Just one season after making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history, the Seattle Kraken have fired head coach Dave Hakstol.
Hakstol, 55, was the Kraken’s head coach since the team’s inception in 2021. They finished out of the playoffs this season; Seattle holds the eighth position in the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery.
Before becoming the head coach in Seattle, Hakstol spent three-plus seasons as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and was an assistant coach in Toronto for a couple years. He was the head coach at the University of North Dakota, where he played, from 2004-15 — during which time he coached NHL players including former Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews.
I do not expect Hakstol to be out of work for very long.