Kraken NHL Draft
After taking a center in the 1st-round, the Seattle Kraken looked to blueliners in rounds 2 and 3. It’s an important organizational need with three of the NHL regulars over the age of 30.
In Round-2 the club traded up a couple of spots and took Blake Fiddler of the Edmonton Oil Kings. The 17-year-old — he turns 18 in two weeks — brings his right shot and his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame to Kraken development camp early next week.
Seattle wanted him badly enough at 36th-overall that they were willing to give up a pick and slide lower in the 3rd round by swapping places in the 2nd with the Philadelphia Flyers.
In the 3rd-round with the 68th pick Seattle chose a D-man who will continue to grow into his 6-foot-3 frame. That’s Will Reynolds, also just 17, of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He’ll turn 18 on August 11th.
Offensively, Fiddler added 33 points in 64 last season. Reynolds had 14 points in the same number of games out east.
There was strong speculation that in the 1st-round the Kraken would go with monstrous Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Radim Mrtka, who posted 35 points in 43 WHL games last season and stands 6-foot-6 and 207-pounds. Instead, the club took center Jake O’Brien at 8th-overall.
Mrtka went 9th-overall to the Buffalo Sabres with the very next pick.
Earlier Kraken:
— Seattle Trade: Land A Solid Center In Gaudreau