By Canadian Press

Seattle Kraken fire coach Dave Hakstol after leading the franchise for its first 3 seasons

Apr 29, 2024 | 11:49 AM

SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Kraken fired coach Dave Hakstol on Monday after the third-year franchise took a significant step back following a playoff appearance in their second season.

Hakstol was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year last season as Seattle finished with 100 points and reached the Western Conference semifinals in its second year.

But the Kraken failed to match expectations this season and spent most of the year trying to climb back into playoff contention after a terrible start, and failed to build on the success of that playoff run. Seattle finished tied for fifth in the Pacific Division after going 34-35-13 with 81 points, and was officially eliminated from playoff contention with two weeks left in the regular season.

Hakstol went 107-112-27 in his three seasons in charge of the Kraken.

Seattle general manager Ron Francis hinted that changes could be coming less than a week after the season ended. Given the chance to confirm Hakstol would get a fourth season, Francis instead hedged and said a review was underway to analyze the entire coaching staff.

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A week later, Hakstol was out.

“I thank Dave for his hard work and dedication to the Kraken franchise,” Francis said in a statement. “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 this is a necessary step to help ensure our team continues to improve and evolve.

Francis also said assistant coach Paul McFarland would not return.

Hakstol was rewarded with a two-year extension after last season when Seattle reached the second round of the playoffs and kept Hakstol under contract through the 2025-26 season. But Seattle was unable to maintain the style of play that led to its success last season and couldn’t overcome significant injuries to Andre Burakovsky, Brandon Tanev and Philipp Grubauer early in the season. Seattle also played most of the final portion of the season without top defenseman Vince Dunn due to neck injury.

Seattle started this season 8-14-7 including an eight-game losing streak, before a big turnaround in late December and January that pushed the Kraken back into the playoff conversation. But the Kraken went just 13-16-3 after the All-Star break and a painful overtime loss at home to Vegas on March 12 brought an end to any reasonable playoff aspirations.

Scoring goals was a problem that the Kraken couldn’t solve all season. Seattle was 29th in the league in goals scored, 29th in shooting percentage and 18th on the power play, negating a season of strong defense and goaltending.

Hakstol was a surprise choice when Seattle hired him to be the first coach in franchise history. His first stint as a coach in the NHL started strong in Philadelphia in 2015-16 with two playoff appearances in his first three seasons. But it fell apart in the fourth season and he was fired 25 games into that year with the Flyers at 8-11-6 and just 22 points.

It was a rough inaugural season for Seattle as the team dealt with the expectations of trying to match what Vegas did in its expansion season while balancing COVID-19 restrictions that impacted much of that first season. Seattle finished at 27-49-6 in that first season but rebounded in Year 2 when the Kraken finished with 100 points, toppled defending champion Colorado in the first round of the playoffs and took Dallas to a Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals.

Todd McLellan and 2019 Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube are among the experienced NHL head coaches available, pending more movement around the league in the coming weeks.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tim Booth, The Associated Press