en-us SportSpyder - The Latest Seattle Kraken News https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/news The Kraken have just two players at the Worlds starting Friday. Wed, 13 May 2026 17:06:48 GMT Glenn Dreyfuss https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56607857 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56607857 false false As the Eastern and Western Conference Finals of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs draw closer, the Seattle Kraken are in the depths of planning for the 2026 offseason and beyond. Failing to make the playoffs in a weak Western The post appeared first on . Wed, 13 May 2026 14:36:10 GMT Marko Zlomislic https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56605976 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56605976 false false The Kraken announced Tuesday they have hired Sportsology Group to conduct the external audit of hockey operations that Tod Leiweke first mentioned on April 9, the day after Ron Francis’s departure as president of hockey operations was formally announced. Per the team, Sportsology is “conducting a full assessment of organizational structure, communication and decision-making, player development, amateur and professional scouting, analytics integration, coaching, roster construction philosophy, sports science, medical support, and the alignment between the Kraken and AHL affiliate Coachella Valley. The work is running parallel to the team’s own annual end-of-season review.” The question is: who is Sportsology, what they actually do, and if this audit is an actual audit or if it’s a “ooh look at the shiny distracting thing over here!” piece of theater. Who is Sportsology? Sportsology Group was founded in 2014 by Mike Forde, a Manchester native who spent 6 years as director of football operations at Chelsea FC. The Ringer described Forde as . His firm operates across 5 continents and 9 sports. The documented client list is heavy on the NFL and NBA. The Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Atlanta Falcons all appear. So do the Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets, and the entire Harris Blitzer portfolio (76ers, Devils, Commanders, Crystal Palace FC, Joe Gibbs Racing). 4 MLS clubs are listed on Sportsology’s website: FC Cincinnati, LAFC, Chicago Fire, and Inter Miami. The NHL experience is thinner, the most prominent prior hockey engagement being the Chicago Blackhawks GM search after Stan Bowman resigned in the wake of the . This isn’t a Big Four accounting firm (say…didn’t that used to be a Big Five? ), but rather a boutique firm focused entirely on professional sports organizations. They have only a couple of dozen employees by public reporting. 78% of the firm’s clients deal directly with ownership, which means the deliverable typically goes above the executives being evaluated. What they can do for Seattle The mechanics are not exotic, because this is a corporate audit and . Auditors arrive, they interview everyone they can reach: front office, scouting, analytics, coaching staff, medical, support functions, and whoever else may be relevant to hockey operations. They ask how decisions get made, who has authority over what, they identify the silos, and identify who is not pulling their weight. Their strengths lie in identifying good org structures and figuring out where the contributions are actually coming from in the organization they are auditing. Then they deliver a report, and sometimes help ownership turn that report into an implementation plan. The only NHL client I could find publicly that Sportsology worked with is Chicago. After Bowman resigned in October 2021, Danny Wirtz brought Forde in to advise on the GM search alongside (what’s he up to these days?), Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp. Wirtz wanted someone who had operated in different sports presumably to get the view of someone who wasn’t institutionalized with the sport’s blind spots. European soccer was far beyond what hockey was doing on the performance and medical side, and Sportsology’s soccer background was very appealing here. The Blackhawks promoted Kyle Davidson to GM, who gave us one of the But the Blackhawks were looking for a GM and used Sportsology to help them find him. The Kraken situation is more analogous to when the Boston Red Sox commissioned Sportsology in 2024. New chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had had the role for about 6 months when he brought Sportsology in to evaluate a baseball operations department of hundreds. Breslow wanted help wrapping his arms around the operation to understand who his people were, what work they were doing, and whether the org structure was working. Sportsology came in and identified a bunch of structural redundancies and reporting issues, gave Breslow a report with recommendations, and Breslow implemented them. The Athletic’s Keith Law called the resulting wave of firings and reassignments “a midnight massacre.” Long-tenured staff were let go or marginalized. Breslow said he was “not afraid to upset the apple cart.” Now, we’ll see in a few years if the Red Sox win as a result. But the audit produced inconvenient findings and the front office acted on them. In this case, there were a lot of extra people (hundreds in baseball operations! hundreds!) and they reduced the workforce. Other audits they’ve conducted did not, by my research, result in massive purges of personnel. It doesn’t seem to be their M.O. The Eagles have been a Sportsology client since last decade. We don’t know what exactly Sportsology recommended to the Eagles when they chose to fire Chip Kelly in December 2015 and hired Doug Pederson. But they won the and are one of the best-run organizations in the NFL, having also won . Feb 4, 2018; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia Eagles... Wed, 13 May 2026 14:14:28 GMT Zaiem Beg https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56605719 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56605719 false false Seattle Kraken turn to Sportsology Group for a high-stakes internal audit. Could this bold move redefine the franchise’s future and will it spark real change... Wed, 13 May 2026 07:03:56 GMT Locked On Kraken https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56602681 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56602681 false false The Kraken have missed the postseason in four of their five seasons as a franchise. Tue, 12 May 2026 23:54:55 GMT Ryan Cuneo https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56600341 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56600341 false false The Seattle Kraken have partnered with sports advisory firm Sportsology to perform an assessment of their hockey operations department after parting ways with general manager Ron Francis, per Fox 13 Seattle. The firm will review the team’s organizational structure, communication and decision-making processes, player development, scouting, analytics, and more. Sportsology has previously worked with the […] Tue, 12 May 2026 23:12:48 GMT Gabriel Foley https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56599957 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56599957 false false The Kraken have hired Sportsology Group, a London and New York-based firm known for its internal analysis of professional sports franchises. Tue, 12 May 2026 22:31:03 GMT Kate Shefte https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56599519 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56599519 false false Two Junes ago, center Julius Miettinen and D-man Alexis Bernier were drafted in second and third rounds. This spring, both Kraken prospects are in league finals that lead to the Memorial Cup Tue, 12 May 2026 21:37:53 GMT Bob Condor / https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56598912 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56598912 false false The Seattle Kraken have partnered with the Sportsology Group to perform their external audit of their hockey operations department. Tue, 12 May 2026 21:29:32 GMT Curtis Crabtree https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56598795 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56598795 false false The Seattle Kraken’s season had three distinct phases: a promising start, a pre-Olympic surge and a post-break collapse. Here is what the data shows. The post appeared first on . Tue, 12 May 2026 17:27:05 GMT Blaiz Grubic https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56595690 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56595690 false false The South Park Sport Court, officially opened last Saturday, is the third of five such facilities spearheaded by the Kraken’s One Roof Foundation, with two more planned by summer’s end Tue, 12 May 2026 16:04:16 GMT Geoff Baker / https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56594610 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56594610 false false Coachella Valley Firebirds outlast Ontario Reign in double overtime thriller to clinch a spot in the next round of the AHL playoffs. Can Nikke Kokko’s hot st... Tue, 12 May 2026 04:23:00 GMT Locked On Kraken https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56590003 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56590003 false false Systems videos:Defensive Systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkCQBP_dIgOffensive Systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcG9HGmVMLwRoadmap talk (0:... Mon, 11 May 2026 19:59:09 GMT Emerald City Hockey https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56586261 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56586261 false false Seattle Pride Hockey Association co-founder oversees LGBTQIA+ tournament among largest in world Mon, 11 May 2026 19:48:04 GMT William Douglas https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56586142 https://sportspyder.com/nhl/seattle-kraken/articles/56586142 false false