left wing than center at the NHL level. They’re not currently icing a center under the age of 25 in the NHL, either, at least not with John Beecher injured.
Adding Wright gives them more hope down the middle long-term with greater offensive upside than a name like Honzek has been able to show in the pros thus far.
New York Rangers
Seattle made a big contract offer to Artemi Panarin but struck out with the winger deciding it was L.A. or bust. With the two clubs already having engaged in trade talks on the star winger, the Kraken might opt to put themselves in the conversation for Rangers middleman Vincent Trocheck as well.
For a team still in the earlier stages of a retool like the Rangers, they wouldn’t be too concerned with position when getting as high-value an asset as Wright back in a deal. Nonetheless, recouping a young, higher-ceiling center by March 6 would be a dream scenario for Blueshirts GM Chris Drury.
The Rangers’ arsenal of U23 potential top-six contributors at forward – Gabriel Perreault, Liam Greentree, and Malcolm Spence – are all wingers. Their best center prospect, 22-year-old Noah Laba, has operated as their third-line center for most of the year and, while he’s clearly made the jump to full-time NHLer status, has never been touted as anything more than a long-term 3C option.
With such a pressing positional need down the middle, especially if they’re intent on flipping Trocheck with several years left on his deal, Wright is a perfect addition.
St. Louis Blues
The Blues aren’t actively shopping Robert Thomas, but they are listening to offers. It will still take a gargantuan price tag – reported to be four first-round picks or equivalent assets – to land a deal, but the Kraken are well-positioned to do so with Wright ready to fill one of those four slots and four first-round picks available in the next two drafts.
Unlike for Calgary and New York, though, adding Wright down the middle would more signal a completion of the long-term puzzle down the middle than a much-needed jumpstart. Dalibor Dvorsky, still just 20 years old, has arrived this season as he looks to be a high-end second-line piece for St. Louis throughout his prime. Another recent first-rounder, Otto Stenberg, hasn’t looked out of place in NHL action this year, either.
Wright’s sluggish development so far wouldn’t solve the need for finding a bona fide first-line piece to serve as a direct replacement for Thomas, but he would give the Blues ample top-nine depth for their next playoff contention window.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks are headed straight toward the best odds at the first overall pick in this year’s draft, in large part due to a lack of production from the middle of the ice. Their middle-six pivots for much of the year, David Kämpf and Aatu Räty, have combined for all of five goals.
They already picked up Marco Rossi from the Wild in the Quinn Hughes deal, but he’s battled through a broken foot this season and only had a goal and an assist in eight appearances for Vancouver before the break. There’s also the matter of star first-liner Elias Pettersson, who’s still struggled to get anywhere close to the heights of his 102-point breakout three years ago. He’s scoring at a 57-point pace this season, the worst of his career.
If Seattle wants to buy low on the high-priced pivot, Wright won’t have more opportunity at premier minutes anywhere else than in Vancouver.
If the Kraken do leverage Wright into a top-six upgrade, which team would stand to reap the most rewards? Have your say in the poll below:
Which Team Would Benefit Most From Landing Shane Wright?
Kraken Believed To Have Offered Panarin More Than $14MM Per Season
- While Panarin ultimately took the offer from Los Angeles, it was far from the biggest one on the table. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the Kraken made an offer of more than $14MM per season in an effort to try to convince Panarin to accept a trade to them. That would have nearly been double the highest amount that the team has given a player so far in their brief tenure with Vince Dunn being their current top-paid player at $7.35MM.
Kraken Reassign Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Place Berkly Catton On IR
2/5: As expected, Fisker Molgaard was reassigned on Thursday morning. He played just under seven minutes of ice time in Seattle’s Wednesday night win over the Los Angeles Kings, and did not record any notable stat changes.
2/4: The Seattle Kraken have swapped around the rookies on their active roster. Winger Berkly Catton has been placed on injured reserve with an injury sustained in Seattle’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 29th. The rookie took a hit to the head from Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson but was able to get off the ice under his own power, after a moment. He has missed two games since.
Catton was knocked out of the lineup in the midst of a running cold-streak. He has fallen to a depth role with one goal, two points, and a minus-one over his last nine games. Through what is officially his NHL rookie season, Catton has totaled only 11 points in 40 games. It has been a quiet year after back-to-back 100-point seasons in the WHL. Catton hasn’t yet made his AHL debut – something that could come on the other side of his recovery from this long-term injury. He will have the next three week to heal up before Seattle returns of February 25th.
With the roster spot created by Catton’s designation, the Kraken have called up winger Oscar Fisker Molgaard. He will have a chance to step into the lineup in Seattle’s final game before the three-week break for the Winter Olympics. Fisker-Molgaard will likely be returned to the minors before NHL rosters freeze on Friday, allowing him to stay on the ice while Kraken teammates Kaapo Kakko, Eeli Tolvanen, and Philipp Grubauer represent their countries in Milan.
Fisker Molgaard played the first two games of his NHL career in November. He recorded one assist, one shot on goal, and one hit. He has spent the rest of the season in a prominent role with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, where his 22 points in 36 games rank fourth in scoring. Fisker Molgaard has served as the team’s second-line center in his rookie season in North American pros. He spent the last three speasons in Sweden’s SHL, where he racked up 47 points in 129 games. It isn’t clear if Fisker Molgaard will step into the NHL lineup before the break. He was briefly recalled, but didn’t play, in January.
Latest On Jaden Schwartz
As the Nashville Predators take first steps into their general manager search, following Barry Trotz’s sudden resignation announcement earlier this week, an interesting roadblock emerged. According to Insider Frank Seravalli, the NHL Players Association is reviewing Creative Artists Agency, who were hired by the franchise to conduct their search.
The agency also represents NHL players, and therefore may not be permitted for involvement in front office personnel processes, even if coming from a different arm of the agency. It is considered a potential conflict of interest. CAA’s website shows a long list of NHL players represented, headlined by Sidney Crosby, not to mention Predators cornerstone Filip Forsberg and numerous other stars of the game.
A somewhat similar situation occurred in 2023, also reported by Seravalli back then, when the NHLPA investigated former Maple Leafs and current Penguins GM Kyle Dubas’ relationship with an agency connected to Auston Matthews and other NHLers, which did not lead to violations. It’s unclear what will arise from the situation with CAA and the Predators, but worth monitoring nonetheless.
Until a candidate is selected, Trotz is set to maintain his role as long as needed, steering the franchise into the Trade Deadline season where Nashville must decide between selling or keeping the band together for a Wild Card push.
On today’s episode of the DFO Rundown podcast, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that Nashville had a few trades in the works this week that fell through, and may be revisited after the Olympic break. As Trotz works through his final chapter, he figures to be active with high trade demands to leave his franchise in a good place for the next regime.
Elsewhere across the league:
- The Florida Panthers shared mid-game that Sandis Vilmanis wouldn’t return due to an upper-body injury. The forward delivered a controversial hit to Bruins star Charlie McAvoy, making the head a main point of contact, while McAvoy is wearing a full shield recovering from a broken jaw. Vilmanis was assessed only a minor penalty, not returning afterward, but the incident could receive further discipline. The 22-year-old with 12 NHL games under his belt is far from a household name, but Vilmanis was named to Latvia’s Olympic roster and his injury status could have implications for Milan. He is one of eight active NHL skaters on the nation’s squad.
- Ahead of tonight’s game in Los Angeles, the Seattle Kraken revealed forward Jaden Schwartz wouldn’t play due to a lower-body injury. The veteran already missed a chunk of the campaign for such an injury, and while it’s not clear if they are related naturally there’s cause for concern. When healthy, the 33-year-old remains effective, notching 19 points in 36 games, par for the course in his Kraken tenure over the past several years. Seattle has been sniffing around in the trade market as they gear up for a run at the postseason, and hopefully Schwartz will take the Olympic break to get healthy in time to play his part this spring.