Kraken shake things up

 

In a somewhat unexpected move, the Seattle Kraken fired head coach Dan Bylsma after one season. The Kraken also announced that general manager Ron Francis has been promoted to President of Hockey Operations and assistant general manager Jason Botterill has been promoted to General Manager.

At yesterday’s press conference which included owners Samantha Holloway and Todd Leiweke along with Francis and Botterill, there weren’t any grand statements about Bylsma’s short tenure in Seattle, but there were a few hints.

``I didn’t like the way we playing,’’ Francis admitted. ``I didn’t like the structure, and felt we needed a change.’’

Later in the press conference, Francis noted he wasn’t happy with the Kraken’s defensive alignment and that, ``we were spending too much time in our own zone.’’

On Monday, Francis issued a press release stating, ``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. 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.”

Bylsma was named the second head coach in Kraken franchise history on May 28, 2024, and guided the Kraken to a 35-41-6 record during the 2024-25 season. Bylsma joined the Kraken after spending two years as head coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.

Coachella Valley advanced to the American Hockey League finals in both seasons of Bylsma’s tenure. The Firebirds compiled a 94-32-18 in those two years. He was also an assistant coach with the Charlotte Checkers, the previous season.t

Earlier in his coaching career, Bylsma was promoted from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ AHL Wilkes-Barre AHL affiliate midway though the 2008-09 season. The Penguins went on an unlikely run and won the Stanley Cup at the end of the season. Bylsma became the second coach in NHL history to win a championship after taking over a team in mid-season.

After an unsuccessful stint coaching the Buffalo Sabres, Bylsma left coaching but decided to return behind the bench with the Checkers, who had some players owned by the Kraken, then in their first season.

The Kraken fired Dave Hakstol after three seasons and it was widely rumored that the front office received a lot of negative feedback from the players concerning Hakstol. That didn’t appear to be the case with Bylsma.

“It’s nice to have a coach that is a human being first,’’ said Kaapo Kakko, a December acquisition by the Kraken. ``I think that's something that (Bylsma) is really good at. Obviously, there's a fine line between those two, but I think that's a big thing, especially for a younger team.’’

Of course, Kakko’s comments may have been a reflection of how he felt about some of his previous coaches with the New York Rangers.

Francis and Botterill will head the search for a new head coach. Owners Leiweke and Holloway say they just want to build a culture of winning with the Kraken and feel the team’s headed in that direction with its minor league and junior prospects along with a plethora of draft choices.

Botterill’s familiar with winning, capturing three gold medals with the Canadian Junior Olympic team as a player. He was also the associate general manager with the Penguins when they won three Stanley Cups. Botterill didn’t have much success in Buffalo either (the Sabres have the longest playoff draught of any team in the NHL), and when he was fired as GM there, he came to Seattle as Francis’ assistant.

``You always learn from experience,’’ said Botterill of his time in Buffalo. ``You develop relationships with other GMs and player agents (as a general manager).’’

``We’ll make a list of coaching candidates and begin the interview process,’’ said Botterill, who pointed out that Jessica Campbell, first an assistant with Coachella Valley and an assistant with the Kraken last season. ``We like the job Jessica’s done with our young players.’’

Francis said that the team had no other coach in mind when they decided to let Bylsma go, but ironically, the Vancouver Canucks opted to not to pick up the option on Coach Rick Tocchet’s contact yesterday. Tocchet had been widely mentioned as a candidate for the Kraken job before the team began play in 2021.

Vancouver said they would try to sign Tocchet to a new contract, but more high-profile jobs may be open with teams like the New York Rangers or Boston Bruins.

Coaching an NHL team doesn’t provide a whoe lot of job security as Dan Bylsma can attest.