Bylsma hired as coach of Kraken, replaces Hakstol

Dan Bylsma was named coach of the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.

The 53-year-old, who won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, replaces Dave Hakstol and is the Kraken's second coach since they joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 2021-22 season.

Bylsma will coach in the NHL for the first time since 2016-17 with the Buffalo Sabres. He is 320-190-55 in 565 NHL games with the Penguins and Sabres.

"I think coaching in the National Hockey League is an extreme honor and privilege, and it’s a partnership with the organization and the GM," Bylsma said, directing his statement to Kraken general manager Ron Francis. "And I think over the last three years, I'm truly honored that you think I'm the guy to do that for you and your team, so I thank you for that."

Bylsma has spent the past two seasons as coach of Coachella Valley, Seattle's American Hockey League affiliate. Last season Coachella Valley reached the Calder Cup Finals, and this season has made the Western Conference Finals. Game 1 of that series is Wednesday in Palm Springs, California, against Milwaukee (Nashville Predators). Bylsma will remain in his role with the AHL team through playoffs.

"I'm a pretty present and focused individual for the now, in the moment," Bylsma said. “For [Coachella Valley], for the players, it's all about right now and this moment."

Bylsma believes his time in Coachella Valley will give him an advantage when he returns to the NHL next season.

"I have a familiarity with a lot of the players and staff here and think we have a chance to build something special together," he said. "I'd like to thank everyone with the Coachella Valley Firebirds for welcoming my wife and me with open arms, and I'd like to thank [owner] Samantha Holloway and the entire Kraken ownership group, as well as Ron Francis, for trusting me with this opportunity."

The Kraken (34-35-3) fired Hakstol on April 29. They failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing sixth in the Pacific Division, one season after advancing to the Western Conference Second Round, a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars.

"I think there’s going to be a lot of similarities [in style of play], and we'll discuss some of the things here as we move forward, things we might want to tweak that maybe we weren't doing as well," Francis said. "Last year our offense certainly fell off, so we need to find a way to tweak some things in the offensive zone to get offense back. … [Bylsma] brings a passion to the rink every day, his teams play hard every day you watch them play."

Bylsma was the coach of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Penguins' AHL affiliate, when he replaced Michel Therrien in Pittsburgh on Feb. 15, 2009; at 38 years old, he was the youngest coach in the NHL at the time. The Penguins finished the 2008-09 season 18-3-4 and went on to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in seven games to win the Cup.

Two seasons later he won the Jack Adams Award voted as NHL coach of the year when the Penguins went 49-25-8 despite 350 man-games lost because of injury and missing forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the final 35 regular-season games.

He coached the Sabres for two seasons (2015-17), missing the playoffs each season.

After his time in Buffalo, Bylsma was an assistant coach for three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings (2018-21), then was hired by Seattle as an assistant with Charlotte of the AHL in 2021-22, when it was affiliated with the Kraken and Florida Panthers.

Bylsma confirmed that when he took the job with Charlotte, he was hoping it would lead to a coaching job with Coachella Valley.

"You could wonder why, maybe, my path led me to Charlotte," Bylsma said. "But really, it was ... I was grateful to Ron at the time of just giving me the opportunity to coach again. I had taken a few years off from being a head coach, and I kind of really decided that I wanted to give one more go at being a head coach again. And that's really what led me to Charlotte. I did have an eye on C.V., I will say that."

Bylsma said Jessica Campbell, his assistant coach in the AHL, has come up as a possibility to join his staff in Seattle. If she does, she would be the first woman to be an assistant coach in the NHL.

"The [Kraken] coaching staff, Jay Leach and [Dave Lowry] are individuals I'd like to talk with going forward," Bylsma said. "And the potential of bringing someone else to the organization as well to complement the players, to complement myself as a coach, and Jessica has been part of that conversation, [Coachella Valley assistant] Stu Bickel has been a part of that conversation. What they've done in the last few years in developing players down there, Tye Kartye and Ryker Evans are evidence of that, and so they are part of the conversation about going forward with staff here."

Francis said he and Bylsma would discuss the rest of the coaching staff, as well as a replacement for Bylsma with the AHL team, at a later date.

"Dan and I have had conversations about our current staff and who might be available out there," Francis said. "I haven't had any conversations with Jessica about that at this point. I think the job that she's done, though ... the reason why we hired her, we didn't hire her because she's female, we hired her because we thought she's a good coach. She has an interesting background with not only skating, but skill development, and that's been a big part of what they've been able to do with Coachella Valley."

Bylsma also coached the United States at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and was an assistant with the New York Islanders (2005-06) and in the AHL with Cincinnati (2004-05) before joining Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton as an assistant in 2006.

He played 429 NHL games as a forward for the Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim after he was a sixth-round pick (No. 109) of the Winnipeg Jets in the 1989 NHL Draft. He earned the nickname "Disco Dan" while playing for Phoenix of the International Hockey League from 1994-96.

The San Jose Sharks are the only team without a coach. Since the regular season ended, the Sabres hired Lindy Ruff on April 22, Travis Green joined the Ottawa Senators on May 7, the Toronto Maple Leafs named Craig Berube to the position May 17, Sheldon Keefe was hired by the New Jersey Devils on May 23 and Scott Arniel became coach of the Winnipeg Jets the next day.

NHL.com independent correspondent Darren Brown contributed to this report