While coaching goalies in college five years ago, Vince Stalletti and his wife, Matilda Miglio, visited Seattle from the East Coast ahead of boarding a cruise ship to Alaska. She bought a Kraken ballcap in town, unaware her husband would ultimately graduate to that squad’s AHL farm team a half-decade later following a highly successful stint at NCAA Division 1 University of Connecticut.
Stalletti was officially announced Tuesday as the new goalie coach of the Kraken’s Coachella Valley Firebirds affiliate.
“In her profile picture on my phone, Matilda is wearing that Kraken hat,” said Stalletti after an on-ice session during this month’s Kraken development camp. “I’ve been staring at it for five years. When I got the [Firebirds] job, she said, ‘You know, that’s the hat I’ve been wearing.’ What a coincidence.”
Hmm, coincidence? The great theoretical scientist Albert Einstein once said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” Another thinker of a different sort, Hall of Fame baseball catcher Yogi Berra, once said: “That’s too coincidental to be coincidence.”
Stalletti’s five stellar seasons with UConn certainly positioned him for a look this summer when the Firebirds needed a new goalie coach. That job opened when Colin Zulianello, who mentored Joey Daccord during his inaugural Coachella Valley season and resulting AHL Western Conference championship, was named Kraken goalie coach under new bench boss Lane Lambert.
This past season, Zulianello played a key role in breaking 2022 second-round draft pick Nikke Kokko, a netminder from Finland making his AHL debut, into a circuit bigger and more skilled than his prior Finnish pro stopover. The Kraken organization slow-played Kokko’s AHL rookie campaign by limiting his early game action while using practices and 1-on-1 work with Zulianello to get the 20-year-old better acclimated to heavier net front traffic and faster-paced play.
Kokko eventually played more and was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team while proving a clutch postseason performer.
As for Stalletti filling Zulianello’s prior Firebirds post, it wasn’t exactly a coincidence. The pair had met eight years prior when Stalletti was still coaching at UMass-Dartmouth ahead of his Connecticut run, and Zulianello knew pretty quickly this summer who might make a strong candidate to succeed him.
“I thank Colin (Zulianello) because he was the first one who reached out to me [about the position],” Stalletti said. “I met Colin years ago at a goalie conference. It was 2017. We were on the ice together. I didn’t know him well, but we connected.
“When he reached out, it was definitely a welcome surprise,” added Stalletti, who soon was contacted by Kraken GM Jason Botterill, Coachella Valley vice-president (hockey operations) Troy Bodie and Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal.
“It happened pretty quick,” Stalletti said. “When I heard of the opportunity, I knew whoever would get this job would be fortunate to have it. I'm excited to be here and appreciative of the opportunity.”
Bodie said of Stalletti: “Vince is impressive and the perfect choice to join our coaching staff. He has a clear plan for goaltenders that aligns with our approach and proved successful in the NCAA.”
