Tippett hired as senior adviser for Seattle group: report

Dave Tippett has been hired as a senior adviser for the group bidding for an NHL expansion franchise in Seattle, the Seattle Times reported Monday.
Tippett, 56, will help oversee all aspects of the organization, according to the Times.

"The challenge of trying to build a team from the foundation up is something not a lot of people get the chance to do," Tippett said. "That's what makes it very intriguing to me."
"There are a lot of times where you need somebody with some hockey experience, whether it be infrastructure like the dressing rooms, the training facilities or putting together the groundwork of what a skeleton hockey staff would look like."

Tippett coached the Arizona Coyotes from 2009-10 through 2016-17. He won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year in his first season in Arizona, and guided the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his first three seasons.
Arizona advanced to the Western Conference Final in 2011-12 before losing to the Los Angeles Kings, but failed to qualify for the playoffs in Tippett's final five seasons. He is 553-413-120 with 28 ties in 14 seasons as coach of the Coyotes and Dallas Stars, who qualified for the playoffs five times in Tippett's six seasons.
"We'll see, I'm not ruling it out," Tippett said when asked if he'll coach again. "It would have to be the right situation. But also, I'm intrigued about getting into another part of the game with this."

The earliest the NHL Board of Governors will vote on adding an expansion team in Seattle will be in the fall, Commissioner Gary Bettman said prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 28. An ownership group led by Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and private equity CEO David Bonderman filed an application for expansion with the NHL in February.
If approved, Seattle would become the NHL's 32nd team. The Vegas Golden Knights began play in the 2017-18 season as the League's 31st team and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Washington Capitals in five games.