Forming a dynamic duo or even trio can instantly amp up a team's performance, and Seattle's first-round draft pick Berkly Catton has been renowned early in his career for meshing seamlessly with other top talent.
Check out this excerpt from The Hockey News' Future Watch 2024 issue in March on Berkly Catton, who was drafted eighth overall by the Seattle Kraken on Friday's first round of the NHL draft. Some parts are updated as a result:
It's one thing to be a singular talent on the ice. It’s quite another when you can mesh seamlessly with other top players.
For Spokane Chiefs center Berkly Catton, his draft year has been a perfect example of the latter.
During his scintillating season in the WHL, Catton has been part of a devastating 1-2 punch for the Chiefs with Conner Roulette – a former Dallas Stars pick who is now an NHL free agent and who came over from the Saskatoon Blades in the off-season. Catton was also a standout at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game while playing on a line with Kelowna’s Tij Iginla, a fellow first-round pick.
“He’s a super-easy guy to play with,” Iginla said. “As a center, he’s always in the right spots. He’s super smart, fast, and I could count on him to make the right play. It’s pretty easy to settle in when you’re playing with him.”
The admiration goes both ways. “(Iginla) is a guy who plays with pace, and he’s fun to play with,” Catton said. “If you get to spots, he’ll get you the puck, and vice versa. So it was really cool to play with him.”
Catton and Iginla did know each other before the Top Prospects Game. They’re both repped by CAA and played on the same Canada Red squad at the 2023 World Under-17 Challenge, earning silver in the process. They also ended up fighting each other this season after the Chiefs salted away an October win over the Rockets with an empty-net goal.
“We’re both competitors,” Catton said. “One thing led to another, and we dropped the gloves. He’s still one of my good buddies. My eye was completely shut after. He got me pretty good at the end.”
For his part, Iginla doesn’t harbor any grudges, either. “He’s a good buddy of mine,” Iginla said. “And, obviously, a really good player, too.”
Catton was one of the first major-junior players taken in the draft, with fellow ‘Dub’ stars Cayden Lindstrom, Iginla and Carter Yakemchuk and Oshawa Generals forward Beckett Sennecke going before him. But expectations are nothing new for Catton, who was taken first overall by Spokane in the 2021 WHL bantam draft.
“Spokane had lots of confidence in me, and that gave me confidence,” Catton said. “They saw little areas of my game to work on, and we’ve worked on those over the years. If I ever need anything, they’re the first ones I can ask or trust to be there for me. It’s a top-class organization, and I’m very grateful I ended up there.”
One of those areas was the defensive side of the game – and the young center knows that putting in the work there pays off at the other end of the ice.
“The better you play defense, the more you get the puck offensively, and that’s where I’m the most dangerous,” Catton said. “It’s about positioning and being in the right spots as much as I can. It’s something I’ve improved a lot on in the past two years and something I’d like to work on a little more, too.”
This is an excerpt from THN editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy’s' spotlight feature from THN's 2024 Future Watch edition. Catton wound up being selected eighth overall by Seattle in this year's NHL draft, and he's now a part of the Kraken's bright future.
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