A key lesson Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill learned in the Pittsburgh Penguins front office was “hiring the right people.” So it’s no surprise that when Patrik Allvin became available, Botterill snapped him up to be an assistant GM.
“Patrik, I worked with him for 10 years in Pittsburgh,” Botterill said recently. “In Pittsburgh we did a very nice job from a player valuation standpoint, but a collaboration standpoint too.
“It’s just bringing in new ideas. He has this whole other set of experiences, then becoming a general manager in Vancouver. It’s the same thing when bringing in Ryan Jankowski last year.”
Words Allvin spoke in 2020 must ring equally true now. “I feel I always have something to prove. Every day, it’s my mindset. I want to learn. I want to get better.”
“What I love about Patrik,” Botterill explained, “is he’s a very good evaluator of talent. He’s worked his way up from being a part-time scout all the way up to becoming a general manager. He has a long book on players from their amateur days and then pro. He has a lot of connections with different agents, and experience in dealing with other general managers.”
Allvin, from Leksand, Sweden, brings along an extensive scouting background. While with the Canucks, Allvin had said, “To be successful, you’ve got to be able to find players outside of the first round in the NHL entry draft. You need to complement the organization with college and European free agents.”
Kraken Executives’ Pittsburgh Pedigree
“Six degrees of separation” is the theory that all people are no more than six social connections away from each other. In the hockey world, as Botterill and Allvin demonstrate, the number of degrees is often far fewer.
The Penguins championship pedigree led to Botterill being named general manager in Buffalo in 2017, and Allvin GM in Vancouver in 2022. After Botterill was let go in 2020, he signed on as assistant GM with the new Seattle franchise, then was elevated to the top job in 2025. When Allvin was swept out as part of the Canucks’ house cleaning this summer, he accepted the same offer former Kraken GM Ron Francis had made to Botterill.
Both at one time were considered heir apparent for the Penguins’ GM job. When the Pens dismissed his mentor, Ray Shero, in 2014, Botterill served as interim general manager.
The top job eventually went to Jim Rutherford, with Jason remaining an assistant. “Jim was amazing at figuring out trades and what a team needs,” Botterill said. “He gave me even more authority to oversee the scouting staffs, a well-rounded resume and having a lot of responsibility in running these departments.”
In turn, Rutherford said about his deputy, “I have as much respect for Jason as an individual, and as a hockey person, as anybody in the league. My time working with him was really good.”
Botterill continued duties begun under prior GM Shero, including contract negotiations, salary cap management and player development. “A big part of my job,” he explained at the time, “is giving Ray an understanding about what’s going on in the league. If he’s talking to Team X, he needs to know where they are with the cap, if they have a player coming back from injury so they’ll be looking to move a defenseman.”
Meanwhile, in 2006 Allvin began a progression in Pittsburgh from European scout to director of European scouting to director of amateur scouting to assistant general manager. Both he and Botterill, who had gotten their names engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2009, did so again in both 2016 and 2017.
Keep following the bouncing puck: When Rutherford resigned in Pittsburgh in 2021, Allvin was named interim general manager. As Canucks president of hockey operations, that same Jim Rutherford hired Allvin to be his GM in 2022. Four years later, it was Rutherford who handed him a pink slip.
More Kraken-Penguins Connections
The Botterill-Allvin nexus in Pittsburgh, besides sharing general managers, included a future Kraken coach.
Before Dan Bylsma spent 2024-25 in Seattle, he won a Stanley Cup behind the Pittsburgh bench in 2009. “You look at what Bylsma demands,” Botterill said at the time, “all you have to do is find a way to knock that guy off the puck just a little bit. From a fan’s perspective, I love our (style).” Bylsma left western PA for upstate NY, where was fired as coach of the Sabres three weeks before Botterill arrived.
After Seattle’s 46-win 2022-23 season, the Pens wanted Botterill back to lead their hockey ops. They had a face-to-face meeting, but the Kraken AGM stayed put.
Before Allvin and Botterill arrived in the Steel City, a center named Ron Francis helped the Penguins win the franchise’s first two Stanley Cups. As mentioned, Francis was the Seattle GM who hired Botterill. When he was first kicked upstairs in 2025 and then kicked completely out this spring, he found an advisory role in the front office of – do we really need to say?
Sources (numbered links) for quotes in this story:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Earlier Kraken:
— Writer Rips 2 Kraken 1st-round Picks
— Helsinki Finland Travel Planner For Kraken Fans
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks PR Poisons Writers Association
Bonus Video: Simmer had a chance to speak with NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly about a variety of interesting and entertaining hockey topics and current events. Check it out …
Kraken Hockey
