The 2025-26 Seattle Kraken season starts tonight and fans of the deep are cautiously excited. With the announcement of the opening night roster a couple of days ago there’s two words that seem to describe the 5th season of this young franchise – new faces.

Up front for the Kraken we have 5 new faces. Mason Marchment figures to slot in on the top 6 coming over from Dallas and Frederick Gaudreau will make a home in the bottom six after coming over from Minnesota. I expect both of these experienced players to make an immediate impact, Marchment in the form of tough forechecking and goal scoring, Gaudreau providing center depth and grit, along with penalty killing.

I think the excitement really comes from the next few guys though. Ryan Winterton (22), Berkly Catton (19), and Jani Nyman (pictured above) are all named for the opening night roster with Winterton and Nyman having never done that before. All 3 of these young guys are scorers, but I can see Berkly getting sent down after his cup of coffee in the NHL (9 games usually before they get sent down to the AHL without messing with their contracts). I’m keyed in on Nyman though, as most are, after his impressive preseason showing. This guy can snipe.

Check out this goal from last season, Nyman stays up high after the faceoff win and quietly takes the real estate in front of him to end up high slot with not a soul near him. One knee down, puck on and off the stick top cheese how ya doin. That’s hockey baby. The 21 year old Fin secured 5 points this preseason (4g, 1a) and looked really good doing it. Don’t forget, Nyman is a big dude. Coming in at 6’4″ and 220lbs he can use his size to get great net positioning. I like his effort and backchecking as well which he displayed in the preseason. Since Nyman will most likely slot in on the third line and possibly the second power play, I like the matchups he may get. While the top 6 will get the big guns from opposing teams, Nyman and his linemates may be able to find space and scoring opportunities against bottom 6 forwards from other teams.

While I am cautiously optimistic about this 5th season, I am really excited about Nyman and what kind of player he’s going to turn into. Do we have a Rantanen on our hands? With his size and shot, I wouldn’t say that is out of the question.