SEATTLE — Ryker Evans is a star on the rise, and he's rising through the Seattle Kraken development ranks since being selected 35th overall in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft.
"This is my third year with Dan [Bylsma], so just super comfortable with the systems, don't really have to overthink anything out there, and just play confident," Evans said. "So, it's been going well so far."
That's an advantage that most Kraken players didn't have coming into this inaugural season with Bylsma as the team's head coach. Evans understood his new coach's mannerisms, style, and could be more predictable to his teammates because of it.
"You don't have to go out there and overthink anything, just make the play because you know all of the systems, and where all of the guys need to be, so it just makes it a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable out there," he said.
Bylsma has been a huge supporter of Evans since the 22-year-old defenseman joined the Kraken organization. Evans said he appreciates his coach's tough love.
"He's helped my game so much and he's allowed me to be where I am right now," Evans said. "He's been awesome, a great motivator. He expects a lot out of you and I think it's pretty awesome."
And it's paying off. In only seven games this season, Evans already doubled his goals total from the roughly half-season he spent in the NHL the year before, albeit from one to two.
"It's been nice. It's obviously a long season and a lot can happen and it's been great to start well," he said. "It's good for the confidence, I think, just going out there and knowing you belong."
In his second year playing up with the Kraken, Evans is playing less like he's arrived to the moment, and more like he's been here before.
"Last year, more so I was a little bit more like I was living out my dream kind of thing, and this year, I truly believe I belong, so it's a bit of a mindset switch and you just know it's another league you're in and you get to play in," he said.
But it didn't happen overnight. Evans has been preparing for this opportunity for years.
"It's all of the years past you've been preparing, just working on little things, so that when you do get your chance here you're able to thrive and take advantage of it," he said. "So, I don't think it's more so this offseason, but all of the off-seasons combined."
The one tangible change he focused on this offseason was increasing his energy efficiency. Evans worked on ensuring every move is beneficial to the overall outcome of the play.
"Obviously conditioning is a huge thing and you don't ever really want to get tired, I think more so it's just like efficiency, reading the game, not making it too hard on yourself so that you're able to conserve more energy and be more effective out there."