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Expansion Primer: Nashville Predators

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Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.

The last time around, the Nashville Predators protected eight skaters in the Expansion Draft: Viktor Arvidsson, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Johansen, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi, P.K. Subban,and Pekka Rinne. Look familiar? With seven of those eight players still on the team and at least five of them again locks for protection, the Predators are likely to take the same approach with Seattle as they did with Vegas.

Four years ago, the result was losing a high-priced veteran in James Neal. However, Neal was coming off consecutive strong seasons in Nashville and the Golden Knights did not hesitate to select the scoring forward. If the Predators want the Kraken to also take a pricey player, they may have to help it along. There are other more attractive and much more affordable options on the roster this time.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:
Viktor Arvidsson, Nick Cousins, Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, Rocco Grimaldi, Calle Jarnkrok, Tanner Jeannot, Ryan Johansen, Luke Kunin, Michael McCarron, Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard, Colton Sissons, Yakov Trenin

Defense:
Frederic Allard, Matt Benning, Mark Borowiecki, Alexandre Carrier, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Dante Fabbro, Ben Harpur, Josh Healey, Roman Josi

Goalies:
Connor Ingram, Juuse Saros

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents

F Mikael Granlund, D Erik Gudbranson, F Erik Haula, F Brad Richardson

Notable Exemptions

F Egor Afansyev, G Yaroslav Askarov, D Jeremy Davies, D David Farrance, F Patrick Harper, F Thomas Novak, F Mathieu Olivier, F Eeli Tolvanen, F Phil Tomasino

Key Decisions

The Predators have no shortage of difficult decisions to make, but it beats the position they were in earlier this season. Off to a horrific start to the 2020-21 season and looking ahead to the Expansion Draft, Nashville had almost everyone on the trade block so that they could protect what few core players and young assets they valued in expansion. Chief among them was Ekholm, whose contract expires at the end of next season. Rather than protect four defensemen – Ekholm, fellow top defenders Josi and Ellis, and young standout Fabbro – and expose a number of forwards, the team was entertaining trading Ekholm so that they could use a 7-3 protection scheme. However, as their season turned around and Ekholm trade talks grew quiet, that possibility slipped away. Whether they plan to re-sign Ekholm or not, the Predators are not giving away any of those four defensemen for free, locking them in to the eight-skater scheme once again.

With their defensive protections locked in, as well as in goal with new starter Saros taking over for free agent and potential retiree Rinne, all of the questions for Nashville are at forward – and there are plenty. The two sure things are Forsberg and Arvidsson. Forsberg is the undisputed best forward on the team and Arvidsson, despite a down year, still has too much value to give up for free and has a team-friendly contract. Beyond that pair, GM David Poile could go in any number of directions with his final two spots. The safe guess for at least one spot though is young winger Kunin. Acquired just last summer, Kunin is young and full of potential. A potential long-term top-six forward in Nashville, Kunin is unlikely to be exposed unless the Predators see something in him that causes them doubt in his upside.

So it could be down to just one forward slot, with at least five names in contention – the downside of the eight-skater protection scheme. The big names are Johansen and Duchene, the Predators’ $8MM centers. The problem is that names is all they are right now; neither has produced up to the expectations of their pedigree in several years. Nashville seems likely to expose both in hopes that Seattle likes one of them enough to take a massive amount of cap off their payroll, which they could better use elsewhere. If one of them was to be protected, it would likely be Johansen who has more history with the team and plays a more complete game, even when he isn’t producing.

With Johansen and Duchene likely crossed off the list, that leaves long-time middle-six forwards Grimaldi, Jarnkrok, and Sissons. Jarnkrok may seem like the obvious choice; he finished second among Nashville forwards in scoring this season while Sissons and Grimaldi were tenth and eleventh, respectively. Jarnkrok also led all forwards in plus/minus and was a key cog in the power play. Jarnkrok was also protected four years ago and is still on the same bargain, $2MM AAV contract he was then. Contracts could be the key here, though. Poile has had an extraordinary ability in his career to sign players to affordable, long-term contracts, such as Jarnkrok. However, Jarnkrok is entering the final season of his long-term deal, while Sissons still has four seasons left at $2.86MM per year. Nashville’s top penalty killing forward and top face-off man is also quietly a good complementary scorer as well, scoring at close to a 30-point 82-game pace over the past four seasons. If Sissons is exposed, the Kraken have plenty of reasons to select him. Would Poile risk letting another team, a Western Conference rival at that, benefit from his negotiating handiwork or will he instead protect Sissons and his affordable contract?

If Nashville was protecting seven forwards, a strong case could be made for 24-year-old Pitlick. One lone NHL game after leaving college in 2019 is the only reason Pitlick is eligible for the Expansion Draft and the team hopes it doesn’t come back to bite them. A star at the University of Minnesota who has been stellar in the AHL through two pro seasons and earned some NHL games this season, Pitlick looks like a future top-nine forward, but the Predators don’t have the luxury of protecting potential with only four forward slots.

Projected Protection List

F Viktor Arvidsson
F Filip Forsberg
F Luke Kunin
F Colton Sissons

D Mattias Ekholm
D Ryan Ellis
D Dante Fabbro
D Roman Josi

G Juuse Saros

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined.  Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined.  In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (6): Nick Cousins, Matt Duchene, Rocco Grimaldi, Ryan Johansen, Calle Jarnkrok, Yakov Trenin

Defensemen (2): Matt Benning, Mark Borowiecki

When the Predators signed Benning and Borowiecki to two-year deals last summer, it was with expansion in mind. They knew the pair were serviceable blue liners who could meet exposure requirements with bottom-pair time but also were not flashy enough for Seattle to select. In fact, if the Kraken do take a defenseman it is likely to be Carrier or Allard instead. In net, Ingram is a solid prospect who had a tremendous 2019-20 season, but his poor performance this year and his lack of waiver exemption likely makes him a non-option for Seattle.

Again, the value for the Kraken in likely to come at forward with so many names exposed. Jarnkrok, if exposed, would be affordable top-six scoring right off the bat for the new team. However, the expiring contracts for he, Grimaldi, and Cousins hurt all of their stocks. Pitlick or Trenin would be interesting project picks for Seattle, younger players who have shown flashes of great ability.

However, all eyes will be on Johansen and Duchene – and Kraken GM Ron Francis knows it. Even if he likes one of the two prime centers and even acknowledging that Seattle needs to hit $48.9MM and an $8MM salary would help, Francis also knows that the Predators have plenty of incentive to see either leave. Seattle could ask for an additional player, prospect, or pick in order to take Johansen or Duchene and Nashville will almost certainly comply. Johansen, a Vancouver native who played his junior hockey in Portland, is familiar with the area and could be an immediate fan favorite, the team’s top line center, and a captain candidate, especially if he can return to form. If he also came with another attractive asset or two, it would be a popular move by the team.

Los Angeles Kings Re-Sign Blake Lizotte

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Forward Blake Lizotte will be back in L.A. for another year. The Kings have announced that they have signed the impending restricted free agent to a one-year extension. It is a one-way, $800K deal for Lizotte, a decrease from the value of his entry-level contract but with more security. A 10.2(c) RFA, Lizotte had not accrued enough professional experience to even have the right to sign an offer sheet this summer, so Los Angeles held all of the leverage in negotiations, as displayed by the short-term, low-money “show me” contract.

Lizotte, 23, does have more to prove, though. An undrafted free agent out of St. Cloud State University, Lizotte was a star in the NCAA and left after just two years. However, his small stature may have worked at the college level but it has held him back in the pros. At 5’7″ and 175 pounds, Lizotte’s size is a concern, especially at the center position. He looked to be on his way to NHL success in 2019-20, his first full professional season, as he recorded 23 points in 65 games. He did miss five games due to injury, but that was not an abnormal total. This season however Lizotte took a major step backwards. He recorded just ten points in 41 games, well off of his rookie scoring rate and only on pace for 20 points in a full season. His ice time was slashed, his power play role was reduced, and he settled into a one-dimensional bottom-six spot. It didn’t help that he also missed 15 games due to injury or sickness, including the Kings’ final nine contests.

Heading into year three, Lizotte needs to show that he can be more consistent and won’t be pushed around by bigger opposition. L.A. is giving him a one-year deal to see if he can bounce back and show the promise of his rookie season, or if his size and lack of dynamic skill means that he is not a player who can be an NHL regular. Proving himself may be even harder next year; while Lizotte walked out of college and into a starting role on a depleted Kings roster, the team has vowed to add more talent this off-season and Lizotte may have to fight for starts, nevertheless ice time and power play opportunity.

While this move wasn’t necessary for the Kings ahead of the Expansion Draft, it does give them more flexibility. L.A. now has eight forwards who meet the exposure requirements, allowing them more protection choices if they elect to protect seven forwards and three defensemen. Lizotte himself could be protected, but if not his extension allows for someone like Brendan Lemieux or Austin Wagner to be protected when previously both needed to be exposed to meet the quota.

Coaching Notes: Vincent, Hakstol, Boudreau, Tocchet

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New Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen is adding to his staff. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Blue Jackets are set to hire Manitoba Moose head coach Pascal Vincent as an assistant to Larsen. Vincent had previously left Paul Maurice’s Winnipeg Jets staff in favor of being the head coach for their AHL affiliate, but seemingly is back to being open to an NHL assistant role. Vincent has spent the past decade with the Jets organization and the previous dozen years as a head coach and GM in the QMJHL. With an impressive resume, Vincent may see this Columbus opportunity as a way to get his name out there beyond the confines of Winnipeg in hopes of attracting NHL head coach attention of his own down the road. Vincent will re-unite with Jack Roslovic in Columbus; he previously coached him as a prospect with the Moose but he has now become the No. 1 center for the Blue Jackets. That relationship should be mutually beneficial for the pair.

  • The big coaching news of the day was of course the hiring of Dave Hakstol as the first head coach of the expansion Seattle Kraken. And while Hakstol’s role will be in the locker room and not the front office, GM Ron Francis will certainly take his opinions into consideration. After all, it was the Florida Panthers, the former team of Vegas’ inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant, that were swindled the worst by the Golden Knights in the last Expansion Draft. Florida traded Reilly Smith and a fourth-round pick so that Vegas would select Jonathan Marchessault over the likes of Alexander Petrovic and Mark Pysyk. While no teams should be fooled so badly this time around, Hakstol’s knowledge of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadephia Flyers – not to mention the numerous University of North Dakota alumni around the league – could come into play. The Flyers in particular are expected to have many well-known names exposed in the draft, some of whom played their best seasons under Hakstol, and the coach may know exactly how to target the team.
  • The Maple Leafs now have a vacancy on their coaching staff in the wake of Hakstol’s departure, but the club’s fans think they have already figured it out. Yahoo’s Thomas Williams writes that there has already been an outpouring of support for veteran coach Bruce Boudreau to be hired as the team’s newest assistant. The Toronto native and former Maple Leafs player spoke out this off-season as a free agent that he would like to coach his hometown team and fans seem to agree with the match. Boudreau has had a long and successful coaching career and some feel that head coach Sheldon Keefe could use the veteran support on the bench. With that said, Boudreau has never served as an assistant in the NHL and interviewed for the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach vacancy late last month. Despite any personal feelings and fan support, Boudreau will take the top job for the struggling Sabres over a No. 2 role for Toronto.
  • Of course, Boudreau is not the only candidate for the Sabres’ job, as Rick Tocchet is also among the names who interviewed for the position. Tocchet interviewed multiple times with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Seattle Kraken, only to lose out on all three jobs. He has reportedly only interviewed once with Buffalo, who may not have been his top choice at first, but they are the only landing spot left, as the other remaining NHL head coach position is the post he vacated with the Arizona Coyotes. Tocchet is clearly a well-regarded and sought-after coach, so now that they are his last hope at a top job this season, perhaps the Sabres and Tocchet will get serious about a potential match.

Minor Transactions: 06/24/21

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The playoffs rage on with the Vegas Golden Knights facing elimination this evening. The Cinderella run by the Montreal Canadiens continues, this time with a chance to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals. While most of the eyes will be focused on the Bell Centre, there’s still plenty more happening around the hockey world. We’ll keep track of the day’s notable minor transactions right here.

  • Vincent LoVerde, a two-time Calder Cup winner and minor league veteran will take his talents overseas for next season. The 32-year-old defenseman has signed with EC Salzburg in the Austrian ICEHL for the 2021-22 season. LoVerde took home the Calder with Manchester in 2015 and again with Toronto in 2018, but recorded just three points in 23 games as captain of the Hartford Wolf Pack this year. The undrafted defenseman never did play in an NHL game during his time in North America.
  • Dmitry Sokolov, who has spent the last few seasons with the Iowa Wild, is headed back to Russia. The 23-year-old winger was a seventh-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2016 but never played a game for them, instead spending his entire career thus far in the minor leagues. Now he has inked a deal with Omskie Krylia of the VHL for next season, meaning in order for the Wild to retain his rights, they’ll just need to extend him a qualifying offer. In 14 games for Iowa this season, Sokolov scored three goals and recorded four points.
  • Among the group of players extended by the AHL’s Ontario Reign today was Adam Johnson, who arrived late in the season under strange circumstances but appears to have found a fit in SoCal. After three seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Johnson had been playing in Sweden this season with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. He then left abruptly just before the NHL trade deadline, leaving Malmo without one of its best players with the playoffs approaching, leading many to assume he had an NHL contract lined up. Instead, Johnson joined Ontario and will now stick around for another year in the AHL. Long-time captain Brett Sutter and journeyman grinder Jacob Doty were also re-signed, all to one-year contracts.
  • 2021 NHL Draft prospect Hugo Gabrielson is changing teams and moving up. After years spent developing at the junior level for Frolunda, Gabrielson has signed his first pro contract, joining Vasterviks IK of Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan on a one-year deal. The mobile blue liner is expected to fall in the third or fourth round next month.

Dallas Stars Re-Sign Rhett Gardner

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The Dallas Stars have finished some business with one of their pending restricted free agents, signing Rhett Gardner to a new two-year contract that will keep him in the organization through the 2022-23 season. The deal will be a two-way contract in the first year, one-way in the second, and carries an NHL salary of $750K in each.

Gardner, 25, is coming off his entry-level deal with the Stars, signed in 2019 after he finished his four years at the University of North Dakota. The fourth-round pick played in 28 games for the Stars this season, but managed just a single goal and two points. Offense has never really been the calling card of the 6’3″ forward, but he served as a reliable depth checker whenever needed.

Of course, he’ll have to provide a little more scoring to stay in the lineup over the length of this next contract, or at least establish himself as a reliable option on the penalty kill. More likely, Gardner will keep his role as the 13th or 14th forward for the Stars, if not go back to the AHL full-time.

Interestingly, though this kind of deal may appear to be expansion-related, Gardner is actually not even eligible for the upcoming Seattle draft because he has just two years of professional experience. The 11 games he played for the Texas Stars at the end of the 2018-19 season were under an amateur tryout contract, not his entry-level contract, and thus do not make up a year of service time in regards to the draft. Instead, this is simply a move to retain a depth forward that has a little versatility and size.

New York Rangers Announce Several Hockey Ops Changes

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The New York Rangers have made a few more changes to the hockey operations department, as Chris Drury works to set up the organization under his leadership. Benoit Allaire has been promoted to Director of New York Rangers Goaltending and Jeff Malcolm has been promoted to Hartford Wolf Pack Goaltending Coach. Jean-Ian Filiatrault is joining the organization as a goaltending consultant, while Matt Hunwick is also joining the player development department.

Allaire, 57, has been with the Rangers for the last 17 years and is from a royal family in goaltending instruction. He and his brother Francois Allaire have over 50 years of experience as NHL goalie coaches, both starting their careers several decades ago in the Montreal Canadiens system. In this new role, Benoit Allaire will be responsible for overseeing the development of all goaltenders across all levels of the organization, including the AHL and ECHL levels. That is in addition to continuing his role as goaltending coach for the Rangers.

Filiatrault and Malcolm will work as part of the goalie development staff, an idea several teams around the league have moved to over the last few years. No longer is a goalie coach just another member of the team’s coaching staff; there are now whole separate departments committed to their development from the day they are drafted. The Rangers obviously have a pair of impressive young goalies in Alexandar Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin, but there will be more coming down the line that will need specific development strategies.

On the player development side comes Hunwick, who hadn’t played since the 2018-19 season when he suffered a debilitating neck injury and was forced into retirement. The veteran defenseman served as an assistant coach with the University of Michigan for the past two seasons, volunteering his time in order to continue to be involved in the game of hockey. This next move hints at a potential front office career for Hunwick in the future, as he gets his first opportunity under Jed Ortmeyer, Tanner Glass, and Tuomo Ruutu, the Rangers director and assistant directors of player development.

Free Agent Focus: Buffalo Sabres

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Free agency is now just a little more than a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  Buffalo’s biggest question mark this summer is obviously the fate of the captain, but there are several other pending free agents that also need to be dealt with.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Sam Reinhart – The trade speculation surrounding Jack Eichel has somewhat hidden any Reinhart news, but make no mistake he is also being discussed around the league. Despite being just 25, the RFA forward will be an unrestricted free agent after next season because he has already played six full seasons in the NHL. While he has never quite lived up to the second-overall billing of true franchise-changing star, there’s something to be said for Reinhart’s consistent production on a lackluster team. In five of his six seasons, he has recorded at least 22 goals, even tying his career-high of 25 this year in just 54 games. Reinhart has blown the rest of the Sabres out of the water year after year in possession statistics, and there is a real chance that he could explode into a game-changing presence if surrounded by more talent. Buffalo knows this (or should, at least) and will be holding out for a high price, but there is a ticking clock on the pending RFA. Reinhart can simply go to arbitration with the Sabres this season, receive a raise on the $5.2MM he earned in 2020-21 and then walk if he decides to pursue other opportunities. That would be a real miss on the part of the Buffalo front office, meaning a multi-year extension or a trade seem like the only reasonable options this summer.

F Casey Mittelstadt – If only Mittelstadt had developed the way many expected, Buffalo may not be in the situation they are now. The eighth overall pick from 2017 has still not really established himself as a full-time NHL player, even if this season was a legitimate step forward. In 155 career games he has recorded 61 points, a tough total to swallow when you look at that 2017 draft board and see the likes of Martin Necas and Nick Suzuki selected just a few picks later. Still, there are still plenty of reasons to stay the course with the 22-year-old center and given the fact that he is not yet arbitration-eligible, the Sabres should still get him signed at a reasonable price. There is always the threat of an offer sheet for a young player like Mittelstadt, but in today’s flat cap world it seems extremely unlikely.

D Rasmus Dahlin – In fact, if there was a Sabres RFA to target with an offer sheet, perhaps it would be Dahlin. The first-overall pick from 2018’s entry-level deal is up and he now approaches a negotiation with 107 points in 197 games. Sure, there are real question marks around parts of Dahlin’s game, but the 21-year-old defenseman has still been extremely productive in his first few years. In fact, since he entered the league, Dahlin ranks 20th among all NHL defensemen in points, ahead of players like Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, and Aaron Ekblad. No, he did not have a good 2020-21 season, but the Sabres would be absolutely foolish to be doing anything but locking in Dahlin long-term as soon as possible. He should be part of the solution, not the problem in Buffalo. The question is how long will the player want to go with a contract, coming off such a down year? It does seem to make sense for Dahlin’s camp to push for a bridge contract and then really cash in after his offensive numbers rebound. That delicate dance is what Sabres GM Kevyn Adams will have to navigate as he tries to get Buffalo pointed in the right direction.

Other RFAs: F Rasmus Asplund, F Dawson DiPietro, D William Borgen, D Henri Jokiharju, D Casey Fitzgerald, G Stefanos Lekkas

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Jake McCabe – Normally, McCabe would feature prominently in any offseason plans, given his place as a leader on the Sabres. The 27-year-old defenseman has played his entire NHL career in Buffalo to this point, totalling 353 games over parts of eight seasons. Unfortunately, McCabe suffered a major knee injury earlier this year, with damage to his ACL, MCL and meniscus. He was given a recovery timeline between six and eight months in February, meaning there’s a chance he’s ready for the start of next season, but who knows what kind of player is coming back. The Sabres should have the best insight into his recovery, so perhaps a contract extension in Buffalo makes sense. There is a feeling of dramatic change surrounding the team right now though, so cutting ties with a player who has been there through all the losing could make sense.

G Linus Ullmark – This is the real question among unrestricted free agents for the Sabres, as without Ullmark they don’t really have an NHL goaltender for the 2021-22 season. Partner Carter Hutton is also headed for the open market but is now 35 and coming off two brutal seasons. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the obvious choice as “goaltender of the future” but has just four NHL appearances under his belt. The Sabres have been clear in the fact that they would like to keep Ullmark around, even deciding not to trade him at the deadline in order to continue negotiations. But there’s no deal in place yet, and free agency is creeping closer and closer. In 117 appearances with the Sabres, the 27-year-old Ullmark has posted a .912 save percentage. If he can play that well behind a poor team, there’s good reason to believe that he can be a legitimate playoff-level starter in the NHL. That of course will be known by his representatives too, meaning the Sabres will have to cough up more than the $2.6MM Ullmark made this season in order to keep him in Buffalo.

Other UFAs: F Tobias Rieder, F Riley Sheahan, F Drake Caggiula, F Jean-Sebastien Dea, F Steven Fogarty, F C.J. Smith, D Matt Irwin, D Brandon Davidson, G Carter Hutton, G Michael Houser

Projected Cap Space

The Sabres are one of the worst teams in the league and they also have a pair of terrible contracts on the books. Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo combine for a $15MM cap hit this year and next (with Skinner’s $9MM hit lasting long after Okposo’s expires), meaning the $34MM in space listed is a bit deceiving. That’s more than $47MM in salary committed to just ten players for next season and not many of them are all that good. With new deals for so many restricted free agents to come, the cap is going to become a challenge for Buffalo even before dipping into the unrestricted free agent waters. Of course, if trades for Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen eventually happen, the financial situation looks a lot more reasonable.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Seattle Kraken Hire Dave Hakstol As First Head Coach

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The Seattle Kraken went through an exhaustive process searching for their first head coach and have finally reached a decision. GM Ron Francis has announced that Dave Hakstol will be the organization’s first bench boss. In a statement, Francis explained his decision:

It is certainly is a job that interested a lot of candidates. There is a lot to like about the job with our ownership group setting the franchise for success. Dave is a hard-working guy. I liked his confidence during the interview process. 

Dave has a strong understanding of the technical aspect of the game-how he wants his team to play in all three zones [on the ice]. He’s up for the challenge.

In Seattle, Hakstol is getting a second crack at a head coaching job after his first stint with the Philadelphia Flyers didn’t go all that well. He reached the playoffs in two of the three years that he completed, but was knocked out of the first round both times. Overall, he recorded a 134-101-42 record in parts of four seasons, while winning just four of 12 postseason contests.

For the past two seasons, he has been serving as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hakstol was responsible for the defense corps under both Mike Babcock and Sheldon Keefe, but will now take another step up to the head coaching position. Of course, his experience in that role isn’t limited to the seasons in Philadelphia. For a decade before coming to the NHL, Hakstol served as head coach of the University of North Dakota hockey program, leading powerhouse teams year after year. Before he joined the collegiate ranks he was the head coach of the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers, another prestigious program at the amateur level.

He and Francis also have a history together from the 2019 IIHF World Championship, when Hakstol served as an assistant coach. Jason Botterill, who has joined Francis’ management team in Seattle was also part of that the leadership of that iteration of Team Canada. They’ll now get together for the new challenge of trying to take an expansion team to competitive status in short order. The Kraken have just one player–21-year-old Luke Henman–under contract.

This hiring leaves just two vacancies left in the NHL, those in Arizona and Buffalo. Rick Tocchet, who has seemingly received multiple interviews all over the league, has been passed over in Seattle, New York, and Columbus. Other names that were interviewed by Seattle include David Quinn, Rocky Thompson, Joe Sacco, Kevin Dineen, and Tony Granato, but it is Hakstol that has won the job.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Rick Tocchet Receives Second Interview With Three Teams

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June 24: The Seattle Kraken will reveal their first head coach today and Ian Furness of KJR 950 in Seattle tweets that it will not be Tocchet. With the Blue Jackets and Rangers having gone in different directions, the openings are quickly closing for the free agent head coach.

June 2: The Arizona Coyotes may not have wanted to move forward with Rick Tocchet behind the bench, but they are clearly in the minority. The free agent coach continues to draw considerable interest on the open market. Tocchet has already interviewed for the vacancies of the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, and New York Rangers, as well as for the inaugural head coach position for the expansion Seattle Kraken.

At least three of those teams are serious about Tocchet as a candidate, as Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan reports that Tocchet had a second interview with the Rangers on Tuesday and will have second interviews with the Kraken and Blue Jackets before the end of the week. He does not mention the Sabres, who are reportedly casting a wide net for their next head coach and may not be at their second interview stage just yet. While the Kraken are still an unknown until the Expansion Draft, both the Rangers and Blue Jackets have the talent on their rosters that could allow Tocchet to find immediate success if hired.

Tocchet, 57, actually has a losing record in his NHL head coaching career and if not for the expanded 2020 postseason field would have never led a team to the playoffs. With that said, he took a bottom-dwelling Coyotes team from last in the Pacific Division in 2017-18 to a team that contended for a playoff spot late into the season in each of the past three years, never finishing lower than fifth in the division. It’s nothing spectacular, but it is far from failure. Tocchet is also known for his ability to work with star players and was beloved as an assistant coach in previous stops. A standout two-way forward during his playing days and the NHL’s all-time leader in Gordie Howe hat tricks, Tocchet has a well-rounded understanding of the game and a well-regarded coaching approach. So while his track record may not be amazing on paper, the veteran coach has clearly made enough of a name for himself that several teams are highly interested in hiring him as their next head coach.

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