Kraken coach Dave Hakstol on the expansion draft, Vegas-sized expectations
Ron Francis and Dave Hakstol didn’t know they were participating in a four-week audition.
They bonded at the 2019 IIHF world championships in Austria and Slovakia, where Francis was part of Team Canada’s management brain-trust and Hakstol was a member of the men’s team coaching staff.
“I got to know him as a person and watch his work ethic, building that respect for what he can do,” Hakstol said.
Francis was named the first general manager for the expansion Seattle Kraken later that year. After his first NHL head coaching gig with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015-18 — making the leap from coaching the University of North Dakota — Hakstol was hired as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs before the 2019-20 season, working under Mike Babcock and then Sheldon Keefe.
Francis kept him in mind as he cast his net for the first Kraken coach. On June 24, it was announced that Hakstol got the job — a surprise to some, given that his name wasn’t among the ones rumored to be in the running.
But Francis wasn’t surprised in the least that Hakstol ended up being his guy.
“As we went through the process, he was certainly a guy that I had interest in talking to. He’s got the experience. It was maybe a big jump from college the first time, but now he’s been in the league for six years, he’s worked under some different coaches and has a bit more experience, so we’re comfortable in that regard. We were always comfortable with his hockey acumen,” he said.
ESPN spoke with Hakstol recently about getting this coveted job, the upcoming expansion draft, learning from failures, and whether the Vegas Golden Knights have set the bar uncomfortably high for Seattle.
ESPN: Let’s start at the very beginning: What was your reaction when you heard Seattle’s nickname and saw its colors for the first time?
Hakstol: [Laughs] I didn’t know what it was at the time. I had learn what it was.
ESPN: You mean what a Kraken was?
Hakstol: Yeah. But something I’ve learned over time is to be open to new things, right? Once I started seeing the merchandise and learning what it was and seeing how attached the fans were to the name, it’s really cool. Seattle’s going to be a great spot for the NHL. You’re going to see a lot of the merchandise, not only in Seattle but around the NHL.
ESPN: How did this stay so quiet? Were you watching all the speculation about possible coaches and thinking “wow, I’ve really kept this under wraps?”
Hakstol: Around 7:45 a.m. PT, the day of the announcement, it started to get out a little bit. I don’t think we really tried to keep anything quiet. We just dealt directly with one another. There was no special effort to keep things quiet. I obviously paid attention to everything that was going on. Speculation is part of the business, and there were a lot of really good people that were a part of the process. It’s a pretty special opportunity there.
ESPN: You’ve obviously interviewed with an NHL team before. Was there anything unique about this process in talking with Seattle? Like, for example, if you talk with the Flyers, you know you’re coaching Claude Giroux. So you might get asked about coaching Claude Giroux. But here, there isn’t a single player yet.
Hakstol: Yeah, that’s unique, when there’s no players that are obviously in place. But the most important part of the [hiring] process, in knowing that it’s the right spot, is the people that you’re working with. I had a chance to get to know Ron a few summers ago and then through the interview process. That’s still the most important thing. Players aren’t in place, but philosophically, we can be on the same path and really work well together.
As we were over at the world championships, I understood what [Francis] was seeing on the ice. He places a ton of value on players that can think the game. Intelligent players. The pace of the game is a really big aspect. But most importantly, the competitiveness.
ESPN: So in other words, Ron Francis likes guys that who play like Ron Francis.
Hakstol: Yeah, I think that’s probably an accurate statement.
ESPN: Francis spoke a lot about second chances at your press conference. You’ve said in the past about failure that “if you evaluate it, deal with it, learn from it, a lot of good can come out of it.” I don’t want to qualify the Philly experience as a “failure,” but what did you learn about yourself in evaluating it?
Hakstol: The bottom line was there were successes and there were failures, and as you add it up, we didn’t get to the finish line. I didn’t get to the finish line of what I had hoped to accomplish. That’s the bottom line. But I learned more about the everyday business of coaching and building an NHL team, from start to finish every year. That’s the biggest part of the experience that I take away.
Now, I have some experiences doing this once on my own. And I worked with a couple of really good coaches in Toronto to see their way of doing things. That’s all made me a better coach than I was six years ago.
ESPN: You were an outstanding college coach. I have to imagine dealing with college-aged players is a lot different than dealing with NHL players. What have you learned about managing pros?
Hakstol: How important every interpersonal relationship is. You have to grow those relationships. It doesn’t matter if that player is playing seven or eight minutes or he’s playing 20 minutes a night. You really need to do a great job in relationship building with each and every player, and communicating with each and every player, because there’s going to be ups and downs. There’s going to be some good and some bad.
ESPN: Obviously, part of that communication process is having players in the dressing room who can help sell your message, who can be your guys in the room. Are you looking to maybe bring in some guys that you already have a relationship with or that you’re familiar with that could be maybe eyes and ears in the room?
Hakstol: The process for [the expansion draft] … Ron and his staff have been preparing for that, and they’re going to approach that draft with all the knowledge that they built. I’ve been asked my thoughts about guys along the way, and if I have clear opinions on them, I’ll offer those opinions. If the right player is available, and that previous relationship exists, I think that’s a head start. It’s a benefit, but not a main focus. Everything after [the expansion draft on] July 21 is about building relationships with all the new players.
ESPN: It sounds like Francis and the front office are selecting this roster. That maybe you can give your input, but you’re not sitting there with a back-of-the-napkin expansion list, and saying “hey, get me this guy.”
Hakstol: Yeah, that’s accurate.
ESPN: Is that a bit of a bummer?
Hakstol: Everybody has their roles and everybody has their things they have to execute. I actually look at the opposite way. I do have a part. I do have a seat at the table, to know and understand how we’re building. I do get an opportunity to give my opinions where they fit. It’s a great way to start.
ESPN: The front office is very analytics-driven. I know that was the case in Toronto, too. You seem like someone who is open-minded about them but likes to keep a foot firmly planted in the “this is still a human game” realm. Which side wins out in the end?
Hakstol: Coming up of the college game, we used very little analytics. We used some basic analytics data, but certainly not in the modern sense. But I learned a lot about it through my time in Philadelphia and as an assistant in Toronto. And I think it’s a great tool. It really is.
There’s an awful lot of good information that can help us as coaches. We’re gonna use and take that information. We have a lot of very smart people in the analytics department. I want to take full advantage of the information they can provide us, so that we can connect that with the human side of the game.
ESPN: Are you ever worried that going with your gut too much, with a numbers-driven front office, could create a conflict?
Hakstol: No. I gotta be who I am, and I’ll do that. I think the real key there is that you work hard and gain all the information. Because all that goes into gut feeling, right? The preparation, the mindset that you have. Those all help.
ESPN: You worked with newly hired assistant coach Paul McFarland in Toronto, but adding Boston’s AHL coach Jay Leach was a surprise for a lot of us. How did he come to join your staff?
Hakstol: I was just fortunate that after an initial phone call he had interest. It’s not a long-standing relationship. We didn’t know each other before the interview process. I’ve just been really impressed with what he’s done. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a player that didn’t love playing for him, and had gotten a lot better. He’s got a unique ability in that sense. I was thrilled to have him join us in Seattle.
ESPN: Have you spoken to anybody that was involved with the Vegas Golden Knights when they started, to get some advice?
Hakstol: I know [Gerard Gallant] well and we’ve stayed in touch. We saw each other two world championships ago … you know, maybe I’ve been in too many world championships? That’s not a good sign, right? [Laughs]. But in 2017, we were in Paris and Cologne together, and that’s when I got to know Turk well, and he had accepted the job in Vegas. I kind of got an early look at things through him as he was going in, and then had the benefit of seeing the great job that he did there.
ESPN: Was it weird having him in the mix for this job?
Hakstol: I wouldn’t say it was weird. He’s a great man, great coach. The world is too small to be affected by that. Anything good that happens to him, I wouldn’t be anything but happy.
ESPN: There was a time in recent NHL history when the expectations for an expansion team were quite low. Then came the Golden Knights and their run to the Stanley Cup Final in Year 1. Did they ruin the process for the Kraken? For example, you guy have better odds to win the Stanley Cup than Detroit and Buffalo.
Hakstol: [Laughs] I think it changes the comparisons, without a doubt, but I don’t think it changes the standards from within. We have our own standards. We’ve gotta live to them every day. Will the comparisons be there? Absolutely, 100%. We’re all really well aware of that and prepared for them.
ESPN: Finally, a lot of us hadn’t seen you in a while. We didn’t realize you had a goatee now. Did you grow it as a point of demarcation in your career? To be a “new” Dave Hakstol in Seattle?
Hakstol: [Laughs] No, I had to go into quarantine when I got to Toronto in late November, and I didn’t shave for two weeks. Bam, there it was. My wife and my family weren’t up there with me, so the goatee stayed. I started out with a full beard, and that was awful. So I shaved it and it stayed with me. At least for now.
The NHL’s Frozen Frenzy has become one of those “Hockey Christmas” days on the calendar — all 32 teams are in action, with staggered start times so that fans can easily get a sample of each game.
Tuesday’s third edition brings with it an air of familiarity, and also the right amount of unpredictability on the ice and blistering pace that hockey fans crave — especially those with a short attention span.
The night includes a tripleheader on ESPN — Pittsburgh Penguins–Philadelphia Flyers (6 p.m. ET), Washington Capitals–Dallas Stars (8:30 p.m. ET) and Los Angeles Kings–San Jose Sharks (11 p.m. ET) — every other game on NHL Power Play on the ESPN App, along with a Red Zone-style whip-around show hosted by John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes.
In honor of Tuesday’s festivities, here are the five games I’m looking forward to most on Frozen Frenzy night. Get ready for an amazing evening, hockey fans.
8:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
Alex Ovechkin has 899 career goals heading into this game; he could absolutely hit 900 on Frenzy night. That would be awesome. Amid all the chaos, all the action going on, all the counting of goals across the league, everything would stop for a moment to celebrate another surreal milestone for the greatest goal scorer hockey has ever seen.
Not to mention the fact that the Caps are off to a great start (6-3-0). On the Stars’ side, Jake Oettinger hasn’t been his absolute best (with an .899 save percentage through seven games), but Mikko Rantanen is chugging along, leading the team with 11 points through nine games.
9 p.m. ET | ESPN+
Two of the teams off to the hottest starts in the league go head to head in a rematch from Sunday’s 4-3 OT win for New Jersey. The Devils have the league’s best record at 8-1-0, while the Avs are fourth overall, with 14 points (5-1-4).
Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are absolutely crushing for the Devils. Nico Hischier is shutting down every superstar he faces. For the Avs, goaltender Scott Wedgewood had an unreal 5-0-1 start before cooling off. Cale Makar, unsurprisingly, leads all defensemen in points, with 11. Martin Necas had a terrific point streak to start the season. Nathan MacKinnon has 14 points through 10 games.
There are a lot of fast skaters competing in this one, and it has all the makings of a track meet, so it should be a blast.
9:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+
All of the hockey hipsters that said Utah would be a playoff team are looking pretty smart right now — at least early in the season. The Mammoth are a perfect 7-0-0 since unveiling Tusky as their mascot on Oct. 15, and their overall 8-2-0 record has them on top of the Western Conference. Nick Schmaltz has 16 points. Logan Cooley has seven goals. Dylan Guenther has three game-winning goals. This team is a lot of fun to watch.
Meanwhile, the Oilers will always a spotlight on them because of the 97-29 connection. Connor McDavid had the longest goal drought to start a season in his career, finally getting one on Oct. 21 in Ottawa (he still has 12 points in 10 games). Leon Draisaitl has seven goals in 10 games. There’s plenty to watch in this one.
1:19
Logan Cooley scores natural hat trick in under 5 minutes for Utah
Check out this quickfire trio of goals from Utah Mammoth’s Logan Cooley against the St. Louis Blues.
7:45 p.m. ET | ESPN+
The “Stamkos Bowl” sees both teams not exactly where you thought they would be. The Predators, coming off an absolutely disastrous 2024-25 season, are 4-4-2, 3-2-1 at home.
The Bolts are near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with a 3-4-2 record. Andrei Vasilevskiy doesn’t look at his best, currently without a win and sporting an .892 save percentage through six games. Nikita Kucherov has three goals and eight points, while Brayden Point has two and seven, but have had plenty more goals hit the back of their own net.
Their old pal Steven Stamkos hasn’t been lighting it up either, with a goal and an assist through 10 games, but perhaps facing his old team will provide a spark.
6:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+
Another matchup of two (storm) surging teams in this one. The Golden Knights top the Pacific Division at 5-1-3, while the Canes (6-2-0) are third in the Metro, behind the Devils and the Penguins … yes, you read that correctly.
Jack Eichel is tied for the league lead, with 16 points. Mark Stone has 11 assists and 13 points. Vegas fans continue to have a charmed existence as the success keeps rolling.
On the Carolina side, Seth Jarvis has seven goals and 11 points through eight games, and continues to show off one of the best personalities in the league. Sebastian Aho isn’t far behind, with 10 points. The Canes (as the Whalers) just participated in the jersey battle of the season with the Avs (as the Nordiques). Give me all of that nostalgic greatness.
1:19
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Colorado Avalanche: Game Highlights
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Colorado Avalanche: Game Highlights
Jump ahead:
Game of the week
What I liked this weekend
Hart Trophy candidates
Social posts of the week
Biggest game of the week
Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+
Aside from the Frozen Frenzy, one game I have my eye on this week is the Islanders meeting the Hurricanes on Thursday in Raleigh.
The No. 1 draft pick this summer, Isles defenseman Matthew Schaefer has had a terrific start to his season, and he’ll be facing the formidable tandem of Jarvis and Aho in this game. I hope the three find themselves on the ice together a bunch, since I’d like to see how Schaefer fares against the pair.
What I liked this weekend
Trevor Zegras is absolutely nasty in shootouts. He makes it look effortless and goalies look pedestrian. His approach in the shootout this weekend almost seemed nuanced at first, before he decided “OK, I’m done waiting, time to score,” and just ripped it into the net.
0:41
Flyers knock off Islanders in shootout
Flyers knock off Islanders in shootout
Zegras has the second best shootout percentage in NHL history (63.6%, with 14 goals on 22 attempts).
Can you guess who has the best shootout percentage in NHL history with a minimum of 10 attempts?
I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Artemi Panarin (27-for-26, 58.7%). It’s not Patrick Kane, although he has the most goals and attempts in NHL history (53-for-132, 40.2%). It’s not Kane’s former teammate Jonathan Toews (52-for-110, 47.3%) or even (shockingly) my ESPN colleague TJ Oshie (49-for-104, 47.1%), who famously went 4-for-6 against Russia at the 2014 Olympic Games.
The name you are looking for is Petteri Nummelin, who played 139 games in the NHL — 61 games in the 2000-01 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, then two seasons in 2006-2008 with the Minnesota Wild. In that time, he took exactly 10 shootout attempts and scored on eight, giving him an 80% success rate.
(Insert “The More You Know” rainbow star here…)
MVP contenders if the season ended today…
Matthew Schaefer has fallen out of the top three. It’s not because he has been playing poorly, but because the Hart Trophy finalist list is by design ruthless and unforgiving, and a two-game pointless streak gets you booted this early in the season. Sorry, kid.
Eichel still holds a share of the league lead in points, with 16 through nine games as the Knights roll on, so he stays on my finalist list.
Welcome Nick Schmaltz, Hart Trophy finalist. He has 16 points through 10 games, including seven goals, two of them winners for the first-place Mammoth. The 29-year-old is currently shooting at a 19.4% clip.
And welcome Jakub Dobes, Hart Trophy finalist. The Montreal Canadiens goalie hasn’t lost yet, going 5-0-0, with an elite .940 save percentage. He has faced north of 30 shots in four of his past five games. Last season’s playoff surprise, the Habs are atop the Atlantic Division, with 14 points.
Hockey social media posts of the week
Social teams around the NHL have really stepped up their game. The Utah Mammoth are definitely among them. Please give us more of these ridiculous graphics:
The Wild must be 6-2 their stomachs 💔 pic.twitter.com/0naH6ITHu1
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 26, 2025
I also loved the interaction between Tusky and WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, who attended a game last week:
Looks like @TuskyNHL made a new friend tonight 👊💥@DMcIntyreWWE | @WWE pic.twitter.com/C0ZpCsonYA
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 22, 2025
This might have been the biggest “we live in a new era of admin autonomy” moment of the week: the Winnipeg Jets‘ social media admin posted this while attending the World Series:
no one here knows I’m the jets admin pic.twitter.com/r2HT1tyrxz
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) October 26, 2025
It’s funny and surreal to see on an official team account, and we’re here for the randomness. It’s relatable in the moment to Jets fans (a number of whom are also Blue Jays fans).
But the absolute best social post might have been courtesy of the Capitals, as they documented Ovechkin’s teammates arriving to the building for his 1,500th game. Iconic.
The boys cooked up a special arrival for Ovi’s 1,500th game tonight pic.twitter.com/kY5qH0WGN3
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2025
And, an extra stick tap to content creator SideDisch who recently surpassed 500 subscribers on YouTube.
-
Ryan S. Clark
Assistant coach Mitch Love was relieved of his duties by the Washington Capitals following the conclusion of an NHL investigation into his personal conduct, the team announced Sunday.
Love was placed on team-imposed leave Sept. 14, with the Capitals awaiting the league’s investigation into allegations related to Love’s personal conduct, a league source told ESPN back in September.
“Mitch Love has been relieved of his duties as an assistant coach, effective immediately,” the Capitals said in a statement. “This decision follows the findings of an NHL-led investigation into past allegations. The organization is committed to maintaining the highest standards of conduct and accountability.”
After missing the playoffs in the 2022-23 season, the Capitals hired coach Spencer Carbery, who then added Love to his staff as an assistant coach.
Carbery’s first season in charge of the Capitals saw them finish first in the Metropolitan Division with 111 points before losing in the second round of the postseason to the Carolina Hurricanes.
That, in turn, made Love a sought-after coaching candidate in an offseason in which nearly a third of the NHL was seeking a new head coach.
Love interviewed with a few teams and was thought to be among the finalists for the Boston Bruins‘ and Pittsburgh Penguins‘ openings.
The league source told ESPN that the NHL received a letter detailing allegations about Love’s personal conduct while he was interviewing with teams. Two of the teams that Love reportedly interviewed with were sent a similar letter. Those allegations are said to have predated his tenure with the Capitals.
In response to the NHL’s months-long investigation, the Capitals placed Love on leave after the league informed the club of the allegations.
Prior to joining the Capitals, Love spent two years as the head coach of the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate, during which he was named AHL Coach of the Year twice.
Love began his coaching career as an assistant with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips before leaving to become the head coach of the Saskatoon Blades, who also play in the WHL.
His was also an assistant coach on two of Canada’s U-20 World Junior Championship teams, which won a gold medal in 2020 and silver the following year.
Entering Sunday, the Capitals (6-3-0) sat fourth in the Metropolitan Division standings and were four points behind the New Jersey Devils for the division lead. They will take on the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024