Exclusive: John Hayden ‘Sticking to Identity,’ Fighting For Permanent Role With Kraken
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Seattle Kraken center John Hayden skates during a regular season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Credit: Jennthulhu Photos [/caption]
Entering his 10th season of professional hockey, John Hayden knows who he is. The 30-year old journeyman forward understands that Seattle Kraken management knows who he is as well.
After spending the past three seasons bouncing between the Kraken and their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Hayden is looking to carve out a more permanent role with the NHL club, displaying a physical game that revolves around competing every shift.
“Just trying to stick to my identity as a player,” Hayden told Emerald City Spectrum after practice on Tuesday. “When I’m at my best, I’m around the net and skating well, and good on the (penalty) kill, so just a foundation to compete and then sort of trying to let a power game take over.”
Playing on the first penalty kill unit and scoring a net-front tap-in in Seattle’s 5-3 preseason win against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, Hayden displayed those attributes for new head coach Lane Lambert.
But perhaps the biggest impression came at 17:34 in the first period, when Hayden picked up 19 penalty minutes at one time. After Canucks forward Joseph LaBate knocked over Kraken center Shane Wright, Hayden rushed in to defend his teammate, engaging LaBate to drop the gloves. He picked up two minutes each for cross-checking and instigating, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
The Kraken allowed six power-play opportunities on Sunday – seven if you include defenseman Vince Dunn’s slash on a breakaway that handed the Canucks a successful penalty shot – which Lambert was not happy with.
“We need to do a better job, just plain and simple,” Lambert said. “We certainly have plenty of video and plenty of repetition on our penalty kill to continue getting that better.”
However, when it came to Hayden’s decision to engage late in the first period, it was a different story.
“I have all kinds of time in the world for that, sticking up for your teammate,” Lambert said. “Outstanding job by him. And you know, we will try and kill those off all day long when we feel like somebody’s taking a little bit of a liberty with one of our teammates.”
After Tuesday’s practice, Hayden was one of the last players to leave the ice. Speeding up and down, taking some extra shots on net.
When asked about Lambert’s comments on his involvement on Sunday, Hayden tied it back to what the new coach has pushed onto the team since the first day of training camp.
“Since the first meeting, [Lambert] has been preaching a sort of a team-first mentality,” Hayden said. “And not just playing physical, but just in general, having a commitment to our identity and structure.
“And I think the compete the first three days of camp sort of set the tone that, for this season, we’re really going to play for each other. I thought it was pretty clear – even though it was preseason, some mistakes – guys were competing for each other.”
On Sunday, Hayden competed directly alongside 2025 first-round pick Jake O’Brien as well as 2023 second-round pick Oscar Fisker Molgaard. As a unit, those three were arguably the most effective line on the ice for Seattle.
Jani Nyman worked well with Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers, scoring two goals and nearly assisting a third, but Hayden’s line on Sunday outshot Vancouver 8-2 at 5-on-5, and Molgaard connected with Hayden at the right post at 3:07 of the third period to give Seattle a 5-2 lead.
O’Brien has since been returned to his junior club, the 18-year-old requiring more development before threatening to take a spot on the NHL team, and Molgaard seems poised for a larger role in Coachella Valley, but Hayden enjoyed playing with the two youngsters, pointing out they both have bright futures in the game.
“They see the ice so well, so it makes my job easy trying to make some space for them to get to the net, and they have a lot of poise and talent,” Hayden said. “So I was impressed with both of them, and it was fun playing with them.”
For O’Brien, learning from veterans like Hayden was his biggest goal in camp before heading back to the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs.
“Just watching them every drill and seeing what they do, and seeing how they get around the big defensemen and strong defensemen in the NHL,” O’Brien said last Thursday. “Just picking up whatever I could pick up from them.”
While Hayden was happy to work with the younger prospects, his biggest focus is solidifying a permanent NHL role for himself. After appearing in nine total NHL games with the Kraken between 2022-23 and 2023-24, Hayden played in 20 games last season, scoring one goal and one assist. Over the past three years, he scored 86 points in 156 games with Coachella Valley.
Hayden enters his fourth season with the Kraken after playing for five different organizations in as many seasons from 2018-19 to 2022-23. He said the continuity has been nice, and that his familiarity with the development staff has made training camp a little easier, but all he’s concerned about is earning a full-time spot with the Kraken, which would likely be on the fourth-line right wing.
“My goal is to make the team and stay here all year,” Hayden said. “And that’s been the case my whole career, so that’s my mission right now.”
He impressed Lambert on Sunday. Now it comes down to how he fares against his internal competition for the rest of camp.
