Seattle’s coaching vacancy is filled, and Dave Hakstol’s successor needs no introduction.
Tuesday morning, the Kraken announced Dan Bylsma will become the second head coach in franchise history, promoting him from the same position he currently holds with their affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds. Situated between owner Samantha Holloway and general manager Ron Francis at his debut press conference, before the largest media assemblage hosted by the team in recent memory, Bylsma looked the perfect fit.
“This is an exciting day for the Seattle Kraken, an important day not only as we head into next season but beyond. Along with Sam and the ownership group, we continue to take steps to try and improve and build a championship franchise for our fans in the great city of Seattle,” Francis opened. “Obviously, a big part of that is hiring the right head coach.”
Bylsma’s hiring concludes a candidacy search that lasted only a month. Few names wriggled into the public eye– including Todd McLellan, Dean Evason, and current assistant coach Jay Leach– as interviews were stingily granted. Although Francis declined to elaborate on what qualities the organization would seek out in any new hire, clearly Seattle knew what they wanted.
“We start with a long list. Some of them we’ve interviewed a few years ago, to make the decision whether we want to go down that road again or not,” Francis explained. “We talked to probably five guys that I thought were serious contenders for the job.”
Boasting extensive professional experience both behind the bench and on the ice, Bylsma’s résumé immediately contrasts that of Hakstol’s.
Before injuries forced his retirement from the league in 2004, Bylsma split 429 games between Los Angeles and Anaheim, recording 19 goals but proving invaluable to his teams’ defensive efforts. Two decades of assistant and head coaching experience at the highest levels of the sport followed, including a Stanley Cup win his first year at the helm of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and a gig with the 2014 U.S. Olympic team in Sochi.
But no better argument could be made for his hiring than what Bylsma has already accomplished within the Kraken organization.
Where the team’s professional present has often fallen short, its prospects– literally and figuratively– come up huge. Philosophies regarding player development, systems, and team culture shared between Coachella Valley and Seattle create a lauded seamlessness between both teams strengthening the pipeline’s ability to funnel NHL-ready reinforcements to the parent club. The immediate success of Firebirds alumni with the Kraken– Tye Kartye, Ryker Evans, and Shane Wright– is proof.
Additionally, the Firebirds are a titan of skill in their own right, cruising all the way to the Calder Cup final in their inaugural season, before barely missing out on the title with a Game 7 overtime loss. Having clinched the Pacific Division earlier this season, the Firebirds are once again neck-deep in a spirited championship bid, due to play Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals tonight.
“I view [the Kraken and the Firebirds] as one big organization, not two separate entities,” Bylsma said in a 2022 interview with the team. “How we want the players to play has to be on the same page throughout the organization. So players that get the opportunity to come to Coachella are coached in the same way to play [as the Kraken] in mind.”
Perhaps that’s why the Kraken’s overarching strategy will largely remain the same in spite of the coaching change. According to Francis, there will be “a lot of similarities” between the systems run under Bylsma compared to those instated by Hakstol. What will change, as can be inferred from endless praise of Bylsma’s respect-based coaching, is the effort from players, the motivation to succeed made clear inside and outside the locker room.
“Last year our offense certainly fell off. So we need to find a way to kind of tweak some things in the offensive zone to get offense back,” Francis explained. “But as I said, [Bylsma] brings a passion to the rink every day. His teams play hard.”
“A long time ago, as coaches or as players, we got told what to do and we received it anywhere. My coaching style, it’s about relationships. It’s about getting on the same page with the player and the individual,” Bylsma said. “They want to have a clear plan and message as to how they can get better and how they can improve and how the team can play and be successful.”
“There’s a much bigger onus on the coach to be able to establish relationships with not only each and every individual on the team but also the team as a whole.”
While both Francis and multiple players refused the possibility of Hakstol losing the room as an explanation for the team’s face plant to end last season, marketing Bylsma’s eagerness to establish two-way discussion with personnel as the defining characteristic of his hiring is telling.
Bylsma will see out his Firebirds’ postseason run before moving to Seattle full-time– he’s reached out to Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Matty Beniers, to start his transition out small. But with his quick hiring and familiarity with the organization, Bylsma will have plenty of offseason to establish the relationships his authority aims to be founded on.
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