Flyers look to college ranks for new coach
PHILADELPHIA — Once the surprise news hit Philadelphia, Flyers diehards — heck, NHL fans everywhere — all sounded like they should have been Jeopardy contestants. Who is Dave Hakstol? Not even an easy hint would have clued anyone in on Flyers general manager Ron Hextall’s top target to try and lead the franchise to their first Stanley Cup championship since 1975.
“I wasn’t going to choose the coach that was the people’s choice, the popular choice,” Hextall said Monday. “I was going to pick the coach that I felt like for this franchise from today, next year, moving forward was the right coach. Dave was the right coach for this franchise.”
A stranger in NHL rinks, Hakstol did boast one of the top collegiate resumes at the University of North Dakota. The 46-year-old Hakstol went 289-143-43 with a .654 winning percentage over 11 seasons and reached the Frozen Four seven times in that span. In 2014-15, he led North Dakota to a 29-10-3 record with a .726 winning percentage and a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four.
His program had become a pipeline to the NHL with players such as Jonathan Toews (Chicago), Matt Greene (Los Angeles), T.J. Oshie (St. Louis) and Chris VandeVelde (Philadelphia) all developed out of the North Dakota system. Hakstol’s program has produced 20 NHL players and 46 have played professionally.
Hextall had a checklist of qualifications he wanted his next coach, and his first major hire, to meet. Every requirement box was checked except NHL experience.
Hakstol signed a multi-year deal and terms were not disclosed.
He is one of the few coaches to graduate straight to the NHL bench from college. He joined “Badger” Bob Johnson and Ned Harkness as coaches to get their first NHL job straight out of colleges, according to College Hockey Inc.