Kraken set opening-night roster with Chiefs star Berkly Catton

It’s official 19-year-old Berkly Catton, the third-highest scorer in the Western Hockey League last season, will start the NHL season with the Seattle Kraken.

If Catton plays more than nine games, his entry-level contract starts. If they send him back to the Spokane Chiefs before the 10-game mark, his contract slides a year. According to a longstanding agreement with the Canadian Hockey League, which includes the WHL, Catton is too young to play with a Kraken affiliate if he struggles.

North American newcomer Jani Nyman, who enjoyed a successful stint with the team that drafted him last season, also made the 23-man opening-night roster. In another curious development, new general manager Jason Botterill wasn’t bluffing when he said the team might carry three goaltenders during this Olympic season. Matt Murray made the cut alongside No. 1 goalie Joey Daccord and backup Philipp Grubauer.

And 22-year-old Ryan Winterton, the last player cut last season, made the final roster for the first time. The Kraken took him 67th overall in the 2021 NHL draft. A shoulder injury set his development back somewhat, but he pushed his big-league ambitions forward this fall.

“As you get older, your timer starts winding down,” Winterton told the Seattle Times last summer. “You definitely want to kind of start making a name for yourself.”

The deadline to submit cap-compliant , opening -night rosters, which had to be at or below the 23-player limit, was Monday at 2 p.m. The last round of cuts came Sunday. Tough guy John Hayden was put on waivers, which cleared , and then reassigned to Coachella Valley.

Defenseman Ville Ottavainen, who was part of the Kraken’s first draft class and made his NHL debut late last season, was also reassigned to Coachella Valley. The Kraken staff thought well enough of Danish forward Oscar Fisker Molgaard (52nd overall, 2023) to keep him around until the final weekend, but he hasn’t played a full season in North America yet. More time with the Firebirds will do him a world of good.

Last season the Kraken were right up against the salary cap and that factored into who they could and couldn’t keep, or rather whose contract they could and couldn’t cram under the limit. Josh Mahura benefited from that arrangement. This year, he and Cale Fleury appear to be vying for the final spot on the blue line, which opened up when Ryker Evans was injured in practice and ruled out until mid-November with an upper-body injury.

They both practiced on regular pairings this weekend – Fleury with Ryan Lindgren, Oleksiak with Mahura – but one of them will be the odd man out when Brandon Montour rejoins the lineup. Montour missed the entire preseason after surgery to remove a bursa, or a small, fluid-filled sac within a joint, on his ankle.

Evans and winger Kappo Kakko (broken hand) will start the season on injured reserve, freeing up room for Catton and Winterton. Nyman’s inclusion seemed locked in after a four-goal preseason where he flashed chemistry with several Kraken veterans.

The Kraken head into the season with a spare forward, defenseman and goaltender.

The extra netminder in particular is an uncommon occurrence. Botterill indicated there was plenty of work to go around during a condensed schedule. It could also have to do with Grubauer’s recent struggles, which got him demoted to the AHL last January.

All will have eyes on him – and Catton – as the Kraken regular season begins Thursday.