"Today marks another milestone for the Seattle Kraken as we bring on core components of the hockey operations staff who will help to shape our team as we get ready to welcome players in 2021," said Seattle Kraken General Manager, Ron Francis. "Each individual brings years of experience and a desire to make us a great hockey franchise. We're thrilled they are joining us on this journey."
World-Class Performance
The Seattle Kraken will be supported by an off-ice team of professionals that will oversee everything from player equipment to strength and conditioning to video analysis.
Michael Booi joins as the head athletic trainer, having most recently served as the assistant athletic trainer for the Washington Capitals. He will work in collaboration with the team's medical staff to implement the organization's injury prevention, maintenance and recovery programs for all Kraken players and will oversee the athletic training staff.
Nate Brookreson becomes the head strength and conditioning coach, and was most recently the assistant athletic director of strength and conditioning for Olympic sports at North Carolina State University. Brookreson will oversee the overall fitness programming for all players in addition to the strength and conditioning staff. He and his wife are both originally from the Puget Sound region.
Jeff Camelio will serve as the head equipment manager. He was previously the assistant equipment manager for the Nashville Predators for 15 years. He will manage the equipment staff and oversee the purchasing and maintenance of all team equipment for the Kraken and its players.
Tim Ohashi also joins from the Washington Capitals as the head video analyst. He will work closely with hockey operations staff, including scouts and coaches, to provide insight and prepare video analysis of Kraken players and opponents.
Sports Performance Foundation
Gary Roberts joins the franchise as a consultant to help build the foundations for optimum sports performance.
Roberts, an NHL alumnus, trains some of the highest performing athletes in the NHL and across sports at the Gary Roberts High Performance Centre in Toronto. In his capacity as sports science and performance consultant to the Kraken, he will ensure the Kraken Training Center and team infrastructure have the proper equipment and systems in place to enable Kraken players to perform to their highest potential.
Continued Focus on Analytics and Research and Development
The Seattle Kraken has continued its early investment in research and development by adding Eric Mathiasen and John Mavroudis to the team from leading technology organizations.
"Eric and John are pivotal to our Research & Development team as we support the Hockey Operations department," said Seattle Kraken Director of Hockey Strategy and Research Alexandra Mandrycky. "Their combined backgrounds bring a wealth of experience to the organization as we continue to innovate."
Eric joins as the hockey operations developer and was most recently a senior technical designer at Microsoft. John will serve as the hockey operations data engineer and was most recently a technical program manager, data engineering at Hellosign a Dropbox Company.
The Seattle Kraken will begin their inaugural season in 2021 at Climate Pledge Arena.
About Seattle Kraken
The Seattle Kraken are the National Hockey League's newest franchise, set to play their inaugural season in 2021-2022 at
Climate Pledge Arena
at Seattle Center, developed by
Oak View Group
. Visit
www.nhl.com/kraken
for the latest news and information including press releases, multimedia content and the latest hires.
