The time… has come. Seattle Kraken prospects will hit the ice at Kraken Community Iceplex on Thursday to commence rookie camp, a few days ahead of the organization’s full training camp, which gets underway in earnest on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
As we ramp back toward the regular season, we at Sound Of Hockey thought it was a good time to review what the Kraken did this offseason to retool their front office, roster, and coaching staff—and consider how things might look different in 2025-26.
Front office changes
After their third losing season in four years of existence, the Kraken wasted no time making changes at the top. Head coach Dan Bylsma was handed his pink slip, while Ron Francis moved out of the general manager’s chair and into a newly created president of hockey operations role. Jason Botterill, who had served as assistant GM since Year 1, was promoted to GM.
At first, this shuffle felt superficial. But with Botterill holding final say, the approach has already been different. He’s been more forthcoming with media and fans than Francis ever was, and he wasted no time wheeling and dealing early in the offseason. Still, his moves were measured—aimed at complementing the roster with a new coach and a handful of shrewd trades and signings rather than blowing things up.
This marks Botterill’s second shot as an NHL general manager, following his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres from May, 2017, through June, 2020. To backfill his old AGM post, the Kraken hired Ryan Jankowski, most recently director of amateur scouting for the Arizona Coyotes / Utah Mammoth.
A new bench boss
Bylsma’s dismissal after a 35-41-6 finish that left Seattle second to last in the Pacific Division led to a lengthy search for the team’s third head coach. After a thorough process, Botterill tapped Lane Lambert, the former Islanders head coach who had most recently been associate head coach with the Maple Leafs.
Lambert brings years of NHL coaching experience: four seasons as head coach of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, followed by stints as an assistant with Nashville and Washington, then five years as Islanders associate head coach before replacing Barry Trotz at the helm. Lambert lasted two and a half seasons as New York’s bench boss, compiling a 61-46-20 record and earning one playoff berth.
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Known for his structured, detail-oriented approach, Lambert is expected to instill a tighter defensive system and decrease the breakdowns that plagued Seattle last season. To round out his staff, the Kraken parted ways with assistants Dave Lowry and Bob Woods and goalie coach Steve Briere, then hired Aaron Schneekloth (formerly Colorado Eagles head coach), Chris Taylor (formerly Devils assistant), and promoted Coachella Valley goalie coach Colin Zulianello.
Roster tweaks
On the player side, Botterill came out firing with a June 19 trade for gritty-but-skilled winger Mason Marchment from Dallas. Marchment, 27, enters the final year of his deal but projects to play a top-six role. He scored 22 goals and added 25 assists in 62 games last season and should replace some of the offense lost when Oliver Bjorkstrand was shipped to Tampa Bay at the deadline.
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Marchment also brings something Seattle sorely needs: the ability to get inside and create space for teammates, similar to Kaapo Kakko’s impact after his midseason arrival. Matty Beniers’ production surged once Kakko came aboard, and Botterill is banking on Marchment having a similar effect.
Two days after the trade for Marchment, Botterill shed Andre Burakovsky’s hefty contract, flipping him to Chicago for Joe Veleno, who was then bought out. Five days after that, he landed versatile forward Frederick Gaudreau from Minnesota. A respected locker-room presence who can play center or wing, Gaudreau put up 18 goals and 19 assists last year and should provide depth, versatility, and some secondary scoring.
In free agency, Botterill surprised many by signing 27-year-old defenseman Ryan Lindgren to a four-year, $18 million contract. Known league-wide as a warrior who will do whatever it takes to win, Lindgren should help stabilize Seattle’s back end. Botterill also added veteran goalie Matt Murray as depth; with Philipp Grubauer still in the fold, Murray is likely destined for Coachella Valley to start, but he gives the Kraken a veteran fallback option if Grubauer flounders again.
Botterill rounded out his summer business by re-signing restricted free agents Tye Kartye (two years, $2.5 million), Kakko (three years, $13.575 million), and Ryker Evans (two years, $4.1 million).
Did the Kraken improve enough?
Seattle didn’t land any blockbuster names this offseason, but the front office believes last year’s group underperformed. So the focus was on adding character players and hiring a coach who can extract more from the roster through structure and consistency.
There’s also optimism that Shane Wright and Matty Beniers can take meaningful steps toward becoming leaders, while rookies like Berkly Catton—and possibly Jani Nyman—could step in and contribute.
Whether these changes to the front office, coaching staff, and roster will be enough to push the Kraken into the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history remains to be seen. But the journey begins now.
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.
I am really interested to see how the forward lines shape up this season. I am hopeful they start to give Shane more ice time and strong pairings.
He already had comparable 5v5 time as Chandler. Hopefully he makes less rookie errors and is more confident. We need him to take a big step
Speaking of off-season changes, the Chronicle had an insightful article: https://krakenchronicle.com/hiring-ron-francis-was-a-horrible-start-for-the-kraken
Just by the URL alone I can already tell that it’s a very uninformed “insight”. Did a quick scan anyway to give you benefit of the doubt and yep it’s host garbage.
I fine with most of it even though I disagree with a lot if it. I can see how folks come to some of these conclusion even though most of them have been debated. What I don’t get is the take on signing bonuses. I get the value of frontloading contracts to make the earnings greater over the life of the contract, but that does nothing to the AAV. If the author thinks Stephenson would have taken $1.25m less because he was gonna get $4m up front rather than waiting to be paid out $6.25m over nine months… he’s dreaming, and I hope he doesn’t do his own investing.
Also, Wennberg? Ron Francis sucks because of the Wennberg contract? It wasn’t a “home run”, but if that’s your take… Hmm.
As far as the horrible cap management that Luszczyszyn talks about, Scott Maxwell has his a cap ranking out today that – while not glowing – is right about where Curtis’s excellent breakdown landed… right about the middle at 16.
My hunch is the team is better this season and continues to progress as young players develop. As this happens Botterill will get all the praise for moving on from Francis’s contracts that mostly expire after this season and next (by design?) and pretty much all of the takes will be “told ya so” without ever recognizing this has been the plan all along and not this season, but the following season, is where this team should be looking to takeoff. Draft, develop, rotate out the old guys.
Go Kraken!!!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pointed out to people that there’s a reason all those expansion draft contracts were set to expire around the same time. There’s also this tendency of fans of any team to think GMs are negotiating in a vacuum. Even Stephenson is only being pie $500k more than was projected at the time.
According to the author’s profile, he’s a “lifelong fan of the Seattle Kraken.” So that would make him at most seven years old. 😏
I like the article just from the headline, as I am on long record as saying Francis was the wrong choice to start up the franchise.
Now that I read the article, seems he is focusing on the contracts for Burakovsky, Stephenson, and Grubauer. Can’t believe anyone is advocating for those guys. Wennberg is 50:50, you can make a case for or against.
His next point is the Carolina parallel, which I have also stated at various times. Old dogs, new tricks, etc.
On the wasted state tax advantage, I completely agree. Some poster said here that Marner did not go into full free agency, he picked Vegas. Then the question becomes, why are not UFAs picking Seattle? Would you rather live in Vegas than Seattle? So what is the problem?
Don’t spend enough time thinking about signing bonuses to comment intelligently.
Overall, I think the RF legacy deserves a ‘D+’, maybe C- for fanboys. I fully expect, if the season is not a great success or no prospect pops, for Sam Holloway to push RF out the door (isn’t his deal done in 2026?).
Enough on RF, let’s just hope JB can make up for lost time (if McDavid or Kaprizov hit FA…). The trade deadline will be his second chance to set things right.
I hesitate to engage here…
On the UFAs… wasn’t Montour the No.1 rated UFA defenseman available and Stephenson the No.2 center. Obviously there was variation to these “rankings”, but I would propose this isn’t a misplaced assessment. I’m not arguing those signing, I’m simply responding to, “why are not UFAs picking Seattle?” Montour was asked on Morning Cuppa Hockey (if I remember correctly) if he lived in Seattle and his response was, to paraphrase, ‘It’s a no-tax state so, yeah, I live in Seattle’. To me this sounds like Francis making use if the tax advantage to sign a top UFA.
I can understand a lot of the criticisms of Francis, but I think it would be a bit much to count “not signing Marner” against him.
Yeah I wouldn’t engage. Anyone still in the “Francis is an idiot camp” is either ignorant to what actually caused those contracts to be bad or to the free agent market in general. His comments about Marner indicate some of the latter but I have a feeling it’s a healthy dose of both
You say the Kraken didn’t land blockbuster names as if there were any actually available. I can’t think of a single one. Given the actual market, I think the team came out very well given their needs.
I don’t know if you’d call him “available,” but Mitch Marner at least moved.
He was not available. He hand picked Vegas. My point stands