![Dan Bylsma will be announced as the new head coach of the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. Dan Bylsma will be announced as the new head coach of the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.](https://i2.wp.com/a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F0527%2Fr1338547_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
The Seattle Kraken have called a news conference for Tuesday, which is when they are expected to name Dan Bylsma as the second coach in franchise history, a source with knowledge of the decision told Keynote USA on Monday, confirming a report.
Bylsma has spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Bylsma’s promotion to head coach comes a little more than a month after the franchise fired Dave Hakstol after three seasons.
Hakstol led the Kraken to within one game of the Western Conference finals and was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2022-23 only to be fired after the team finished this season 17 points out of the final wild card. The Kraken also fired assistant coach Paul McFarland, who had overseen the team’s forwards and power play unit.
Now Bylsma will be in charge of trying to get the NHL’s 32nd team back to the playoffs for the second time in its four-year history.
The Kraken were one of seven NHL teams in need of a new coach. Earlier in the day, the Winnipeg Jets announced they had signed Scott Arniel. The Buffalo Sabers (Lindy Ruff), Ottawa Senators (Travis Green), Toronto Maple Leafs (Craig Berube) and New Jersey Devils (Sheldon Keefe) have already hired coaches, leaving the San Jose Sharks as the remaining vacancy .
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Bylsma first broke into the NHL as a head coach in 2009 when he was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins after previously serving as head coach of their AHL franchise. Bylsma won the Stanley Cup in his first season and led the team to six consecutive playoff appearances. The Penguins reached the conference finals once after winning the Cup in Bylsma’s first season and reached the second round before parting ways after the 2013-14 campaign.
He was out of the NHL for a full season before the Buffalo Sabers hired him as their head coach in 2015-16. At the time, the Sabers had missed the playoffs for four straight seasons and brought in Bylsma with the belief that he could lead them back to the postseason. He was fired after two seasons and the club’s streak without a postseason has since extended to 13 seasons.
Bylsma was an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings for three seasons before being hired by the Kraken to serve as an AHL assistant coach in 2021-22, the year the club shared an AHL affiliate with the Florida Panthers.
He was then named head coach of the Firebirds before the start of the 2022-23 season, and the team found success while he was on the bench. The Firebirds reached the Calder Cup final in their first season, but lost to the Hershey Bears. They advanced to the Western Conference finals this season and open the seven-game series Wednesday against the Milwaukee Admirals.
News of the Kraken’s decision was first reported by SportsNet on Monday.
Keynote USA
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