SEATTLE — Seattle Kraken General Manager Ron Francis drops “Inside the Arena” for the latest episode to explain the recent trade deadline moves, prospects and how he plans to leverage it all for next season.
While it was certainly painful for fans to see original Kraken players like Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev traded away along with a star in the 2023 playoffs Oliver Bjorkstrand, the Kraken has put itself in a prime position to make major upgrades to the roster this upcoming offseason.
“We were able to get two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a seventh for those players, so what it also did was free up a lot of cap space,” Francis said. “It’s an opportunity for us to try and go out in the free agent market or via trade with the draft capital we have, moving some of that now to get players to move this thing forward.”
Francis now has roughly $20 million in salary cap space entering this summer, money that will be put to good use in finding what this team needs moving forward: More consistent scoring.
The Kraken now has three first-round picks and three second-round picks over the next three years. Draft capital that Francis has no intention of stockpiling.
“We’re not looking to draft 10 players with those three drafts with those picks, we are hoping to parlay those into acquiring players that will make our lineup really stronger,” Francis said, pointing to how the team used draft picks to acquire Bjorkstrand ahead of that 2022-2023 season where he helped the Kraken get within a goal of the Western Conference Finals.
In addition, Chris and Niko also talk about the Kraken TV ratings and whether they’ve seen progress this season. Plus, they remember Seattle Sonics Legends Gus Williams and Slick Watts in an expanded “Supersonic Minute.”
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