North Dakota’s Dave Hakstol Is An NHL Head Coach Again

Former University of North Dakota player and coach Dave Hakstol is back in the NHL.  Hakstol has been named the first ever head coach of the Seattle Kraken expansion National Hockey League team.

According to an article on ESPN, Hakstol said, "I view it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of something that we have an opportunity to build from the ground up,"

Dave Hakstol has been an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs the last two seasons.  Before that, Dave was head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers for 3 1/2 seasons.  He was fired during the 2018-19 season after his team got off to a slow start.

Before that, Hakstol was the longtime head coach for the University of North Dakota hockey team.  He was the first NCAA head hockey coach to jump from college to a National Hockey League team head coach in 33 years.

Hakstol is a longtime resident of Grand Forks, North Dakota, where his family still lives today.

The Seattle Kracken will begin play next season as the NHL's 32nd team.  The expansion draft will take place on July 23rd.

30 of Dave Hakstol's players at the University of North Dakota went on to play in the National Hockey League including T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews.  Hakstol had a tremendous winning percentage with the University of North Dakota.  His record was 289-143-43 for a winning percentage of .654.  UND reached the Frozen Four seven times under "Hak", the most of any program in college hockey during that span.

About the only success that eluded Dave Hakstol, was that North Dakota never won a National title under his regime.