We begin a week-long examination of all facets of the Seattle Kraken franchise by starting at the top. Around the Davy Jones’ Locker Room roundtable are site contributors Zaiem Beg, Sky On Air, Emily Rupp, Allyson Ballard, and Glenn Dreyfuss.
Sky: Positives include the fact that they’ve got a building that is bleeding edge, the fact that they have been able to survive multiple years because this is a very expensive enterprise, the fact that the in-arena experience seems fantastic. And the fact that it seems like they have largely been able to keep out of the news cycle for as long as possible. The worst thing in the world that you can have in any sport, really, is ownership that’s in the news.
Em: You have owners (of other teams) who try to put themselves in places where they don’t need to be or owners that try to make it all about them or treat it as like, oh, this is a way for me to like be buddy, buddy with athletes. Our ownership has never really given any of those sorts of impressions.
Glenn: As part of a larger recent story assessing the best way forward for the Kraken, I wondered whether ownership last summer nudged, or maybe shoved, GM Ron Francis into moves which he admitted at the time went against his MO.
My prescription for ownership is a return to patience. (1) No more firings, if the purpose is primarily to show the appearance of action. (2) Let their hockey people do what hockey people do, until a highly promising crop of prospects are ready to join Kaapo Kakko, Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Ryker Evans, and Joey Daccord in bringing true contending hockey to Climate Pledge Arena.
Allyson: I know that there has been talk about to what extent they may have been involved in pushing Ron Francis to maybe make certain signings or spend money in a certain way. I don’t know how much that can all be verified. This organization tends to be so tight-lipped about things, and it’s very difficult for information to seep out to the public.
They hit all the right notes in terms of establishing a culture that’s very inclusive. What we can see in terms of the building and the culture and the news, all good.
Zaiem: I think it’s been fantastic. There’s a salary cap so they can only spend so much on the players. But there’s no salary cap for off-ice stuff. You have an ownership that’s willing to spend money, and signal in all these ways by having really nice facilities for the opposing team, so that they can come in and see like, “Hey, we should come here as a free agent.”
The game day experience is awesome. Colorado has had the team there for 30 years. When I was there for the 2022 Cup Finals, it was clear you’re in a high-stakes game, obviously. But it felt like this could be between any two teams in terms of atmosphere. When I go to a Kraken game, there is no mistaking the aggressive Seattle-ness. It leans so hard into the civic identity.
Most organists, they play the same songs over and over again. Benny Drawbars tries not to play the same song twice in a season. The music’s good. Everything is done with such purpose and so much thought put into it. They have really good people that have executed that vision so fully, and keep that brand identity strong. I’ve just been impressed with everything they’ve done, aside from the on-Ice product, which is its own thing and may or may not be ownership-influenced.
Allyson: The practice facility in Northgate (Kraken Community Iceplex) is really nice. I go to practices, I go to morning skates, and I’m also someone who grew up around Seattle. I think it’s important to realize that there are greater economic and cultural impacts to bringing a team here that benefits the neighborhood as a space that people live in. It’s just nice to see the Northgate Mall and that area being improved because of the facility that the team has brought and the way that they’re making that into a community space.
Zaiem: Also, how have we not talked about the broadcast team? What went into building the Avengers for the broadcast team? My favorite announcer for like 15 years was the guy in Carolina, John Forslund. Alison Lukan was my favorite writer. When The Athletic got rid of her, like, you idiots. Oh, Linda Cohn. “Yeah, sure, we’ll put in Linda Cohn.” JT Brown was such an interesting choice, because he was one who protested the national anthem, right? He was getting death threats. That is such a strong signal about the kind of commitment to diversity.
In part 2 of our DJLR roundtable Tuesday, we turn our attention to Kraken general manager Ron Francis.