Kraken fire Bylsma, Ronnie Franchise gets tagged

[Pokecheque]

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Bylsma out, Francis sent to some token "president" position, Jason Botterill takes over the front office.

Like I said elsewhere, this isn't entirely surprising, but I thought they'd give him at least part of next season.

Campbell stays. At least for now.

Botterill...I slagged that guy mercilessly when he was in Buffalo. I thought the Ryan O'Reilly trade was ridiculously lopsided, especially when he absorbed TWO bad contracts from St. Louis in order to facilitate it. But it turns out, he snagged the Swords a legit franchise center in Tage Thompson. One of those two bad contracts took care of itself too when Berglund jetted back to Sweden. And it's just hard to evaluate ANYONE'S tenure in Buffalo because, well, look at what all the players who have since left have gone on to do.

[E.L.]

Francis was a bad hire from the start. Too timid.

They’ve got potential up the middle but nothing else going on. We’ll see if they go younger or spend a lot on more vets who won’t move the needle.

Also time to buyout Grubbauer.

[E.L.]

Lane Lambert is the new coach in Seattle. Emerald City becoming the home of second chances. Chris may have some thoughts…

[Chris18]

Lane Lambert is the new coach in Seattle. Emerald City becoming the home of second chances. Chris may have some thoughts…

I hope he's learned to not wait so long to make changes. He seemed like a smart guy while he was AC for Trotz, but then, I could probably look like a good AC in Trotz's shadow. Or maybe it was Lou's shadow that Lambert couldn't get out from under. I just remember him always looking annoyed when they'd get scored on, but not saying a word to anyone about how it happened. Always just stared off with his chin lifted defiantly. Who are you unhappy with? Let the player know what they did wrong so maybe the same thing doesn't happen again.

I hope for his sake that this works out. I always find it hard to believe that anyone who makes it to the NHL in any capacity is just flat out bad at what they do, so I'm hoping there was some circumstance that really held him back with the Isles. I guess John MacLean didn't help him at all. He continued to not produce with Roy in front of him and is now available. Would be funny if Lambert brought him on as an assistant, but I doubt it.

I wish him luck.

[Chris18]

Lambert said Jess Campbell is staying and he's still "evaluating" the other coaches.

[Pokecheque]

Lambert said Jess Campbell is staying and he's still "evaluating" the other coaches.

I'm confident in saying the Kraks organization told him in no uncertain terms that she's not to be fired.

I feel bad for her, she's supposed to prove that she can run an NHL offense and what do they give her? One of the most inept offensive teams in the league. Their best player up front is probably Jared McCann, who is a pretty good player, but he should be by any means your BEST player.

Also, Lambert? Really?

[Chris18]

I'm interested to see how Lambert does.

Agreed about the PR of firing Campbell but she seems to be doing well for what she's got to work with.

[Pokecheque]

I'm interested to see how Lambert does.

Agreed about the PR of firing Campbell but she seems to be doing well for what she's got to work with.

It would be stupid beyond imagining to fire the first woman coach in NHL history after one season. Frankly it was dumb firing Bylsma after just one season, but I dunno, maybe a bunch of the players complained at their exit interviews.

I just wasn't impressed with Lambert, he seemed in over his head from the start in NY. Maybe he's learned since there, I guess we'll see. Regardless, the Kraken are a very meh team and Francis is a big reason why.

[Chris18]

Lambert seemed too timid to be a HC. He'd glare at the ceiling when they got scored on instead of teaching players where they went wrong. You don't need to embarrass players to teach them and a coach has to communicate. He didn't. Hopefully for their sake he's learned. If not, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

[E.L.]

This team needs to reset and rebuild for real, but they won't do it living in Vegas' shadow.