OVERTIME: Emergency podcast, Dave Hakstol out as head coach (4/29)

Mike Benton with Everett Fitzhugh and Ian Furness after the Monday news of the Kraken parting ways with head coach Dave Hakstol and assistant coach Paul MacFarland after 3 seasons behind the bench in Seattle. 

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
It's the Overtime podcast, a presentationof the Krake and Audio Network and Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.Here's Mike Benton. All right, emergency
podcast time. Mike Benton with you. Thanks for dialing us in once again.
You can find Overtime and many otherCracking podcasts here via the Crack and
Audio Network on the iHeartRadio app tosimply sign up for free to get them

(00:23):
at sports radio kjar dot com.Reason why we're here Breaking news going down
Earlier today the Cracking announcing that theyparted way as with head coach Dave Haxtall
after three seasons behind the bench,along with assistant coach Paul McFarland. GM
Ron Francis saying earlier on Monday,there is no timeline to find Dave Axtell's

(00:43):
replacement, but a search is alreadyunderway, so we're gonna get some more
conversation on this severa fits you joiningme moments after Ron Francis spoke at Crack
in Community ice Plex. In additionto the insights here from Ian Furness,
you can hear him ten to oneweek days on ninety three three KJAR along
with potential candidates maybe to fill theposition here coming up later on this summer,

(01:07):
So before Everett and Ian join us, your highlights right here from Ron
Francis, who spoke with the mediaat Cracking Community ice Plex earlier on Monday.
Yeah, I mean, it's it'snever an easy day. It's never
an easy decision, you know,with lot a guy who's a good coach
and a really good person go withit's you know, it's not easy.
But you know, we're looking atorganization and you know, just looking at

(01:32):
the season, I thought we werea little more inconsistent than than we had
been, you know, a fewtoo many losing streaks and losing streaks of
significant numbers, and so I justfelt it was time to try a new
voice here on the losing streets.I mean, you're the one who designed
this roster. Was there anything yousaw on the roster that wasn't specifically performing

(01:53):
the way you thought it should beat this point? Well, I think
I think you Look, I mean, you probably make a case. With
the amount injuries and stuff we had, we just we had some guys that
had off seasons. We had guysthat missed a lot of time, you
know, so there was a lotof challenges to the roster as well,
and doesn't mean that, uh,you know, we're not gonna look to

(02:14):
do things in the summer. Wesaid that before we we have to make
some changes to the roster and andtry and get back to where we want
to get to next season, forsure. But as far as what you
saw in the coach, was thereanything you thought he could have been doing
more with in terms of the rosterthat you expected to see? Well,
I mean, I think I thinkhe's he's very when you if you know

(02:34):
Dave, he's very thorough in hisapproach. He's he's very detailed. You
know, there was certainly some challengesthere were, you know, the roster
probably fell short with you know,with Belly getting hurt and trying wingers at
center at times, it was uha little bit more challenging for sure for
him. But you know, II he's the kind of guy that's gonna
roll up the sleeves and work andand not complain, and and I think

(02:58):
he did that. You know,it's as we felt it was a time
to to go in a different directionhere. R you can tell us at
this point it's very early. Butin terms of what attributes come to mind,
you might want to see and inthis processor. Yeah, I thought
I might get that question. Ithink if I answer that question, it's
gonna be tied to this is whatI didn't think Dave was doing, and
I'd rather not really do that atthis point. But UH, we will

(03:19):
start the search immediately. No,I met with UH, with UH Dave
starting with day this morning at tenam. They have a definite time less
for us when you want to havethe coaching position build. I I don't
have a definitely timeline, you know, Like I said, we'll start start
the process UH right away, andUH, you know, goals to get
the right guy we think to helpthe organization moving forward. Is it just
a fact of life these days thatnew voices are needed after a certain memory

(03:44):
years. I I wouldn't say there'sa set number of you know, whether
it's one year, three years,five years. I think every situation is
unique and and you look at eachin each uh sort of situation individually.
Half the league has changed head coachessince the end of last season. What
what do you think it is sucha mortal job nowadays in the NHL,
with the way the league is well, I think there's so much at stake,
right The parody in the league isso close. At any given night,

(04:08):
you can win or lose, andand you know, the uh,
the expectations are are you know,probably more intense now than they've ever been
when you look at you know,teams can just get into a playoffs and
and have a chance to win theCup. So there's a lot of pressure
to get in. There's no easy, you know, route to getting in.
It's a long season. There's alot of things that can happen over

(04:28):
the course of the season. Ithink there's all factor into you know,
some of those decisions that are rightnow with with Paul being le like go,
can you speak a little more toyour evaluation and particularly running our play
for the last three years. Yeah, No, that's you know, obviously
that's what we're looking at as partof that because he was in charge of
that. So you know, II I've had different conversations and watched it

(04:51):
and and just felt that it was, uh a change we needed to make.
You know, where we go fromthere as far as the replacing when
the power play guy, we haveto we have to see where that falls
out as well. All Right,those words from Cracking GM Ron Francis and
we said at the end of theseason finale of Crack and Weekly that we
would drop in with breaking news asit happens throughout the summer. But who

(05:13):
knew it would come this fast.Here's a conversation after Ron spoke with Everett
Finzier. Listen, if we're ifwe're being honest, if we're being up
front. I think a lot ofpeople maybe saw this coming. I think
we we've talked so much coming intothe offseason, just generalities of major moves
being made, a major overhaul happeningthis summer, and what does that mean?

(05:38):
Does that mean in the coaches chair? Does that mean on the roster,
does that mean you know wherever?And I think you know, all
of that was on the table andwe got our first answer today. Ron
mentioned the numbers. Ron mentioned theslumps, and the slumps also at the
wrong time leading up here to thismove with Dave Hastall being let go on

(05:58):
the move officially being made earlier thismorning here. But I think to me,
the question is which loss was themost damaging. I think for me
the Vegas loss. This team wasin realistic position to try to grab them
once again while they were fresh outof the trade deadline. They had to
win that game in regulation, andVegas came back with two goals last ten

(06:19):
minutes to tie it up and thenboom, overtime winner. Yeah, you
know, I don't know if forme, and those are all great points
and I'm I'm I'm gonna give youhalf credit for that one. For me,
I think that that started credit.I'm moving up now. Yeah,
I think for me, in myopinion, that started it. Yeah,
I mean, you look at whoVegas is. I mean, a down

(06:41):
year for Vegas is a wildcard spot. You know, they just won the
Cup last season. They've made theplayoffs all but one season in their relatively
short history. So I think forme, you lose to a Vegas team
that is now, I think they'reup to nothing right now, won three
nothing whatever it is on Dallas,So you're you're losing to the defending Cup

(07:04):
champions. I'm not gonna put iton that loss, but I do think
the six and two after that,I do think the losses after that,
not being able to put that lossbehind you, not being able to rally
and bounce back, I think forme that was that was the beginning of
the end, the proverbial beginning ofthe end. In my opinion, we

(07:27):
heard a lot from Ron as faras why this was made, when this
was made, the expectations, asfar as the next coach, and he
wouldn't let us on too I thinktoo much. Or But what was your
biggest takeaway here from the words thathe shared earlier this afternoon. Yeah,
I think you really saw the humanaspect of this, and I think so
far. So many times, sooften we look at sports, as you

(07:50):
know, it's a for profit business. We are dealing in the business of
commodities, right, We oftentimes forgetthat around the trade deadlines. Players have
families, they have kids in schools, they have babysitters, they have mortgages,
they have all of this stuff goingon. Well, we're gonna ship
you from La to Carolina, sorryabout you to have a good life,

(08:11):
right, We forget about that aspect, And I think you really saw that
today in his press conference. Thehuman piece. He and Dave were close,
They've known each other for a while, they've worked together before. Ron
was very close with Dave and hisfamily, So it's hard to remove the
human element out of it. Ido think that Dave is a good person.

(08:35):
I do think that Dave, tohis core is a good coach,
maybe not the right coach, AndI think both can be true. You
could be a good coach, butmaybe you're just not the right coach for
this time in this franchise's history.In this franchise is journey, if you
will. So that's what I tookaway is that it was a very difficult
decision. But as we've been alludingto, a lot of difficult decisions are

(09:00):
on the horizon. A lot oftough decisions are going to have to be
made between now and mid September,when training camp starts. You've got the
draft coming up, You've got freeagency coming up. You have to hire
a head coach now and an assistantas Paul McFarlane was also let go.
So I mean, it's a verydifficult industry. It's a very difficult business

(09:22):
to work in, both personally andprofessionally. And that's what stood out to
me is that Ron made this movebecause he felt it was the best move,
the necessary move for this organization.But he didn't have to like it.
You know, I don't have tolike it. I have to make
this move but you know you don'twant to do it, but don't want

(09:43):
to have to do it, andfrom a personal standpoint, you know it
sucks, but we have to dothis and move on. A great phrase
I heard one time in relation toa coaching change in the NHL was sometimes
the class needs a new professor,and sometimes the professor needs a new class.
I lead here to this, andthis also goes into a two part

(10:05):
thing about why I appreciated Dave Axstallbecause he says what he wants to say
during his media scrums. There's somedepth to it, there's some insight to
it, and then when you pullhim off the side, you're let into
a totally different world with what he'llshare with you. How you understand the
coaching game, how you understand howhe processes decisions at this level, and

(10:26):
it's incredibly fascinating. And that partalways stood out to me and the reason
why I will miss Dave Axstall.That plus the Lou Brown quotes from Major
League as well. But I getback here to the change and voice that
is needed, and this to meties into the free agency part of it,
which I think you hinted at,because Ron France is basically hinted several

(10:48):
days ago that this team will beaggressive when it comes to try to upgrade
matters, especially for a top lineforward, and the head coach that you
have will make a major impact andhow you can recruit. I think so.
I definitely think it will. Andeven though that Ron did not give
a timeline of of when this decisionis gonna be made, typically in the

(11:11):
NHL, really, as is thecase with a lot of sports, I'm
not gonna I'm not gonna segregate theNHL and say that the NHL is any
different. You want to have acoach in place before you get to the
draft. Even though these, uh, these prospects for the most part,
aren't going to be playing here inSeattle for the next two or three years,
you at least want them to havean idea of who's going to be

(11:33):
steering the ship up at the bigclub. So I would expect that this
will be wrapped up. I mean, if I had to guess, I
could see this being wrapped up beforewe get to the Stanley Cup Final.
Now, a couple of caveats there. There could be someone who's coaching now
yes, uh, that Ron hashis eye on. There could be an
assistant who's coaching now that Ron hashis eye on. So all of this

(11:58):
thing, all of the all ofthose factors go into it. But I
do think that you want to doyour due, your due diligence, but
you also don't want to get caughtin a situation where there's no one left.
There's a handful of coaching vacancies thatare out there. Ottawa's vacancy is
open as of right now. TheLa Kings they have an interim in Jim
Hiller will see if they remove that. But like Tom McClellan's also out there.

(12:22):
There's a number of names who wereout there. But there are also
a handful of other teams who aregoing to be looking for coaches. And
let's not forget there are some coacheswho are coaching right now. I look
at Rod Brenda Moore in Carolina whodoesn't have a contract yet now maybe they're
working on one. Elliott Freeman theother day on his podcast said that it
sounds like they may be close toan extension there, but uh, you

(12:43):
know, there could be some veryattractive destinations and some not so attractive destinations.
But I think if you're Ron Francisyou don't want to wait until the
eleventh hour to get a coach.If there's someone out there that you believe
could be the right guy, Ithink you need to make that move sooner
rather later. What do you foreseeas the biggest change in this team's identity
movement I had here to this nexthead of coach. I mean you have

(13:07):
to be offensive minded. I meanthe identity of this team needs to be
one that's going to shoot the puck. I think, one that's going to
commit to improving the offense, generatingthe offense, and listen. Personally,
I liked Dave Hackstall style. Ilike that heavy four checking game. I

(13:28):
like that clogging up of the neutrulzone. I mean, this is the
crack and we're the only team inthe top ten in defense with just over
two and a half goals against thegame to not make the playoffs. Defensively,
this team was fine. If youcan find at two point five,
at two point three, if youcan find another goal a game, I
mean you're in the playoffs. Howmany one goal two goal games three one,

(13:50):
three to two games did this teamlose this season? So I think
you need to going into it thatidentity is going to be one that I
think has to be offense first.Going to see a lot of departures from
this roster. There are a handfulof guys who are UFAs, a couple
of RFAs that you might you know, sign to long term deals, maybe

(14:11):
a couple go to arbitration, whateverthe case may be. But you're not
going to see a whole lot ofturnover as far as guys leaving. So
defensively, you're still going to befor the most part, the same team
next season, but you need toupgrade to it bona fide top six player.
And I've said this so many times, I'm sure folks are getting tired
of me saying it, but youneed to go out there and get a

(14:31):
top six forward that when you slidehim into your lineup, he will be
a top six forward, top twoline player. On one of twenty five
other teams in the league. You'reprobably not gonna crack Toronto's top six.
You're not gonna crack Edmonton's top six, handful of Colorado, Colorado, full
of other teams, but for themost part, twenty five teams in this

(14:52):
league, you need to say,yep, he's a top six forward.
They're there, there, there,there there. You have to go and
get that per And who's going tobe a top thirty, top forty scorer
for you. Consistent twenty to thirtygoals a year, consistent forty to fiftyest
this a year. And I think, ultimately last part of this the advantage
here for Ron and for ownership aswell. On a move like this,

(15:13):
we're not talking about a team thatis working around the edges and nipping off
the corners here as far as theirbudget. We're talking about if you want
said candidate, there should be nothinggetting in your way to get that candidate
here. Yeah, that's been oneof the factors in one of the areas
that I think ownership and management theyhave not been shy about, both publicly
and privately over the last three anda half years. This is a team

(15:37):
that will spend the money if theyneed to. You can spend the cap,
you have the money to spend.So that's why I do believe this
is one of the more attractive jobsthat will be open this summer. You
can throw in the facilities, youcan throw in the fact that you're still
a new team, you're growing afan base, you can be an excellent
ambassador and help grow the game ofhockey here this community, which I think

(16:00):
is going going to be, youknow, on the list of of attributes
that you want this coach to have. But also too, you can you
can come here and and with ownership'sblessing, you can you can take home
a pretty decent paycheck at the endof the month with this job. And
with that being said, you're takingyour name out of the circle here as
far as top five candidates, right, yes, yes, I listen.

(16:22):
Ron came to me and he said, fits I need your pal, And
I said, listen, Ron,respectfully. You know, I just I'm
not the guy. I'm flattered bythe offer. But if you're, if
your other top ninety nine candidates sayno, I'll do it. I would
love to have you in there ona whiteboard session or video session. One

(16:42):
of these days. I'm gonna drawup the flying V I'm going to I'm
going to implement a hockey friendly versionof the Annexation of Puerto Rico, and
we're gonna have some fun, funhockey. You know, maybe I'll throw
some hula hoops out there, somefun balls. Somebody running kjur Instagram right

(17:03):
now. I want to get thissome video. I want to get some
video, right A couple of guysminutes for roping. Yeah, you never
know, We're have some fun.We have some fun out there. Your
best bomb Bay fits. Thank youso much, buddy. All right,
emergency podcast time. It continues.Ian Fornest joining us midday twelve to three
on ninety three to three KJRFM.Ian is a busy man, a hungry

(17:26):
man as well, so I can'tthank him enough for joining us here as
he's literally doing this from the deskat Fox thirteen. I'm ast a crazy
busy day right now. Ian,Thanks so much, my man. What
have you processed here with the newsfrom earlier today? Well, I don't
think it was surprising, Mike.I mean we talked about it quite a
bit during the year that this isa possibility. I think the fact that

(17:49):
you know, they waited a littlebit of time, they did their due
diligence, and I know we'll getinto who ultimately made the decision to let
Babe past All go, but Ido I think it was the right decision.
I think it was inevitable that theywere going to get rid of it
at some point. I think that, you know, what we saw on
the ice this season was just notacceptable and you could move forward with that

(18:11):
type of you know, product onthe ice. Fans pay too much money
and are to invest in the productto go through that again. Three years,
one playoff appearance, and I getit. The expansion season was what
it was. But you know,as our friend Alison Ballard David Joe's Locker
points out, they scored few orfive on five goals in year three than

(18:32):
they did the expansion year, andthat expansion year team is hard to watch.
So yeah, I think that we'rein a situation now where the right
decision was made and they moved forward. Did you happen to see the report
come out right at the beginning ofthe Panthers Enlightning game on ESPN with how
this thing all went down, Well, you know, we talked about it

(18:52):
on KJR today. I thought,after watching the press conference with Ron Francis,
I got the impression and just toguess it, just you know,
you're trying to read. You know, we live in a world where trying
to speculate, analyze and read things, and it sure looked to me,
to be honest with I feel likeRon Francis didn't want to be there today,
and which the anytime you fire acoach and make a move, it's
never easy. It's just never pleasant. H But I just I saw you

(19:15):
were there. I'm watching on thescreen, but you were there. I
saw a guy that didn't look likenecessarily he was on board with it.
I'm my guess is he hired thecoach he want. You know, he
believes in the coach, he saidtoday. He believes in the coach because
I thought he was a good coachwhen I hired him three years ago.
I think he's a good coach now. And we get all that, but
but I know this. I talkedto Ron Francis last week, and I
know you did as well. Thesame day when we had our sitdowns with

(19:37):
him and we had him on theshow on kJ ARE, he said,
you know, same thing he saidto you and the press conference everything else
is that we're going to go doour due diligence and go through everything including
going through the you know, withthe analytics team. And then I think
this was the key. They also, I know the next day on Tuesday,
I know that that Ron Francis metwith and not that they don't do

(19:57):
this on a regular BA anyway,but I know there was a pretty high
end meeting the next day involving RonFrancis, toddli Wickie, Sam Hollowell,
Victor de Bonus, the analytical teamand others, and so, Mike,
I'm guessing that there was a pushto to think a move with Hacksall,
and I think as much it's hockeyrelated, but I think you could probably

(20:18):
make a strong case that it wasnot just hockey related. It was business
related as well, because we're thinkingabout how crowded the sports market is in
right now with the Mariners in firstplace, the Seahawks well be in the
Seahawks the NFL commands so much attention, but the Husky is coming off a
National Championship Game appearance and going outto the big the Big Ten, and

(20:40):
then maybe about the whole basketball thinggoing down as well, Who knows how
soon that could be coming. Well, basketball is going to be here,
probably in twenty twenty seven at thelatest. That's that's and that's the same
ownership group. And while it's fine, I mean they're not competing with each
other, they are competing with eachother. The basketball is going to sell
itself. It just is in thismarket, the return of the Sonics will

(21:00):
be the easiest ticket sold ever.You know, the crack and sold thirty
thousand to what have you in twelveminutes. I can't even venture to guess
what that the numbers will be forthe Sonics, and I think the toddli
Wicky and the others know that theyneed to get the town back into this
about hockey game. Listen, itwas an opportunity loss, if we're being
honest, like this was an opportunityloss to this organization last year. You

(21:22):
know, one year ago, twelvemonths ago, we're sitting here in the
middle of a playoff runt. Thetown's on fire. The non hockey fan
had become a hockey fan. Peoplewere jumping on board. We saw the
TV numbers, we saw the radionumbers, we saw the streaming numbers,
all the stuff that everyone's doing.This town was cracking crazy, and they
had all that momentum in fourteen games, two seven game series, everything was

(21:44):
I mean it was and remember thosewere our first seven game series for any
sport since two thousand and one.You know, maybe the Sonics had won
in OH four, but I meanit's been forever, right since we had
a seven game series. This townwas on fire. And they came out
this year and absolutely laid an ayAnd I understand the Mariners go through the

(22:06):
same nonsense every year. Well it'searly, it's early, Sure, it's
early, but it's not early forthose who are deciding if they want to
buy a twenty game ticket package orif they want to buy a ticket to
a game in November, December,January. Same thing the ends go through.
You want to come out school,out of the gate you're going to
it's gonna cost you big time atthe at the box office early on.
And I think that with the cracktyou know, they came out with another

(22:27):
slow start, which was a traditionhere in town and something that the Cracking
and the Mariners share together cloth starts. When they did that, it just
sucked the life out of whatever youhad good going for you in the off
season. And on top of that, honestly, Mike, they did nothing
in the off season to improve thehockey club of any significance, hoping that
a guy like Andrey Barikovski was goingto step off, hoping that Matty Vaniers

(22:49):
would take a step forward. Instead, basically every player not an Anti Karcia
took a step back this season.The only reason he didn't is because he
was a rookie before I get ontocandidates. It leads me here to thinking
about this, what is this teamgoing to look like? Maybe as far
as the biggest change in identity withwhatever coach they hire next, Well,

(23:11):
there's two things. One, you'vegot to be someone who's willing to be
patient with and develop talent, youngtalent. I harken back to our final
home post game show you and Idid and section twenty there at Climate Pledge
Arena, and and I think thesic is still coming off my head set

(23:33):
from that postgame show. Well,I just I just you know, I
was. I was embarrassed for thefor the products on the ice that night,
losing the San Jose for a secondtime. And you can certainly point
into San Jose games as being acatalyst to make a move the one before
the All Star Break, which wasjust unacceptable because you're still in the playoffs.

(23:53):
The last one obviously they were outof the playoffs. It didn't really
matter. I get it, Youand I both knew that. I mean,
it was kind of a nothing Burger. But that's your last chance to
make an impression on your home crowdat seventeen thousand people paying a lot of
money to go watch the team,and your last chance to see him in
person this year. And out ofthat building, seventeen thousand people walked out.
What were they thinking? Well,that was a waste, right,

(24:15):
you know, losing losing to basicallya glorified American Hockey League team that the
Coachella Valley team to compete with.He lost to them. And then after
the game when Dave Haxell said,this is where I thought, Okay,
if this is where we're at,this is maybe a chance. And I
said that to you that night,I think this is this is the type
of game and the comments to geta coach fire. We talked about it

(24:37):
that night that game and then hiscomments afterwards because Ryan Winterton didn't play it
all in the third period. Ithink he had one shift like seven minutes
total, Like why is he here? It's a game that doesn't mean anything
in the standings, and and Hackstallmade and I just I don't want to
just crush a guy on his wayout, and so but like this is

(24:57):
a guy that like he would playBrandon tannev and Andrey Barakowski. You know,
multiple minutes. I mean, youknow, top six minutes every night,
and not on Neither one of thoseguys did anything this year to deserve
those minutes. Here's a young kidscoming up here. He's here for one
reasons this last game. We're allalways going down to Coachella the next day,

(25:18):
and you decide you're going to benchhim because quote, he he'd looked
lost out there. Well, basicallyanybody not named Jared McCann at some point
this year looked lost. So Ijust I thought that was a catalyst for
it as well. I just it'sit's when you hear things like that,
you got to make a change.And so then who comes in next Well,
you've got a lot of young guyscoming up here the next few years.
Shan Writ's going to be here nextseason. Winardon probably will be here

(25:41):
next season as well. He's gotRyker Evans coming into a second year,
Ty Karcha coming into his second year, Matty Benier is going into his third
season. Those guys need a coachthat can develop young talent, patient with
young talent, and allow those guysto take the next step. I think
that's priority number one because here's thevoice that many of those players had within

(26:03):
the last one to two years inCoachella Valley in Nasty and Bilsma on the
coaching Canada side him, Rod BrendaMoore whose contract as of right now is
due to expire in Carolina, TomMcClellan, who is technically a free agent
right now out there, or someoneelse. What do you think, Well,

(26:26):
let's let's go through a couple ofthose guys. Let's start with Biolesma.
I was told by a former playerand teammate of his and a guy
that played for him as well,that he doesn't have any interest in coming
back to the NHL. He's reallyhappy in Coachella Valley. Why wouldn't you
be. He's already won a StanleyCaptain, He's been to the top of
the mountain. Uh, there's nopressure there to win necessarily, there is.

(26:48):
I mean, if I guess ifthere's one team in the American hockey,
there's pressure to win to be thatteam. But really like he's in
a good situation right now. Butif if the organization who he works for
comes him says we're going to promoteyou he didn't have choice, But I
don't know how what kind of appetitehe has for that, and maybe you
want to just start fresh anyway,I don't know that would mean. Now

(27:08):
here's the thing. There's the otherpart of the puzzle with Dan Biles.
But it would allow the Craken topromote Jessica Campbell to become the first head
coach in American Hockey League history,if the first female head coach in American
Hockey League history, and that wouldbe basically right along company lines. And
not to say she doesn't deserve it, Don't get me wrong. I'm just
saying that that this is this isan organization that would have no problem promoting

(27:32):
or some and you know, Idon't know about her exits and knows,
we all know she's an incredible skatingcoach and everything else. It allows them
to keep her in the organization andpromoter in that sense. Yeah, it
makes sense. Let's go to theother Obviously, Rod Brenda Moore's contracts up
with Carolina when they're done with thepostseason. That becomes a big topic of
conversation. Ron Francis hired him inCarolina, so you can connect with us

(27:56):
there. Next up. I thinkJohn Cooper's name has to be thrown out
there. Mic there's a lot oftalk and a lot of smoke out there
that perhaps, you know, TampaBay and John Cooper might just come to
a mutual agreement that it's time todo something new. Right on both sides.
He's the longest centered coach in theNational Hockey League. He's from Prince
George, British Columbia. I believehe stays in the off season a little

(28:18):
bit in British Columbia, if I'mnot mistaken, maybe the Okanagan. I
think if nothing else can be comingback to the Northwest, he's right now,
yeah, I mean, but that'sa that's an decision that he and
the organization can make, like dowe want to just walk away from this?
And that might happen. He wasalso hired when Todd la Wicky was
a CEO in Tampa, So thereis a definite connection there, and that's

(28:41):
an easy seale that that would invigorate, fire up a fan base, easy
sell for the market as well.So you know you've got John Cooper.
So, I mean, those arethe names being thought out there. There's
some American Hockey League guys out therethat I know you're fond of, and
so are others. I don't knowhow excited i'd be for some of the
recently fired NHL coaches, to behonest with you, you know, so

(29:02):
I I and I like Top McClellan. He was in the dub when I
was working there. I think he'sa great coach. But I don't know.
It's the NHL recycles guys way toooften, and so to see some
fresh blood and there's someone that's anup and coming coach in the American League,
I don't necessarily want to see acollege coach. I think they got
to bring a guy in that understands, let's just watch, you know,

(29:22):
the Rempire State Building in New Yorkright, like there's still there is still
a part of this this game thatneeds to be physical. And and you
know, Matty Veneers thinks he's stillin college skating around there. Keep your
head up, kids, like you'regoing to get hit, right like you're
going to get hit. And Ithink they need to find a guy that
understands that the physical part of thegame is still very necessary. Uh.

(29:45):
I know that part of that's rosterconstruction, but I think that that has
to be coming into play too.What do you think about Craig Beruby,
whose last stop was in Saint Louis. Yeah, I didn't understand them getting
rid of him. He might bethe exception of the rule, Jay wid
Croft. I get mcclellent, Iget. I mean love his style of
play obviously, and he won aStanley Cup, so he's got the pedigree.

(30:07):
I don't hate that one at all. Like I don't hate that one
at all, so I think youcan make an argument there. Again,
I don't know what went into thedecision that was made to get rid of
him in Saint Louis, but Idon't hate that one at all. This
is going to be fun here totrack, certainly, and players will often
say it is never an easy day. Anybody says it is never an easy

(30:29):
day when a move like this happensas well, And I can certainly appreciate
what Dave Axdall did here for manyof us and for me for off to
the side conversations as well, Butas they say, in this business,
it is a what have you donefor me lately? Proposition here, and
that's why we're here right now.So we'll see what's next here as far
as how long it takes, whothey fill it with here and the candidates
that are at hand here maybe inthe oncoming days and weeks. Ian,

(30:53):
you're a busy man, get rightback on TV. Smile there for the
masses. Knock him dead. Thanksso much, buddy, No bro.
I would just add to Mike,I agree everything you said is right.
And you know, I remember whenDave Hacksall was hired and the first thing
I thought of is man, goodfor you. You got a job back
at the head coach in the NHL. But you're also getting hired to be

(31:14):
fired because you got hired to bethe coach of an expansion team in the
National Hockey League. And even thecoach we even mentioned him that was the
head coach in Vegas as an expansionteam that went to the Stanley Cup Final
a lot. Yeah, yeah,he got fired, so like you're going
to get fired in this league.It's just it's just I mean, heck,
Hackshall was the sixth longest tenured coach, and it's just it. It

(31:37):
is probably the hardest coaching job inall pro sports is the NHL, because
the patients were sin You're not alongwith this world a lot of times,
and I would agree with what yousaid. You know, good for Hack,
you brought him to the playoffs,gave us some great memories last season,
and now it's time to take thatnext step as an organization at the
nail on the Headie and thanks somuch, Buddy, appreciate you. Thanks
Mike all right Ian forness joining usonce again from the Fox thirteen set.

(32:02):
Big thanks to Ian once again abusy guy in addition to his ten to
one duties on KJAR. So bigthanks again to him to ever fits you,
as well as Dave Haxtall once againlet go from behind the crack and
bench following three seasons with a recordof one hundred and seven, one hundred
and twelve and twenty seven, aStanley Cup playoffer last season ending in the

(32:22):
second round, and Jack Adams Awardnomination his replacement TBD so for developments in
the future, we encourage you tostay plugged in with us serial course on
the KRACK and Audio Network podcast ofvia the iHeartRadio app band, all across
daytime programming on the radio flagship homeof the Kraken via ninety three to three

(32:44):
kjr FN. Big thank you onceagain to evera fits you, and to
Ian Forness for doing this here withus, and thank you as well,
to you for pushing play and forovertime. I Mike bet you're home for
the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three pointthree kjr FM