{"id":560801,"date":"2026-04-27T11:54:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/560801\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:54:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:54:41","slug":"seattle-kraken-president-ron-francis-to-leave-franchise-at-seasons-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/560801\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Kraken president Ron Francis to leave franchise at season&#8217;s end"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SEATTLE \u2014 Ron Francis will step down as president of hockey operations for the Seattle Kraken at the end of the season, the team announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was described as mutual.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/komonews.com\/sports\/nikos-sports-zone\/the-kraken-plan-how-ron-francis-actually-positioned-his-team-for-a-splash-in-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Kraken Plan: How Ron Francis actually positioned his team for a splash in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Francis, the first general manager in franchise history, was hired in July 2019 and <a href=\"https:\/\/komonews.com\/sports\/seattle-kraken\/after-firing-bylsma-as-coach-kraken-elevate-francis-with-botterill-replacing-him-as-gm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">later elevated to president in April 2025<\/a>. He helped guide the expansion club through its formative years, including a playoff appearance in its second season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRon and I agreed that this is the right moment to make a thoughtful transition for both Ron and the organization, and move in a new direction,\u201d CEO Tod Leiweke said. \u201cFrom a small office in Lower Queen Anne to the NHL\u2019s 32nd franchise, Ron\u2019s leadership and vision were instrumental in building this franchise from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Francis said it was an honor to help launch and lead the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud of the culture we built, the people we brought together, and the milestones we achieved, including our historic first playoff run,\u201d he said. \u201cThis organization has a bright future, and I\u2019m grateful to have been part of its beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Kraken are on the verge of missing the playoffs for the fourth time in their five-year history.  The 2007 Hockey Hall of Famer followed his illustrious playing career in the private sector before leading the Carolina Hurricanes front office from 2011-2018.<\/p>\n<p>The Kraken were 31-26-9 with 71 points on the morning of March 17, in the second Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the Kraken have lost <a href=\"https:\/\/komonews.com\/sports\/seattle-kraken\/seattle-kraken-hockey-score-straight-win-setting-up-showdown-with-stars-minnesota-st-paul-stars-playoff-series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">10 of their last 11 games, including 6 in a row<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Only two of those losses were overtime losses, meaning the Kraken have only earned four points over the last 11 games. The only win in that stretch was an overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>READ THE COMMENTS (9)<\/p>\n<p>The Kraken are now nine points out of a playoff position with only five games left.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Ron Francis will step down as president of hockey operations for the Seattle Kraken at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[5,4188,4,2686,234,5318],"class_list":{"0":"post-560801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-kraken","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kraken","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-kraken","13":"tag-seattlekraken"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116476540593018612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}