The Seattle Kraken are making a change at head coach for the second straight offseason, and that’s not all they’re doing.
Dan Bylsma has been relieved of his duties, the team announced Monday afternoon. The announcement came shortly after a report by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and the NHL Network that Bylsma was done in Seattle after just one season as head coach.
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Shortly after Friedman’s post, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reported that he’s hearing the Kraken will also reassign general manager Ron Francis to the position of team president, with the GM role being filled by assistant general manager and former Buffalo Sabres GM Jason Botterill. The Kraken confirmed that move with another announcement Tuesday morning.
“These changes reflect our commitment to becoming a sustained playoff team,” Seattle Kraken owner Samantha Holloway said in a statement. “Ron has done an excellent job of building our hockey operations and setting a solid foundation.
“Our new enhanced structure will allow Ron to continue shaping our long-term vision while empowering Jason day-to-day. Jason knows our team and the league well and I am so pleased he is taking the next step in his career with the Kraken.”
The Kraken’s announcement of Bylsma’s dismissal did not indicate any changes at GM, and in fact included a quote attributed to Francis as the general manager. It also stated that Francis will hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The #SeaKraken have announced that head coach Dan Bylsma has been relieved of his duties.
Read more → https://t.co/Li8SJQbH6g pic.twitter.com/ltffH5qsTN
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) April 21, 2025
“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,” Francis said in Monday’s statement. “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.”
Details on Seattle Kraken changes
With the Kraken moving on from Bylsma, it means they will go into the 2025-26 campaign with their third coach in their five-season history.
The Kraken made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022-23, their second season, that included a series win over the defending champion Colorado Avalanche and a second series that they took to seven games against the Dallas Stars. But Seattle slid down the standings the following season, and that slide continued even after it replaced inaugural head coach Dave Hakstol with Bylsma.
Under the 54-year-old Bylsma, the Kraken went 35-41-6, finishing seventh in the eight-team Pacific Division to miss the playoffs for the third time in their four NHL seasons. That came after Seattle went 34-35-13 the prior season, which put them at sixth in the Pacific.
The 2024-25 Kraken season ended last Tuesday.
Prior to becoming Kraken coach, Bylsma spent two seasons leading the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle’s affiliate team in the American Hockey League.
Bylsma has a history of success in the NHL. He took over the Pittsburgh Penguins midway through 2008-09 and led them to a Stanley Cup championship that same season. Pittsburgh went on to make the playoffs in the five seasons under Bylsma after winning the title but reached the conference finals just once in those postseason trips.
Bylsma also had a two-season stint as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres.
It already appeared the Kraken were in for a busy 2025 as they look to gain a better foothold in Seattle’s sports landscape. Team CEO Tod Leiweke announced last week at an appreciation brunch for season ticket holders that the Kraken plan to reduce prices on 80% of tickets, offer food and beverage discounts to season ticket holders, and unveil a third jersey next season.
The Kraken also made a number of moves prior to the NHL trade deadline in March, shipping off veteran players and building up a cache of draft picks.
Francis, who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player, has been with the Kraken since 2019, two years before they hit the ice as an NHL expansion team. He previously was GM of the Carolina Hurricanes from 2014-18.
A former wing for four teams in the NHL, Botterill joined the Kraken as assistant GM in 2021. He was Sabres GM from 2017-20.
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