Kraken loan goaltender prospect to Finnish league

While the Kraken signed prospect goaltender Niklas Kokko to his entry-level deal back in May, he won’t be making his North American debut right away. Instead, CapFriendly reports that Seattle has loaned him back to Karpat in Finland for the upcoming season.

The 19-year-old was a second-round pick by the Kraken back in 2022 (58th overall) after a strong showing with Karpat’s under-20 team. Last season, he moved up, splitting the year between Finland’s top two professional divisions, getting into nine appearances in the top-level Liiga and 14 more in the second-tier Mestis, posting save percentages of .901 and .903, respectively, at the two levels.

While Kokko is eligible to play in the AHL at 19 since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he likely wouldn’t have received much playing time with Coachella Valley. With Seattle bringing back Joey Daccord, either he or Chris Driedger will be the odd one out in training camp behind Philipp Grubauer with the loser of that battle ticketed for the Firebirds pending waivers. Meanwhile, Ales Stezka is expected to play in the AHL this coming season after spending 2022-23 in his native Czechia.

That would have made Kokko the third-string option in the minors. Faced between the options of giving him limited playing time in the AHL, regular minutes in the ECHL or loaning him to stay at home, they’ve made what seems like the logical choice. His contract, which officially begins this season, will instead slide a year and still have three years remaining on it heading into 2024-25.