Kraken fire coach Dan Bylsma and reportedly will reassign GM Ron Francis

For the second consecutive year, as the Stanley Cup playoffs surge on, the Kraken are on the outside and looking for a coach. They also will have a new general manager, according to a report.

After just one year in charge, the Kraken fired coach Dan Bylsma on Monday. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the firing, which was confirmed by the Kraken in a team statement.

“We thank Dan for his commitment and the energy he brought to our organization over the past four years at the NHL and AHL levels,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said in the statement. “After a thorough review of the season and our expectations for next year and beyond, we’ve made the difficult decision to move in a different direction behind the bench. Dan is a great person and a respected coach. He played an important role in the development of many of our young prospects and was a big part of our early success in Coachella Valley. We sincerely wish him and his family nothing but success moving forward.”

Though the team statement referred to Francis as the GM, NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek reported that the team is “preparing to elevate [assistant general manager] Jason Botterill to the GM position. The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reported that job was team president.

Assistant coach Jessica Campbell, who last year became the NHL’s first on-ice female coach, is being retained.

Bylsma coached the Kraken’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, to back-to-back Calder Cup finals appearances before he was promoted. He replaced Dave Hakstol, a coach of the year finalist the prior season in Seattle.

The Kraken (35-41-6) finished below where they did Hakstol’s third and final season. They dropped five standings points to 76, 20 behind of the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. In Bylsma’s aggressive system, the Kraken scored more goals, but also allowed more — an average of 3.20 per game, ninth-most in the NHL.

Bylsma won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. This was his third NHL head-coaching job and first since a brief stint coaching the Buffalo Sabres from 2015-17. His is part of a cluster of head coach firings by teams that missed the postseason. On Saturday, the Anaheim Ducks let go of Greg Cronin and the New York Rangers dismissed Peter Laviolette.

The Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers ended the season with interim coaches. Bylsma is the eighth fired this season overall.

This isn’t a role with job security. There are only 10 coaches in the NHL who have surpassed the two-year mark, and that number could soon become nine. On Monday, Vancouver Canucks president hockey of operations Jim Rutherford announced that the team won’t exercise its option for Rick Tocchet, adding that the organization offered a new, more lucrative contract for him to remain in Vancouver. But he’s also free to join another team. The Canucks also missed the playoffs.

Botterill, 48, appeared in 88 NHL games. He was a longtime assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins and GM of their AHL affiliate. He was the general manager of the Sabres for three seasons and fired in 2020 before joining the Kraken organization about six months later, before their inaugural season.

This story will be updated.