Kraken coach Dave Hakstol on the expansion draft, Vegas-sized expectations
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4 years agoon
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adminRon 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.
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Inside one prospect’s ‘storybook’ journey from Egypt to the NFL draft
Published
6 hours agoon
April 2, 2025By
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Josh WeinfussApr 2, 2025, 06:00 AM ET
Close- Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.
AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.
With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.
As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.
“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”
Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.
Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.
“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.
It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.
“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”
During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.
Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.
“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.
“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”
THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.
Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.
All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.
“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”
When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.
“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”
Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.
“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.
Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.
Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.
“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”
In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.
“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”
It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.
Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.
The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.
Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.
Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.
Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.
Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.
Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.
“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’
“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”
DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.
“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.
“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”
His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.
From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”
Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.
For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.
It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.
“It was really eye-opening,” he said.
In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.
Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.
“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”
Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.
“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”
He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.
Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.
To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.
“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”
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NHL playoff watch: Are the Rangers and Wild both on the ropes?
Published
9 hours agoon
April 2, 2025By
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As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.
And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.
The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)
Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.
If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.
The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).
So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!
There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers
Wednesday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s scoreboard
Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5
Metro Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Pacific Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Sports
Canucks center Chytil could miss rest of season
Published
9 hours agoon
April 2, 2025By
admin
-
Associated Press
Apr 1, 2025, 07:54 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Vancouver Canucks center Filip Chytil may miss the rest of the season after experiencing a setback in his attempt to return from another concussion.
Coach Rick Tocchet said Tuesday that Chytil has experienced good and bad days trying to work back. The 25-year-old from the Czech Republic has not played since getting concussed when he was hit from behind by Chicago’s Jason Dickinson on March 15.
“He would go out and skate and felt good, the next day not as good,” Tocchet said. “To be honest with you guys, does he play this year? Maybe the odds are against it. Plus you don’t want to put a guy in that type of position. But when a guy has good days and bad days, obviously you’re not going to play the guy.”
Asked if there was concern about Chytil’s hockey-playing career continuing because of his concussion history, Tocchet added he was not sure.
“I talked to him today and he said it was different than his last concussion,” Tocchet said. “The bad days aren’t as bad, so that’s a positive, so I think we’ve got to take the positive approach. Plus he’s got four, five months to rebuild himself, or who knows? We’ve just got to take it day by day with this guy right now.”
Vancouver acquired Chytil in late January as part of the return for trading J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. Chytil has already had multiple concussions in the NHL and does not turn 26 until September.
The Canucks, who are making a desperate push to make the playoffs, are also not sure about the status of center Elias Pettersson, who has not played since getting injured March 22 against the Rangers. Tocchet said Pettersson was day to day.
Captain Quinn Hughes has missed time for a lower-body injury and winger Brock Boeser was temporarily sidelined by a concussion. All-Star goalie Thatcher Demko missed training camp and the beginning of the season as he worked his way back from a rare knee injury, then went down with another injury in February.
“There’s been a lot of things that’ve hit this team,” Tocchet said. “And you’re looking for culture stuff, right? Who’s all in and who’s not. When you have a lot of guys all buying in, you can withstand some stuff.”
The Canucks (34-27-13) are chasing the Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference as they get set to host the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
The odds of making a playoff run aren’t in Vancouver’s favor, but everyone on the team is staying committed, Demko said, even as injuries continue to ravage the lineup.
“I think as a group, we’ve been through a lot this year,” Demko said. “It’s obviously not an easy situation right now with some of the guys out, but I feel like our effort’s been there every game. We haven’t mailed it in, we’re not using it as an excuse. We’re showing up every night and giving it a solid effort. So really proud of the guys coming together and trying to get some wins here.
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