The Seattle Kraken’s preseason roster has put a few younger names under the microscope, and Kim Saarinen is the one that jumps off the page.
At 6-foot-4 and around 180 pounds, Saarinen already has the frame teams dream about in a modern goalie. Seattle took him 88th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, making him the 23rd pick in the third round, and he’s spent his time in Finland developing with HPK, the same club where he came up through the youth system.
The scouting buzz around him is built on more than size. Elite Prospects described him in its 2024 draft guide this way:
“Saarinen brings a unique combination of skill and size to the table. He keeps excellent access to his edges and remains patient when the puck is passed around the zone, capable of making quick adjustments in either direction.”
He’s technically on loan back to HPK Hameenlinna in his hometown, and he has already appeared in one game this season. Now he’s headed to Seattle for camp in the next couple of weeks, where he’ll get a look behind Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer.
His numbers from last spring’s playoffs in Finland are eye-catching: nine games, a 4-4 record, a 1.67 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage. The challenge now is whether he can carry that kind of production against North American shooters on a regular basis. For now, the path still seems to point back to Finland for at least one more season, though Coachella Valley of the AHL is another option, and that could come sooner than later.
Dobber’s Hockey also highlighted his role this summer, noting:
“Saarinen skated with HPK while still on loan in the Liiga. Playing 38 of the team’s 60 games, Saarinen got the chance to be the go-to guy for his hometown team rather than being part of a tandem in Coachella Valley.”
They summed him up simply as a “big goalie who moves well.”
That may be the cleanest way to frame the intrigue here. The Kraken don’t need to force the timeline, and with goaltenders, patience usually pays. But Saarinen is exactly the kind of prospect worth tracking closely.
In Other News...
Kraken Are Quietly Making A Bigger Push Than Fans Realize
The Kraken spent the offseason making a series of moves that did not generate much outside noise, but the organizational overhaul was broader than a typical tune-up. Seattle added experienced hands across hockey operations, coaching, player development and performance, while also promoting from within and widening its research and development and scouting footprint. It is the kind of back-end work that does not show up on a scoreboard, but it can shape how a team evaluates talent, prepares players and supports them through a long season.
Among the new faces is Pascal Vincent, who brings another veteran voice to the bench, along with specialists in nutrition, mental performance and physical therapy as the club keeps building out the support system around the roster. The front office also brought in Patrik Allvin in a key hockey operations role, signaling that this was not a small patch job but a deliberate push to strengthen multiple layers of the organization at once. The result is a quieter kind of ambition, one that may take time to fully show itself but is hard to miss once you look past the headline moves. [Read more 🡒]