Hakstol relishes second chance with expansion Seattle Kraken

SEATTLE – In the conference room, Dave Hakstol enjoyed a quiet lunch with a small group about to begin the first Seattle Kraken training camp.

Then two random fans knocked on the window who happened to notice Hakstol was in the room – even with the blinds partially pulled – and wanted to make sure he saw the University of North Dakota flag in their hands.

“(North Dakota) fans are everywhere,” Hakstol said with a grin.

Hakstol may have some status as a player and coach at his alma mater, but those aren’t the fans he’s trying to win in the latest chapter of his hockey timeline.

Seattle is a desirable, if daunting, stop on an unexpected NHL journey for Hakstol that began with his first head coaching opportunity in Philadelphia in 2015. He moved to Toronto as an assistant and has now landed on the NHL’s newest franchise.

His task? Take a group that has never played together and shape Seattle into a competitive team in Year 1, starting on Tuesday night when the Kraken in Vegas make their regular season debut against the Golden Knights.

“He’s straight forward with his message and as a player that’s what you want, you just want someone who is straight to you is honest,” said Seattle defender Mark Giordano. “I think our way of thinking as a group has been pretty consistent, we’ll be a hard working team, aggressive, but we’ll also play smart.”

Hakstol, 53, was a surprising choice as Seattle’s first coach, at least for those outside the front office. But his desire has always been there to find another NHL opportunity, and the Kraken are betting on Hakstol to be like other coaches who struggle on their first stint before succeeding elsewhere.

He’ll get an example right: Vegas coach Peter DeBoer lasted three seasons and never made the playoffs during his first NHL coaching stint with Florida. In his first year with New Jersey at Station No. 2, he went to the Stanley Cup Finals.

“Ultimately, you have to go your own way,” said Hakstol. “And you have to be who you are and have faith in yourself to move forward. That’s my way of doing things. “

This isn’t Hakstol’s first surprising take in the NHL, either. Philadelphia hired him ahead of the 2015 season, with a man who had never trained in the NHL and was suddenly hired to run one of the league’s most iconic franchises. At the time, he was only the third college coach to move to an NHL head coaching job.

He made the playoffs twice in Philadelphia, but in the middle of the 2018/19 season the Flyers decided to move on.

“Just learn the league from the ground up, learn, get to know the day-to-day business of the league and have the opportunity to coach players at this level,” said Hakstol. “This is a learning experience in itself.”

Because of his college experience, Hakstol made a lot of sense as the first coach to the Kraken. During his tenure in North Dakota, part of Hakstol’s annual job was to get a new class of recruits to learn a system and how to thrive as a collective on the ice.

It’s not much different from what he’s supposed to do with the Kraken this first season.

“I was in North Dakota for a couple of years and we had 12 or 13 newbies, which means half of our team was new … a brand new foundation,” said Hakstol. “It feels like building with a whole new group of players.