Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said Wednesday he was very disappointed in not making the playoffs and promised to be “very aggressive” in fixing that this summer.
Botterill was making his first comments since the departure of team president Ron Francis two weeks ago, calling his outgoing colleague a mentor and sounding board for ideas. But Botterill, at a morning news conference at Kraken Community Iceplex, also insisted he had “final say” on all decisions and is holding himself accountable for bettering the team.
“Bottom line is, we are not where we want to be after five years,” Botterill told the assembled media members and others watching via a livestream feed on the team’s website and mobile application. “It’s an important time for our franchise. We have a strong foundation here, but changes need to be made.”
Botterill said it was made clear by the team a year ago, when he was promoted to GM, that he was in charge of personnel moves and brought in players and coaches to help accomplish that. Now, along with head coach Lane Lambert, he’s evaluating the work done by assistant coaches and players in order to better determine off-season moves to be made from here.
“We will focus on players that can help and help our team play to Lane’s standard,” Botterill said. “A team that plays with speed, that attacks and competes every night. We’ll look at the free agent market, but that can’t be our only avenue. We’ll evaluate trades. And we’ll find creative ways to continue to develop our young players.”
Botterill added that he didn’t know Lambert all that well other than what he saw during last year’s interview process. But watching him last season, he was impressed by what he saw – namely that he “came as advertised” in his coaching approach.
“He was direct with our players, he was intense,” Botterill said. “He was accountable. And I think our players appreciated that.”
Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke, seated next to Botterill at the news conference, said a team “audit” of hockey operations has already begun at the ownership level and will continue shortly by bringing in one of “a couple of firms” from the outside to work alongside Botterill in pinpointing areas of need. The final report will be submitted to majority Kraken owner Samantha Holloway.
“It’s a really cool thing that the owner and our hockey organization wants to lay fresh eyes on this,” Leiweke said. “Not only to validate what we think. But also, to potentially uncover things that might be sources of opportunity to fix. But also, sources of strength that we haven’t fully accounted for.”
In response to a question about whether the team is prepared to take “a step back” or undergo “a transition year” if the audit suggests it, Leiweke said the goal remains and has always been long term success. That said, he added that he, Holloway and the executive team plan to put “the adversity” of the late season collapse to good use by learning from it and making key improvements.
“I think the pieces are in place,” Leiweke said. “I think our ownership feels that we’ve got to add to those pieces. We’ve got critical pieces in place. We’ve got to add and push this to another level.”
Botterill said he’s already spoken to players through exit interviews last week about what went wrong the final month-plus stretch drive. And about some of the things that went right under Lambert compared to the prior two years that led to dismissals of coaches Dan Bylsma and Dave Hakstol.
“I would say this year was different,” Botterill said. “The excitement element was that we were part of a playoff race…we were in a battle for playoff games. And I think that was a huge advantage for a player like Berkly Catton, Ryker Evans, Shane Wright to experience that. So, a little different from the previous years.”
But still not enough. Especially after a very strong January, in which the team went 10-5-2 in a league record 17 games over a one-month span, positioned them in third place with a shot at top spot in the Pacific Division.
Botterill said he’ll target improvement to the makeup of the Kraken forwards group, which is currently a mix of older veterans and very young players with few in-between. Also, he’ll look to better special teams, particularly a power play unit that went from strength to liability down the stretch.
The GM was asked about comments last week by forward Jared McCann, who suggested the team’s younger players didn’t always seem aware of the consequences of missing the playoffs. Other players echoed his sentiments, suggested the team’s locker room culture was quiet and that younger players were still learning about the intensity level required in a playoff race.