The Seattle Kraken have pared their training camp roster down to 25 players, making a round of cuts well before the September 28 deadline and sending four players to waivers on the path back to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
The group includes forwards Jon-Randall Avon, John Hayden, and Logan Morrison, along with goaltender Victor Ostman.
Morrison is the name that jumps out first. The 24-year-old led Coachella Valley in scoring last season with 29 goals and 61 points in 68 games, giving the Firebirds a real offensive spark after posting 41 and 42 points in his first two seasons there.
He also got a taste of the NHL with a four-game run for Seattle in 2023-24, though he didn’t register a point. If he keeps producing at that level in the minors, he can put himself right back in the mix for Kraken depth duty.
Avon and Hayden both finished with 24 points last season, with Avon doing it in 45 games and Hayden in 67. Avon is entering his fourth pro season and his second with the Kraken organization, and he has chipped away at his game each year.
Hayden brings a different profile entirely. Since turning pro in 2017, he has appeared in 272 NHL games across five teams, and his value has always come from the same place: being hard to play against.
He set a career high with 127 penalty minutes in Coachella Valley last season, and that gritty edge should keep him in a familiar role with the Firebirds unless Seattle needs that bite again.
Ostman is the lone goalie on the list. If he clears, he’ll head back to Coachella Valley after handling the de facto starting job there last season.
He played 36 games, one more than Niklas Kokko, and went 17-15-3 with a .906 save percentage. That was a solid rookie AHL season, and Seattle gave him his first NHL start in April.
He stopped 33 of 35 shots in a loss. Looking ahead to 2026-27, Ostman sits third on the Kraken’s goalie depth chart behind Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer, both of whom carry a cap hit at-or-above $5MM.
In Other News...
Kraken Young Depth Is Giving Fans Another Reason To Feel Good
A preseason win over Calgary offered another reminder that Seattles young depth is starting to make itself felt in camp. The Kraken came away with a 4-2 victory, and the results had the kind of distribution coaches like to see this time of year, with defenseman Ty Nelson and forward Jagger Firkus both getting on the board.
The bigger takeaway may be how Nelson has continued to trend for the Kraken during training camp, enough to draw praise from assistant coach Aaron Schneekloth. Seattle is still sorting out the bottom of the roster, but nights like this give the organization a little more reason to believe its younger players can push for real roles rather than just fill exhibition minutes. [Read more 🡒]
Former Kraken Forward Suddenly Has Seattle Fans Watching Dallas Again
Colin Blackwell has given Seattle fans reason to keep an eye on Dallas again, if only because the former Kraken forward is part of a Stars group that has seen its share of familiar faces move through the league. Blackwell remains a depth forward with NHL experience across several teams, and his path through the Kraken organization still makes him a recognizable name whenever he surfaces in another uniform.
For now, the interest is more about his status than his role. Blackwell is working through a lower-body injury, but the expectation is that he will be healthy and available when the Stars open their season against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 2. For a player whose value has long come from being ready when called upon, that remains the key storyline as Dallas gets closer to opening night. [Read more 🡒]
