Kraken fire Hakstol

[seacat85]

Seattle Kraken fired coach Dave Hakstol after 3 years. IMO they didn't give him enough time with a new team. Then again I'm a novice hockey fan. Still trying to learn the game. Seemed like there were players brought in that didn't play up to expectations. Have to ask who's fault that is? Don't know how much say Hakstol had in the roster and how much of that lays at Francis' feet.

[tdub]

Seattle Kraken fired coach Dave Hakstol after 3 years. IMO they didn't give him enough time with a new team. Then again I'm a novice hockey fan. Still trying to learn the game. Seemed like there were players brought in that didn't play up to expectations. Have to ask who's fault that is? Don't know how much say Hakstol had in the roster and how much of that lays at Francis' feet.

I think the big thing was regression from last season. Simply put, they couldn’t score goals. Very similar roster, same goalie, plus another good goalie (Joey Accord). The only major loss was Morgan Geekie to the Bruins. The Kraken should have been good this year. Last year, especially end of season into playoffs, they were gritty as hell. This year they only were in short spurts. I’m not an expert, but that seems to point to either coaching or team leadership.

[kmax]

Seattle Kraken fired coach Dave Hakstol after 3 years. IMO they didn't give him enough time with a new team. Then again I'm a novice hockey fan. Still trying to learn the game. Seemed like there were players brought in that didn't play up to expectations. Have to ask who's fault that is? Don't know how much say Hakstol had in the roster and how much of that lays at Francis' feet.

I think the big thing was regression from last season. Simply put, they couldn’t score goals. Very similar roster, same goalie, plus another good goalie (Joey Accord). The only major loss was Morgan Geekie to the Bruins. The Kraken should have been good this year. Last year, especially end of season into playoffs, they were gritty as hell. This year they only were in short spurts. I’m not an expert, but that seems to point to either coaching or team leadership.

Would completely agree, I think it was the regression but I'm not convinced it was entirely warranted. To add on to the other points, last year Seattle showed to be amazingly deep across every line. Their top line wasn't going to outplay or outscore anybody, but that 2nd and 3rd line proved to be stronger than a lot of others and they could wear teams down. Additionally last year they got some stellar net minding. All that to say, did this year's team really regress due to poor coaching and leadership or did last years team just over achieve so much that this year should have been somewhat expected as they were unable to maintain that level given essentially the same personnel?

[seacat85]

Seattle Kraken fired coach Dave Hakstol after 3 years. IMO they didn't give him enough time with a new team. Then again I'm a novice hockey fan. Still trying to learn the game. Seemed like there were players brought in that didn't play up to expectations. Have to ask who's fault that is? Don't know how much say Hakstol had in the roster and how much of that lays at Francis' feet.

I think the big thing was regression from last season. Simply put, they couldn’t score goals. Very similar roster, same goalie, plus another good goalie (Joey Accord). The only major loss was Morgan Geekie to the Bruins. The Kraken should have been good this year. Last year, especially end of season into playoffs, they were gritty as hell. This year they only were in short spurts. I’m not an expert, but that seems to point to either coaching or team leadership.

Would completely agree, I think it was the regression but I'm not convinced it was entirely warranted. To add on to the other points, last year Seattle showed to be amazingly deep across every line. Their top line wasn't going to outplay or outscore anybody, but that 2nd and 3rd line proved to be stronger than a lot of others and they could wear teams down. Additionally last year they got some stellar net minding. All that to say, did this year's team really regress due to poor coaching and leadership or did last years team just over achieve so much that this year should have been somewhat expected as they were unable to maintain that level given essentially the same personnel?

I think there were lots of factors in the down year. I seemed to remember there being questions early on about where the goals were going to come from on this team. Gru/Daccord didn't seem to be playing well in the end. How about that showing Daccord had in the Winter Classic at Lumen Field. Burakovsky didn't seem to show the signs of being the goal scoring machine that he was early on with the team. Seems like he's been out injured most of his time with the Kraken. McCann was out with injuries. Bellemare seemed to be out a lot with injury. In my eyes, Beniers succumbed to the sophomore jynx (the stats may prove me wrong). Dunn going down to injury late in the season probably didn't help matters. He seemed to be a key both on offense and defense. The Wennberg trade at the deadline for draft picks in hindsight looks like a white flag. Seemed like Hakstol tried to find something that would work by switching up the lines. On some lines it worked but others it was questionable.

The NHL as a whole seems to be a what have you done for me lately league of late. Saw someplace that close to 50% of the league has had HC changes since 2023(?).

On the upside, their minor league team (Coachella Valley Firebirds) is back in the playoffs starting Friday. Would like to see them get another shot a Hershey in the championship. Lost to them in 7 last year.

[seacat85]

The Kraken hire Dan Bylsma. At first blush I like the hire. Previous Stanley Cup winner as HC at Pittsburgh. Current HC of the Kraken's minor league team at Coachella Valley Firebirds which has only been in existence for 2 years. Coachella Valley has been in the playoffs the last 2 years. Lost the championship in 7 games last year. CV plays the first game of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday.