Seattle Kraken forward Riley Sheahan exclusively discussed his thoughts with insidehockey.com on playing in Seattle, the strengths of the Kraken team, creating a new podcast, and addressing mental health issues in sports.

Sheahan started his professional hockey career in 2011 with the Detroit Red Wings, where he played until 2018. The 29-year-old moved on to stints with Pittsburgh, Florida, Edmonton and Buffalo before signing a one-year deal with Seattle in September.

Since joining the Kraken, he’s enjoying the city, its scenery and enthusiastic fan reception to the NHL’s newest franchise.

“I think it’s really cool to be part of a city with such creativity,” Sheahan said. “…The energy around the team has been awesome.”

Sheahan identified the Kraken veterans and a deep roster as key strengths of the team going into the season opening game in Las Vegas.

“We got a lot of NHL vets and know how to play the game,” Sheahan noted. “So, we can be solid that way. …Our depth is going to be one of our strong points.”

It [mental health] can affect your game. It can affect your life.

Besides his pro hockey career, Sheahan took an interest in creating a podcast called Speak Your Mind with co-host Tyler Smith, a mental health advocate and survivor of the 2018 Humbold Broncos accident in Saskatchewan.

The podcast allows the Ontario-native to address mental health problems faced by athletes in various sports. In a recent Seattle Times article, Sheahan elaborated on his own bad decisions, dealing with anxiety and alcohol abuse.

The full video interview with insidehockey.com is below:

https://youtu.be/n6LevU2vDss