Ron Francis has signed a contract to remain general manager of the Seattle Kraken Wednesday, through the 2026-27 season.
The 60-year-old has been the Kraken GM since they joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 2021-22 season. Seattle clinched a Stanley Cup berth that season and advanced to Game 7 of the Western Conference Round 2, with a 2-1 loss at the Dallas Stars. The Kraken went 46-28-8 to clinch the postseason’s first wild card out of the West and eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in seven first-round games.
Seattle finished 27-49-6, the third worst record in the league, in his first NHL season.
“Every year is different; every year is unique. There are always challenges,” Francis he told NHL.com on April 11. “But I think it was definitely more satisfying for us than the first year.”
Francis was a Carolina Hurricanes GM from 2014-18 and worked in their front office for 12 seasons before being hired by the Kraken on July 18, 2019. Seattle stood before the 2023 NHL trade deadline on March 3 but set NHL records in wins and points (100) for the sophomore team and for the best improvement from the team’s first to second season (19 wins, 40 points). Seattle is up 18 spots in the standings, which is the second-most this season behind the New Jersey Devils (plus-25).
straight ahead Jared McCann (40 goals) and the middle Matty Benners (24) They were the only two Kraken players to hit the top 23 goals for a team that averaged 3.52 goals per game, which tied the Devils for fourth in the NHL. Penners is a Calder Cup finalist and was voted the NHL’s Most Valuable Rookie, along with Buffalo Sabers defenseman Owen Bauer Edmonton Oilers goalkeeper Stuart Skinner.
“I think every GM, their goal in the beginning is to get into the playoffs,” Francis said. “For sure, it’s no different for me and my team. The most important thing for us is to be able to show improvement from where we were last year as a new franchise in a new market, trying to show our fan base that, hey, we’re getting better, we’re moving in the right direction.” What we were trying to achieve. I might be lying a bit if I said I saw it going well, but it is, and that is a source of glory to our players and coaching staff and the efforts they have put in to get to this point.”
Francis, who played 22 seasons in the NHL, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. He is fifth in league history with 1,798 points (549 goals and 1,249 assists) in 1,731 games with the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Hurricanes, and Toronto Maple Leafs. The two-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh (1991, 1992) is second in NHL history in assists, behind Wayne Gretzky (1963).