And the Next Kraken Head Coach is…

Bylsma and Leach Lead the Seattle Kraken's Next Coach Odds

Kraken Look For Second Coach Heading to Its Fourth Year

Jobs for three of the 16 Stanley Cup Playoffs teams are now open. Winnipeg’s Rick Bowness retires while Seattle’s Dave Hakstol and Toronto’s Sheldon Keefe got fired. The Kraken next coach odds have former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma leading the way.

Seattle was a win away from playing in the 2023 Western Conference Finals in its second season of eligibility. With four forwards and two defensemen at 25 years of age or younger, it is an appealing job.

The Seattle Kraken were tied for 16th at +4000 in the NHL odds of winning the title when the 2023-24 season began. However, reports surfaced that prominent players threatened to leave if Hakstol remained coach. It will be interesting to watch the contract situation with Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen being restricted free agents.

The 2023-24 hockey standings saw Seattle finish sixth in the Pacific Divison race as the Kraken missed the playoffs by 17 points.

A quick look at the NHL stats shows that only the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks had a worse goal differential than Seattle among Western Conference teams during the 2023-24 season.

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Here’s a look at some of the top candidates to be Seattle’s next coach

Dan Bylsma (+150)

Byslma coached the Sidney Crosby-led Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup in his first season as an NHL head coach. Now he is the top candidate in the Kraken’s new coach odds. Despite finishing no worse than second in the division in his six seasons with the  Penguins, Bylsma was fired following the 2013-14 season.

He coached the Buffalo Sabres in 2015-16 and 2016-17. But the team let him go after missing the playoffs both times. Bylsma has spent the last three seasons coaching Seattle’s AHL franchise. That could be a huge boost in his quest to return to being a head coach at the NHL level.

Jay Leach (+250)

Leach is the only one of the top candidates with no previous head coaching experience at the NHL level when it comes to the Kraken’s new coach odds. He was the head coach of the Providence Bruins, the top minor-league team of the Boston Bruins before spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Kraken.

While he knows the Seattle players’ stats well, the organization also knows what Leach is all about. The NHL odds have Leach second in the pecking order to be the new head coach in Seattle.

David Carle (+300)

The head coach of the NCAA champion Denver Pioneers is a rising star in the coaching profession. It seems like a matter of when and not if Carle will make the jump to the NHL. Seattle just cut loose a former college head coach in Hakstol who first made the jump to the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.

David Quinn is another high-profile former NCAA coach who has washed out at a couple of different jobs. Are the Kraken willing to dig into the college ranks for their next coach?

Jay Woodcroft (+400)

Woodcroft posted a 79-41-13 record during the regular season from 2021-23 when coaching the Edmonton Oilers before being fired early in the 2023-24 season after the Oilers went 3-9-1 in their first 13 games. He won a Stanley Cup title as the video coach of the Detroit Red Wings.

The 47-year-old also spent time with the San Jose Sharks. He is pretty familiar with the Seattle players as the former head coach of a Pacific Division rival.

Rod Brind’Amour (+900)

Brind’Amour is the only one of the top candidates currently a head coach at the NHL level as he has the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Brind’Amour has coached Carolina into the playoffs in six consecutive seasons. With young stars Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas, and Andrei Svechnikov to work with in Carolina, it seems unlikely that Brind’Amour would leave Carolina to head to Seattle.

He also played with Seattle general manager Ron Francis for five seasons with the Hurricanes. That is enough for the NHL rumor mill to kick into high gear regarding the former teammates being reunited in Seattle.

Other Names to Watch

  • Ryan Warsofsky (+1200) won an AHL title as the head coach of the Chicago Wolves in 2022. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks.
  • Jeff Halpern (+1400) won a pair of Stanley Cup titles as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is another rising star who seems destined to be in the NHL.
  • Todd Nelson (+1600) was a former interim head coach with the Edmonton Oilers. He won the AHL title as a head coach in 2023.
  • Mitch Love (+2000) became the first person to be named the AHL Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons. He also had multiple stints coaching Canada’s junior national teams.

Boston University head NHL coach Jay Pandolfo, former Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason, and former Stanley Cup-winning coach Craig Berube are all priced at +2500.

For more NHL picks & parlays don’t forget to visit Point Spreads sports magazine.


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