The Seattle Kraken are making some management changes this offseason as Ron Francis steps down as President of Hockey Operations. Remember, Francis was the team’s first general manager and was promoted to President when Jason Botterill was promoted to general manager earlier this season.
?Night Cap Recap ?
Ron Francis Steps Down as President of Hockey Ops in Seattle
It’s the Best in the Business #seakraken pic.twitter.com/qNn73MNt2d
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) April 8, 2026
However, with Francis leaving the Kraken, the organization is looking to understand what went wrong since its inception in the 2021-22 season. The Kraken will miss the playoffs for the third straight year and four of the first five years of its existence. Now there is an argument to be made that the Seattle Kraken have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2023.
Since then, it has been a bad decision behind one of the management team, especially to let Morgan Geekie go, as they did not qualify the then 24-year-old after a season with nine goals, and 19 assists in 69 games. He scored 89 goals over the past three seasons for the Bruins, 37 so far this season. A team looking to run an offense could use a guy who scored 30 goals this season.
NHL Rumors: Could Seattle Kraken Sign Eeli Tolvanen Long Term?
Therefore, given what has happened during the last three seasons, CEO Tod Leiweke told the press that the organization will conduct an independent audit of hockey operations, with the current general manager leading the way.
“We’re going to do a full independent audit of hockey operations. Jason (Botterill) is going to lead it, but we’re going to bring in fresh eyes and make sure no stone is left unturned,” Leiweke said.
First, what does that mean? How does one go into the hockey department and find mistakes and put numbers next to them? Then it should be back to square one with the 2021 expansion draft.
It may go back even further to the hiring of Ron Francis, who did not take the Carolina Hurricanes to the playoffs under his management during the eight seasons there, first as director of hockey and then as general manager, from 2014 to 2018, before becoming president of hockey operations. While he was drafted, other good players such as Sebastian Aho, Martin Necas (now in Colorado), and Morgan Geekie (originally drafted by Carolina, now in Boston), as well as defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce.
NHL Rumors: Which Pending Free Agents Can The Seattle Kraken Trade?
So Francis tried that again with Seattle. Except this time, he had the advantage of drafting NHL-caliber players right away and not having to develop them. Guys like Taylor Hall, Vladimir Tarasenko, Nikita Zadorov, Brandon Montour (who signed as a free agent in 2024), Gabriel Landeskog, and the list goes on.
The way the team was built, with complementary pieces rather than differentiators, was not good. Seattle tried to make deals similar to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. However, general managers wised up after what happened with Vegas and their trip to the Stanley Cup Final in the first year. But there was talent for Seattle to choose from.
The team building system based on maths and numbers did not work. Not to mention the frame building. Built in the background, there is no pure sniper in the front to change the game. That’s the type of player the Seattle Kraken tried to sell this season. Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson are solid backs, but the signing of Chandler Stephson looks worse and worse.
The goal is to make the Seattle Kraken a consistent playoff team that can be dangerous to beat. No one is going to be the Vegas Golden Knights, but something is broken about the way the Kraken run their team. Seattle is a big hockey market, but the Kraken can’t compete with the Seattle Mariners (who just went to the ALCS) and the Seattle Seahawks (who just won the Super Bowl).
NHL Rumors: Seattle Kraken; Artemi Panarin, and Shane Wright
Leiweke told the media that it’s time for a new show, and fans will hear about it every step of the way.
“We’re going to create a multi-faceted, multi-year plan to strengthen our roster. We’re talking a lot about recruiting free agents. We have to do more to make this city a hockey city to keep players, to attract other players, Leiweke said. “We’re going to put up mile markers. The fans will know where we are.
Also, Kraken tried Artemi Panarin, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and others. But everyone knew that Panarin wasn’t going there because he wanted to play in a big city, despite reports of a contract offer of $14 million per season. Also, what good is a state income tax that will expire in a few seasons if the team doesn’t win? Just ask the Florida Panthers before they’re ready. The same is true for the Nashville Predators.
NHL Rumors: Which Teams Will Make Coaching and GM Changes This Summer?
Winning is important to players. That’s why players want to go to organizations like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Utah Mammoth, Golden Knights, Panthers, and others. Money is secondary to not winning, and Seattle hasn’t done enough about it.
Again, Francis was part of the problem and decided it was best for the business to back off. Not moving their three remaining unrestricted free agents (Jamie Oleksiak, Eeli Tolvanen, and Jaden Schwartz) after removing Mason Marchment and re-signing Jordan Eberle. Not getting other goods for those players was a mistake.
While adding Bobby McMann is huge, he is a pending UFA at the end of the season. At the trade deadline, they held the second wild card spot and were in a weak Pacific race. But if they weren’t planning on extending any of their UFAs, they needed to acquire them. Just getting into the playoffs and getting knocked out quickly in the first round was not going to propel this team forward. Another opportunity lost.
As Leiweke has said many times, “We have a lot of work to do. There is a fire burning to fix this.” It’s chaos in Seattle.
While the Kraken are retaining Botterill to lead both hockey operations and general administration during the rebuilding or rehabbing process, that has yet to be determined. It should be a rebuild and get the right little pieces; there is no guarantee that Lane Lambert will remain as head coach. Leiweke was noncommittal about his future.
The Krakens love Bobby McMann, and should the Vancouver Canucks overpay?
But losing organizations wonder why they are on the hamster wheel of death. If there is constant change with the coach, the players cannot develop chemistry and progress. So that’s the first step. The endless cycle of hiring and firing coaches must stop. Finding the right people in charge and sticking to the plan should also be possible. Then find the players to make it happen.
If there’s a lot of pain for the Seattle Kraken, it’s what expansion franchises are going through. But if it was done right the first time, maybe they wouldn’t have to do it again.
We had to restart our X account. Please follow @MyNHLRumorsX
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumors and hot topics from around the league. We also post some stuff on Instagram.
If you like our reporting, choose NHLrumors.com as a favorite source on Google.
