April 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Ron Francis, Kraken President of Hockey Operations joins Ian live to discuss his new role, the reason behind parting ways with Dan Bylsma and what he sees in the future of this team.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, I appreciate I appreciate the music. I appreciate the music.
Joyce Anders, thank you, welcome. I don't think this is
copyrighted if we're using it on the Kraken flagship radio station.
But that's the Krack and Hockey Network theme song done
by one Jerry Bruckheimer, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, not bad? Who was it done by Honzi? Yeah?
Well Bruckhimer a friend of Jerry, a friend of Jerry's exactly.
Ron Francis is sitting down with me here. The thirty
two Bar and Grill news conference is over. Change has
been made, and I wanted to sit down and have
a conversation with Ron and kind of go through everything.
First of all, I appreciate it coming bye, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
My pleasure, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's been I'm sure a little bit of a whirlwind
over the last few days. At the same time, decisions
that are made are significant, like your role, Jason's role,
and Dan being let go. I'm assuming those aren't done
in twenty four hours overnight. Correct.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, in the case of my role in Jason's Oh,
this is something that's been in talks for a well
over a year. You know, the timing of it maybe
not ideal, with the with the you know, the changing
of the coach the day before, but this is something
we've been talking about and you know, there's probably more
than a third of the league using this kind of
set up now. And talk to a lot of those
(01:18):
guys who have done it, they feel that it's really
beneficial and helping move their programs forward. And you know,
I look at Jason, He's had a ton of experiences
and sistant Jim been in the chair before, and you know,
I'm not getting any younger, and he is young and
got a lot more energy, and at some point he
was going to get a job someplace. So this made
(01:39):
perfect sense for us to transition him into this role.
And I'm excited to continue to work with him moving forward. Yeah,
that's uh.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And the conversations that are taking place between you and
Samantha and Todd and Victor and everybody else, and with
Jason involved, how much of it was, Hey, we have
this guy that's been here for a while now and
is probably going to be sought after by other teams.
We don't want to lose him. You want maybe do
some different things was that kind of what all went
(02:07):
into it.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I would say that's part of it, but I don't
think that was the sole reason. Right, You're not just
going to make a change because you're worried about losing
somebody kind of thing. So we talked about it kind
of where we were. You know, it sounds wrong to
say this, but there is more than enough work for
one guy to do. I mean, you look at our staff.
We have seventy people. When you start factoring the people
(02:30):
that work in the office, our R and D team,
our amateur staff or pro staff, our part development staff.
You know, you got coaches and trainers, and that doesn't
include probably about another seventy eighty players. So there's a
lot of people you're trying to manage and stay on
top of. And the word that some people said when
I talked to him in sort of researching this and
having discussions with our ownerships, it sort of stops from you,
(02:53):
stops you from taking shortcuts, right. You have the time
to dig in and do things the right way and properly.
And you know, so we feel, you know, with Jason
stepping in the gym chair, there's a lot of the
day to day stuff he'll deal with and then there's
a lot of other things that will keep me busy
and involve, which is what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Leader should point out too that in the organization itself,
others in upper management have moved around as well, right, Like,
this isn't unique just to the hockey side. I mean
Todd LAWICKI I don't know how many different titles he's
had since he came here. But and I say that
with all due respect, like Todd's you know, he's he's that.
Victor de Bonus came in in a some almost on
the business side, similar situation. Victor came in as kind
(03:33):
of maybe the Jason Baderel the business. As Todd's moved
up the ranks, it has more of a broader view
of things. So that's something the organization has done before,
even on the business side.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I know, it's definitely done on this. You know,
Todd one from president moved up and Victor stepped in
as president. You know, Samantha Holloway, our owner coming in
and spending you know, more days in the office and
being around that kind of shuffle things a little bit
too as well. And you know, like I said, this
has been prevalent around the league. I mean Vegas was
probably one of the first, was a long time ago,
and George McFee stepped up and gave it to Kelly mcrimmon.
(04:03):
And then probably the most recent is what happened in
Washington with Brian McClelland and Chris Patrick. So it's around.
I talked to a lot of different people and kind
of researching and talking about this and and our discussions.
We think it's going to help us move things forward,
and that's what we're excited about.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Vancouver does it too, right, They got Patrick glteen and
then Jim Rutherford.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so just they have it, Calgary, Toronto, There's there's
a lot of this.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So this is in a lot of ways in North Ado. Yeah,
for what are you looking forward to doing next, Like
in terms of this new rule, what are the things
that maybe you didn't have time for before that you
feel I can really help move this organization faster forward,
Like you said, some of the things that you kind
of look forward to doing in the spring, in the
summer of the fall.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, you know, I think one of my strongest suits
is is being able to watch players and make a
quick assessment on who they are and what they are
capable of. And you know, the press conference is today.
I want to fight to for the U eighteen tournament.
That's going a lot of kids in this year's drafts.
So with the amount of picks we have, it's important
to do there. Get my eyes on that. See that
(05:08):
might not have been something I could do for you know,
an extended period of time in the past where I
might be watching one video other things, but see them
live I think is valuable. I can get the Coachella Valley.
I can spend time with our prospects there. I can
get on the road with our amateur staff or our
pro staff and help in regards to draft eligible guys,
whether it's free agents, trade possibilities. I can get on
(05:28):
the road with our player development staff and kind of
look and assess the players that we have. And you know,
it's such a critical part of the process to make
sure that we're getting those decisions quick as we can
and as accurate as we can, so we make decisions right.
Is this somebody we want to keep? Is it somebody
we want to move in a deal? So those are
all important things, and just even with our own team here,
(05:50):
like you know, you walk into the room as the GM,
and everybody kind of hesitates a little bit, you know.
And if I don't have that title, I can, you know,
have those conversations with Matty Benier's or Shane Right or
Rik or Evans, and you know when burke to the
catens here, have those conversations and try and mentor these
young kids to get them to where we wanted to
(06:10):
get to a quicker.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Hopefully the guys that sit in your role, whether it
be GM or President, inherently probably also are scouts at
hard right, Like and you mentioned it, I mean, I'm
sure there's a number of times, especially now that you've
got this, you know, we're four years into it. We
have this pool of players just in our area. You've
got two kids up in Everett, you got a kid
(06:32):
in Spokane, you got a kid in Portland. I'm sure
there's a lot of nights you say it'd be great
to jump up to Everett or down to show where,
maybe take a quick flight over to Spokane to watch
Berkeley and what have you. You probably didn't have that
opportunity before, and now you can, Like you said, watching
them in person tells you a lot more, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It does tell you a lot more. I mean, we
do have the capability and the access to watch anybody
who wants shifts on video. As soon as their game
is done, we can pretty much start watching it. So
that is a valuable tool. But I think getting up
out in the in the field live and watching things
kind of where I cut my teeth in the business too.
I started in player development and then progress through that
(07:07):
up the ranks to assistant gym and coaching and finally
a GM. So I that's something that I enjoy. It's
something that I enjoy being a part of. You know,
it's interesting my boys are in the organization, so I
get to go sit and watch a hockey game with
my son and talk about what he sees and what
I see and how that works, and so I I,
you know, I'm excited about that part. You know, in
(07:30):
my relationship with Jason's it's not like I'm saying, hey,
good luck, see you later. You know, we'll have those discussions,
the hard discussions on players, and you know, we're not
always going to agree, and that's that's good, right. We
shouldn't agree on everything, but we're going to have those
discussions and we'll work well together to make sure that
we do everything we possibly can to continue to improve
(07:50):
the Crackit organization.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Ron Francis here with us run in this market. A
lot of our listeners are you know, most of the
listeners are probably baseball marinor fans as well. Mayers have
a similar set up different sports somewhere, set up the
Adrea Boto and then they got Justin Hollander. We all
believe that the buck stops with Jerry, not Justin. Justin
still he's named GM, but kind of an assistant GM.
What about in this organization? What what kind of responsibility
(08:14):
and final decision making does Justin have compared to Ron Francis.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's funny you brought up Jerry because we're good friends,
and he sent me a text today saying regrets in
the president, and I said, I just want to be
like you, buddy, But yeah, I no, you know, we
had this discussion. We had it with with Jason, we
had it with ownership. I strongly believe before asking Jason
to sit in the chair and handle the day to
day operations that people have to know that he has
(08:38):
final say if he goes in the locker room. Players
have to know that. You know, staff has to know that.
So we will have the discussions, and you know he
will he will have those conversations with me because I
believe he values my opinion and uh, but at the
end of the day, if I'm asking him to sit
in the chair, he has to have the ability to
make the call that he thinks his best for the organization.
(09:01):
And I think that's the only only right way to
do it for us.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
The last big move that you made, obviously before moving
to the new role, was you were the one that
let Dan Biles might go. What went into that decision?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, I mean it's that's never easy. Dan is a
terrific person. You know, he and Mary Beth have done
so much for this organization. You know, he was here
for one year, but he was with us for four, right.
You know, people sometimes forget that and just terrific people
and I can't say enough good things about who they
are and wishing all the best. You know, sometimes you
(09:34):
have to make tough decisions. When we went into the season,
I had expectations for our team, you know, I thought
we could play a certain way. A lot of nights
I wasn't comfortable with what I saw, whether it was
a structure in the D zone or new to zone,
or little details that I think maybe I think we
should have been more on top of our capable of doing.
(09:57):
And at the end of the day, I I feel
our team is better than we performed this year. And
the easy thing would have been to say, hey, all right,
you know what didn't go well this year, Let's let's
give it another season. Let's see what happens next year.
The hard decision is to do the one we did,
because you know, he was on the job for one year.
(10:17):
One year, so you know, I just felt it was
the decision we had to make to move us forward.
You know, Jason and I talked about this. We're in
agreement on it, and you know, we don't have a
guy who we say, hey, this is our replacement right now.
There's going to take time to go through that process.
But we just felt based on how this season went
(10:41):
and where we were at, we wanted to make a
change and try something different moving forward.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You can't make that move without the support of ownership
because you have to go back and say, hey, Sam,
we we need to hire another coach. We'll have effectively
three coaches on the payroll. Least for one year. Three
head coaches. Not every ownership group, not every organization would
say go for it if you think this is the
right move. So what does that say about the ownership?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
What was that conversation like, yeah, I mean, listen, it's
never a fun conversation to go tell them we're gonna
have more money to the payroll. But from day one,
our ownership is and I've said this, they've been fantastic.
And you know, in building our rink there was probably
areas they could have cut corners on and they said no.
I remember one thing we were talking about the sweets
(11:27):
and Bondo didn't like it, and he brought in Rockwell
and they said, what is this going to cost us more?
And they said something like thirty million dollars and he said,
we haven't cut corners now, we're not going to stop.
He wanted it done right. Same thing with our practice facility.
You know, I still think it's the best in the league.
The way we treat our players and their families, the
way we travel, where we stay on the road is
(11:48):
all first class. They don't cut corners. They want to
do it right and they want to be successful. And
at the end of the day they want to win,
So it's not an easy conversation to have, but they're
firmly behind trying to get this thing right and and
win hockey games, and and that's why they're willing to
make make the agree and make the hard decisions like
(12:10):
we had to make the other day.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I know it's kind of adjacent question, but what do
you think the timeline is on a coach? Would you
like one before the draft?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah? I think we should have one, hopefully before the draft.
I mean, there's so many things that go into it, right,
you know, is is the person you know yet to
be fired? Is the person already fired? You need permission
for teams to talk to players, if or to coaches.
If you know somebody is on somebody else's staff, you
(12:37):
have to wait and and see how their things go.
It could be at the NHL level, could be the
HL level. You know, the coaches are all done now
in college you can look at that, and junior some
of them are still playing. So there's there's a lot
of things a factor into your decision. But you know,
we've already worked on a list that we think, uh,
you know, has has some real good names on it.
And we'll work through that list uh as quickly as
(13:00):
we can and make the right decision for the organization.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Just prior NHL head coaching experience. Is that a necessity
or not? I don't think it's a necessity, you know.
I you know, a good friend of mine is all famous,
and I remember having a conversation with him and he said,
everybody tells me I got no head coaching experience. And
he said, but nobody will give me a job to
be a head coach. How do I get that experience?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So, you know, I think having head coaching experience somewhere
is valuable, whether that's at the American League level, or
college level or junior level. I think being in charge
and showing what you can do when you're in charge
is important. But I don't think necessarily having to have
NHL head coaching experience as a deal worker or not.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
What will they inherit the new head coach with this
hockey team.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, you know, I think we have a good team.
I think we've got some good veteran pieces, some core pieces.
We've got some real good young talent in our lineup
that we're expecting to take another step moving forward next year.
You know, we forget sometimes how young they are. Veneers
just turned twenty two this year, Shane Wright just turned
twenty one, and they're playing a tough position in center
(14:05):
than the National Hockey League, you know, rikers, young ties, young,
you know, Coco really and all things that. We've got
a lot of young players that need to take steps.
We've got a lot of good pieces that are going
to push in training camp. So getting you know, the
coach to understand that and what we have and and
help make those assessments and and you know, willing to
(14:27):
work with those guys and continue to develop them because
we think those are key pieces for us moving forward
and taking steps as an organization. So he's going to
step into an ownership group and a management team that's
going to support him. He's going to have top notch facilities,
and he's going to have players that want to win
and be successful. So we think there's a lot to
(14:49):
like about this situation and this opportunity. And I'm sure
somebody will feel the same way that we hire.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Do you think I mean? But no, stay income tax
it helps.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Too, That doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, I think that's when people tend to forget sometimes
no state income tax here for players or coaches coming in. Yeah,
I mean young guys assuming you know, the Kappo Coco
comes back and the you know, the newman. It's gonna
probably take that step next year. I mean, what we
saw from him looks like he's real close. I know
you've told us before on TV and radio that Berkeley's
going to be here probably the start of the season
and some young guys pushing some guys trades free. You
(15:20):
can see all that stuff that Jason's gonna worry about
with your help and the and the offseason comes into play.
The one thing I'd wonder is, and we've it's been
brought up a few times, three coaches in three years
or three and five, how we want to look at it.
Do you think that's a detriment. I think that worries
anybody that would want to come and take this job.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I think there's thirty two coaching jobs in the National
Hockey League. If somebody gets the opportunity, you're going to
be excited about it. And we will have those discussions
behind closed doors as to why we made the changes
and what we're looking for. And I don't think that
will be an issue or stop somebody from from taking
the opportunity here.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Where do you think we're going to be with this
team a year from now? Do you think we'll be
watching games on TV with other teams? Or do you
think this team can be a playoff team next year?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Run no, listen. I firmly believed going into this season
this is the best team we had. I firmly believe
that we were capable of playing in the playoffs. You know,
I can't sit here and say it was injuries per
se we had. I think we had one hundred and
fifty some last year. This piece season, we had like
one hundred and twenty, So it was less injuries. We
did have some key ones. Obviously, losing Epps for forty games,
(16:21):
your captain, your voice in the locker room makes it
more challenging. Losing one of your top defensemen and done
for six weeks makes it challenging. Johanni Gord for two
months before we traded him. Those hurt Joey, Yeah, Joey
first stretch, so you know, even Grooby for a little bit.
And we've had a lot of things and everybody deals
with that. So that's that's not an excuse, but I
(16:42):
firmly believe that we are capable of challenging to be
a playoff team, and that's the first step getting in.
But then we need to do it year after year
and being consistent and continue to build them what we
have and that's how you build a championship team.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
In the end, as you look back on your four
years as the gentleman manager before moving to the president's
role four years a GM, what are you most proud of?
What do you like? What do you what do you
look back and say, this is this is what I
really want to look at. I mean, and there's wins
and losses of playoff appearance things like that, but what
what are you most proud of? What you accomplished here
in four years?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You know, I think I think probably the people we
brought in and how we've built this and and we
did it all. I mean, nobody saw COVID coming, you
know some of the stories, you know, sitting in my
office and looking at paint and tiles and carpet samples
and trying to design a locker room or building downtown
(17:38):
with our locker room at CPA and here trying to
hire people to work for this organization and a lot
of times not being able to travel to meet them
face to face, having to do that via zoom or
via phone. And I'm really proud of the people we have.
I'm really proud of what we've built. I think we're
closer than some people think after this season, and you know,
(17:59):
I'm excited and looking forward to to proving that statement true.
And I didn't come here. I didn't move my family
across the country to come here not to succeed. And
that's still my goal. I want this organization to be
successful and I want to be a part of it
when it is.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I will say this, I'm glad you brought the COVID
because I was going to do that. I you know,
having been with the team on the road for a
few games the first year, when ever it was sick
and some other things happened. Knowing the challenges once the
season started, with the end towards the tail end of COVID,
I can't even fathom what it was like putting everything
together before that and then running a hockey team in COVID,
(18:37):
people having to get tested in masks and all the things,
the challenges you had, that was a remarkable accomplishment, just
to get through the season as a new team. And
I mean that that to me jumps out, because that
was it's one thing to challenge to the challenge to
start an expansion team and hire everybody from scratch, every
interview being done on zoom and everything else. That's that's
a remarkable thing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, I know it was. I mean, you know, and
you couldn't go out. We weren't allowed into the bubble
to scout because we weren't a team yet, so we
couldn't go in. We had to watch our games on
TV to scout leading up to the expansion until it
loosened up a little bit. You know, we built labs
in the locker room here and at CPA. Guys came
to the rink every day, had to get tested, go back,
(19:18):
sitting in their car, wait for a result. If it
was green, they were able to come in and practice.
If it was red, they'd do a second test, go
sit in the car. If that one was still negative,
they had to go home. You know, we probably spent
a half a million dollars in just COVID testing that
one season. And I can tell you that if the
league had not shut down for those few days between
Christmas in January. I don't think we had enough healthy
(19:40):
players to put in a lineup for a couple of
those games between who we had going on here and
what we had going on in the minors. So it
was an interesting challenge, not something I want to have
to go through again, but you know, we went through it.
Like I said, we have good people. They care and
and you know we're all in this together to build
a win team and that's what our goal is.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, and we'll still see you around, still busy doing
what you want to do. Dement.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You won't get rid of me that easy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I'll be around you know what you have to do
more TV with us next year, I'll be happy to.
Ben'll probably Ben will probably change you down for radio
as well. So just just to know all those things.
I appreciate the last four years as a GM. Looking
forward to working with and meeting Jason as well. But
appreciate all you've done too here in Seattle my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I appreciate everything you've done for us, and uh, I
really enjoyed watching on our broadcast this year. So well,
there's any success.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
There, there's one bummer, there's one.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
You yeah, you know what, I'm not going to be
shut out.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I like that you have to start some place.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I'm not even sure if my wife voted for me,
all right, that is Ron Francis
Well, I appreciate I appreciate the music. I appreciate the music.
Joyce Anders, thank you, welcome. I don't think this is
copyrighted if we're using it on the Kraken flagship radio station.
But that's the Krack and Hockey Network theme song done
by one Jerry Bruckheimer, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, not bad? Who was it done by Honzi? Yeah?
Well Bruckhimer a friend of Jerry, a friend of Jerry's exactly.
Ron Francis is sitting down with me here. The thirty
two Bar and Grill news conference is over. Change has
been made, and I wanted to sit down and have
a conversation with Ron and kind of go through everything.
First of all, I appreciate it coming bye, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
My pleasure, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It's been I'm sure a little bit of a whirlwind
over the last few days. At the same time, decisions
that are made are significant, like your role, Jason's role,
and Dan being let go. I'm assuming those aren't done
in twenty four hours overnight. Correct.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, in the case of my role in Jason's Oh,
this is something that's been in talks for a well
over a year. You know, the timing of it maybe
not ideal, with the with the you know, the changing
of the coach the day before, but this is something
we've been talking about and you know, there's probably more
than a third of the league using this kind of
set up now. And talk to a lot of those
(01:18):
guys who have done it, they feel that it's really
beneficial and helping move their programs forward. And you know,
I look at Jason, He's had a ton of experiences
and sistant Jim been in the chair before, and you know,
I'm not getting any younger, and he is young and
got a lot more energy, and at some point he
was going to get a job someplace. So this made
(01:39):
perfect sense for us to transition him into this role.
And I'm excited to continue to work with him moving forward. Yeah,
that's uh.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And the conversations that are taking place between you and
Samantha and Todd and Victor and everybody else, and with
Jason involved, how much of it was, Hey, we have
this guy that's been here for a while now and
is probably going to be sought after by other teams.
We don't want to lose him. You want maybe do
some different things was that kind of what all went
(02:07):
into it.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I would say that's part of it, but I don't
think that was the sole reason. Right, You're not just
going to make a change because you're worried about losing
somebody kind of thing. So we talked about it kind
of where we were. You know, it sounds wrong to
say this, but there is more than enough work for
one guy to do. I mean, you look at our staff.
We have seventy people. When you start factoring the people
(02:30):
that work in the office, our R and D team,
our amateur staff or pro staff, our part development staff.
You know, you got coaches and trainers, and that doesn't
include probably about another seventy eighty players. So there's a
lot of people you're trying to manage and stay on
top of. And the word that some people said when
I talked to him in sort of researching this and
having discussions with our ownerships, it sort of stops from you,
(02:53):
stops you from taking shortcuts, right. You have the time
to dig in and do things the right way and properly.
And you know, so we feel, you know, with Jason
stepping in the gym chair, there's a lot of the
day to day stuff he'll deal with and then there's
a lot of other things that will keep me busy
and involve, which is what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Leader should point out too that in the organization itself,
others in upper management have moved around as well, right, Like,
this isn't unique just to the hockey side. I mean
Todd LAWICKI I don't know how many different titles he's
had since he came here. But and I say that
with all due respect, like Todd's you know, he's he's that.
Victor de Bonus came in in a some almost on
the business side, similar situation. Victor came in as kind
(03:33):
of maybe the Jason Baderel the business. As Todd's moved
up the ranks, it has more of a broader view
of things. So that's something the organization has done before,
even on the business side.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I know, it's definitely done on this. You know,
Todd one from president moved up and Victor stepped in
as president. You know, Samantha Holloway, our owner coming in
and spending you know, more days in the office and
being around that kind of shuffle things a little bit
too as well. And you know, like I said, this
has been prevalent around the league. I mean Vegas was
probably one of the first, was a long time ago,
and George McFee stepped up and gave it to Kelly mcrimmon.
(04:03):
And then probably the most recent is what happened in
Washington with Brian McClelland and Chris Patrick. So it's around.
I talked to a lot of different people and kind
of researching and talking about this and and our discussions.
We think it's going to help us move things forward,
and that's what we're excited about.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Vancouver does it too, right, They got Patrick glteen and
then Jim Rutherford.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, so just they have it, Calgary, Toronto, There's there's
a lot of this.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So this is in a lot of ways in North Ado. Yeah,
for what are you looking forward to doing next, Like
in terms of this new rule, what are the things
that maybe you didn't have time for before that you
feel I can really help move this organization faster forward,
Like you said, some of the things that you kind
of look forward to doing in the spring, in the
summer of the fall.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, you know, I think one of my strongest suits
is is being able to watch players and make a
quick assessment on who they are and what they are
capable of. And you know, the press conference is today.
I want to fight to for the U eighteen tournament.
That's going a lot of kids in this year's drafts.
So with the amount of picks we have, it's important
to do there. Get my eyes on that. See that
(05:08):
might not have been something I could do for you know,
an extended period of time in the past where I
might be watching one video other things, but see them
live I think is valuable. I can get the Coachella Valley.
I can spend time with our prospects there. I can
get on the road with our amateur staff or our
pro staff and help in regards to draft eligible guys,
whether it's free agents, trade possibilities. I can get on
(05:28):
the road with our player development staff and kind of
look and assess the players that we have. And you know,
it's such a critical part of the process to make
sure that we're getting those decisions quick as we can
and as accurate as we can, so we make decisions right.
Is this somebody we want to keep? Is it somebody
we want to move in a deal? So those are
all important things, and just even with our own team here,
(05:50):
like you know, you walk into the room as the GM,
and everybody kind of hesitates a little bit, you know.
And if I don't have that title, I can, you know,
have those conversations with Matty Benier's or Shane Right or
Rik or Evans, and you know when burke to the
catens here, have those conversations and try and mentor these
young kids to get them to where we wanted to
(06:10):
get to a quicker.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Hopefully the guys that sit in your role, whether it
be GM or President, inherently probably also are scouts at
hard right, Like and you mentioned it, I mean, I'm
sure there's a number of times, especially now that you've
got this, you know, we're four years into it. We
have this pool of players just in our area. You've
got two kids up in Everett, you got a kid
(06:32):
in Spokane, you got a kid in Portland. I'm sure
there's a lot of nights you say it'd be great
to jump up to Everett or down to show where,
maybe take a quick flight over to Spokane to watch
Berkeley and what have you. You probably didn't have that
opportunity before, and now you can, Like you said, watching
them in person tells you a lot more, doesn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It does tell you a lot more. I mean, we
do have the capability and the access to watch anybody
who wants shifts on video. As soon as their game
is done, we can pretty much start watching it. So
that is a valuable tool. But I think getting up
out in the in the field live and watching things
kind of where I cut my teeth in the business too.
I started in player development and then progress through that
(07:07):
up the ranks to assistant gym and coaching and finally
a GM. So I that's something that I enjoy. It's
something that I enjoy being a part of. You know,
it's interesting my boys are in the organization, so I
get to go sit and watch a hockey game with
my son and talk about what he sees and what
I see and how that works, and so I I,
you know, I'm excited about that part. You know, in
(07:30):
my relationship with Jason's it's not like I'm saying, hey,
good luck, see you later. You know, we'll have those discussions,
the hard discussions on players, and you know, we're not
always going to agree, and that's that's good, right. We
shouldn't agree on everything, but we're going to have those
discussions and we'll work well together to make sure that
we do everything we possibly can to continue to improve
(07:50):
the Crackit organization.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Ron Francis here with us run in this market. A
lot of our listeners are you know, most of the
listeners are probably baseball marinor fans as well. Mayers have
a similar set up different sports somewhere, set up the
Adrea Boto and then they got Justin Hollander. We all
believe that the buck stops with Jerry, not Justin. Justin
still he's named GM, but kind of an assistant GM.
What about in this organization? What what kind of responsibility
(08:14):
and final decision making does Justin have compared to Ron Francis.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's funny you brought up Jerry because we're good friends,
and he sent me a text today saying regrets in
the president, and I said, I just want to be
like you, buddy, But yeah, I no, you know, we
had this discussion. We had it with with Jason, we
had it with ownership. I strongly believe before asking Jason
to sit in the chair and handle the day to
day operations that people have to know that he has
(08:38):
final say if he goes in the locker room. Players
have to know that. You know, staff has to know that.
So we will have the discussions, and you know he
will he will have those conversations with me because I
believe he values my opinion and uh, but at the
end of the day, if I'm asking him to sit
in the chair, he has to have the ability to
make the call that he thinks his best for the organization.
(09:01):
And I think that's the only only right way to
do it for us.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
The last big move that you made, obviously before moving
to the new role, was you were the one that
let Dan Biles might go. What went into that decision?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, I mean it's that's never easy. Dan is a
terrific person. You know, he and Mary Beth have done
so much for this organization. You know, he was here
for one year, but he was with us for four, right.
You know, people sometimes forget that and just terrific people
and I can't say enough good things about who they
are and wishing all the best. You know, sometimes you
(09:34):
have to make tough decisions. When we went into the season,
I had expectations for our team, you know, I thought
we could play a certain way. A lot of nights
I wasn't comfortable with what I saw, whether it was
a structure in the D zone or new to zone,
or little details that I think maybe I think we
should have been more on top of our capable of doing.
(09:57):
And at the end of the day, I I feel
our team is better than we performed this year. And
the easy thing would have been to say, hey, all right,
you know what didn't go well this year, Let's let's
give it another season. Let's see what happens next year.
The hard decision is to do the one we did,
because you know, he was on the job for one year.
(10:17):
One year, so you know, I just felt it was
the decision we had to make to move us forward.
You know, Jason and I talked about this. We're in
agreement on it, and you know, we don't have a
guy who we say, hey, this is our replacement right now.
There's going to take time to go through that process.
But we just felt based on how this season went
(10:41):
and where we were at, we wanted to make a
change and try something different moving forward.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You can't make that move without the support of ownership
because you have to go back and say, hey, Sam,
we we need to hire another coach. We'll have effectively
three coaches on the payroll. Least for one year. Three
head coaches. Not every ownership group, not every organization would
say go for it if you think this is the
right move. So what does that say about the ownership?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
What was that conversation like, yeah, I mean, listen, it's
never a fun conversation to go tell them we're gonna
have more money to the payroll. But from day one,
our ownership is and I've said this, they've been fantastic.
And you know, in building our rink there was probably
areas they could have cut corners on and they said no.
I remember one thing we were talking about the sweets
(11:27):
and Bondo didn't like it, and he brought in Rockwell
and they said, what is this going to cost us more?
And they said something like thirty million dollars and he said,
we haven't cut corners now, we're not going to stop.
He wanted it done right. Same thing with our practice facility.
You know, I still think it's the best in the league.
The way we treat our players and their families, the
way we travel, where we stay on the road is
(11:48):
all first class. They don't cut corners. They want to
do it right and they want to be successful. And
at the end of the day they want to win,
So it's not an easy conversation to have, but they're
firmly behind trying to get this thing right and and
win hockey games, and and that's why they're willing to
make make the agree and make the hard decisions like
(12:10):
we had to make the other day.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I know it's kind of adjacent question, but what do
you think the timeline is on a coach? Would you
like one before the draft?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah? I think we should have one, hopefully before the draft.
I mean, there's so many things that go into it, right,
you know, is is the person you know yet to
be fired? Is the person already fired? You need permission
for teams to talk to players, if or to coaches.
If you know somebody is on somebody else's staff, you
(12:37):
have to wait and and see how their things go.
It could be at the NHL level, could be the
HL level. You know, the coaches are all done now
in college you can look at that, and junior some
of them are still playing. So there's there's a lot
of things a factor into your decision. But you know,
we've already worked on a list that we think, uh,
you know, has has some real good names on it.
And we'll work through that list uh as quickly as
(13:00):
we can and make the right decision for the organization.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Just prior NHL head coaching experience. Is that a necessity
or not? I don't think it's a necessity, you know.
I you know, a good friend of mine is all famous,
and I remember having a conversation with him and he said,
everybody tells me I got no head coaching experience. And
he said, but nobody will give me a job to
be a head coach. How do I get that experience?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So, you know, I think having head coaching experience somewhere
is valuable, whether that's at the American League level, or
college level or junior level. I think being in charge
and showing what you can do when you're in charge
is important. But I don't think necessarily having to have
NHL head coaching experience as a deal worker or not.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
What will they inherit the new head coach with this
hockey team.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, you know, I think we have a good team.
I think we've got some good veteran pieces, some core pieces.
We've got some real good young talent in our lineup
that we're expecting to take another step moving forward next year.
You know, we forget sometimes how young they are. Veneers
just turned twenty two this year, Shane Wright just turned
twenty one, and they're playing a tough position in center
(14:05):
than the National Hockey League, you know, rikers, young ties, young,
you know, Coco really and all things that. We've got
a lot of young players that need to take steps.
We've got a lot of good pieces that are going
to push in training camp. So getting you know, the
coach to understand that and what we have and and
help make those assessments and and you know, willing to
(14:27):
work with those guys and continue to develop them because
we think those are key pieces for us moving forward
and taking steps as an organization. So he's going to
step into an ownership group and a management team that's
going to support him. He's going to have top notch facilities,
and he's going to have players that want to win
and be successful. So we think there's a lot to
(14:49):
like about this situation and this opportunity. And I'm sure
somebody will feel the same way that we hire.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Do you think I mean? But no, stay income tax
it helps.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Too, That doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, I think that's when people tend to forget sometimes
no state income tax here for players or coaches coming in. Yeah,
I mean young guys assuming you know, the Kappo Coco
comes back and the you know, the newman. It's gonna
probably take that step next year. I mean, what we
saw from him looks like he's real close. I know
you've told us before on TV and radio that Berkeley's
going to be here probably the start of the season
and some young guys pushing some guys trades free. You
(15:20):
can see all that stuff that Jason's gonna worry about
with your help and the and the offseason comes into play.
The one thing I'd wonder is, and we've it's been
brought up a few times, three coaches in three years
or three and five, how we want to look at it.
Do you think that's a detriment. I think that worries
anybody that would want to come and take this job.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
I think there's thirty two coaching jobs in the National
Hockey League. If somebody gets the opportunity, you're going to
be excited about it. And we will have those discussions
behind closed doors as to why we made the changes
and what we're looking for. And I don't think that
will be an issue or stop somebody from from taking
the opportunity here.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Where do you think we're going to be with this
team a year from now? Do you think we'll be
watching games on TV with other teams? Or do you
think this team can be a playoff team next year?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Run no, listen. I firmly believed going into this season
this is the best team we had. I firmly believe
that we were capable of playing in the playoffs. You know,
I can't sit here and say it was injuries per
se we had. I think we had one hundred and
fifty some last year. This piece season, we had like
one hundred and twenty, So it was less injuries. We
did have some key ones. Obviously, losing Epps for forty games,
(16:21):
your captain, your voice in the locker room makes it
more challenging. Losing one of your top defensemen and done
for six weeks makes it challenging. Johanni Gord for two
months before we traded him. Those hurt Joey, Yeah, Joey
first stretch, so you know, even Grooby for a little bit.
And we've had a lot of things and everybody deals
with that. So that's that's not an excuse, but I
(16:42):
firmly believe that we are capable of challenging to be
a playoff team, and that's the first step getting in.
But then we need to do it year after year
and being consistent and continue to build them what we
have and that's how you build a championship team.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
In the end, as you look back on your four
years as the gentleman manager before moving to the president's
role four years a GM, what are you most proud of?
What do you like? What do you what do you
look back and say, this is this is what I
really want to look at. I mean, and there's wins
and losses of playoff appearance things like that, but what
what are you most proud of? What you accomplished here
in four years?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You know, I think I think probably the people we
brought in and how we've built this and and we
did it all. I mean, nobody saw COVID coming, you
know some of the stories, you know, sitting in my
office and looking at paint and tiles and carpet samples
and trying to design a locker room or building downtown
(17:38):
with our locker room at CPA and here trying to
hire people to work for this organization and a lot
of times not being able to travel to meet them
face to face, having to do that via zoom or
via phone. And I'm really proud of the people we have.
I'm really proud of what we've built. I think we're
closer than some people think after this season, and you know,
(17:59):
I'm excited and looking forward to to proving that statement true.
And I didn't come here. I didn't move my family
across the country to come here not to succeed. And
that's still my goal. I want this organization to be
successful and I want to be a part of it
when it is.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I will say this, I'm glad you brought the COVID
because I was going to do that. I you know,
having been with the team on the road for a
few games the first year, when ever it was sick
and some other things happened. Knowing the challenges once the
season started, with the end towards the tail end of COVID,
I can't even fathom what it was like putting everything
together before that and then running a hockey team in COVID,
(18:37):
people having to get tested in masks and all the things,
the challenges you had, that was a remarkable accomplishment, just
to get through the season as a new team. And
I mean that that to me jumps out, because that
was it's one thing to challenge to the challenge to
start an expansion team and hire everybody from scratch, every
interview being done on zoom and everything else. That's that's
a remarkable thing.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, I know it was. I mean, you know, and
you couldn't go out. We weren't allowed into the bubble
to scout because we weren't a team yet, so we
couldn't go in. We had to watch our games on
TV to scout leading up to the expansion until it
loosened up a little bit. You know, we built labs
in the locker room here and at CPA. Guys came
to the rink every day, had to get tested, go back,
(19:18):
sitting in their car, wait for a result. If it
was green, they were able to come in and practice.
If it was red, they'd do a second test, go
sit in the car. If that one was still negative,
they had to go home. You know, we probably spent
a half a million dollars in just COVID testing that
one season. And I can tell you that if the
league had not shut down for those few days between
Christmas in January. I don't think we had enough healthy
(19:40):
players to put in a lineup for a couple of
those games between who we had going on here and
what we had going on in the minors. So it
was an interesting challenge, not something I want to have
to go through again, but you know, we went through it.
Like I said, we have good people. They care and
and you know we're all in this together to build
a win team and that's what our goal is.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, and we'll still see you around, still busy doing
what you want to do. Dement.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You won't get rid of me that easy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
I'll be around you know what you have to do
more TV with us next year, I'll be happy to.
Ben'll probably Ben will probably change you down for radio
as well. So just just to know all those things.
I appreciate the last four years as a GM. Looking
forward to working with and meeting Jason as well. But
appreciate all you've done too here in Seattle my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I appreciate everything you've done for us, and uh, I
really enjoyed watching on our broadcast this year. So well,
there's any success.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
There, there's one bummer, there's one.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
You yeah, you know what, I'm not going to be
shut out.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I like that you have to start some place.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I'm not even sure if my wife voted for me,
all right, that is Ron Francis
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