Biggest wild card for Kraken? How about 20-year-old Berkly Catton

Berkly Catton entered his second season ready for whatever the NHL throws at him. They won’t all be as easy as the opener.

The Seattle Kraken downed the Calgary Flames, 6-1, quieting a rowdy crowd ready to send off Calgary’s 43-year-old Scotiabank Saddledome. The second-oldest barn in the NHL is set to be demolished after the season ends.

Catton was held off the scoresheet Thursday but logged 19 minutes for only the second time of his young career.

And more importantly, he’s back at it.

“You sit in the offseason and you’re upset about how things went, and there’s nothing you can do in July. And then all of a sudden — Opening Night,” Catton said.

“All those times you’ve been sitting, thinking about stuff, wishing it had gone different — (it) can. The anticipation of it, I guess, is what’s exciting.”

Catton bulked up in the offseason and said he enters this one with more “stability.” Everything is a bit calmer and more practiced. Catton knows what to expect out of the league and wasn’t worried about making the Opening Night roster this year. The Kraken have pinned a lot of their hopes to him, but also a fair bit of trust.

If there is a wild card on this Kraken roster, that is so similar to last year’s, it’s Catton. At 20, he has probably the highest ceiling on the Kraken roster and the most star potential.

He enjoyed a decorated junior hockey career in Spokane before a rude awakening as a rookie. He battled injuries and slogged through a 27-game goal drought to start his career. He finished with seven goals and 10 assists in 2025-26.

When it ended, he planned out his first NHL offseason, which included stops on both coasts.

“It was kind of like a little world tour of training,” Catton said. “It was fun.”

Kraken head of player strategy Justin Rai gave Catton clips of game action to study and directly oversaw a portion of his summer in Vancouver, where Seattle center Matty Beniers and Catton joined two of the NHL’s last three top overall picks, Macklin Celebrini, and Gavin McKenna. Catton, the eighth overall pick in 2024, knows both of them well.

Before the season, Massachusetts native Beniers pitched his home state as another training destination. Catton brushed him off initially, but Beniers kept pushing it. They golfed at Beniers’ favorite course and visited his offseason home.

“We actually set it up and had a very, very good time,” Catton said. “He kind of showed me around Boston and gave me the experience.”

They had already discussed living together during the 2026-27 season, but traveling is the ultimate test for any relationship. They finalized those cohabitation plans in Boston.

He tended to his mental well-being as well as physical. Nothing beats the comforts of home, and of course that had to be part of his training tour. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native cranked up some country music and relaxed while uncorking shot after shot at a puck board in his spacious backyard.

Catton started seeing a mental performance coach at the end of last year. He’s helped Catton get out of bad thought patterns when things aren’t going well and remain confident.

“Someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of,” Catton said. “I think it goes a long way.

“Really enjoyed that, and gonna continue to do it.”

When it became clear Catton would make the team permanently, Kraken veteran Chandler Stephenson plucked Catton out of a hotel last season and set him up in his basement. Stephenson’s young kids know Catton as “Uncle Berk-a-lee.”

That family will always have a special place in his heart. But living with two guys closer to his own age is a natural fit. He moved into Beniers’ house and free-agent pickup Mackie Samoskevich rounds out the household.

He’s starting the season back at his natural center after a relatively brief stint at winger, and the Kraken surrounded Catton with all the young, creative talent they can muster. Fellow first-rounder Shane Wright, 22 and another natural center, was on one side Thursday. Third-round selection Ryan Winterton, 23, was on the other wing. When Samoskevich (day-to-day) returns to the lineup, former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko, 25, might join the mix on the Kraken’s third line.

Winterton set Catton up for a preseason beauty.

“He threaded the needle right through the leg, so I decided to put it in,” Catton said with a chuckle. “Credit to him.”

All these players all know each other well. The only player on the Opening Night roster who didn’t suit up for Lambert at any point last season was fourth-line winger Curtis Douglas.

Newly named alternate captain Vince Dunn had the Kraken’s first goal of the past two seasons and could have been the first defenseman in league history to do that in three straight seasons. He missed out on that honor by 32 seconds. Seattle captain Jordan Eberle’s power-play tally was first, and less than a minute later, Dunn made it 2-0.

Catton was on the ice for Dunn’s goal and his linemates picked up assists, but he did not.

Frederick Gaudreau made it 3-0 before the first period ended. Stephenson scored a beauty and Beniers made it 5-0. Soon after the Flames ruined Joey Daccord’s (22 saves) shutout, Kakko sent more fans streaming to the exits.