The Seattle Kraken emerged from the 2025 NHL Draft with a projectable top-six scoring forward, a consensus late first-round defense talent, and several depth blueliners who are lottery tickets to contribute at the NHL level but can fill the organizational need for defensive depth. All in, it was a productive draft that received positive reviews from many analysts. Let’s take a look at each of the selections before concluding with a few general takeaways.
Seattle Kraken 2025 NHL Draft picks
Round 1, Pick 8: Jake O’Brien, C, Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
Age: 18 | Height: 6-foot-1.5 | Weight: 177 | Shot: Right
Big Board: 7th | Data Score: 65.88 (4th) | Games: 66 | Goals: 32 | Assists: 66 | PPG: 1.48
Pick analysis: Though it was disappointing to some fans (and perhaps also in the Kraken draft room) to see Porter Martone and James Hagens come off the board with the two picks before Seattle’s No. 8 pick, Jake O’Brien is not just a consolation prize. His scoring production over the last two seasons was rivaled only by Michael Misa among OHL first-time eligible 2025 draft picks. (He was No. 5 overall on our
preseason data-only watchlist, based on 2023-24 season data, and No. 4 on our
final watchlist, based on data from the 2024-25 seasons.)
O’Brien is a 6-foot-2 playmaking, right-shot, center-capable forward who brings offensive and transition skill reminiscent of Wyatt Johnston, according to Cam Robinson of
Elite Prospects. Brantford relied on him heavily in all situations, including on the power play and penalty kill. Some scouts expressed concern that most of his scoring production came on the man advantage, rather than 5-on-5. At this point, I don’t project him as a game-breaking, star forward, but the tools are there to contribute in a top-six role, whether at center or on the wing.
For more on O’Brien, check out John Barr’s draft-day post
here.
Scouting report: “O’Brien displays the high-end patience and vision to hold onto pucks for an extra second to make difficult plays and run an NHL power play. He’s extremely skilled with the puck, showing the soft touch and quick hands to create a lot of scoring chances and improvise on difficult plays often. He’s a decent enough skater. His game can lack pace at times in part because he pulls up to make his skilled plays too much, but when he gets going, he moves well. O’Brien isn’t overly physical, but he gets to the net to create chances, can kill penalties and isn’t a pushover. He projects as a very good top-two-line center who could score a lot in the NHL.” –
Corey Pronman, The Athletic
Scouting video:
Round 2, Pick 36: Blake Fiddler, D, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
Age: 17 | Height: 6-foot-4.5 | Weight: 220 | Shot: Right
Big Board: 27th | Data Score: 33.74 (94th) | Games: 64 | Goals: 10 | Assists: 23 | PPG: .52
Pick analysis: The 6-foot-4, 209-pound, native Tennessean brings a physical element, as well as strong speed and agility for his size. He also has NHL experience in the family; his father Vernon Fiddler played 14 years in the NHL as a forward for the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, among other teams.
Fiddler was viewed by most scouts as a late-first-round talent. He was No. 27 overall on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board. Of the sources we gathered, Tony Ferrari of
The Hockey News was the highest on Fiddler, ranking him No. 17 overall.
Elite Prospects had him ranked No. 23 overall, and
McKeen’s had him at No. 22.
For more on Fiddler, check out Saturday’s instant reaction post
here.
Scouting report: “With three-zone skills and unusual mobility for a player this size, it’s impossible not to see Fiddler’s potential. In a single shift, he dangles through the opposition for an entry, blows up an opposing rush, and then stretches the ice with a long-range breakout pass while fending off pressure. . . Mostly, Fiddler’s impact comes through his defensive impact and frequent advantage creation. With explosive backward crossovers, he wins the race to the middle before pivoting and surfing into the stop. Always thinking about body position, he skates through the hands, intercepts opponents with his back, and eliminates off-puck threats. On retrievals, he picks up the puck cleanly, waits for pressure to engage, and places it in a good spot for a teammate to carry it out.” –
Elite Prospects
Scouting video:
Round 3, Pick 68: Will Reynolds, D, Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)
Age: 17 | Height: 6-foot-3 | Weight: 192 | Shot: Left
Big Board: 137th | Data Score: 11.74 (1995th) | Games: 64 | Goals: 4 | Assists: 10 | PPG: .22
Pick analysis: Will Reynolds was No. 137 on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board—ranking behind a few players the Kraken later selected—but the Kraken saw a lot to recommend his profile in this range. Reynolds is a relatively young (August birthday) defender with a good frame and skating skill. Public analysts that had him graded in the third- or fourth-round range noted Reynolds’ offensive skill level came along as his draft season progressed. That said, Reynolds’ profile and projection is mostly about his ability to shut down the opposition defensively.
For more on Reynolds, check out our instant reaction post
here.
Scouting report: “The 6-foot-2 blueliner is an excellent athlete who is very mobile; he is nearly impossible to beat off the rush already. His four-way mobility is excellent, and this allows him to not only shut down the transition game of the opposition, it makes him routinely first to retrievals so that he can kickstart his own team’s transition game. Over the course of the QMJHL season, Reynolds’ play with the puck greatly improved, making him a much more effective two-way defender. While his skill and creativity with the puck are pretty limited, he can make a solid first pass and that bodes well for a future pro career.” –
McKeen’s
Scouting video:
Round 5, Pick 134: Maxim Agafonov, D, Tolpar Ufa (MHL)
Age: 18 | Height: 6-foot-2 | Weight: 198 | Shot: Right
Big Board: 60th | Data Score: 24.93 (285th) | Games: 35 | Goals: 6 | Assists: 8 | PPG: .4
Pick analysis: Agafonov is the first Russian-born skater ever drafted by the Seattle Kraken, and just the second player overall the Kraken have drafted out of Russia. When asked what gave the Kraken the confidence in their evaluation given the difficulty of getting crossover scouts into Russia, GM Jason Botterill pointed to the fact that Director of Amateur Scouting Robert Kron was able to view and interview Agafonov at the
Gold Star Hockey Development in Florida the week before the draft.
Agafonov was well-regarded by public analysts going into the draft, landing at No. 60 on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board. Corey Pronman of
The Athletic had Agafonov at No. 79 on his board, while Craig Button of
TSN had him at No. 78.
NHL Central Scouting slotted Agafonov as the No. 33 European-born skater in the class. He was the sixth-highest-ranked player and second-highest ranked defenseman still available on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board when Seattle selected.
In addition to 35 games at the junior level in Russia, Agafonov logged 12 games in the VHL, Russia’s lower-level pro league that scouts analogize to the ECHL. He had one goal and two assists in those 12 games.
Scouting report: “[Agafonov] plays with confidence and wants to attack and make plays. He absorbs pressure and protects pucks well, frequently looking to carry the puck past the first layer of pressure and move off of the pass. He walks the line well and can snap it. He’s strong and has a pro body. But he also doesn’t think the game well, makes his fair share of mistakes with and without the puck and needs to learn to defend better and make better reads. He’s worth drafting as a long-term project that you leave with Tolpar and reassess in a few years, though, as there is something there.” –
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic ($)
Scouting video:
Round 7, Pick 205: Karl Annborn, D, HV71 J20 (J20 Nationell)
Age: 17 | Height: 6-foot-1 | Weight: 187 | Shot: Right
Big Board: 124th | Data Score: 15.50 (1079th) | Games: 39 | Goals: 3 | Assists: 21 | PPG: .62
Pick analysis: The Kraken traded their seventh-round pick (No. 198 overall) for two seventh-round picks (Nos. 205 and 218). At No. 205, the Kraken selected another defenseman who fell farther than some might have anticipated, selecting right-shot defenseman Karl Annborn. According to some scouts, the Swedish-born defenseman fell short of lofty expectations coming into the year, but he played 21 games for the Swedish U18 team, typically earning first- or second-pair minutes with Sasha Boumedienne and other well-regarded prospects. He also earned five SHL games with HV71 this past season, during which he recorded his first professional point, an assist.
Annborn was No. 124 on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board. Only one other seventh-round pick (Filip Ekberg) ranked higher.
NHL Central Scouting had Annborn one spot ahead of Agafanov, at No. 32 among European skaters.
Scouting report: “[T]here isn’t a single area of the game where [Annborn] isn’t able to contribute, at least to some extent. While the term ‘two-way defenceman’ fits the bill well with Annborn, in our eyes, the most projectable parts of his game are the defensive work and the puck-moving. He’s got strong defensive habits, breaking up plays cleanly with his stick while also holding his own in battles along the wall and very rarely getting caught out of position. Once a breakup is created, Annborn also knows what to do next with the puck. He keeps his touches simple yet reliable and occasionally wows with a more complex breakout sequence. What ultimately kept Annborn from rising higher on our board is that while he’s well-rounded, he’s also not exceptional in any aspect of the game.” –
Elite Prospects ($)
Scouting video:
Round 7, Pick 218: Loke Krantz, F, Linköping HC J20 (J20 Nationell)
Age: 18 | Height: 6-foot-2 | Weight: 181 | Shot: Right
Big Board: 2314th | Data Score: 11.07 (2214th) | Games: 44 | Goals: 12 | Assists: 5 | PPG: .39
Pick analysis: With the team’s final pick of the draft, Seattle went with a player largely unconsidered by public analysts. Krantz, a winger in the Swedish junior league, was not ranked by any of the sources we gathered for the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board. His scoring in the Swedish junior league was also fairly pedestrian for that league.
Krantz is a 6-foot-2 right-shot forward, and, based on two games viewed (so far), presents with plus speed and release on his shot. This pick seems to be an investment in tools identified and valued by Seattle’s Swedish area scouts. With a four-year time horizon to sign the player, it is likely Krantz will remain in Sweden for the foreseeable future and work to climb the ranks there.
Scouting video:
Draft news and notes
Beefing up the blue line
In Seattle’s first four NHL Entry Drafts, the Kraken did not shy away from shorter (e.g., Ty Nelson and Tyson Jugnauth) or slighter (e.g., Ryker Evans and Lukas Dragicevic) prospects on the blue line. In fact, the team had selected just two defensemen
taller than 6-foot-1 in their history: the hulking Finn Ville Ottavainen and Dragicevic, who continues to work on filling out his 6-foot-2 frame.
This draft was a different story for Seattle, with the Kraken adding four defensemen, all of whom were
at least 6-foot-1: Fiddler (6-foot-4.5), Reynolds (6-foot-3), Agafonov (6-foot-2), and Annborn (6-foot-1).
This followed a league-wide trend toward taller defense prospects in this draft. Indeed, not one blueliner who measured in below the 6-foot threshold was drafted this year. This is a small sample, of course, and these things can be cyclical, but it’s something to keep an eye on as we move forward and factor into prospect rankings.
Revisiting NHL Draft Combine performances
Botterill recently told
Sound Of Hockey that he viewed the
physical testing at the combine as the most important part of that event to his draft evaluations. Looking back at
the results, it is possible that Fiddler’s performance pushed him up Seattle’s board. Fiddler measured in taller (.5 inch) and heavier (11 pounds) than he had been listed previously. And Fiddler himself just told us this week that he’s “still growing.” His wingspan (79.75 inches) was sixth-largest in the class, and he ranked in the top five of grip strength in both his left and right hands.
The Kraken got younger
Whether by design or coincidence, Seattle drafted the youngest class by average age of any team in the league based on data compiled by John Barr.
Average age of the 2025 NHL Draft class by team.
#SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/kx6sAjwDr5
— NHLtoSeattle (@NHLtoSeattle)
June 29, 2025
When asked about the youth of the class, Botterill and Kron emphasized that youth is a factor in a propsect’s favor because it means there is a longer runway for both physical and skill development.
Scandinavian competition
Following the selections of Annborn and Krantz, Seattle has now drafted three Swedish players in its history, but, interestingly, none of those has come higher than pick No. 180 where Seattle selected Zeb Forsfjall in the 2023 draft. By contrast, Seattle has selected five Finns within the top 100.
Trading for Fiddler
After the draft, we asked Botterill about the process that led to Seattle trading their two second-round picks (Nos. 38 and 57) to Philadelphia for pick No. 36 and a third-round pick (No. 68) early on Day 2. Botterill indicated that the team evaluated Fiddler to be in a tier of defensemen that began to come off the board in the mid-to-late first round. His presence on the board to begin Day 2 immediately appealed to Seattle, and the Kraken had conversations with multiple teams at the top of Round 2 in an effort to move up for the player.
#SeaKraken GM Jason Botterill said the team started talks with teams on trade up before round 2; PHI deal was preferable bc the team also got the third-rd pick back. Seattle had Blake Fiddler in a tier of D who were selected starting in the mid-to-late first rd. Those picks
pic.twitter.com/YqVVUGEXS2
— Deep Sea Hockey (@DeepSeaHockey)
June 29, 2025
Botterill indicated that the team was comfortable with the Flyers trade because it was a two-for-two swap where Seattle also got back a third rounder. I infer from this that other teams were asking for both of Seattle’s second-round picks to move up and/or were offering back a second pick that Seattle did not view as valuable. Fortunately for the team, Fiddler was still on the board at No. 36, and Seattle made the trade.
Semyon Vyazovoi likely to stay in Russia another year
As noted, Afagonov is just the second Russian player Seattle has ever drafted and the first since Russia was expelled from the international hockey community in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. The other player is goalie Semyon Vyazovoi, a 2021 sixth-round pick. Vyazovoi, 22, excelled in his first opportunity in the KHL, Russia’s top-level professional league, last season, recording a league-leading .938 save percentage in 28 regular-season games. Despite some media speculation in Russia that Vyazovoi may come to North America next season, Botterill indicated that the team expected him to stay in the KHL another year.
Kraken Development Camp underway
Kraken Development Camp kicked off Monday, June 30, with physical testing, and the players have been participating in split-group on-ice sessions Tuesday and Wednesday.
The roster includes almost all of the younger prospects in Seattle’s system, with the exception of Clarke Caswell, a handful of Europeans (Forsfjall, Vyzaovoi, and Kim Saarinen), and players who have played a full season at the AHL level (including Eduard Sale and Jagger Firkus).
Among the non-roster invites listed, 6-foot-1 defenseman Reese Hamilton is a name that stands out. Hamilton had a hugely productive draft-minus-one year in the WHL, piling up 31 points in 42 games for the Calgary Hitmen. This placed him
sixth overall on our preseason data-only watchlist, just behind Jake O’Brien. As you likely guessed, his draft season did not reach the same level. He struggled in Calgary and was eventually traded to Regina. While continuing to credit his standout skating skill, scouts noted that he was repeating mistakes throughout the 2024-25 season. Ultimately, he landed at No. 102 on the
Sound Of Hockey Big Board and went undrafted. Check out his shifts from his October 5, 2024, game against Red Deer
here.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on
Twitter and
Bluesky @deepseahockey.
Read more from Curtis
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Recapping the Seattle Kraken’s picks in the 2025 NHL Draft appeared first on
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