The Seattle Kraken have relieved Dave Hakstol of his head coaching duties, the team announced on Monday.
“I thank Dave for his hard work and dedication to the Kraken franchise,” said Kraken general manager Ron Francis via a press release. “Following our end-of-the-season review, we have decided to make a change at our head coach position. These decisions are never easy, but we feel that this is a necessary step to help ensure our team continues to improve and evolve. Dave is a good coach and a terrific person. We wish him and his family all the best. We will begin our search for the Kraken’s next head coach immediately.”
The team also announced that assistant coach Paul McFarland will not return.
Over the past week, it became clear that Francis was considering making a change behind the bench. The potential for such a move came into focus when at his end-of-season presser—which he performed solo, instead of with Hakstol by his side like last season—Francis skirted around a real answer on whether Hakstol would be back for 2024-25.
“It’s part of the process we go through now, right?” Francis said. “Meeting with the coaching staff, the management team, all that stuff, and assessing, and so we’re still in that process now.”
That sparked speculation amongst local media about the future of the only head coach the Kraken organization has ever had.
Hakstol’s tenure ended after 246 regular-season games behind the bench, plus 14 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He had a 107-112-27 record and most notably led his team to an unprecedented turnaround between the first and second seasons in franchise history with a 40-point improvement from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
That got the Kraken into the playoffs last season, where they defeated the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in seven games before coming up one game shy of the Western Conference Finals, losing to Dallas in a heartbreaking Game 7. Hakstol was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year after that run but lost out to Boston’s Jim Montgomery.
Things went in the opposite direction this season, and the Kraken took a step back, finishing well outside of the playoff picture with 81 points, a 19-point drop from 2022-23. They had a legitimate chance to qualify as late March, but a slow start to the season, no scoring punch, and several long losing streaks ultimately did Seattle in
Unfortunately for Hakstol, this was necessary
Through most of the season, I denied the plausibility of such a firing, largely because general manager Ron Francis signed Hakstol to a two-year contract extension prior to this season. That deal starts next season, so with Hakstol getting the pink slip now, Seattle is on the hook to pay him for two more years (unless it can work out some contract-sharing deal with a different team that might hire him in the future).
Even so, as the campaign unfolded, and the players began mailing it in down the stretch, the writing on the wall got bolder and bolder. In the past week, I became certain that a change was coming.
Speaking personally, I wasn’t rooting for this, because I’ve genuinely enjoyed my interactions with Dave Hakstol. He has never been anything other than respectful and professional toward me, and he has answered every one of my questions over the last three seasons with grace and thoughtfulness, even when I asked stupid ones.
Heck, Hakstol even played along with some of my more outlandish questions, like when I went down a rabbit hole asking him about his favorite Sarah McLachlan songs. That’s a story for another day, but the point is that I’m sad to see Hakstol go. He’s a good man that I think deserved better from his team this season.
Every NHL player and coach will tell you, though, that this is a results-driven business. Hakstol was no longer getting the results his GM expected, and a change became necessary.
The search for Hakstol’s replacement starts now
If Hakstol’s arrival in Seattle was any indication of how the team’s search for its next head coach will go, then don’t expect to hear much official news about candidates.
Remember, when Hakstol was hired, people were widely reporting that Rick Tocchet was set to become the head coach, only for the official announcement to come out with Dave Hakstol’s name on it a couple days later. At that point, no hockey pundits on the planet had even mentioned Hakstol’s name as a candidate, and I genuinely believe that his ability to keep his interviews quiet played into his hiring by the very secretive Francis.
So, I’m very much speculating here on who I think the top candidates will be, but these are a few educated guesses.
Dan Bylsma
Coach Dan is perhaps the most obvious candidate to take over the helm. The current coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds has worked wonders with Seattle’s AHL affiliate and brings the pedigree of winning a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.
Disco Dan is well known by pretty much everyone in the organization, and from what I’ve gathered, players seem to really enjoy playing for him.
I interviewed Bylsma along with the late, great Andy Eide at Kraken Community Iceplex before last season for the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. Give that a listen here to get to know Bylsma’s personality a bit (and hear from Andy again).
Bylsma has a 320-190-55 record in the NHL, has led a dominant Firebirds team to a regular-season record of 94-32-11-7 over the past two seasons, and came one game shy of the Calder Cup in 2022-23.
Dean Evason
Dean Evason may not be quite as familiar to Kraken fans, but he and Francis go way back.
Evason is a successful, fiery, and often quirky coach that has been friends with Francis since his playing days. The two played together on the Hartford Whalers from the 1984-85 season until Francis was traded to Pittsburgh in March, 1991.
Evason, 59, spent parts of five seasons as bench boss of the Minnesota Wild after initially getting hired there as an assistant coach in 2018. He was elevated to interim head coach on Feb. 14, 2020, and had success down the stretch that season, guiding his new team to a 8-4-0 record in the final 12 games of the regular season before it lost 3-1 in the play-in round of the modified COVID bubble playoffs.
Wild general manager Bill Guerin was so pleased with the job Evason had done under the circumstances, he removed the interim tag the following offseason and officially made Evason an NHL head coach for the first time in his career. Evason rewarded Guerin with .670, .689, and .628 seasons, good for two third-place finishes and one second-place finish in the Central Division. The Wild lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of those three seasons.
With Evason still at the helm to start the 2023-24 campaign, Minnesota got off to a dreadful start, and he was fired one day after his team lost its seventh game in a row on Nov. 26, replaced immediately by John Hynes.
Evason has reportedly been interviewing already with the Ottawa Senators.
Rod Brind’Amour
This one feels like a stretch, but I’m throwing it out there. If Rod Brind’Amour becomes available this offseason, he will be at the top of every coaching candidate list in the NHL. His contract is up after this season, and getting him signed the last time around proved difficult for the always cost-conscious Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes.
A deal eventually got done last time, and Brind’Amour is a legend in the Hurricanes organization, so I’m guessing another extension will come soon.
If no deal comes to fruition, though, you don’t have to look far to find connections between Francis and Brind’Amour.
*Author’s note: I initially ended my list here, but a couple other names got thrown at me that I thought were worth including.
Jay Woodcroft
“Woody,” as he’s known, coached parts of the last three seasons with the Edmonton Oilers before being canned after just 13 games this season. Ironically, I attended what I believe was Woodcroft’s last press availability before his firing, because Edmonton pulled the trigger the morning after the Oilers beat the Kraken 4-1 at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 11.
At the time, Edmonton had a horrendous 3-9-1 record, and they proved to be one of the best teams in the league under his successor, Kris Knoblauch.
Still, the Oilers were awesome in Woodcroft’s lone full season, and finished with 109 points before getting bounced in the second round by the eventual champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite the bad start to this season, Woodcroft still ended his tenure with an impressive 79-41-13 record and (from what I gathered) seemed to be well liked by his players.
Jay Leach
What about Leachy? We have heard whispers that Leach, the well-loved defensive coach for the Kraken, has been close to landing an NHL head-coaching job in the past couple seasons. We’ve also heard Seattle defensemen rave about what Leach has done to help shape their games.
Leach has served as an assistant coach for Seattle for the past three seasons and spent the previous four as the head coach of the Providence Bruins of the AHL.
Craig Berube
Craig Berube’s name is also out there as a potential for head-coaching vacancies, although I’m not sure I see the fit here. We do think more of a “players coach” will be hired by Seattle, and the gruff Stanley Cup winner does not seem to fit that mold, from what I know about him.
Who else am I missing?
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
It is impossible to separate the problems caused by Hakstol’s coaching and those caused by Francis’ management. So at least one had to go, to figure that out.
I wonder how deep the search will be. One thing that has to be for certain is that the coach has to be a big personality, to take the pressure off the players. I kind of wonder if that rules out Bylsma.
The Times lists Berube, Evason, McLellan, and Gallant. I could see any of those fitting that bill.
No surprise he had to go regardless of contract, this is RF’s coaching change to prove it wasn’t his fault. I’d say he has two years max to get things under control or he’s next. I’m looking forward to seeing the kraken with a new coach, wasn’t a fan of 🔥H.
Really not sure who they will bring in, I kinda want to see Dan get the job. There will be options this summer though.
When Hak wasn’t playing the kids late in the season, there was a clear disconnect. Ron wanted to get players experience and Hak wanted/needed to win games.
This will increase the pressure on Ron, who needs the kids to start performing. His track record in FA is not good and won’t be the fix. Best case it to trade to Mitch Marner, get a captain named ASAP and hope kids can play…..
Dan Byslma is a clear front runner and was always a safe hire to have in the organization. Jay Leach will be a head coach in the league, probably not with the Kraken and probably not this offseason. Woodcroft would be a good choice but feel like Byslma is proven commodity internally and throughout the league.
Another name to consider is Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay
Too Bad Ron Francis couldn’t fire himself. He is to blame, not Hakstol. No new coach is going to make a difference with this team as it stands, and my opinion will not change until I see who Ron puts on the ice next year. I think Rod Brind’Amour because Francis is a loyalty monster. He wants people around who he knows and will even put them on the team even though their skills have diminished, Right Shoresy? He even lets players sign with other teams because he thinks they might make more money elsewhere. I feel Hakstol, who did a great job last year got shafted and I hope he goes somewhere where he can make more money and has a GM who wants to give him a winning team.
I get the sentiment you’re going for here, but Rod Brind’Amour may be the best coach in the NHL. If they land him that would be a massive win.
I agree that the roster was obviously worse than last year and that’s on Francis, but there were serious questions about the ceilings on all of those guys, and where your up and coming players slot in for the future from a team building perspective. I would’ve liked to see Sprong come back considering what he got in Detroit, but I understood the others. If you think none of the blame is on Hakstol, you haven’t been paying attention. The offense has struggled to click in 2 of his 3 years. Almost all of the players that were great last year regressed this year, and while some of that is personnel related our top 3-lines stayed intact. The PP has never been consistent. The strides they made last year in OT totally disappeared this year. This team has gone through some really bad slumps where they clearly weren’t playing to the best of their ability. Those are very real reasons to move on from Hakstol.
Other than signing Grubauer and Hakstol, what would you point to as examples of Francis being a poor GM?
Before you bring up the fourth line, Geekie wanted to go somewhere he get get more opportunity and Sprong finished the season as a healthy scratch on a team trying to make the playoffs. Donato?
Also, Soucy absolutely wanted three years and that would have blocked Evans for too long.
Please give some specific names or examples of what you’re talking about. If you’re taking trade, who? Free agent, who? I’m honestly curious.
You make an excellent point regarding the popular criticism of Francis’ roster. Who else could he have realistically gotten in the past three years? Teams were fully prepared for the expansion draft this time around. Instead of just protecting their top two forward lines and defensive pairings, GMs used the system as bait to try to off-load all their bad contracts and failed prospects. Who exactly did Francis leave on the table there? The only significant name that comes to my mind is Vladimir Terasenko, and taking him would have meant not taking Vince Dunn. Francis obviously made the right choice there.
Should he have pulled off one of the big trades for star players that happened a year prior? Because that worked out so well for Calgary and Columbus. And who really want to dump eleven million per year on Erik Karlsson? Of course, the Kraken had nobody and nothing to trade after the first season except for their first-round pick which became Shane Wright. Not trading that was absolutely for the best if early indications of Wright’s ability are anything to go by. So there were no good trades to make the past couple years apart from the Jack Eichel trade. It would have been great to have been on the other end of that deal.
One criticism that does stick to Francis is which pending free agents he allowed to walk without offering them good deals. Geekie tops that list. He was coming off a breakout year and was clearly in line to move up the depth chart. That was part of the problem, though–there were no center spots open higher up with Beniers, Wennberg, and Gourde in front of him, and Wright developing in Palm Desert. That brings us to the second guy on that list, Alex Wennberg. With Gourde getting older and looking ready to move down to line four, Wennberg would have been young enough and perfectly suited to center a traditional defense-minded third line. Either Geekie or Wennberg needed to be brought back. Now 3C is a big, glaring gap with nobody poised to fill the spot. We will see who Francis picks up to fill the position, but getting a journeyman rental for 3C is hardly ideal. Jared McCann’s talents would be wasted at 3C. People cry for having lost Daniel Sprong, but he had nowhere to play here. You don’t put a forward who doesn’t play defense on the third line, and if Gourde is moving down to the fourth line, he will not tollerate a linemate who is useless in the defensive zone. One might argue that Sprong would have made a good fill-in for Andre Burakovsky in the top six, but I sure did not anticipate the injury-riddled nightmare that Burky’s season became. And the other left-handed wingers in the top six were Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz. No controversy there.
As for the draft, even Francis’ detractors will admit that he has absolutely nailed it in his time here. Sure, Beniers and Wright were dropped in his lap, but have a look at the second-rounders. Picking Ryker Evans was a big score even though experts at the time thought that Francis reached to get him. Then you have–Winterton, Rehkopf, Firkus, Goyette, Fisker-Molgaard, Nyman–NHL-bound guys who look like studs in their respective leagues. Of course, everyone veiws their own team’s prospects with rose-tinted glasses, but Nyman just broke the Liiga record for goals by an under-twenty player. Got dang.
Speaking of which, I have a good argument against hiring Dan Bylsma to replace Dave Hakstol. I want him in Coachella Valley doing for those prospects what he did for Shane Wright, Ryker Evans, Ryan Winterton, and Logan Morrison. But I suppose that will only last until some NHL team comes calling with a head coaching offer.
Everything I’ve heard, Wennberg made it clear he wouldn’t resign here. I thought “fair enough”, but now after what Emily Kaplan reported, I begin to wonder.
Geekie wanted to go somewhere he had more opportunity. He absolutely got that in Boston. I don’t think you can knock Francis for either of those.
When I go back and look at the expansion draft, the only pick I think was maybe a mistake was Donskoi instead of Compher… but this is hindsight and not exactly a huge miss.
The DC pick seemed like a mistake at the time because they shipped Vanecek back for a 2nd, but Dillon got two 2nds. Thing is, Vanecek was going to be a No.2 but signing Gru a week later changed that. The option of taking crap contracts for picks just seems obviously flawed to me.
Where were all the picks? That’s what Sean McIndoe asked at the Athletic.
Vanecek = Rehkopf
Lauzon = Nyman
Giordano = Kokko and Drageicevic
If you think patience and planning are a liability as a GM, you probably don’t think Francis is doing a good job.
This is an article that came out weeks after the expansion draft, worth reading if you thought RF did a good job in the draft. There were some absolutely incredible head scratching picks I remember being shocked with at the time. I had max Domi as a shoe in for the kraken for example. The article didn’t like the Geekie pick and he worked out well until we got nothing for him in the end…… I was also very shocked by the Philly pick at the time, I mean come on at least pick someone that can skate.
I feel like we could and should have been a much better team with the picks available. I think people have forgotten what was available, who wouldn’t want Max Domi on your third line? Who did we get instead, oh right nobody.
https://clutchpoints.com/5-nhl-expansion-draft-selections-the-seattle-kraken-got-wrong
Who wouldn’t want Max Domi?
Well, he has been traded five times!
He hasn’t played two full seasons in a row on the same team in seven years. The last five seasons, different team every year.
After we didn’t “cash in” on him, Carolina ate half his salary and paid a pick to Florida to take half of what was left to get rid of him.
Who wouldn’t want Max Domi?
A lot of teams.
–
The “dead” picks. Vegas did the same thing. Some teams just didn’t have anything you’d want. A perfect example was Chicago. Seattle takes John Quennville and never sign him. Lazerus at the Athletic says six months into the season they should’ve taken Calvin de Haan, “a cagey veteran” with value. His expiring $4.5m cap hit went untraded and as a UFA he signed in Carolina for league minimum. Lots of folks thought Seattle should have taken on other teams problems. Me, I think taking nothing is the better move.
Ok I’ve always liked Domi and his style of play, I thought he would fit in well with the kraken. Possibly a poor example though.. but who did we pick up? Gavin Bayreuther… The Kraken didn’t even sign him and Bayreuther went back to the Blue Jackets for nothing. The Kraken could have at least traded Domi at the deadline for probably a second with half the salary being retained at the very least.
The expansion draft was not good for RF, there are many examples. Five in the article I linked, go ahead and read it and let me know what you think.
There are 30 picks in that expansion draft, there were going to be some mistakes no matter who was making the deals. I don’t think the expansion draft was by any means a smashing success, but given how the other teams prepared for it I don’t think it went poorly at all. Of the players mentioned, I’m not super compelled by any of them looking back 3 seasons later.
Dillon could’ve been good here, but as the article points out we were expecting to need Vanecek pre-Grubi signing. Domi is a good player, but chances are he wouldn’t still be here. The other picks mentioned certainly would’ve yielded more quality players, but none of them really would’ve brought the juice the team needed. And ultimately had we performed better in the first season, we wouldn’t have been in the position to draft Shane Wright, a player with the potential Star-power that this team very much needs.
There is a good chance that had RF made all of the moves mentioned in the article that this roster would be even worse than it is now with less valuable assets.
Ok don’t agree with this, you think there is a possibility that the kraken would have possibly been worse is they didn’t select Carsen Twarynski, John Quenneville or MacDermid? That’s leaving the Domi and Dillon examples out of it although they probably shouldn’t be.
We could have selected Gaudette or Zadorov instead of Quennville.
Carsen Twarynski was a waste of space from the start that can’t even skate. Van Riemsdyk and Voracek were both available. Even if we didn’t want them they would have fetched us picks at the deadline. But Twarynski 😂.
This stuff wasn’t hindsight there were many that thought RF didn’t have a good draft. Yes RF used the excuse that “teams learned” but in reality there were opportunities out there that were ignored in favor of extreme long shots that didn’t work out. And no not hindsight.
So, the “Clutchpoints” article is pretty typical.
I already mentioned, contrary to the idea that they could’ve flipped Domi – as stated in the article – Columbus ended up eating a ton of cap to get rid of him.
With Chicago they missed out on the chance to pay $3.75m to an impending UFA that fetched a third round pick. I think nothing is better than that.
Philadelphia is the typical “sure these contracts are terrible, but these are good players”. Again, I prefer nothing.
Rather than taking MacDermid from LA – a big bruiser who they flipped for a fourth – they should have gone with Kale Clague… a player the Kings waived six months later and who played three games for Buffalo this season.
That leaves the Capitals. The article actually does a decent job of understanding that Vanecek was a good pick as a goaltender but then throws that out the window and says they should have take Dillon because he went for two picks and they only got one for Vanecek. The problem with that is, when they took Vanecek, he was being selected as the No.2 goalie for the team. Given the other options in net and the quality of season he was coming off of, the value to the Kraken was greater than two seconds. It wasn’t until they signed Gru a week later that he became expendable and at that point a second was all they could get. Taking Vanecek was the right pick, signing Grubauer was what changed the calculus. By the way, that second for Vanecek… Carson Rehkopf.
Nino… everybody thought it was a terrible draft at the time because they had Vegas in mind and like shiny things.
As Sean McIndoe said, “where were all the trades”?… and so nobody bothered to revisit their assumptions. Just like the Clutchpoints article, “they could’ve flipped Domi for something”… No, they couldn’t.
During season one the “they could’ve had Tarasenko” chant was endless with nobody bothered to mention that would’ve meant passing on Dunn. Would you trade Dunn for Tarasenko… I didn’t think so. This is the problem, folks say “Francis should’ve” and then just quit there.
Still don’t agree.
RF was very safe with his draft, the chances he took were on nobodies that never worked out and left a lot on the table. Las Vegas didn’t take the same approach as we did and was very aggressive with their picks, I’m not saying that we could have built a team as good but it could and should have been better. I really don’t care what you say about Domi he was the best player available and was coming off a very good season. His risk was also very low as he only had two years left in his contract. RF was very vocal about his plan to weaponize the cap and international left space rather than selecting known players at the draft…. How did that work out? RF is a very safe GM for the most part but when he makes mistakes he hits home runs… gruuuuu.
RF certainly played the expansion draft safe, that’s not to say the expansion draft was bad. When RF was hired, it seemed one could look at his resume with Carolina and see he would take the approach of the long-build, an approach I don’t disagree with when you’re building a team from scratch. Fast forward to today and this team has a very talented prospect pool that will start to come of age in the next few years, including prospects like Rehkopf and Wright that really seem like they could be stars. Also FWIW, once of those nobodies that didn’t work out became Vince Dunn.
Domi is a nice player, I won’t argue that point. But he isn’t some star player that would’ve drastically change the outlook of this team. If we took him in the expansion draft, I think year one for us still goes pretty poorly and he leaves for another team.
RF has by no means wowed me yet. Bjorkstrand was a great move. In hindsight Grubi was an awful move, although I was all on-board with it when we signed him. I liked the Burky signing for the price, last year was great before the injuries started and the jury still feels out on that move. I would’ve liked to have seen Geekie or Sprong return, but from a team building perspective that 4th line wasnt going to be kept together and you needed some room for when your younger players come of age. RF plays the long game and we’ve known that all along. You may not like the philosophy, but frankly it was the right call imo. I think a couple of seasons from now will be the time to really judge how well a job RF did in building this team.
I can agree with that. I don’t think the Dunn draft was a bad choice it was really a 50/50 pick and would have been fine either way.
I didn’t like and still don’t like the Burky signing, I just feel his hockey IQ is lacking (for an NHL player) and frequently makes poor choices.
Bottom line is that a lot was left on the table at the expansion draft. Has he done a good job drafting and developing… yes. I’m not thinking that we should be replacing him I think that he is going to benefit the club for the next couple of years at least. After that it’s a pretty good chance that we might want to move on to a GM that has better success with roster building…. Drafting snd development doesn’t help much if you can’t complete the picture.
Sorry… but “bottom line”… what was left on the table in the expansion draft? The Athletic did a similar “redraft” nine months later and I’ve reviewed it several times. There’s the Vanecek thing – think we’ve covered that – and the Kraken probably should’ve taken Compher rather than Donskoi. Otherwise, this draft thing is a myth.
I remember people complaining that Francis set his prices too high, and then the other day I saw him getting blasted for not getting first round picks at the expansion draft… WTF?
The picks he harvested at the trade deadline was where the value was.
Pretty much all of the expansion draft commentary is absolute BS. I appreciate how much you like Domi, but that’s the perfect example. There was nothing “left on the table” not taking Domi. The “Clutchpoints” article is typical… zero actual follow-up on a bunch of first impressions. All of those alternatives were worse.
Ok I’m starting to think this is a joke you’re playing on me Darrel… I’ve just watched a few of the “missed opportunities” in the playoffs tonight. One on the Canucks game that scored a nice goal…. But we took John Quenneville over him… who is John Quennville? Sooooooo many examples just in the playoffs right now….. seriously…. 😮 I’m done with you you’re making no sense.
Yes, Nino, as your article pointed out, Zadorov needed a new contract Seattle likely didn’t want to sign and what they missed out on was a third round pick. The same Zadorov who later demanded a trade out of Calgary. We really missed out not having that guy around.
…and to be clear, I’m not saying the expansion draft was perfect, I’m saying this myth that the expansion draft was a disaster is ignorant bull shit.
Furthermore, with Dunn, Oleksiak, and Soucy on multi-year deals the left side was tied up… it’s not simply that three years later a guy scored a goal in the playoffs… we should have taken him!
…and Giordano.
You do not pass on a valuable asset in favor or absolute garbage just because the left side is tied up!!! Wow. You have absolutely zero idea what I’m talking about, this isn’t about one player it was the strategy he took throughout the entire draft. Did not maximize our value as a starting franchise end of story.
End of story? Too bad. I was gonna give you Zadorov. I think that probably was a legitimate missed opportunity. Even if they didn’t want to sign him, Aidian Thompson – that’s who the pick ended up being – just won a National Championship at Denver as a sophomore and scored 30 points in 44 games – a decent prospect.