Julius Miettinen’s name is already sitting on the Kraken’s NHL.com roster, and the reason is pretty straightforward: the 2024 second-round pick just put together a monster season.
The 20-year-old center led the Everett Silvertips to their first WHL title and was named the MVP of the 2026 Western Hockey League playoffs. That made him only the second European WHLer to earn playoff MVP honors, joining Leon Draisaitl in 2014.
Miettinen capped his year with a playoff run that went well beyond good. He scored 14 goals and 13 assists in 18 postseason games, won nearly 60% of his faceoffs, and finished at plus-21. That came after a regular season in which he posted 35 goals and 76 points.
“I could never even dream of this,” he said in a postgame TV interview. “We’re so tight as a group. There isn’t a single guy on this team who can’t play.”
The numbers only tell part of the story. CHL.ca’s Cami Kepke wrote, “You couldn’t ask for a much better season,” noting that Miettinen finished third on the Silvertips in scoring, third across the entire league in plus/minus with a +60 rating, and eighth in faceoff wins. She also pointed out that he added four points, including two goals and two assists, at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship with Finland.
Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis described Miettinen as a player who “doesn’t lose many physical battles” and called him “a shot-generation machine, often six-plus times per game.” Ellis added that Miettinen should be able to make a quick adjustment to pro hockey because of his “pro-ready muscle and shot,” while also calling him “a bit more reliable as a two-way center than many others his age.”
Dobber Prospects’ Hadi Kalakeche offered a different view of his game, calling Miettinen a “big, speedy winger who loves to score in transition. Needs to add defensive value and creativity to his game, but could become a solid third-line power forward.”
Miettinen signed a three-year entry-level contract in 2025, and that deal begins this autumn when he joins the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds. The Helsinki native is expected to make his way back to Puget Sound eventually.
In Other News...
Kraken Goaltending Plan Just Got More Interesting In Coachella Valley
The Krakens AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley quietly added another layer to its goaltending picture, bringing in Connor Murphy for the 2026-27 season. Murphy is 28 and has spent the past three years in the Calgary Flames organization, working across both the AHL and ECHL, which gives the Firebirds a familiar kind of organizational depth piece rather than a headline-grabbing splash.
For Seattle, the move matters because Coachella Valley is often part of the pipeline that keeps the larger goaltending plan moving smoothly. The Firebirds did not disclose contract terms, and the expectation is that Murphy will be used primarily in a depth role, but even that kind of signing can shape how flexible the club is when injuries, call-ups or workload management come into play. [Read more 🡒]
Jamie Oleksiak's Final Kraken Season Looks Different Now
Jamie Oleksiak gave the Kraken a steady season on the blue line in 2025-26, handling a regular role on the bottom pairing while still finding ways to chip in at the other end. He appeared in 78 games, logged 15 points, and finished with a plus-9 rating, a solid return for a defenseman who spent most nights taking on a sheltered workload and averaging 16:56 of ice time.
What makes that year stand out now is how it ended. Oleksiak reached unrestricted free agency after the season, and Seattle has already seen him move on to Vancouver on a two-year deal, closing the book on a stretch that looked pretty different while he was still wearing a Kraken sweater. For a team that has leaned on its defense to set the tone, his departure leaves another spot to sort out on the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Seattles NHL Dream Nearly Started Long Before The Kraken
Long before the Kraken ever took the ice, Seattle had already spent years trying to join the NHL conversation. Archival reports from the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer show that the city was making a serious push in the mid-1970s, with local investors and city officials working to bring either an expansion club or a relocated franchise to town. There was enough optimism to produce meetings with league officials and real momentum around the idea.
The effort was shaped by attorney Vince Abbey, who helped drive the campaign, but the road was never simple. Lease restrictions at the Coliseum and pressure from the World Hockey Association complicated the pitch, and shifting personnel only added to the uncertainty. Seattles hockey dream was alive then, but it was never able to clear the final hurdles that might have put an NHL team here decades earlier. [Read more 🡒]