Forging A Kraken Identity Of Ongoing Improvement

Kraken general manager Jason Botterill these days appears far more acclimated to his new office digs after a summer spent carving out his team’s look for players and fans still wondering how they’ll adjust to him.

For now, the office remains the biggest material change for Botterill, who, as an assistant GM under Ron Francis the Kraken’s first four seasons, worked largely out of his Michigan home base and commuted regularly to Seattle when needed.

But the GM job requires Botterill’s daily presence, attention and -- let’s face it -- his personal stamp, even though the faces hovering in and around his new office remain largely the same. Seated on a small, L-shaped sofa inside that office, Botterill admitted it’s an advantage having familiarity in personnel given the work ahead in what looms as a pivotal Kraken season of change.

“I’ve worked with the staff the last four years,” Botterill said just ahead of Thursday’s on-ice launch of his first Kraken Training Camp as GM. “I know the players in the organization. That comfort level, that communication and those relationships I’ve already built up. It makes it such an easier transition.”

The “easier” stuff promises to grow scarce from here. Botterill has done this GM thing before in Buffalo and knows the season comes at you like a freight train if unprepared. He’s on a mission to shore-up an “identity” for the Kraken, one of all-in commitment to continuous improvement, not just for young players but veterans as well.

“We challenged them in the offseason a little bit from the standpoint of conditioning,” Botterill said. “And everything we’ve seen from our testing so far, we’re very impressed that they took that seriously and came to camp ready to go right off the bat.”

And go right off the bat they did. In fact, if handed bats, some players might have swung them at one another. Thursday’s initial on-ice sessions were as intense as any practices held all last season. Much of that had to do with Botterill’s new head coaching choice, Lane Lambert, a no-nonsense, detail-oriented, preparation-first type who admitted being deliberately “hands-on” throughout.

Lambert did crack a smile or two at his post workout session with assembled media members, telling them it was probably more teeth-flashing than he’d managed cumulatively in two seasons of his last head coaching gig with the New York Islanders. His players certainly weren’t smiling much on-ice, some hunched over sticks wheezing for breath and nursing aches after Lambert had them skating and running hard at each other in one-on-one compete drills throughout.

This is exactly the reason Botterill made Lambert his first Kraken head coaching choice. After a 76-point finish last season, which left the entire organization disappointed, there is little time to waste in changing the dynamic. And Lambert, who seems to view wasted time the way a lion regards hyenas eyeing his kill, didn’t let anyone down.

It was only the first day of camp, mind you, where every player is in the self-proclaimed best shape of his life and all teams sit undefeated. But change needs to start someplace and Botterill’s choice Lambert certainly had the Kraken looking and feeling – especially the wheezing, aching ones – different once the initial workout ended.

Now comes all the ensuing workouts, the preseason games and the contests that do count and start to differentiate reality from the dreaming done this time of year.

Accountability has been a word tossed around often since last season ended. Botterill believes accountability runs in-tandem with the commitment to change and personal betterment he wants to see. And though he’ll leave it to Lambert and his staff to enforce accountability should that quest for improvement appear lacking, the new GM hopes to have mitigated the need through his choice of summer player imports.

Watching new forward acquisition Mason Marchment repeatedly throw his 6-foot-5, 212-pound frame into a new teammate during one of Thursday’s puck-battle drills, it’s clear those coming over from perennial playoff franchises know the big work starts right now.

“We’re very respectful of how difficult it is to win in this league,” Botterill said. “And we’re excited to get on the ice and see this group sort of gel together and see what it can do throughout the year. It’s why we’ve brought in players with a winning pedigree. It’s also why we’ve been so proud of what we’ve accomplished in (AHL) Coachella Valley as well. Obviously, the goal is to get to the National Hockey League. But a big part of developing players for the NHL is to play in playoff series and go on playoff runs.”

Kraken mainstays such as Joey Daccord, Shane Wright, Ryker Evans and Tye Kartye were all part of prior Coachella Valley teams that made it to the Calder Cup championship round. Prospects such as Jacob Melanson, Ryan Winterton and Ville Ottavainen were as well and have a shot at playing Kraken games this season, as does Jani Nyman, who made the AHL playoffs last season as a Firebirds rookie.

As for summer newcomers, Marchment went to three straight Western Conference Finals with Dallas. Ryan Lindgren had four years of playoff appearances with the New York Rangers and another with Colorado last spring. Matt Murray won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and Freddy Gaudreau went to a Cup Final with Nashville and had four playoff appearances in the past five years with Minnesota.

Those four players alone have racked up 183 cumulative playoff games between them. That’s already half the total number of games -- including preseason, regular season and postseason -- played by the Kraken franchise in its entire history.

Botterill is excited to see where it all leads.

And to view where some of the younger players drafted under prior-GM Francis, including Spokane Chiefs star Berkly Catton, fit into this season’s equation. Francis, now the team’s president of hockey operations, was among those watching Thursday’s workouts with interest as he viewed some of the biggest names from his first four draft crops.

Botterill, who was right there in the draft room with him, is amazed at the physical and mental changes underdone by players since first hearing their names selected.

“So many of them are dedicated to off-ice training,” Botterill said. “There’s been so much growth in their games from April to September and we’re excited about where they’re at. Whether that’s the pure NHLers like Shane Wright, Matty Beniers, Ryker Evans, or else somebody like Berkly Catton, or Jani Nyman or (Jacob) Melanson, or Ville Ottavainen. Where are they right now in their NHL development? Are they ready for National Hockey League games?”

A few more workouts like Thursday’s and Botterill should have a pretty good idea. Not to mention, an indication of which players are fully committed to what’s being asked of them.

“Our focus, our dedication and practice and our mentality of improving doesn’t stop whether you start the season 2-0 or 0-2,” Botterill said. “You still must continue to work at it. When you look at the parity across our league, I think people sometimes want to make quick assessments of where teams are at.

“But if you look at all the teams that have made playoff runs at different times in a season, it’s the ones that have that focus of continually improving that wind up showing that constant improvement.”

Committing to such ongoing improvement, as with any change, clearly requires a mindset adjustment. And that doesn’t always come easy. But Botterill expects that adjustment nonetheless, even as players – if no longer the GM himself -- continue adjusting to the sight of a new nameplate on his office door.