The Kraken announced Wednesday afternoon that right-shot defenseman Ty Nelson has been sent back to his junior club, the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League, for his 19-year-old season. The sturdy 2022 3rd-round draft pick of the Kraken has shown promise while skating with NHL’ers in training camp and will try to build on last season in the OHL, one that saw him post 24 goals and 52 assists from the blueline.
We profiled the Toronto native back in February as part of our ‘Kraken of the Future’ series.
Kraken Game On !
The dreaded rivals from just across the international border arrive to the Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday evening to take on the Kraken. It’s the Vancouver Canucks with a few new looks and a head coach starting his first full season with the organization. Do Seattle fans consider it a dreaded rivalry yet?
One should be cautious when referring to “entering a full season” for a Canucks coach. Travis Green was fired in December of the 2021-’22 campaign before his replacement Bruce Boudreau failed to come out the other end of last season. Tocchet was hired on January 22nd, 2023. He wrapped up the season with a record of 20-12-and-3.
Boudreau thinks Tocchet will be fine, as he stated on a podcast with us on Tuesday: “He was hand picked by both Jim (Rutherford – Canucks President of Hockey Operations) and Patrik (Allvin – GM), so I don’t think he’s in quite the same boat.”
Tocchet had some interesting thoughts this week about his line-up; whom he likes and which players need to fight for a job.
Don’t expect to see former Seattle defenseman Carson Soucy making the trip to take on his former team Thursday night. He was part of a Canucks roster that played Wednesday night in Edmonton and lost to the Oilers in overtime 2-1.
After two seasons with Seattle the lefty D-man signed with Vancouver as a free agent on July 1st and it appears he’ll be spending some time next to top defenseman Quinn Hughes. Both of them played last night, as did plenty of other bona fide NHL’ers including Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the Oilers. McDavid scored the game winner.
Hockeyville Jones
As part of annual promotion, the Kraft corporation sponsors a contest that involves Canadian communities vying for local rink upgrades and the right to host an NHL preseason game. The winner for this season was St. Thomas, Ontario where the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Conor Timmins had two goals and two assists for the victors. The winning goalie: recent ex of the Seattle Kraken Martin Jones. Jonesy made 13 saves on 15 shots.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken’s Washington Native Returns With Confidence
— Kraken Make 10 Roster Changes; Top Pick Culture Shock?
