What Should New Kraken GM Botterill Do To Avoid A Repeat Of His Results In Buffalo?

The Seattle Kraken hope a former Buffalo Sabres GM will help them reach perennial playoff status.

This week, the Kraken fired coach Dan Bylsma, promoted executive Ron Francis to president of hockey operations and promoted Jason Botterill to GM. 

The Kraken finished with the NHL’s sixth-worst record at 35-41-6, placing them seventh in the relatively weak Pacific Division – and a drop from sixth place in the Pacific in the 2023-24 campaign. That’s not nearly good enough for a Seattle team that wants to emulate the Vegas Golden Knights as a young franchise that can have great Stanley Cup playoff success right away.

For one thing, with Francis now promoted upward – in the role of a Brendan Shanahan in Toronto, a Jim Rutherford in Vancouver and a Joe Sakic in Colorado – Francis will have more years to stick the landing as an overseer of Botterill and his incoming management group. 

But Botterill has massive pressure on him and a slew of areas to address in his second chance at general managing an NHL club. He has some successes to replicate and mistakes to avoid from his time as the Sabres’ GM from 2017 to 2020.

Certainly, having more success in the NHL draft will be a priority, which Botterill did well at in Buffalo. He did have an easy pick when he landed star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin first overall in 2018, but Botterill’s draft team also selected centers Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson. 

The Kraken need more from their first-ever draft pick, Matty Beniers, and another step up from Shane Wright. But Botterill must fill the organization’s cupboard with prospects they can turn into reliable NHLers.

They’re going to get a top-10 draft pick this summer. While they can’t necessarily expect the player they select with that pick to play in the NHL immediately, they should add an asset that will be a core component of the team for many years to come.

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Botterill should also buy out the contract of veteran goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who currently has two seasons remaining on a contract worth $5.9 million annually. 

The 33-year-old Grubauer put up career-worst totals in goals-against average (3.49) and save percentage (.875) last season, and with veteran Joey Daccord the clear No. 1 option in net, Grubauer can’t be kept around at that cap hit. 

Buying out Grubauer will free about $3.92 million next season and $2.82 million in 2026-27, while the $1.68-million buyout cost in 2027-28 and ’28-29 is minimal when the salary cap rises significantly.

That brings us to the Kraken’s huge amount of cap space to use to improve the roster. As it stands, Seattle has $21.75 million in cap space next season with 14 active players under contract. With a Grubauer buyout, that cap space would rise to $25.66 million. That means the Kraken can be major players on the free-agent market while having five first-round picks over the next three seasons to set up the team for long-term success.

Botterill has to make more tough decisions – including who will be the next coach of the team – to push the Kraken back into the playoff mix. They have two pending UFAs, and RFAs Kaapo Kakko, Tye Kartye and Ryker Evans need new deals as well. 

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Not long ago, Seattle fans were expecting to make the playoffs consistently, but Sabres fans have been waiting to get back into the post-season for seven times the length of Seattle’s two-year drought. Botterill is one of four men to hold the Sabres’ GM role since their last playoff appearance in 2011, and Buffalo’s best finish under him was 25th in the NHL. With Vegas joining the league in 2017-18, the Sabres actually became the first team in NHL history to finish 31st under Botterill.

Kraken fans will obviously hope Botterill won’t have the same results in Seattle, but the organization trusts him to make the most of this huge opportunity. He has a mandate to remove the stench of regular-season failure as they chart a course that will be more reliably successful.

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