Kraken GM Jason Botterill Plans ‘Very Aggressive’ Summer

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.

“We’re proud of our culture because we have players who want to be here,” Botterill said. “We look at our track record of resigning players who have come to our organization. Whether you go Jordan Eberle this year, Matty Beniers, Joey Daccord. Players come here and they want to stay here. I think we have young players coming up through our system. I'm proud of our young players. They're very determined individuals to get to this NHL standard at such a young age.”

Botterill went on to say the Kraken deployed seven players under the age of 23 after the trade deadline, calling it a “great experience” for them.

“But you saw the intensity down the stretch,” Botterill said. “You saw the intensity of playoff hockey the last couple of days. It's an experience for some of our younger players going through that. Mentoring them, teaching them that that is a big part of our future. And what we have to do, from a hockey operations standpoint and a coaching standpoint for our young players.

“Same thing within culturally,” he said. “We have to continue to help Matty Beniers continue to become a better leader. We have good human beings, good people in our locker room. But when they go through adversity, we have to find different ways of helping them through that process.”

Botterill said he’ll look at all means at his disposal when it comes to bettering the team. That includes perhaps using younger prospects to acquire more established players or deploying them in the best way to help the NHL squad.

“These players are finally there,” he said. “I know maybe our fans and people are tired of talking about prospects. But you just look at this year and we finally just had from our first (2021) draft: (Ryan) Winterton and (Jacob) Melanson coming in and being regulars in the National Hockey League. You look at the 2022 draft, players such as Jani (Nyman), (Jagger) Firkus, and on the defensive end (Tyson) Jugnauth and (Ty) Nelson, they’re finally getting into position where they’re ready to play.

“Unfortunately, we’re not the NFL. This week, people are going to be drafted and they’ll be in the NFL next week. It takes a longer process for these prospects to come through. What gets us excited is they’re now pushing and knocking on the door of playing National Hockey League games. Not just sort of down the road in three to four years. They’re ready to play now.”

Beyond building from within, Botterill mentioned the four first round draft picks the team holds over the next two years. Whether it’s using those to draft, or trade for more elite NHL talent is a priority.

“There’s going to be a lot of NHLers in our group coming up,” he said of prospects. “Continuing to find high-end talent, that’s what we’re mandating. And that’s what we’re looking for, for sure.”

Botterill said he doesn’t feel the Kraken are in the same position as some prior NHL squads that misjudged their franchise trajectory and wasted years trying to get to the playoffs rather than stepping back earlier and reassessing. For him, the Kraken took a step forward last season regardless of how things ended up.

"I believe we're in a role where, one, we're closer to the playoffs this past year than we've been in the (two) previous that we just talked about,” he said. “Plus, we have a plethora of young players coming through our system. Where we’re not a declining (team). We've talked about, probably, forwards being an area where we have to continue to develop and add to that group. That's where we've drafted. That's where we've taken our high picks."

One example he gave of that higher end draft talent was center Jake O’Brien, the team’s No. 8 overall pick from last year, having just set a franchise scoring record for the Brantford Bulldogs of the major junior Ontario Hockey League this past season and preparing to possibly turn pro next fall at age 19.

“The fact that that's been a focus of our organization from day one, and that's a sort of a key area for us moving forward, gives us a lot of promise and a lot of belief that we're heading the right direction.”