Botterill Isn't Sweating the Audit, and That's the Whole Point

Seattle's got questions. Three straight years out of the playoffs will do that to a franchise. So on Wednesday, Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke announced the team is hunting for an outside firm to dig into how things got here, what went wrong, and where to go next. But here's the thing: GM Jason Botterill isn't fighting it. He's all in on it.

"He's not threatened by it, he's encouraging it," Leiweke said of Botterill, who took over as sole decision-maker after Ron Francis stepped down from his role as president of hockey operations. "The report will land on the owner's desk. And it's really not going to look just at the near term."

Looking Back Five Years, Not Just This Season

This isn't some quick fix report. Leiweke made clear the audit will dig into the Kraken's entire five-year history since joining the league. That's a long look in the mirror. And when you've only made the playoffs once in that stretch, there's plenty to examine.

The Kraken know exactly where one problem sits: they couldn't score. This season, Seattle ranked fifth-fewest in goals across the league. Not fifth-best in their division. Fifth-fewest in the entire NHL. No single player even cracked 55 points. Captain Jordan Eberle led the team with 26 goals, which tells you everything about the offensive drought.

Offense Is the Target, But Defense Matters Too

Botterill acknowledged the elephant in the room. "If you look at anything where we could have a big, incremental improvement, it would be just our offense and creating more offense," he said. But he also made clear this isn't just about settling guys up front to score more goals. "A big part of that's not just things in the offensive zone, but it's being sharper from a defensive standpoint."

On the other end, goalie Joey Daccord had a tougher year than his last couple of solid seasons. Still, Botterill wouldn't pin the season's struggles on netminding. Backup Philipp Grubauer showed he's ready whenever called upon, keeping things steady when it mattered.

The audit report will land on the owner's desk with suggestions for the long haul. For a franchise that's knocked on the door but never quite busted through, that reset might be exactly what Seattle needs.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.