Kraken Coaching Room Complete

As the Kraken embark upon the Lane Lambert era, three assistant coaches and fresh voices were added Tuesday to the all-important “nerve-center’’ coaching room that will be the throughline to establishing a winning culture and the playoff runs that follow.

The Kraken hired outgoing New Jersey Devils assistant Chris Taylor, former AHL Colorado Eagles head coach Aaron Schneekloth, plus new goalie coach Colin Zulianello from the team’s AHL Coachella Valley affiliate. They join a revamped Lambert staff that includes incumbent assistant coach Jessica Campbell and holdover video assistant coach Tim Ohashi and video analyst Brady Morgan.

“It is vital to trust in people to do their jobs,” said Lambert, who is adamant about empowering his coaching staff to generate full potential from players and become a perennial playoff contender. “The cohesiveness of the staff and the chemistry of the staff, it can’t be overstated. You spend upward of 300 days a year, all in the same room and at times 14 hours a day. There’s got to be real chemistry there. That’s one of the reasons this process took a little while. First and foremost, we were looking for the right people, the right fit, good people, and we feel we've found that with these three individuals.”

Lambert has worked in NHL coaching rooms for the last 14 seasons and has been behind the bench for 21 postseason series over the past decade. Of prime focus within the Kraken’s coaching room this season will be fostering a winning culture where losing streaks are kept to a minimum.

“We put a real emphasis on finding people that are adept at a teaching and development style,” Lambert said, “but also mixing in coaches that have had success who are in a position to help our team have success at the NHL level. It’s a two-fold process.”

Among the newcomers, Taylor, 53, a former Rochester Americans head coach in the AHL who posted a 116-65-33 record over three years, worked the past five seasons for the Devils. Schneekloth, 46, spent a dozen seasons as a head coach and assistant with the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, going 83-46-15 the past two seasons with him serving as Eagles’ bench boss.

Zulianello, 46, served as Coachella Valley goalie coach and worked extensively with Joey Daccord during the team’s 2023 conference championship run while drawing high praise from Philipp Grubauer last season when the netminder joined the Firebirds for a stint. He is also widely credited in the Seattle organization for guiding AHL All-Rookie Team goaltender Nikke Kokko from a backup role into a clutch No. 1 starter in the playoffs for Coachella Valley this season.

Zulianello’s addition means he and Campbell, 32, will be two familiar faces in the coaching room, especially for younger players such as defenseman Ryker Evans, center Shane Wright, forward Tye Kartye and other Firebirds likely to play NHL games this coming season.

Past Successes Common Denominator

In his new hires, Lambert has selected high performers: Schneekloth’s Colorado squad posted the best regular season record (43-21-8) in the American Hockey League Western Conference this past season and ranked third overall in the league with a .653 winning percentage. The Eagles led the highly competitive league in goals scored (250 or 3.5 per game) and finished third best in goals against (185 or 2.5 per game).

As an ECHL head coach, Schneekloth’s Colorado Eagles teams won back-to-back Kelly Cup championships in 2017 and 2018 ahead of the franchise joining the AHL for 2018-19. The new Kraken assistant coach won a Central Hockey League championship in his first season playing for Colorado in 2006-07 as a left-shooting defenseman, scoring eight goals and adding 12 assists in 25 games. He was named a CHL Outstanding Defenseman in 2009 and 2010, then earned the same honor two years later in the ECHL. The new Kraken assistant coach retired in 2013 as the Eagles' all-time leader in points (356), goals (111) and assists (245) by a defenseman. He’d previously won an NCAA championship with the University of North Dakota in 2000.

“In doing my research, all I heard about Aaron was ‘tremendous human being, hard working and successful, ’” Lambert said. “Success as in having his teams be difficult to play against. That characteristic fits in right for me with the team identity. I'm excited to have him join. I know that he's extremely excited and extremely hungry. That's what we're looking for.”

Before his rising coaching career, Taylor played 149 NHL games with the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres. He also logged 617 AHL games and totaled 167 goals and 393 assists for 560 points over seven seasons in Rochester, plus the Capital District Islanders and Providence Bruins, ahead of playing three more years in the top German pro league. Lambert was impressed with Taylor’s five seasons of coaching with New Jersey.

“Chris has been a head coach at other levels,” said Lambert. “He’s coming from the New Jersey Devils team that had offensive talent. We looked at his offensive knowledge and feel it’s a great fit.”

AHL Goalie Coach Gets the Call-Up

Zulianello joined the Kraken organization as Coachella Valley’s goalie coach ahead of the Firebirds' inaugural season in 2022-23. His work with Kraken goaltender Daccord turned heads in Seattle and across hockey. Coachella Valley was one overtime Game 7 short of winning the 2023 Calder Cup final. Daccord went 26-8-6 with a .918 save percentage and three shutouts that regular season, then starred for the Western Conference champs in a historical inaugural postseason -- playing all games with a 15-11 record, .926 save percentage, three more shutouts, and four playoff series wins. The next season, with veteran Chris Driedger and Alex Stezka under Zulianello’s tutelage, the Firebirds repeated as Western Conference champs.

“With everything Colin, as in Coachella Valley, his past history in terms of a teacher, he’s a very well-rounded individual,” Lambert said. “We certainly feel his relationship with our guys was going to be a really great fit moving forward. The goaltending coach role has evolved. Colin can definitely help us with solving opposing goalies, too.”

For his part, Daccord said this past spring he appreciates “the human element” about Zulianello and knew it helped in his AHL playoff run as well as with the daily work last season by the aforementioned Nikke Kokko.

“Colin really cares and is just so passionate about us as people and his goalies,” Daccord said. “We created an awesome relationship and friendship. He’s been super helpful to me. I value his opinion and coaching so much. Coming from a teaching background, you can tell because of the way he's able to get his message across.”

The Kraken goaltender is referring to Zulianello’s past role as an enthusiastic high school teacher.

Zulianello’s mother taught Spanish and French in schools back home in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was a U18 hockey star and earned an NCAA scholarship with Colorado College, posting a 9-7-1 record and .918 save percentage as a senior in 2000-01. He played four ECHL seasons, appearing for seven different franchises while also playing four games for AHL Springfield. He has been a part of several NHL training camps as a player.

A chronic groin injury stymied Zulianello’s playing career, and the natural educator in him (thanks, Mom) turned to pursuing his master’s degree in education at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay while concurrently coaching young junior-level goalies. He subsequently started his own summer goalie camps and clinics. Between his playing career and accepting the Firebirds role beginning with the 2022-23 season, Zulianello juggled teaching roles in Thunder Bay senior elementary schools and part-time coaching opportunities.

From 2016 to 2019, he served as developmental goaltending coach for the Calgary Flames and their then AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat (now Coachella Valley’s divisional rival, Calgary Wranglers).

He and current Coachella Valley head coach Derek Laxdal first worked together when Laxdal became coach of the ECHL Idaho Steelheads in 2005-06. Zulianello served as a volunteer goalie coach after finishing his professional playing career the season before in Boise.

“I trust Colin is going to do the right thing and be able to have those hard conversations with the goalies when needed,” Laxdal said. “I think he does a great job of presenting the message, delivering the message and getting the message through with our goaltenders.”