BHD
Vejmelka for Vezina
Keep in mind, Dan Bylsma is coach of the Firebirds in the AHL. Not saying he should get the job, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets an interview.
They let Geekie and Sprong leave last year. Both would have been 3rd and 4th top scorer in the Kraken. The guys they brought in didn't do as well. I don't think either Hakstol or Francis look great after that (there's been talk neither player liked Hakstol and players were sometimes left confused on what to do).Seattle overachieved last year. This past season they came back down to earth.
This is a bizarre take.
Hakstol is a run-of-the-mill coach. He was meh in Philly and meh in Seattle. His teams always are poor at scoring chance generation, because he relies on an antiquated style of play.
A bunch of guys had career years. Once that fluke was over, normal service resumed.That's a swing and a miss.
Seattle had the best 5v5 offense in the league a year ago.
He’s the likely favoriteKeep in mind, Dan Bylsma is coach of the Firebirds in the AHL. Not saying he should get the job, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets an interview.
Vegas early success set a high standard.Crazy how expansion coaches get no rope nowadays
Oh, very likely that one. Francis thought his 5 year plan was on the verge of success in Carolina, too. After he was fired, Waddell and the Borg (the post Francis Canes are big into collaborative decision making) wound up overhauling literally half of the roster in the first year. Francis's version of the team was a mediocre team that was always at the bottom of the bubble looking up, and he thought he had something far better than it was.That or Ron Francis thinks his roster is better than it is.
Oh, very likely that one. Francis thought his 5 year plan was on the verge of success in Carolina, too. After he was fired, Waddell and the Borg (the post Francis Canes are big into collaborative decision making) wound up overhauling literally half of the roster.
Francis is a passive GM who takes zero risks. In a competitive business like sports, you have to take risks to gain advantage. It's not just enough to manage your team well and make it better year over year, you have to make it better more than the next guys are making their team better. Francis is showing the same tendencies in Seattle. Just be patient and we'll somehow magically get better.
He's served as a GM for 7 NHL seasons and has only made the playoffs as a GM once. At some point, the finger has to point at him.
Stupid. He’s a good coach. He smoked Bednar in the playoffs last year. Completely out coached the Avs.
Keep in mind, Dan Bylsma is coach of the Firebirds in the AHL. Not saying he should get the job, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets an interview.
Oh, very likely that one. Francis thought his 5 year plan was on the verge of success in Carolina, too. After he was fired, Waddell and the Borg (the post Francis Canes are big into collaborative decision making) wound up overhauling literally half of the roster in the first year. Francis's version of the team was a mediocre team that was always at the bottom of the bubble looking up, and he thought he had something far better than it was.
Francis is a passive GM who takes zero risks. In a competitive business like sports, you have to take risks to gain advantage. It's not just enough to manage your team well and make it better year over year, you have to make it better more than the next guys are making their team better. Francis is showing the same tendencies in Seattle. Just be patient and we'll somehow magically get better.
He's served as a GM for 7 NHL seasons and has only made the playoffs as a GM once. At some point, the finger has to point at him.
And he left the team with an absolute quagmire of a roster, and the new management was able to fix it much more quickly. And apart from Semin (and you could argue both the Staals, but he didn't fix Jordan's and he just waited out Eric's contract), he didn't inherit any true albatross contracts, everyone else was pretty reasonable. The best defense was that Karmanos had basically no liquid assets and refused to spend on the team, making otherwise 'whatever' contracts seem more burdensome than they actually were, but the way Francis 'fixed' those was also just waiting. And when Dundon came in and wanted to spend and asked Francis to be more aggressive, Francis simply refused.To be fair to Francis, he was left with an absolute quagmire of a roster when he took over from Rutherford, with many albatross contracts and no prospect pool to speak of. Much of his time here was more about fixing mistakes of the past and setting up the organization for future success.
If you watched the Kraken for the last three years you would really wonder what identity the team has. Their play was inconsistent,
haphazard, and head scratching at best.
I think it's a sacrificial lamb. I think Kraken ownership are putting pressure on Francis to be more aggressive behind the scenes and gain more relevancy in the Seattle sports market (they didn't capitalize on the momentum of last seasons play offs).Seems like a kneejerk reaction, but then again Vegas made a few kneejerk changes only to eventually win a Cup, so they must think there's a blueprint there.