The Seattle Kraken recently signed 21-year-old left winger Lleyton Roed, a native of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Roed just finished his sophomore season at Bemidji State University.
While it’ll be a step up the professional level from college, Roed isn’t unfamiliar with a step up in play as he’s made that transition before going from the Junior-A level to the college level.
“Going to college, I think a big thing as a hockey player is just maturing,” Roed said. “Going from junior to college you’re playing men, guys that are 23, 24, 25 years old and that’s a big jump. I think learning how to play with that and you grow as a person in life balancing school, relationships and hockey all at the same time.”
At the Junior-A level, Roed spent time in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm. In the 2021-22 season, Roed put up 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points in 60 games. That same season in a goal in five playoff games.
“The USHL is a very high speed, high skilled league, so I think that’s where I learned to really hone in on my skating and playmaking ability,” Roed said. “My skating is number one attribute and playing in a high speed league like that let me showcase that playing with some great players, using my speed and then having my creativity come out to make plays is something that I really worked on in that league.”
Roed learned a lot in the past two seasons at Bemidji State.
“I think two things, one is getting stronger, playing a men’s game is a big thing too, two is just having super high detail on and off the ice whether that’s man to puck, recognizing situations, just knowing what to do in the right times,” Roed said.
He had high praise for the coaching staff in Bemidji, specifically head coach Tom Serratore and assistant head coach Travis Winter.
“He’s one of those college coaches that has been around forever,” Roed said. “That whole staff with him and Travis Winter, they were super supportive the whole way supporting me in making this jump and I’m definitely going to rely on them as resources as I go into this next journey.”
“Anytime you go up a level there’s always going to be challenges,” Serratore said. “There’s always going to be challenges from junior to college and from college to pro. The teams are deeper, the players are deeper, there’s more talent. That’s probably the biggest challenge right there is can I do the same things offensively? Can I get away with the same things I got away with in college? can I accomplish those things?
Serratore made it clear how it gets tougher as players go up at each level of hockey.
“It gets tougher and tougher at every level but the good players adapt to that,” Serratore said. “I don’t think there’s any question he can adapt right there, but I’m sure there’s a period where you’re just trying to figure things out. Again, style of play, intensity, coaching, there’s just a lot of things that you have to adapt to. I think once he adapts them there, there’s familiarity and he becomes comfortable, I think he I think he’ll adapt.”
Roed said that those two years were two of the greatest of his life and that they played a huge role in getting him to this point.
“Some key moments were obviously this year we won the regular season, the McNaughton Cup in the CCHA, that’s pretty special and then going on a nice playoff run this year as well hosting the Mason Cup Final game in a packed house in Bemidji was awesome and great for our fan base,” Roed said.
With what he’s learned in his career so far, it’s clear that Roed is ready to bring his game up to the professional level starting with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
“I think I can bring a high-energy winger that can play 200-feet,” Roed said. “I think my skating is my number one attribute and for the remainder of this year, I just want to help this team any way I can. Hopefully that’s playing some games here down the stretch and help this team go on a big playoff run and I think another big thing is just learning the ways of pro hockey and being a sponge soaking up all the coaching, just learning from all these guys that have been here all year.”
Roed said he had a pretty good freshman year at Bemidji State and then decided to attend an NHL development camp in the summer.
“I ended up choosing Seattle’s development camp,” Roed said. “I have a good relationship with Eddie Olczyk Jr. who’s a scout in the organization, so I got started there, then came into my sophomore season this year, I had a feeling I would have an opportunity to sign at the end of the season and Seattle was watching me all year and the opportunity presented itself at the end of the year and I thought it was the right time and I made the decision to sign a two-year contract.”
When it comes to what he can bring to the Kraken fan base and what excites him the most, he touched on how it’s a new hungry team and how you can see the buzz around the fan base.
“That bleeds out into the American League team here in Coachella too,” Roed said. “I think just being one of the guys that can develop and be a prospect and get both teams to where they want to be, especially as an organization, it’s not easy to come into the leagues. I think they’ve done a wonderful job so far at both levels, I just hope I can be a part of that.”
As far as players he models his game after, Roed mentioned Marian Hossa with how he’s a bigger wing that can skate well.
“I really liked him growing up,” Roed said of Hossa. “Recently I like looking at other college guys that have came out and I think Brandon Duhaime has done a good job coming out of college and being a full-time NHL guy. He came out of Providence and I think we have some similarities in our games.”
Roed said that this next offseason will be big for him.
“It’s going to be the biggest offseason of my life,” Roed said. “Going pro is a big jump, but I think I’m ready for it. Coming into next year I want to be ready to go right from the get-go whether that’s AHL, NHL, whatever opportunity I’m given, I’m going to own that and be trusted with whatever role.”
Roed is ready to win and knows how to win at every level he’s played at so far.
“I think it’s important, you have to know how to win, and winning at the college level is not easy,” Roed said. “I think going through that gives me the right mindset going into the end of this season and the playoffs, I know it’s a new level, but you know what it takes. It’s going to take a group of 20 guys playing each and every night and I think going through that experience has helped me this year.”
Serratore mentioned how Roed has good leadership skills and plays the game the right way among other aspects.
“He plays honest,” Serratore said. He plays hard. He does a lot of good things. He’s really good. He’s a good student. He trains hard in the weight room. He practices hard. He just does a lot of little things. There are two types of leadership. There’s vocal leadership. You know, and there’s leadership where you’re just doing the right thing and he does the right thing. This year he became more vocal as well. He was only a sophomore when he became more vocal this year. By him being one of the top players on our team, I think he gained the confidence of being more vocal when he needed to be.”
He said that Roed helped their team and that hopefully the coaching staff and teammates helped him achieve his goals.
Serratore made it clear Roed has work to do at the pro level.
“The biggest thing is gaining trust in the coaching staff,” Serratore said. “You have a brand new coaching staff and you have a small window right away to gain trust and gain trust in them right away so they can count on you.”
“You can’t be the same player you are when you come in,” Serratore said. “You have to be a different player and you have to make sure you’re making those steps to becoming that player and that’s what Lleyton has done. Now he’s got to do the same thing over and pro hockey he has to keep taking those steps. If he wants to play a consistent role in the American League he has to take that next step. If you want to get to play in the NHL, there’s another step. There are always steps you need to take and a lot of the way you take those steps is a lot of times just getting some experience and you have to get experience in different situations.”
Serratore said there wasn’t much of a message to Roed as he signed his professional contract with the Kraken organization. He said that as a coach you have to kind of watch yourself. When it came to a message, he said it was to just play hard, smart and the right way. But Serratore made it clear that he’s proud of him for signing an NHL contract after his sophomore year of college.
Northwest Sports Desk 