Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
NHL teams want their prospects playing meaningful games come March, April and beyond.
A key part of that process involves the preparation and roster reworking that happens leading into the NHL trade deadline. Front offices have both short- and long-term decisions to make that will impact operations at both the NHL and AHL levels.
Notably, a player must have been on an AHL roster when the NHL trade deadline arrived Friday in order to be eligible to be sent to the AHL for the rest of the regular season or the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds, who have undergone dramatic changes since back-to-back trips to the Calder Cup Finals in 2023 and 2024, know that reality. As the parent Seattle Kraken have cycled multiple draft classes into the pro ranks, the Firebirds have taken on that youth.
Players like second-year forward Jagger Firkus have taken control of the Firebirds as they attempt to make the Calder Cup Playoffs once again. The AHL All-Star got a sample of the postseason last year, but even for a dynamic junior scorer the step up to the AHL proved to be a significant jump. While the Firebirds fell in the division semifinals, Firkus had three assists in six playoff games.
Firkus had a 126-point regular season in 2023-24 with Moose Jaw in the Western Hockey League before tacking on 32 more points in 20 playoff games.
But for him, rookie defenseman Tyson Jugnauth and the rest of a growing group of Seattle prospects, it very much matters that the Firebirds, a team in a stretch-drive fight, extend their playoff streak to four seasons.
“Every single day it seems like you’re in a different spot in the standings,” Firkus said.
Amid Coachella Valley’s day-to-day push for a playoff spot is what is happening in Seattle. All kinds of activity – both real and in the form of endless rumors – swirled around the Kraken organization this week. As Seattle bids to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anything the front office does – or doesn’t do – could have substantial impacts for Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal and his players.
As it is, Seattle’s organizational depth chart has been through some swings lately at the AHL level. Firebirds defenseman Gustav Olofsson, who was on an AHL contract, signed an NHL deal for the rest of the season. Promising goaltending prospect Nikke Kokko has returned from injury. First-year Firebird forward Oscar Fisker Mølgaard is back from representing Denmark at the Olympics. And Tye Kartye, waived last week by the Kraken, was claimed by the New York Rangers before he could be assigned to Coachella Valley.
Led by Firkus and Logan Morrison with 49 points each, the Firebirds enter the weekend fifth in the Pacific Division; the top seven teams will qualify for the postseason. But the team has lost five of its last seven games, including a 5-1 decision at Henderson on Wednesday night, and is just five points ahead of eighth-place Tucson.
So it’s tight. Really tight.
The Firebirds are back in action this weekend, hosting Calgary on Saturday and Sunday. Then it’s a home-and-home with first-place Ontario next week.
Lots of close-checking hockey, one-goal games, protecting leads, and playing from behind lie ahead. The work done so far this season has set up the Firebirds for the sprint to the end of the regular season that now faces them. Above all, a player must be defensively responsible enough to get those key minutes.
“You want to take a big step where your coach has trust in you,” Firkus said. “It’s been a big jump for me this year.”
Firkus first came to the organization as a second-round draft pick in 2022. It was just the second draft class for the Kraken after joining the NHL as an expansion team. It has been a lengthy path for Firkus, but he and his young teammates have shown considerable growth. The coming weeks are a chance for more of that. An extended postseason run wouldn’t hurt, either.
“It’s a young group that we want to grow together,” Firkus said. “We want to learn together, and I think that’s the best part about our team, that we’re all willing to learn.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.