Coach Hakstol Fumes After Indifferent Home Performances By Kraken

A tiny tweak of the Seattle Kraken coach's surname describes how Dave Hakstol felt about his team's effort in a 5-1 loss to Montreal Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena.

He was clearly, undeniably Hacked-Off.

"It's hard to see us fall off like this," the coach said about a losing streak which has reached eight games (0-6-2). "Every time you put this jersey on, it means a lot. Right now, we are not portraying that out on the ice."

NHL coaches - with a few notable hot-headed exceptions, don't allow themselves to boil over in public. For one, the short-term release of invective is almost never worth the long-term blowback from players - even if the criticism is warranted. For another, coaches can't emotionally afford to get as high after wins or low after losses as fans do.

But as someone standing an arm's length away during Hakstol's postgame media availability, I can attest that Hakstol was seething. What bothered him wasn't so much that his team lost, but the manner in which they lost.

Seattle fell behind 4-0 in the first 18 minutes against a scoring-challenged Canadiens team. In their prior home game, they hopelessly trailed a mediocre Sabres team 3-0 after six minutes.

"You play this game with passion, you play it with heart, you play it for the guy next to you. We're not doing that right now. That's more than disappointing. It's hard to be part of. That's something that we're going to change."

Hakstol wasn't assuaged by his team's 37 shots against Montreal. "This is start to finish. You don't play part of a hockey game. You don't pick and choose the (positive) pieces that you're competing in."

The elephant in the dressing room is how much of this poor effort should be laid at Hakstol's feet. Isn't the bench boss responsible for his team giving peak performance each and every time they step on the ice, regardless of circumstances?

My answer would paraphrase a line I heard once from some British writer. "The fault, dear Kraken, lies not in your coach, but in yourselves."

Another quote from Cassius in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar backs up this line of thinking: "Men at some time are masters of their fates." Of course, maybe he's not the most reliable source; Cassius betrayed his coach, too.

Here in the 21st century, coaches take the fall when teams appear to tune them out. It's easier than firing the whole team, as the saying goes, and shows that ownership is doing something . To the credit of general manager Ron Francis, he's done something to hold players accountable: call up two prospects who could replace veterans when the Kraken host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

However, the Kraken's apparent indifference, if not corrected, could cause Hakstol to lose his job one season after earning a Jack Adams nomination and a contract extension.

I asked one follow-up question of the coach about his message to Kraken fans, which forms today's Kraken Reaction video.