Who is Ron Francis's wife, Mary? Exploring the personal life of Seattle Kraken GM Ron Francis

By ADITYA KAR

Modified May 31, 2023 22:31 GMT

Ron Francis has been a part of the Seattle Kraken since the start of the franchise. He has an experienced hand in hockey. He has played and managed enough to know the ins and outs of the sport.

But does anybody know much about his better half, Mary Lou? We do not know much about her except for the fact that Ron and she have been together since 1986.

Ron Francis has never missed a Christmas at home with his wife and their three children. Mary Lou plays Santa and cooks. During those days, they are joined by Mary's mom, Sophie, and Ron's mom, Lorita.

"I was always able to be home," says Francis, speaking from his North Carolina home on a speaker phone with Mary Lou and the couple's three adult children, Kate, Michael, and Connor in the room, home for the holidays. "There were times when our team had to fly out the next morning at 8 a.m. to make a road game."

Ron Francis has been at the helm of Seattle since the start

Ron Francis

Following the Seattle Kraken's second-year NHL playoff appearance, the team extended general manager Ron Francis' contract by three years, taking it through the 2026–2027 campaign.

Francis, who was hired to be the first general manager in team history, helped Seattle acquire the players that converted them into a playoff team. He managed this without jeopardizing potential prospects or placing the Kraken in severe wage cap circumstances.

After serving in the Carolina Hurricanes' front office for seven seasons, Francis has made Seattle his second destination as an executive.

Francis joined Carolina as their director of hockey operations before becoming general manager in 2014. After the 2018 season, the Hurricanes released Francis.

The opportunity to hire the Hall of Fame athlete to head the front office was seized by Seattle. The Kraken ended up with a record of 27-49-6. They finished last in the Pacific Division with 60 points during the team's inaugural season, which was a significant underperformance.

Ron Francis was able to free up enough salary cap space by moving experienced players to accumulate draft selections. He made important moves going into the second season.

Seattle acquired winger Oliver Bjorkstrand through trade, added youngster Matty Beniers to the roster on the first day of the season, and signed free-agency forward Andre Burakovsky. The results couldn't be disputed.

They had a regular season record of 46-28-8 and reached 100 points. Seattle also took out defending champions Colorado in the first round before falling to Dallas in seven games in the conference semi-finals.