Some major bombs are dropping in the Seattle Kraken organization in the wake of the team’s third losing season in four years.
The team officially announced Monday that Dan Bylsma has been relieved of his duties as the head coach of the Kraken after one season. Meanwhile, according to a report from E.J. Hradek, Jason Botterill will be promoted from assistant general manager into the general manager’s chair, while Ron Francis is expected to move into a president of hockey operations role.
John Shannon also reported that assistant coach Jess Campbell has been retained by the organization, answering one of the first questions we received after this news started to leak out. As for what happens with the other assistant coaches, we do not yet know but will update this story when we find out.
Francis’ end-of-season press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, so we will surely get some clarity on what led to these decisions.
Knee-jerk analysis to Bylsma firing
The organization certainly didn’t get the results it wanted this season, especially after making two splashy acquisitions in Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson last summer. Even so, I personally did not foresee Bylsma getting the axe this quickly. In fact, Bylsma even joked at his last presser on Wednesday that he hoped he could continue to be part of the Seattle sports scene.
“I couldn’t say enough about the fanbase here. The enthusiasm for our team and their— I’m blown away by [them], and I just want it to continue,” Bylsma said with a hearty laugh.
I thought that journey would continue for Bylsma, who led the Coachella Valley Firebirds to two straight Calder Cup Finals before being promoted to the Kraken, at least into the beginning of next season. My expectation was that if things got off to a rocky start in 2025-26, then the team would look to make a change behind the bench. But the Kraken sent a clear message to their fanbase that a 35-41-6 record and second-to-last in the Pacific Division was simply not good enough.
As for the movement in the front office, this exact change was one that had been quietly predicted amongst the local media throughout the season. If Botterill’s promotion to GM and Francis’ move to a different front office role had been made in isolation, I would have considered this a half measure. But in concert with the surprise coach firing, this is a tectonic shift in the leadership of the Seattle Kraken.
I have to say, Dan Bylsma was an absolute joy to work with this season. You could tell he was beloved by many players in the dressing room, several of whom mentioned his “human” side at end-of-season availability last week. He was a hilarious guy who made me laugh almost every time I spoke with him, so I will certainly miss our interactions.
However, I also understand the decision to move on from him; the organization was expecting a big turnaround in on-ice performance this season, and that never came to fruition. It’s disappointing to me that Bylsma didn’t get the results that Kraken fans deserve, because he was an easy coach to root for.
Even Francis’ comments in the team’s press release about Bylsma’s firing reflect this sentiment.
“We thank Dan for his commitment and the energy he brought to our organization over the past four years at the NHL and AHL levels,” Francis said in a press release. “After a thorough review of the season and our expectations for next year and beyond, we’ve made the difficult decision to move in a different direction behind the bench. Dan is a great person and a respected coach. He played an important role in the development of many of our young prospects and was a big part of our early success in Coachella Valley. We sincerely wish him and his family nothing but success moving forward.”
Jason Botterill returns to the GM chair
This will be Botterill’s second stint as an NHL GM, after he served in the position for the Buffalo Sabres from May 11, 2017, until June 16, 2020. Ironically, he moved into that role less than a month after Bylsma was fired by the Sabres following two seasons.
He has been in the Kraken organization since being named assistant general manager in May of 2021, so he is certainly familiar with the team and its prospect pipeline. Things didn’t go according to plan for him as GM in Buffalo (although it doesn’t seem to go according to plan for anyone in Buffalo), but he is well regarded around the NHL. If the Kraken didn’t promote him, it did feel like he would get a chance to do the job again elsewhere.
I’m curious to see how much will change with Botterill making this ascension. The offseason ahead already appeared to be a critical one, in which the team needs to make some significant upgrades to its roster. Now add in a coaching search and a new GM at the helm, and this is shaping up to be a fascinating summer for the Kraken.
An early list of coaching candidates
As for who replaces Bylsma as head coach, we will surely dig into some potential candidates in the coming weeks. Names that immediately jumped to mind, though, were David Carle, who has done nothing but win as the head coach of the University of Denver and Team USA at the World Junior Championship, Pat Ferschweiler, who just led Western Michigan University to the NCAA title, or Peter Laviolette, who was just fired by the New York Rangers (though didn’t seem to work well with Kaapo Kakko).
There has also been some speculation out there that current coaches like Mike Sullivan, Rod Brind’Amour, and Rick Tocchet could become available this summer, but we shall see.
If we learn more about what is transpiring for the Kraken, we will add it to this story, so check back later.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Bet he knows what a 4th line is now. The handling of Shane Wright in particular and the young guys (supposedly his specialty) just to finish worse than the prior regime was a disaster. Francis undercut him with the cap mess and failing to unload more veterans
Hope they give one of the young college coaches the keys to the kingdom. The only way out is younger and fresher.
Makes the cut in season ticket prices much more grounding
I’d be interested in David Carle, it’s a gamble as hasn’t coached in the NHL but i feel he’s ready.
Huh? Shane was handled just fine. He clearly wasn’t ready to be a second line center early in the season (and arguably still isn’t) and was correctly placed in sheltered minutes. Your comments about the roster are also dumb. We had a better roster this year than we’ve ever had and yet the team couldn’t get it done. I feel like so many in the fanbase have such a poor understanding of the state of the team which leads to these awful “Francis us dumb” takes
“Francis’ end-of-season press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, so we will surely get some clarity on what led to these decisions.”
Will we though?
We know Francis really sought out Brind’Amour previously. It seems he’s committed to the Hurricanes. So the next person that’s sort of the next closest to that type of a coach to me is Rick Tocchet.
I knew it and stated a few times this season that I did not like the moves Francis had made on many occasions and that Blysma did not handle his line up in a productive way. I am not bragging but I am honest in my evaluations. Francis really messed up when he did not resigned our playoff run stars and had to have Blysma run the Kraken with lower quality pedigree. It will still take 2 years to get Botterill, whom I question, to shovel this team out of its low levels.
“He has always been my pick and I figured they would announce it after the AHL playoffs. Good choice in my opinion and ricks too I guess.”
– harpdog… May 27th, 2024
He didn’t mess up at all. All those guys wanted more money and term and we weren’t going to give them top line minutes. Good on two of them for thriving, but there was zero indication either of them would light it up like they had. Hindsight bias is a problem a lot of fans here seem to suffer from. The intent was always to build through the draft. Tod even said this last week. It seems some fans didn’t get the memo.
I thought it was a mistake to not keep Geekie even if he wanted more money and playing time way back when. Hindsight is definitely 20/20 but we’re not talking about hindsight…. That was a mistake. He got rid of him and kept older vets that didn’t have much of a future with the team.
Firing the coach and leaving the front office essentially in place feels like a reshuffling of the deck chairs by an organization that hasn’t really had a true plan since day 1
I think it has a plan, but I also think ownership is getting impatient, which is forcing RF’s hand.
If there is a plan, then at best they’re not committed to it. It’s hard to reconcile all the long term contracts to 30+ year olds with a team that wants to build thru the draft.
Ownership does not want to tank hard and lose the fanbase. They’re trying to thread the needle. It’s not easy.
Only for those who seemed to have blinders on when the plan has been apparent since day 1. Build through the draft and try to be competitive in the meantime. Injuries have sidelined the competitive in the meantime parts, but by all accounts the real plan is very much still intact with the team already having a top 10 prospect pool
When you look at the results this season, and the underlying numbers, it’s hard to come to Bylsma’s defense – the team got worse in every area except shooting percentage. And from the “eye” perspective, the neutral zone defense was really bad this season – game after game saw teams just carry the puck through the neutral zone with nary a concern.
I hope coaching and system “fit” is really looked at in depth this offseason. Essentially, what kind of team do the Kraken want to be on the ice? And what kind of team “can” they be based on personnel? Don’t put square pegs in round holes – develop a system to suit the players you have, not the players you wish you had.
Curious about what level of influence RF will have as President with Botterill moving to GM. Can’t say I followed his time with the Sabres and know more than a quick glance at Wikipedia reveals, but it looks like he was pretty active in the trade market, and wasn’t afraid to make some big moves that brought them Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner. Granted, none of that led to them becoming a playoff team, but certainly some bigger swings than Francis took.
I’m really not excited about Botterill. He’s really had no success, hasn’t been able to build a winning roster and had some questionable trades and contracts that ended up being bought out. Interesting move but if I were the Kraken I’d be looking in a different direction.
Darren, interested in your opinion — How long does the power play need to hopelessly stink before they can fire Campbell without an enormous backlash? Is there another reason she is keeping her job, other than the backlash? Not saying that’s an illegitimate reason, or that I would do anything differently. The team hyped the story heavily, and it is indeed a nice story. But from the beginning, they also said they ultimately hired her based on merit and not because she is a woman — well, what if her actual performance lacks merit, as it turns out? Maybe it’s not her, it’s the personnel… but then you could say the same thing about Bylsma. And the PP in 24-25 was significantly worse than the year before, despite adding Montour. They could take her off PP duty, but keep her on in a token role to avoid the backlash… but that’s icky too. Tricky situation, I don’t envy them.
I think it will be a lot more clear when a head coach gets hired. If she is retained but the new head coach doesn’t see her as a fit, I doubt she stays. FWIW I really don’t think we can evaluate how good assistant coaches are based on this year. Bob Woods (who I do hope sticks around) has proven to be a great defensive coach in his career with Minnesota, and yet the teams performance this year would indicate otherwise.
Is it the roster? Is the assistant coach ultimately limited by the approach the HC wants to take? It’s hard to evaluate a first time assistant without prior seasons to evaluate. The PP wasn’t good, but it also hasn’t been good since before her time. Best thing they can do is listen to the players opinions of the assistants, and ultimately make the decision based on who gels with the HC they select.
Definitely tricky situation, woods was also running the PP. I feel both should be gone but it might just be woods for PR reasons. Best case might be to give her a “sideways” transition to something like “technical skills coach”?
Considering she was only ASSISTING on the PP and not the primary coach on it, a lot. Put the misogyny away, it’s a bad look.
If you were to stack rank the qualifications of every single behind-the-bench coach in the NHL based on years experience either playing or coaching at a level equivalent to or higher than major junior, she would be near or at the very bottom of that stack.
Given the team’s performance, the entire coaching staff needs to go. It’s not misogyny to criticize the lackluster performance of an under-qualified hire.
This also exactly proves Foist’s point about the backlash. Regardless of whether it’s warranted or not, it will happen from people like Koist who reflexively call misogyny.
It’s a bad look to be defending someone who hasn’t shown the ability to succeed in the NHL, this has nothing to do with her being female. She’s only defended because of that, otherwise everyone would be calling for her to be replaced… you know that.
Tocchet, Sullivan, Laviolette…please, no. I came here to specifically say “Tocchet, please no”, but those other two are not great either.
I suspect that management is feeling the heat between disgruntled season ticket holders and the Sonics on the horizon. The clock is ticking.
Why are they not great? Do you have a better suggestion?
Hockey fans don’t give a rip about what will happen if the Sonics return. I am tired of that argument. Go Kraken!!!
Best thing I’ve read on here all day!
I have to wonder if they have someone in mind? Getting rid of Bylsma doesn’t seem like an imperative… unless maybe there is an opportunity. Drew Bannister was obviously fired because Jim Montgomery became avaliable.
Who do the Kraken have in mind? Is it Carle or Pandolofo? Francis is supposedly very close with Dubas… is it Sullivan? Is ownership so committed to winning that Quenneville – who has been reinstated – could be “rehabilitated” in Seattle?
This season was a huge disappointment, but this feels different than the Hakstol firing. This feels – to me – like they have someone in mind.
Looks like Vancouver and Tocchet are parting their ways. Something may be brewing towards luring him here is my honest opinion.
It sure seem that they have someone in mind from both a coaching and player movement standpoint – the amount of marketing they are doing talking about how “busy” this offseason is going to be seems pretty brazen if they aren’t already confident in which moves they’re going to make and which players they’re going to sign. I know they had a lot of contact with Montour last year before free agency opened and I wonder if the same thing is going on right now.
Keeping Campbell and then hiring Quenneville would sure be something!
We will see. They serve a similar fan, and money only goes so far.
I seem to recall Tocchet being on the short list when they went with Hakstol.
…but I’ve got to think he’s going to Philly.
The Kraken would be lucky to get a coach as good as Sullivan but he’s not leaving Pittsburgh.
Tocchet would be underwhelming.
Laviolette would a disaster
This Sonics on the horizon narrative is always funny. They’re nowhere near on the horizon. It feels like something fans invented to try and justify their own angst
I don’t think Seattle has an appetite to take a risk on a college coach. Enter Rick Tocchet, who was probably outvoted when VAN decided to trade JT Miller to NYR. Rick probably said “I will consider it if Ron is staying.” Seattle said “we’re already ahead of you. Ronny is being promoted to Pres of Hockey Operations.” Tod Lieweke will assume the new role of Pres of Basketball Operations for the new Seattle SuperSonics.
Rick Tocchet would be great if it happens.
I called for this exact scenario a number of times in recent years, moving Francis out and up, although with the caveat that they should not automatically turn to Botterill. Not really sure who the Kraken use as their recruiting agent for executive talent but that person needs to be let go. Francis was a failure as the Hurricanes GM and unsurprisingly failed as the Kraken GM. Botterill failed as the Sabres GM and odd are, will fail as the Kraken GM. Why? Because what is need is someone not married to past decisions, who can take the good done over the last four seasons with the roster and sweep out the rest. Botterill was part of the poor choices made, so will he now reverse them? Seems unlikely but will give him the summer to prove himself. Will he buy out Grubauer? Put Kokko on the NHL roster? Find a trade for Burakovsky? Promote Ottavainen to the NHL roster next year? Give Catton at least nine games and likely a fulltime role in the NHL next season? Find a no. 1 draft pick who can make the roster within one season? Trade David Goyette for Lane Hutson (kidding but that essentially is what Francis did)? Convince top-level UFAs Seattle will be a consistent playoff team? Make trades that may seem risky short-term but help long-term (e.g. trading Adam Larsson for F talent)? Use draft picks made or future as trade fodder? Find the right coach? See that Dragicevic, Price, and Hammell get on a short development path to the NHL? Address all the F draft picks that are under-performing at CV (Sale, Goyette, Firkus, Winterton, etc.)? Promote at a minimum Nyman to the NHL roster next season but consider shorter AHL stints for the best of the rest of the F? Re-sign 30+ goal center Morgan Geekie for not much (kidding but that is what Francis whiffed on)? Start becoming a key player in every trade discussion out there, like VGK did in its roster-building years? Outbid Vancouver for Rick Tocchet now that Vancouver decided not to use their contract option on him? And most important, instill a win at all costs mentality to the franchise?
I don’t think our market has the stomach for anyone controversial. Especially now that they have bent the knee to the STH and are trying to become more fan friendly. I will say that I believe they need someone strong, but not obnoxious. Tocchet would amp up the I5 rivalry a notch. I agree with Seattle G – at this point, they probably shouldn’t go with a college coach either. They need a sure bet, not a gamble.
I also muse about other motives in getting rid of Bylsma. I mentioned before that I think there was something going on behind the bench. It was just a hunch but still. I sense maybe DD didn’t have absolute control behind the scenes. I’ll be stocking up on popcorn for the next foreseeable future.
I have a feeling this plan has been set in stone since at least mid-season. Dan was a stopgap until they could get the coach they want.
I would love to seem them take a risk and hire a college coach, but we all know that it’s going to be another Hockey Guy (TM) who is buddies with management and will go through the motions of interviewing with the job already in hand.
Really? It seemed to me the opposite — like they were grooming Bylsma as a potential long-term NHL coach through his role in Charlotte and then Coachella Valley. I recall Darren and John expressing this same impression. Amazing how fast these coaching plans can change in the NHL. They will be paying 3 coaches next year! And that’s probably not even an NHL record.
They initially wanted to hang onto Hakstol for one more season but got scared away from that by the exit interviews. Dan was brought in for continuity with the young guys. This year the end-of-season vibes seemed much better and the fanbase wasn’t exactly banging on the doors for another coaching change. I’d like to be proven wrong but I expect a safe hire from the list of candidates with NHL experience.
Hot take incoming. Seattle Kraken fans have only ever chanted the name of one NHL coach, and he currently is out of a job. You know who I mean, and if you don’t just imagine Tag Team singing a name. Come to think of it, I wonder how popular candidate Rick Tockett would feel about coming to a town that previously taunted him with “Bruce, there it is.”