By Alex Andrejev, Chris Johnston and Shayna Goldman
The Seattle Kraken have fired coach Dave Hakstol and assistant Paul McFarland, the team announced Monday.
“I thank Dave for his hard work and dedication to the Kraken franchise,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said in a statement. “Following our end-of-season review, we have decided to make a change to the head coaching position.
“These decisions are never easy, but we believe this is a necessary step to ensure our team continues to improve and evolve. Dave is a good coach and a great person. We wish him and his family all the best. We will begin our search for the Kraken’s next head coach immediately.
Hakstol was named the first head coach in team history in 2021. He guided them to a 107-112-27 record in their first three seasons, and the team qualified for the playoffs during the 2022-23 season.
But Seattle missed the playoffs this year, finishing 34-35-13.
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Hakstol signed a two-year extension last summer that has not officially taken effect. He is under contract until 2025-2026.
Why the Kraken acted now
There are two ways to look at the Kraken’s 2023-24 season. On the one hand, it was a season that fell between the two extremes encountered in years one and two. But it’s also fair to consider this a somewhat disappointing season given the progress Seattle makes in 2022-23 as a deep team. which challenged the conventional approach that works in today’s game.
Hakstol’s firing probably doesn’t come from the simple fact that the Kraken missed the playoffs this year – the offensive downturns probably have something to do with that. A decline in five-on-five shooting, from 10.4 percent last year to 7.7 percent this year, is partly responsible for Seattle scoring one fewer goal per 60 minutes of play. the Kraken also created a lower quality offense, which was an area that needed to improve, not retreat. While players like Matty Beniers have improved in his own zone, he hasn’t progressed enough at the other end of the ice this season under Hakstol.
The power play – led by Paul MacFarland – has consistently been disappointing in each of the last three seasons. Seattle ranked 24th in the league in expected goals generation from the advantage in each of its first two seasons, before falling even further to 26th this year. While the players’ finishing skills may be responsible for the disappointing performance, there were fundamental flaws that went unaddressed over the past few years that brought them here. — Shayna Goldman, NHL Editor
Required reading
(Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)