Here’s what GM Ron Francis says the Kraken accomplished with six trades the past week

Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis insisted Monday that the draft picks he had just assembled in tearing down much of his team will be critical to not taking years to rebuild it.

Francis made his remarks to media members after the NHL trade deadline expired Monday. He had dealt away six players in five trades since last week for forward Daniel Sprong and 10 draft picks in Rounds 2-7 in coming years. A sixth trade completed in time but announced hours after the deadline saw AHL-bound forward Victor Rask acquired from Minnesota for future considerations.

The Kraken now have 25 draft picks combined this coming summer and next year, and Francis doesn’t plan to select prospects with all of them. Instead, he’ll use some to speed the team toward more respectable on-ice results next season.

“Am I sitting here and saying we’re going to draft all 25 players? Hopefully we don’t,” Francis said. “What it does is, it gives us some draft capital. And we can go to the market in summertime. If teams need to move players, then we have those picks we can trade for players.

“We do have the cap space. We do have the money. We still plan on being pretty active in free agency if we can be. Those are the things that can help us kind of turn things around.”

Francis said he and coaches have begun communicating this message to remaining veteran players — that the team isn’t abandoning them to an endless rebuild.

“I’ve already started having some with some of the guys, just to make them aware that we didn’t do all this to draft and develop and be good five years from now,” Francis said. “We did this to give us the tools to try and be better next season. And that’s what our goal is between now and the start of next season.”

With the Kraken all but eliminated from playoff contention for months, the dispatching of players set to become unrestricted and restricted free agents long seemed inevitable. Yet the sheer volume of players traded does alter things considerably.

Kraken captain Mark Giordano, forwards Calle Jarnkrok, Marcus Johansson, Colin Blackwell, Mason Appleton and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon are out. Only Sprong, acquired from the Washington Capitals for Johansson, is incoming at the NHL level via trade. The Kraken also claimed veteran defenseman Derrick Pouliot off waivers Monday from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Giordano, Jarnkrok, Johansson and Blackwell were unrestricted free agents and could have been lost for nothing at season’s end. For now, forward Riley Sheahan remains the team’s only pending unrestricted free agent.

Lauzon and Appleton were to become restricted free agents, meaning the Kraken could have kept them by making qualifying contract offers — but with uncertainty on how much they’d earn if either had opted for arbitration.

Francis expects the franchise’s “retooling” to begin at any point this summer. That includes taking on younger, restricted free agents other teams might not tender qualifying offers because they’re worried an arbitration case might go against them and they lack salary-cap space to make it work.

“They might be looking to move that guy for draft capital prior to the draft,” Francis said. “You might see something while the draft is taking place; sometimes these things happen there. And if you get beyond that, there’s still the free-agency period.

“So maybe somebody signs somebody and they’ve got two months to get under the cap, so they’re looking to do stuff.”

Though Francis was among the most active deadline traders, he was mindful of the five weeks left this season. After Monday, the Kraken are tied with Montreal for the worst record in hockey.

“I think we could have looked at making even more deals, but then I think it kind of depletes you even more,” Francis said. “As tough as it is to move guys out, it’s also tough on the guys that are left behind in that room. … We lose some pieces they’ve kind of gone to battle with all season long, so it’s new for them.”

Beyond forward Kole Lind, called up from the AHL on Monday, Francis also mentioned defensemen Haydn Fleury and Will Borgen getting expanded playing opportunities with Giordano and Lauzon traded.

University of Michigan center Matty Beniers, drafted No. 2 overall last summer, is also expected to join the Kraken the final month once his college season is done.

The Kraken won’t name a new captain for now. One candidate to replace Giordano in that role, forward Jordan Eberle, said Monday that the Kraken must spend their final 19 games honing a culture in which they don’t quit.

“You can’t just go out there and expect to win games based on your skill level, because we’re definitely not going to be there,” Eberle said. “We have to find a way to will ourselves to win and be competitive. And start creating that culture and that aspect of winning battles and finding ways to come back and win rather than finding ways to lose.”

Eberle said the team has “had moments throughout the year” beating some quality teams. But he feels the Kraken can still be more consistent at playing hard all game and notching comeback wins such as Saturday’s against Detroit.

With players handling that end, it will be up to Francis to supplement that no-quit culture with talent the team has lacked.

“This is not easy for us,” Francis said. “It’s not easy for our players, it’s not easy for our fans. It’s a lot of tough nights. But I think there’ve been very few nights in my eyes where we haven’t come and tried hard and competed hard.”

Francis added: “We want to continue that through the rest of the season. And we want to try to add pieces to what we have here to make us even better next year.”