The Seattle Kraken surprised the hockey world on Thursday with the hiring of their first head coach in franchise history.
After months of speculation and not much information being leaked about the team's head coaching search, the Kraken announced the official hiring of Dave Hakstol as the new bench boss in Seattle.
Hakstol joins the Kraken after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs with Mike Babcock, and eventually Sheldon Keefe's staff.
The 52-year-old got his head coaching start in the NHL back in 2015 when he was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers. In parts of four seasons with the Flyers, Hakstol went 134-101-42 in 277 games behind the bench. He helped coach Philadelphia to a pair of playoff appearances in 2016 and 2018, but each time resulted in a first round exit in six games.
After a 12-15-4 start to the 2018-19 season, Hakstol was fired by general manager Chuck Fletcher and replaced with Scott Gordon, who was coaching the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate, at the time, in Lehigh Valley.
Before making the jump to the NHL, Hakstol found plenty of success coaching at the collegiate level with the University of North Dakota.
Hakstol took over the reins as head coach in Grand Forks back in 2004 after serving as an assistant/associate coach for four years. In his 11 seasons as head coach at North Dakota, Hakstol put up an overall record of 289-143-43 in 475 games. He helped coach the program to four conference tournament championships, 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and seven appearances in the Frozen Four.
While Hakstol led North Dakota to a runner-up finish in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, he was never able to win a NCAA title in his time in Grand Forks.
Success also came to Hakstol at the junior level while coaching the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League from 1996 to 2000. In his final three seasons with the Musketeers, he led the team to a 96-63-11 record and three-straight playoff appearances.
Kraken general manager said Thursday he interviewed eight coaching candidates through the process, with some candidates being talked with multiple times.
It was believed for a while that former Arizona Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet was the favorite to land the head coaching job in Seattle. However, after reportedly being interviewed multiple times, Tocchet did not land the job.
Some other candidates that were reportedly interviewed for the head coaching job in Seattle included former NHL coaches Joe Sacco (Colorado Avalanche), Kevin Dineen (Florida Panthers) and David Quinn (New York Rangers).
Hakstol says he will look to fill out his coaching staff in Seattle as soon as possible.