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Thoughts on Seattle hiring Dave Hakstol as head coach? |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the Seattle Kraken naming Dave Hakstol the team’s first head coach.
Todd Cordell
I think the hire is a little disappointing on the surface. Seattle is a new organization filled with good, smart, people to help build the team up from scratch. And money is certainly not an issue. From that respect, I thought it’d make sense to make a big push for someone with more street cred like Bruce Boudreau – the guy piles up wins everywhere he goes – or Gerard Gallant (prior to the NYR hiring), who made quite the name for himself with the last expansion franchise in Vegas.
They elected to go off the board, so to speak, with Dave Hakstol. I don’t have a problem with it in a vacuum. I’m sure he has learned from some of his mistakes in Philadelphia and, to his credit, he did a good job running the defense and PK in Toronto. He also seems open to progressive and forward thinking ways of playing hockey, which seem like necessary traits for any Seattle coach to have.
I’m not sure it was a homerun hire but I’m willing to give him a chance.
Sean Maloughney
Overall I'm in the wait and see camp for how Hakstol will fair in Seattle. The naysayers will point to the struggles in Philly and that is a fair opinion. Looking back however it appears that Hakstol was thrown right in the deep end as a HC and not given many supports by the Flyers organization. The next step for Hakstol and Francis will be surrounding him with a veteran and experienced coaching staff. I certainly don't look at this hiring as a slam dunk or a sure fire win for the organization but I do believe Hakstol has the tools to help what will likely be a young team figure out what kind of game it wants to play.
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