Seattle Kraken 2025 Off-Season Additions and Subtractions: Front Office and Coaching Edition
By Jayd Serdy, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - After a less than stellar ‘senior season,’ the Seattle Kraken shook things up behind the bench and in the front office ahead of the 2025-26 season. During the 2024-25 season, the Kraken were led by head coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ron Francis. That will not be the case for Seattle’s NHL team ahead of their fifth season in franchise history,
In late April, Seattle announced that Ron Francis would be stepping into the role of president of hockey operations, while assistant general manager Jason Botterill would be stepping into the general manager position. Botterill has been the assistant general manager since the inaugural season, so he is no stranger to the way that the team operates, or the players themselves. Botterill started his career working with the NHL Offices and Central Registry before joining the Dallas Stars organization as a scout during the 2006-07 season. Following that, he dipped his toes into a more executive role joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as a director of hockey administration, and ultimately as the associate general manager to Jim Rutherford during his tenure with Pittsburgh.
The Kraken hired former Utah Mammoth associate director of amateur scouting Ryan Jankowski to replace Botterill’s old role, Jankowski will be joining Ricky Olczyk and Alexandra Mandrycky as Seattle’s assistant general managers. He also served as a scout and assistant general manager of the New York Islanders, amateur scout for the Montreal Canadiens, and director of amateur scouting for the Buffalo Sabres. Prior to making the jump to the NHL, Jankowski held several roles with Hockey Canada and was a scout for the Western Hockey League Spokane Chiefs where he covered the entire Alberta province.
While the front office change was occurring, Seattle announced that they had relieved head coach Dan Bylsma of his coaching duties after only one season with the Kraken. He previously had been the head coach of AHL affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds from 2022-24 leading them to back-to-back Calder Cup finals. Seattle also relieved goaltending coach Steve Briere, with assistant coach Bob Woods and assistant coach Dave Lowry of their duties as the summer went on.
Following Bylsma’s departure, Seattle announced that they had found a new head coach in Lane Lambert. He comes from a long coaching career, having started in 2007 when he was hired as the head coach for the Milwaukee Admirals. Since then he has spent time coaching the Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Lambert spent just one season with the Maple Leafs before the Kraken chose him as their newest bench boss.
Lambert rounded out his coaching staff by retaining assistant coach Jessica Campbell and hiring former New Jersey Devils assistant coach Chris Taylor, former AHL Colorado Eagles head coach Aaron Schneekloth and former AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds goaltending coach Colin Zulianello. In addition to retaining Campbell, Seattle also retained video assistant coach Tim Ohashi and video analyst Brady Morgan.
General manager Jason Botterill promoted former player development consultant Cory Murphy to the director of player development and former player development staff member Justin Rai to the head of player strategy.
To recap
OUT/OLD ROLES:
Ron Francis – as general manager
Jason Botterill – as assistant general manager
Dan Bylsma – head coach
Steve Briere – goaltending coach
Bob Woods – assistant coach
Dave Lowry – assistant coach
IN/NEW ROLES:
Ron Francis – as team president
Jason Botteril – as general manager
Ryan Jankowski – assistant general manager
Lane Lambert – head coach
Chris Taylor – assistant coach
Aaron Schneekloth – assistant coach
Colin Zulianello – goaltending coach
Cory Murphy – director of player development
Justin Rai – head of player strategy
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