As is now being widely reported, Dan Bylsma is expected to be announced as the new head coach of the Seattle Kraken in a press conference Tuesday at Kraken Community Iceplex. Assuming the reports are correct, Bylsma will become the second head coach in franchise history, replacing Dave Hakstol at the helm after three seasons.
We say “assuming the reports are correct” because the last time the Kraken hired a head coach, there were reports out there that Rick Tocchet was getting the job, only for Hakstol’s name to appear on the official press release. This time does feel different, though, and we believe Bylsma is the guy.
A native of Grand Haven, Mich., Bylsma has spent the last two seasons as the head coach of Seattle’s top minor-league affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, where he has done nothing but win.
He officially joined the Kraken organization prior to the 2021-22 season, serving as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers, Seattle’s then-affiliate that they split with the Florida Panthers. That lined Bylsma up to take over the top AHL job when the Firebirds began play in 2022-23, and under his guidance, Coachella Valley has soared to a 94-32-18 record in two seasons.
The Firebirds came within one game of the Calder Cup in their inaugural season and are heading to the Western Conference Finals again this week against the Milwaukee Admirals.
NHL pedigree
Bylsma, 53, is not a newcomer to NHL benches, having coached parts of six seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and two with the Buffalo Sabres and posting a career record of 320-190-55. It’s also not the first time he’s been promoted from the AHL. In February, 2009, Bylsma was brought up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take over the reins from Michel Therrien on an interim basis after Therrien had been relieved of his duties.
The mid-season change from taskmaster Therrien to the more player-friendly Bylsma worked wonders for Pittsburgh’s star-studded roster, which went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. Having shed his interim tag, Bylsma took the Penguins back to the playoffs each of the next five seasons and made it as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012-13. He won the Jack Adams Award in 2010-11, coached Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and was the winningest coach in Penguins franchise history before current coach Mike Sullivan took that title.
But the Stanley Cup win in 2009 brought sky-high expectations, so when the Penguins got bounced by the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs in 2013-14, general manager Ray Shero was shown the door.
The Penguins didn’t immediately fire Bylsma and instead waited until they hired Shero’s replacement, Jim Rutherford, who finally pulled the trigger to let Bylsma go. That left Bylsma—who undoubtedly would have been the hottest name on the coaching carousel if a decision had been made sooner—with few options for the following season. Bylsma landed in Buffalo and spent two years there before again being fired along with GM Tim Murray after two losing campaigns. The firings by the Sabres were (at the time) unexpected moves.
After his time in Buffalo, Bylsma spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings before joining the Kraken organization.
Dan Bylsma was always the choice
We remember Bylsma getting announced as an assistant coach for the Checkers in 2021 and thinking, Hmm. He could be a Kraken head coach one day. Fast forward three years, and here we are.
We also remember thinking—from the day Hakstol was fired—that Bylsma made the most sense of any available coach out there to be his successor. This is why we placed him at the top of our candidates list and continually circled back to his name whenever the conversation arose.
As we dragged deeper and deeper into the offseason, and all the other NHL head-coaching vacancies but one were filled, we became even more convinced that Bylsma would be the choice. Seeing who was still out there and all the different coaches that had been hired, we simply didn’t see a better fit than Bylsma even among those that had already been handed jobs around the league.
General manager Ron Francis and his staff certainly did their due diligence and interviewed other candidates, but at the end of the day, sometimes the best hire is the internal one. In this case, it so happens the internal hire is also a Stanley Cup-winning coach with many years of experience doing just what the Kraken need him to do.
“Disco Dan,” as he’s widely known, or “Coach Dan,” as the Firebirds call him, is well respected across the hockey world and seems to be well liked by his players, something we saw as a key requisite in Seattle’s next coach. Bylsma has also proven the ability to help young players in the organization develop, the other requisite we thought of for this budding franchise that is starting to see some of its prospects knock on the NHL door.
Evan Pivnick, the broadcast voice of the Firebirds who works closely with Bylsma, agreed the coach ticks those boxes in an interview on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast last week. “He is a guy who loves to develop players, that’s kind of his thing,” Pivnick said. “He loves being able to be around young, up-and-coming prospects and mold them into becoming really formidable players in pro hockey, and I think he is at the point where he can choose what he wants to do.”
It’s also easy to respect what Bylsma has done to earn this position. After his three-year stint as an assistant in Detroit, he took what could have been seen as another step backward, going to the minor leagues for three seasons and eventually demonstrating the impact he can have on a group of players. He’s worked hard in Coachella Valley and guided a mix of veterans and youngsters to the top of the AHL two seasons in a row.
And while it sometimes seemed like Bylsma was almost too happy doing what he was doing with the Firebirds to take the Kraken role, we always thought that if the job was offered to him, he wouldn’t pass it up. We’re glad he didn’t pass it up, as we see him as the perfect fit to be the next coach of the Seattle Kraken.
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.
I think this is a better choice then hiring 🔥H as our first coach, it was actually a little puzzling why we didn’t hire him over H in the first place…. Or Tocchet. H was I very interesting choice. I’m hopeful he can not only be a better leader for the kraken but also a better media personality, say what you want but it matters for a developing market. He should last until the end of Gru’s contract regardless and that could be a changing point for the team.
Go Kraken!!!
He has always been my pick and I figured they would announce it after the AHL playoffs. Good choice in my opinion and ricks too I guess.
I won’t get excited about this hire until I see the Kraken consistently playing better than seasons 1 and 3. It’s way too early to crown Bylsma yet. He’s been fired twice as many times as he won The Cup in Pittsburgh. Much will depend on how well Bylsma works with the players GM Ron Francis can lure to Seattle. While I agree that Francis had to make a coaching change, I won’t be sold on Bylsma until we see the Kraken advance beyond the second round of NHL playoff games.
You’re being a little harsh. First off show me your list of active coaches that haven’t been fired twice that have at least one cup. We’re a young team he’s uphill from H let’s be thankful of that.