It appears Berkly Catton will be spending more time in Seattle this season, at least for now.
Catton, the Kraken’s first-round pick — eighth overall — in the 2024 NHL draft, played in his 10th game of the season Sunday in Dallas. That’s significant because it burns the first year of Catton’s entry-level contract, a move Seattle could have avoided by sending the forward back to his junior club in Spokane (Wash.) of the Western Hockey League.
So expect Catton to be in a Kraken uniform when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
“I’m getting to experience different types of roles and stuff like that, but it’s been great. The guys have been so good and just talking with guys on the bench even, and learning stuff that way it’s been great,” Catton said. “I think every game and every day has been a learning experience, and like I said, just trying to become the best version I can while I’m up here.”
Catton has three assists and a plus-1 rating. After being scratched for the first five games of the season, Catton played the next six as a winger on the first line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.
Kraken coach Lane Lambert then dropped Catton down to the fourth line to play center, his natural position.
“I think he’s embraced the wing position and for him to move to center we wanted to have a little look at how that looked for him,” Lambert said. “Being a center man in the National Hockey League is no easy chore. I thought he handled it fairly well. I do think that at times he might have been in between wing and center, which in fairness to him is understandable. But certainly I love the fact that he wants the puck on his stick.”
With injuries to forwards Jared McCann and Freddy Gaudreau, the Kraken have needed Catton in the lineup.
That doesn’t mean he’ll stay in Seattle for the entire season. While Catton could only be sent to Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League on a short-term conditioning assignment, the 19-year-old could play for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships next month or still be sent back to Spokane.
The Kraken return home — where they’re 4-1-2 — after a two-game trip to St. Louis and Dallas during which they were without starting goaltender Joey Daccord (upper-body injury).
Seattle beat the Blues 4-3 Saturday on Shane Wright’s overtime winner after Chandler Stephenson tied the score with 1.9 seconds left in regulation.
The Kraken then lost to the Stars 2-1 Sunday.
“Just a hockey game we could have won, and we didn’t,” Lambert said. “You’re gonna have a few of those. You’ve gotta find a way to bounce back.
“But there’s no question that was one of our better games of the year.”
The Blue Jackets will be wrapping up a five-game trip on which they’re 0-3-1.
Columbus squandered a two-goal lead in the third period Monday on its way to a 5-4 overtime loss in Edmonton. Jack Roslovic, formerly with Columbus, scored the winner for the Oilers on a breakaway 56 seconds into the extra session.
Adam Fantilli and captain Boone Jenner had a goal and an assist apiece for the Blue Jackets, both snapping eight-game goalless droughts, and Sean Monahan and defenseman Ivan Provorov also tallied. It was just the second goal of the season for Monahan.
“You wish you could pinpoint why you’re not scoring,” Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell told The Athletic. “We’re getting lots of opportunities and that makes it frustrating. If you weren’t getting the chances, you’d be more concerned. We’re getting them, we’re just not burying them.”
