Developing NHL players no doubt requires significant attention to skating and stick-on-puck skills, plus building up strength and size to compete amid the physicality of today's game. But a vital ingredient of winning hockey is establishing team chemistry at the American Hockey League and ECHL affiliate levels.

Two Kraken developing pros, Connor Carrick and Cale Fleury (recently added to the Seattle taxi squad) are exhibiting the team-first mentality and resilience general manager Ron Francis and the Kraken hockey operations group seek in all prospects and developing players.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely shortened the list of available players for the Checkers in recent games. Carrick and Fleury played monster minutes as the only two regular Charlotte defensemen able to suit up for a recent 4-1 comeback victory. More impressively, Carrick and Fleury mentored four defensemen and a goalie during the win, all playing up a level on player tryouts and learning the Charlotte systems of play shift by shift in a regular season game.

"They took on a huge role [guiding the young defensemen], but the game is about opportunity," Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear said. "Opportunity is what you make of it. You have to do the work prior to make the most of it. These guys continue to make the most of their opportunity.

With Charlotte down 1-0, Carrick put his team on the board with a shorthanded goal during an early third-period power play. The Checkers bench and home crowd roared at the momentum-changing score. Charlotte forward and Kraken developing pro Kole Lind tallied the game-winning second goal.

"I thought our leaders really stepped up in the third period," Kinnear told Checkers reporter Nicholas Niedzielski. "You look at Connor and you look at 'Flower' [Fleury]. They really took it to another level for us. It was a great third period. We found a way to win."

It marked Carrick's fifth goal of the year. He was more focused on the boost for his teammates. The Checkers are now 11-6 since the beginning of January with Carrick and Fleury contributing in meaningful ways to the winning culture.

"We wanted to get it to 1-1 and we didn't like where we were at," Carrick said. "It just kind of levels the game a little bit. A lot of their best players are going to be on the power play, so you throw a dagger like that and now they're on their heels."

NCAA No. 3 Michigan split last weekend's series with Big Ten Conference rival, No. 11 Minnesota, losing in a shootout the first night and winning the second game behind a game-winning goal and an assist from Kraken top prospect Matty Beniers.

The Wolverines travel to Madison, Wisc., this weekend to face the Wisconsin Badgers. After the weekend set, Beniers will meet up with his Team USA Olympics teammates in Los Angeles and a subsequent flight to Beijing for the Winter Games.

The Kraken's second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, defenseman Ryker Evans, likely thought he would be traveling himself. There was significant media speculation that Evans would be traded from the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats to another WHL team before the league's trade deadline Jan. 14.

But instead, Evans will lead Regina in its push to make the WHL playoffs. Every standings point counts, so despite losing in a shootout last week, Evans and his power-play teammates were successful enough to get the game into overtime and notch a point in the standings. Evans, the Pats' man-advantage "quarterback," scored a goal on one power play and added an assist on another.

Evans and the power play continued the momentum in a 4-0 win Tuesday, with Evans assisting on a man-advantage goal, which proved to be the game-winner. He leads the Pats in scoring with six goals and 31 assists in 34 games.

When Max McCormick rejoined AHL Charlotte after his callup to the Kraken, the forward made himself quite comfortable in the lineup. He scored two goals and notched three assists in three games, earning him Charlotte's First Star of the Week.

McCormick's scoring prowess included a wraparound goalthat evened the score in the Checkers' other win against two losses in a four-game week. Kraken developing pro Carsen Twarynski (three goals, 10 assists) scored a shorthanded goal to ice the victory.

Read more from the original source:
Prospects Perspective: Building Team Chemistry - BlueJackets.com