What’s next for top 2023 Kraken pick Eduard Sale after initial struggles

SEATTLE – As the Kraken prepare to further fill out their farm system in this weekend’s NHL entry draft, last season’s first-round pick is enjoying a quick rest. It was a disorienting, determined season for Czech 19-year-old Eduard Sale, taken 20th overall by Seattle last summer.

The initial adjustment to life in North America was a struggle. He’d previously been able to stay near family, playing primarily for HC Kometa Brno, his hometown team.

Sale was largely unfamiliar with Canada and its narrower ice surfaces – international, “Olympic” sized sheets are 15 feet wider. In Ontario Hockey League game action, he couldn’t move around as freely, but the game felt relatively normal. Everything off the ice was different, and harder than he expected.

“It was tough for me, being away from my family. Everything was new for me,” Sale said.

“You can see it on the ice, too. It’s the reason, maybe (for the struggles). It was not easy for me, but now, everything’s good.”

Some European draftees – 2022 second-round Kraken pick Jani Nyman comes to mind – spend another season or two overseas. But after the Kraken took Sale, rumors spread that he would make the jump immediately. The OHL’s Barrie Colts had selected him in the 2022 CHL import draft, and when he was cut from Kraken training camp last fall that is where he headed.

His early production, on Barrie’s top line alongside a pair of veterans, was below lofty expectations. His English improved, but no one in the organization could speak Czech with him.

Through it all, the Kraken stayed in touch. Kraken director of player development Jeff Tambellini checked in regularly, asking how it was going. He looked over film and got suggestions.

“I think anytime you take a young guy out of his home country and you bring him to a new environment, there are challenges,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said.

Even though he was recovering from a torn muscle and his situation was “not too comfy” physically, it got much better mentally in December. He joined longtime friends at the prestigious 2024 World Junior Championship in Sweden and recorded seven points in as many games as Czechia won bronze.

“It was perfect,” he said. “See friends, talk with friends, all in my own language. It was beautiful.”

As soon as the tournament ended, he welcomed a trade with teammate Olivier Savard from Barrie, which had a losing record, to the first-place Kitchener Rangers. In Kitchener he joined 2023 classmate Carson Rehkopf, the Kraken’s second-round pick (50th overall) in the middle of a breakout season.

Sale also had a friend – someone he could speak freely with. He already knew Filip Mesar of Spisska Bela, Slovakia, himself a late first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2022, and that went a long way. Sale likened the minimal language barrier between the countries to the one between British and American English. Absolutely no problem. A delight, even.

“The (first) three, four months were tough, but I handled everything,” Sale said. “Afterward, it was better and better every day.”

He decided it was the start of a new season, and he wanted to show what he could do. He started getting those crucial bounces. His time there got off to a concerning start, as the Rangers finished January on a losing streak, but Sale finished with 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 24 regular-season games.

He then chipped in 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 10 playoff games as Kitchener downed the Erie Otters in six games before being swept by the eventual OHL champions, the London Knights.

“He finished real strong with a good playoffs,” Francis said. “And we did bring him in to Coachella Valley just to get him (American Hockey League) experience and see what it’s all about. We’ll get a better read when he comes to development camp and an even better read when he comes to training camp.”

Sale and Rehkopf joined the Kraken’s top minor-league affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, after Kitchener’s ouster. Neither played during the deep Calder Cup playoff run, which ended Monday in a Game 6, championship series loss to the Hershey Bears.

Now he’s enjoying some down time in Brno with family and eating plenty of the food he missed for seven months. He’s set to leave for next week’s Kraken development camp in the coming days.

As for where he spends 2024-25, that’s up in the air. Francis expects they’ll make a decision closer to September.

“If he surprises us and makes the big team, great. If not, then we can look at Coachella Valley as an option for him,” Francis said.

“We can look at putting him [back] in junior hockey. We can even look at letting him stay another year back home in Czechia so he gets a year under his belt with family and friends in a good environment there, too.”

It might sound like a step back, but career progress isn’t always linear. Sometimes players return to their native countries and wind up better for it.

“We’ve got a lot of different options for a guy like him,” Francis said.