Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke confirmed that GM Ron Francis will remain with the team next season.
It's the second consecutive season where the Kraken entered with high hopes of making the playoffs to fall short by quite some margin. Francis went out in the offseason and handed out two large contracts to Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson, with hopes they'd improve the roster.
Montour's deal paid off, setting a career-high in goals with 18, but Stephenson struggled at 5-on-5, scoring just 13 goals and 51 points despite a full-minute increase in ice time.
The Kraken have done a solid job of drafting players. They were the first team to have five players from the 2021 draft to play an NHL game after Ville Ottavainen made his NHL debut in game 82. They've also seen second and third-round picks such as Jani Nyman make impacts in the NHL.
Finding a balance between young and skilled prospects, and veteran players should be the key for Francis in the offseason. Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans and Tye Kartye are the pending RFAs he'll look to resign, and he'll have decisions to make regarding Michael Eyssimont, John Hayden and Josh Mahura, all of which are pending UFAs.
The Kraken project to have over $20M in cap space in the offseason, giving them ample opportunity to re-sign who they'd like and chase some free agents in the offseason, something both Leiweke and Francis have confirmed they will be doing.
“We have the money and we are going to spend it.”
The Kraken are confirmed to be in the top six in the draft lottery this season, with the chance to move up to fifth depending on the result of the Philadelphia Flyers final game on Thursday. The Kraken are yet to draft a defenseman in the first round of their first four drafts but could be looking to do so. Their prospect pool is full of quality forwards like Berkly Catton, Nyman, Jagger Firkus, Ryan Winterton, Eduard Sale, Carson Rehkopf and Oscar Fisker Molgaard.
Defensively the Kraken have Ty Nelson, Lukas Dragicevic, Caden Price and Ottavainen, each projecting to be bottom pair guys. Drafting a top defenseman would boost their prospect pool.
In all, Francis and the Kraken's front office will have a busy and vital offseason.
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