Thoughts after Jason Botterill was officially introduced as Kraken GM on Tuesday

The Seattle Kraken ushered in a new era this week, making a sweeping change at the top of the organization that was both surprising and unsurprising at the same time. On Monday, the team dismissed head coach Dan Bylsma after just one season behind the bench, then promoted assistant general manager Jason Botterill to GM, with Ron Francis moving upstairs to a new role as president of hockey operations. It was a dramatic shakeup that signaled the Kraken’s urgency to correct course after a disappointing season—and one that set the stage for a much different kind of end-of-year press conference on Tuesday.

The news came one day prior to what we expected to be Francis’ standard end-of-season press conference as the general manager, at which he has previously dissected what went right and wrong for his team and vaguely given his plans for the offseason. Two seasons ago, Francis sat next to then-head coach Dave Hakstol a few days after the team got knocked out of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and boasted about the success of the team. Last season, he held the presser alone and indicated he wasn’t sure about Hakstol’s future with the team, then fired him a couple days later.

This time, after the Kraken shocked many in the local media with the moves they officially made across Monday and Tuesday morning, they aimed to make the press conference more celebratory. While previous cleanout press conferences with the GM have been held in the Kraken’s Anchor Room, a private setting behind closed doors with minimal fanfare, this version was out in the open in the lobby of Kraken Community Iceplex and was attended by many in the local media and employees from several departments across the Kraken organization.

Upon arrival, there was a long table set to host Kraken chair and owner Samantha Holloway, Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke, plus Francis and Botterill. Behind the table was imagery of the two men tabbed with running Seattle’s front office, with the words “The Next Wave of Leadership.”

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We are set to hear from Samantha Holloway, Ron Francis, Jason Botterill, and Tod Leiweke at 1pm. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/yK2be1GIq8

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) April 22, 2025

From the jump, it was clear that the Kraken did not want this event to have a we-just-fired-our-coach tone, though there would surely be conversation about that topic. Ironically, this presser felt more like a congratulatory welcome-to-your-new-position event, akin to what Bylsma received last summer after he was promoted from the Coachella Valley Firebirds to become the second head coach in the history of the Kraken.

Encouraging words from Botterill

I gave my own thoughts on these moves in a separate article on Monday, but I will mention that I was not immediately enamored by the organization’s decision to move Botterill to GM and Francis to president of hockey ops. I’m reserving judgment and will remain hopeful that they can right the ship next season and beyond, but I also maintained a level of skepticism going into this presser.

That skepticism still exists now that we have gotten some clarity on what led to these decisions and what the plans are moving forward (more on those items in a bit), but I do feel better about the outlook of the team after the presser on Tuesday.

While Botterill comes across as serious—and although he has been with the team as an assistant general manager since Day 1—there’s also a certain exuberance that makes me think his promotion could inject some new life into the front office and encourage its members to look differently at the problem of building the team into a perennial contender.

He does seem to have a clear idea of what the Kraken’s identity needs to be—a team that plays with speed and uses its strength to get to the front of the net in the offensive zone while keeping opponents away from its own goal—and appears willing to upgrade the roster to get back to that identity.

“We have to continue improving and add to our skill level in all areas,” Botterill said. “It’s not as if we’re one player away right now from a Stanley Cup championship. We have to become a perennial playoff team first and then find our way.”

He also spoke about how excited he is at the resources that will be given to him in the role—something that may have lacked when he took the reins as GM in Buffalo back in 2017—and Holloway and Leiweke reinforced their commitment to making the Kraken into a winner.

“Everyone at this table is committed to winning,” Holloway said. “Our hockey folks and our staff have worked hard and deserve winning. Our partners and our fans who support us every night deserve winning.”

Why Bylsma was fired

While I wasn’t shocked to see Bylsma let go after just one season, I also did not expect the news on Monday. Whereas I had read the writing on the wall for Hakstol last season and had my “Hakstol fired by the Kraken” story prewritten several days in advance, I had no such story prepared this time around.

A firing simply felt too quick, especially considering that the team did finally seem to be playing better after the trade deadline, a line of commentary that was repeated on several occasions by Bylsma and the Kraken players down the stretch. Plus, I really liked Bylsma as a human, and it seemed many of the players did as well.

But as we’ve heard many times, hockey is a results-based business, and Bylsma did not get those results, posting a 35-41-6 record and finishing ahead of only the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.

“The path of least resistance for [Francis and Botterill] and the owners was to do nothing on the coaching side, but they thought we could do better,” Leiweke said. “They thought that a move could actually move us closer to winning faster.”

And so, a move was made. Francis also gave a clear-cut and damning response for why the axe dropped on Bylsma.

“When we were watching the games, I didn’t like the way we were playing,” Francis said. “I thought our team could use more structure, more details in our approach, and at the end of the day, we didn’t get the results we were expecting this year.”

Botterill mentioned that he liked what the assistant coaches brought to the table and re-confirmed that Jess Campbell will be back next season. In speaking to him after the presser, he went as far as to say he expects her to be on the bench next season, though until the Kraken hire their next head coach, the exact responsibilities of Campbell and the other assistant coaches will remain question marks.

How the team will improve this offseason

Botterill spoke on several occasions about his expectation to look to a variety of channels for improving the team this offseason, including via free agency and trade. He also mentioned that he intends to leave roster spots open for young players in the organization to have a chance to compete for a spot in training camp.

“Ron and myself will look close at different opportunities to bring in players, whether that’s from a free agent standpoint or from a trade standpoint, but a big part of how we’re going to move the organization forward is our young players stepping in,” Botterill said. “And not only players from [Coachella Valley] or juniors making a step to the National Hockey League, but our young players in the National Hockey League taking another step.”

Also notable, when I asked if he would consider buying out any players, he did not shoot down the idea. We have surmised that there are a couple players who could be considered for buyouts this summer.

“I think it’s a situation where we’ll look at everything over the summer on where we’re at. At the end of the day, we’re making a commitment to improving our roster, and whether that’s buyouts, whether that’s trades, that’s the easy part of my job right now is the draft capital that’s at my disposal.”

Reason for optimism

That last point Botterill made about draft capital did feel like an important one. When you think about it, Botterill is coming into the Kraken GM role—his second chance at holding the GM title in the NHL—with a pretty great opportunity ahead of him.

There are good, young players like Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, and Ryker Evans who have all proven that they are ready to be full-time NHLers and could all take big steps forward next season. He also has a well-built pipeline of prospects, with several players knocking on the door and at least a couple that could turn into star players.

“We have a lot of different types of players that are coming up in our organization, so we’re not just dependent on one player. But it’s going to be exciting from trying to find more skill at the NHL level… but also finding the next level of younger players.”

There are also still some good core veterans like Jared McCann, Brandon Montour, and Vince Dunn, and a reliable starting goalie in Joey Daccord.

Now Botterill can hire his own coach and augment the roster using the cap space and draft capital amassed by Francis. And coming off the season Seattle just had, the only place to go is up.

I’m still skeptical that the moves made to start this week were the exact right moves to push this team into a perennial playoff contender, but Tuesday’s presser did inject a dose of optimism back into my increasingly pessimistic brain.