It reads like a Hollywood script: from an undrafted rookie to American League rookie of the year. Kingston’s Tye Kartye’s first year as a pro couldn’t have gone any better.
Play-by-play announcers for the Coachella Valley Firebirds got used to calling Kartye’s name last season.
The Kingston product went undrafted in the 2022 NHL entry draft but signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Kraken.
Kartye made the most of his time in California, scoring 57 points and winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award.
“Obviously you go into the year hoping you’re going to have a really good year,” Kartye said. “You set goals for yourself and stuff, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to be that good. especially because I got off to a bit of a slow start, but the second half was crazy.”
Kartye followed that up with a call-up to Seattle during the team’s first-round playoff series versus the Colorado Avalanche and helped lead the team to a second-round series with the Dallas Stars.
By the end of their run, Kartye had scored five points in 10 playoff games.
“It was a really really good first year. it was kind of a best-case scenario that could happen really,” Kartye said.
“I started in the American League. We had a really good season there, then getting called up was pretty special to be able to play in the playoffs as well.”
That’s especially the case in front of a fan base that has quickly made a name for itself in the national hockey league.
“I think it was Game 6 against Dallas during the second series which was an elimination game for us. It was crazy, it was the loudest building I’ve ever been in.”
But Kartye isn’t going to dwell on past success and wants to continue what he’s started in Seattle.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to train for all summer, just trying to go into camp and build on what I did at the end of the season last year and see what their plans are for me.”
He’ll find that out when NHL training camps open in September.
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