In part 3 of our week-long examination of the Seattle Kraken, we foucs on coach Dan Bylsma. Around the Davy Jones’ Locker Room roundtable are site contributors Zaiem Beg, Sky On Air, Emily Rupp, Allyson Ballard, and Glenn Dreyfuss.
Sky: I think he’s done a reasonable job with the ingredients he’s been handed. One thing that I check pretty frequently is hockeyviz.com for incremental improvements throughout the season. The big change year over year from (former coach Dave) Hakstol to Bylsma is that the Kraken are actually getting shots through in places that during the end of the Hakstol era, they never would have been able to do and they never wanted to. I would consider that an improvement. They have gotten a lot better when it comes to net-front play. It is a approach that seems to fit the team’s better than Hakstol’s did over the long term.
I don’t love the power play. Whatever they were doing down in Coachella is not working at the NHL level and they need to adjust it immediately. Otherwise, I still think that a lot of the issues that this team faces do not start with the coach. So if you could get him some better ingredients, I bet you he’d probably be a better coach as of right now.
Em: I was a little bit confused when the announcement came out that Hakstol was being fired. My thought was, wait a second, they only have had three seasons under their belt. Yeah, they missed the playoffs this last one. But I thought we were going for a slow and steady approach. Maybe this is the same part of me that wants to give (general manager Ron) Francis one more year.
Since Bylsma has taken over as coach, I definitely have been seeing incremental improvements. He’s not afraid to healthy-scratch players when needed. I’ve been impressed that when he does, it works out because those players come out and they play phenomenally afterwards. I’m doubly impressed because I also pay attention to the Flyers and I see what happens when Torts (coach John Tortorella) scratches players and it just seems to tank their confidence. Bylsma’s not just doing these healthy scratches because players need it, but he’s doing so in a way that I think the players feel motivated to come back stronger as opposed to taking it the wrong way.
Allyson: The way that this team wins under Bylsma is so different from the way it won under Hakstol. Playing a full 60 has kind of perpetually been a problem for this team. Last season you saw it more at the end of games. This season you’re seeing it more at the beginning of games.
They’re having so much success offensively in the third period of games. They have 70 goals scored in the third period, which is fifth best in the league. And at the end of last season, they had 74 scored in the third period, which was the fifth worst. So you’re seeing this ability to play urgent towards the end of games.
I also want to point out that their five-on-five shooting percentage has increased massively compared to last season. It’s 9.63 right now, which is fourth best in the league. It was 7.68 at the end of last season, which was the fifth worst. This is all from Money Puck.
That’s interesting, because the shooting talent on this team hasn’t necessarily improved. How they’re handling themselves in the offensive zone, how that’s changing, I think what Bylsma is doing is better leveraging the talent that he has been given. By enforcing more of a net-front mindset and by changing up the approach in the offensive zone, he’s giving a low shooting talent team a better chance to make the most of what they do have.
Zaiem talks first about Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell.
Zaiem: The story is wonderful. Jess Campbell is being so good with skating. She becomes this magnet for the hooting and oinking from the mouth breathers to be like, “a woman shouldn’t be in charge of this anyway. She’s clearly unqualified because she’s a woman.” It’s just a lightning rod for misogyny.
If the future of the Kraken success is dependent mostly on the youths growing up and being cornerstone players of a championship team, then the thing that they should be prioritizing the most is player development. Bylsma is being good with player development. Even though we’re not seeing it translate on the ice this year, it’s really easy to see the benefits of having this coaching staff on the long-term success of this roster.
The other thing is, with Hakstol, it just felt like going to the dentist. The Kraken had no multi-goal comebacks last season, and this year they lead the league in multi-goal comebacks. At least, like, have fun when you’re winning. You know, that Vancouver game was great. I didn’t care about the record at the moment, I just cared about watching this sweet hockey game.
So was Seattle’s last game before the 4-Nations Face-Off break Feb. 8 , watching a late two-goal deficit in Calgary turn into a 3-2 Kraken victory on Matty Benier’s overtime, power play goal. Which seems a good place to mention that on Thursday, Part 4 the DJLR roundtable turns its focus on the Kraken offense.