The Seattle Kraken selected forward Berkly Catton of the Spokane Chiefs with the No. 8 overall pick during the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft Friday. Catton joins Lukas Dragicevic (Tri-City; 2023 second-round pick) and Kaden Hammell (Everett; 2023 fifth-round pick) as in-state WHL players drafted by Seattle.
“[Catton] has got elite hockey sense, real good speed, [and] high compete level. He’s a very high-end offensive player,” Ron Francis said Friday after the team made the selection. “That was the guy we wanted, so we’re excited.”
Catton led all CHL first-time draft-eligible prospects in points and was fourth overall in the WHL in scoring during the 2023-24 season.
Quick thoughts on the pick
This pick is at once unexpected and not surprising. It’s unexpected because a few high-end blueliners were still on the board at No. 8. The vast majority of industry analysts had Seattle taking a defenseman, even if it meant dropping into what I’d consider the second tier of players at that position, such as Carter Yakemchuk.
On the other hand, Berkly Catton was ranked No. 6 on the final Sound Of Hockey Big Board. And if you only remember one stat about Berkly Catton, try this one: he is one of four first-time draft eligible CHL players since 2000 to post 115-plus points and 50-plus goals. The other three? Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Connor Bedard.
Furthermore, we should not discount the position value if Catton can stick at center. In my mind, I had been projecting Catton as a play-driving winger in the longer term, but many scouts disagree, and Ron Francis spoke about Catton as a center prospect after the pick.
Elite Prospects, which grades the individual skills of draft-eligible prospects, had Catton as the third-best puckhandler, fourth-best skater, fifth-best passer, and 10th-best shooter in the draft. They also deemed him to have the fourth-best “hockey sense” in the draft, which is a stand-in for on-ice intelligence and gameplay instincts. All told, Elite Prospects gave Catton the sixth-highest average skill grade among skaters in the draft, with only his physicality grading below average.
In my pre-draft piece, I wrote that “Berkly Catton [] is a deadly offensive package, combining skill, skating, and offensive instincts. If he stood 6-foot-2 instead of 5-foot-10.25 with the same skill level, he’d be considered as early as the second overall pick.”
Chris Peters compared Catton toTim Stutzle….
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