It’s a Dave Hakstol-centric episode of The Deep Dive this week, as we tackle a few questions and issues with the Kraken’s coaching.
Kole Lind’s first NHL goal (5:00) Seattle’s new-look forward lines (7:33), Listener question about how line combos work (12:05), Hakstol’s line shuffling (20:10), Chris Driedger seeing a sports psychologist (29:02), Hakstol’s comments to the media (40:40), The two SEA-VGK games (49:45)
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8 Comments
Awesome deep dive……as you guys have mentioned..Hakstol isn't sounding very developmental these days.
Merci beaucoup great team and great show like always
I was talking about you two not the Seattle club 😂
Fantastic episode, guys! Thanks so much for explaining lines and duties for me.
Good job this week! You brought up some great points. It appears Hakstol has started throwing his players under the bus. The question is why? Is he trying to deflect blame? Maybe he is because he's worried about his job. Why the change from developmental (develop + mental 🤯) coaching style to ball buster? Maybe because he's worried about his job.
One would think that if he's worried about his job, he'd be looking for anything to help the team get better, including Sports Psychology. (Maybe a media coach for himself?)
The irony of holding players accountable, is that it also applies to coaches. I mean, what was it he said? (paraphrasing here)…. not going to pat him on the back for doing his job, the job he's paid for and expected to do… 🤣. Oh, and …. needs to be accountable for consistency in high level of performance… 😂
Little respect is given to leaders who throw their players under the bus…
I completely agree with you Dylan on the mental health aspect. I find it really shocking that a sports psychologist isn't on every team's payroll in this day and age.
Wow. That tidbit about Hakstol not wanting to pat Driedger on the back for seeing a sports psychologist really rubbed me the wrong way. If I was on the fence before about Hakstol sticking around for a little bit next season, that quote put me firmly in the 'Hak has got to go' camp. Thanks for anoter fun and informative episode!
Really not enthused about the idea of letting Hakstol's coaching style near our prospects, especially as someone who also loves the Flyers and isn't a fan of what he did there or what AV/Mike Yeo were and are doing. There's a difference between pressing buttons and publicly disrespecting/humiliating players, and just looking at the way he's played our goalies this year (not to mention Haydn Fleury), I don't get the impression that Hakstol respects his players much. I'm biased and I know it, because I love all the Kraken goalies, but how does it respect Grubi to overplay him into the ground? How does it respect Chris to barely give him a chance to "earn" his minutes? With Chris's history of working himself up from the ECHL and "pressure is a privilege" on his backplate, it feels like giving him more starts would have helped both of them on a mental level if nothing else.
You mentioned Carter Hart, and AV's comments last year about him very, very clearly did not help with the mental aspects he was struggling with. In contrast, you have the Knights, who have been very staunch supporters of Robin Lehner and his mental health, and it SHOWS. Robin's been really clear that the support he's gotten from Pete DeBoer and from the McGMs have helped his game immensely.
Or, take the Habs this season. Ducharme's lines were… bad… but he also fostered a team that was miserable even if you discount the losing streaks. MSL's lines are better, but even when they lose its clear that the players are learning from it, and WANT to learn from it. He fosters a team that, even though they're going to be dead last in the division if not the league, aren't seemingly dreading to show up to work. They're excited to play hockey. I don't think Hakstol is 2021-2022 Ducharme caliber, but I also don't fancy him screwing up Matty Beniers's rookie season anywhere close to how Ducharme screwed up Caufield. (Side note, line shuffling from the Therrien era might be close to whatever the heck our lines have been doing).
Hockey coaching desperately needs to move away from the aggressively negative holding players to every mistake. I'm not saying that player's shouldn't be critiqued, or anything like that, but how are players supposed to give a good performance if they never get any encouragement at all? Not everyone can thrive on spite alone.