It was always fun to talk to ex-Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy about his remarkable hometown hockey coincidence. The fact that he, Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Scott Ratzlaff, and Kraken 2022 draftee and prospect Jagger Firkus all hailed from the same little hometown in central Alberta.
That would be Irma, population 477.
Soucy has caught the injury bug since joining the Canucks last summer. Ratzloff is the main man in net for a rebuilding T-Birds team that lost plenty of talent after making the Memorial Cup Final last spring, while Firkus is leading the entire Canadian Hockey League (CHL) in scoring. That would be the umbrella organization overseeing the Western League, Ontario League, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Advantage Firkus.
Kraken Prospect List
When casually discussing the Kraken’s top-3 prospects last summer following development camp, Director of Player Development Jeff Tambellini gave me the names Ryker Evans, Jani Nyman, and Ryan Winterton.
The name included in the next sentence: Firkus.
In 46 games this season for the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, the center has 40 goals and 51 assists for 91 points.
The 19-year-old stepped up his physical involvement and is more likely to go to the difficult areas on the ice. This was one of the few drawbacks in our profile of him in late-2022. He had an 80 point season as a 17-year-old in 66 games, and followed that up last year with 88 points.
Early last season we described his skills this way:
Firkus is a quick, instinctive thinker offensively who’ll need to work on that physical development and the defensive responsibilities that come with growing up as a player in more ways than one.
Firkus is two points ahead of Gabe Klassen of the Portland Winterhawks on the WHL leaderboard. He’s 3rd in goals, 6th in assists. Compared to the other leagues, Firkus is six points ahead of David Goyette of the Sudbury Wolves, who just happens to be a fellow-2022 2nd-round draft pick of the Kraken, and seven points ahead of the QMJHL leader.
Firkus also sports a major league calibre moustache.
The Warriors are in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference of the Western League with 17 games to play.
Of Note
Evans is playing with the Kraken in the NHL and has four assists in 16 games. He’s 22-years-old.
Nyman is 19-years-old this season and has tallied 20 goals and 32 points in 41 games in Finland’s top pro league.
20-year-old Winterton has reached 13 goals and seven assists in 40 games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken: Grubauer’s The Man Again, A Bizarre Goalie Calendar
