One of Francis' points during that exclusive interview is he anticipates the sooner-versus-later return of forward Andre Burakovsky, who was leading the Kraken in scoring before going on the injured list. Burakovsky last played nearly a month ago, on Feb. 7, leaving 21 seconds into a 4-0 home loss to the New York Islanders due to a non-contact injury.
"Burky' is training hard in the gym," said Francis. "Busy today [in Columbus with the team], but I believe today is Burky's first day back on the ice."
While Francis and his hockey operations groups didn't finalize any trades this week, Francis did make one trade on Feb. 5 when he sent a 2023 fourth-round choice to San Jose in exchange for defenseman Jayson Megna. Francis has until June 15 to inform the Sharks whether that pick is the Seattle pick or Colorado's fourth-round selection (acquired via a trade to send expansion pick Kurtis MacDermid back to the Avalanche).
It should be noted Francis swung a particularly vital trade last summer when he acquired forward Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Bjorkstrand scored twice in Thursday's 5-4 road win, including the game-winning goal in overtime.
"Bjorkstrand had a bit of a slow start," said Francis in the aforementioned exclusive interview. "You watch this guy closely, and he's quite a hockey player. He's very smart and does a lot of little things right."
Francis noted Borkstrand and Megna as two of "eight new faces" in the lineup since last season, including signing Burakovsky, defenseman Justin Schultz and 24-win goalie Martin Jones on the first day of NHL free agency last summer, plus picking up forward Eeli Tolvanen (10 goals, nine assists, 27 games) on waivers, 2022 first-round and favorite for rookie-of-the-year Matty Beniers playing a full season. The Kraken also traded for forward Daniel Sprong at the 2022 deadline; he's already set career-high marks with 15 goals and 17 assists.
Along with team chemistry ("to the best of my knowledge this team likes each other and wants to win"), Francis said the Seattle roster has "nine, 10 forwards" who still have term on their contracts beyond this year, lessening the need to acquire such forwards. He does have two defensemen, Vince Dunn and Carson Soucy, who can explore some version of free agency this summer. Francis said they have talks with those D-men's representatives but that any pursuit to re-sign will come later to allow focus on progressing to and in the playoffs.
