Does Hakstol’s Hiring Affect The Flyers’ Expansion Draft Plans?

On Thursday afternoon, the Seattle Kraken hired Dave Hakstol as their first head coach in franchise history. Hakstol had spent the last two seasons as an assistant for the Toronto Maple Leafs and was notoriously the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015 to 2018.

Hakstol was originally hired by the Flyers in May 2015 after Craig Berube was let go after a dismal 2014-15 season that saw the Flyers finish 23rd in the league. Hakstol compiled a 134-101-42 record and helped lead the Flyers to playoff appearances in 2016 and 2018 before being let go in December 2018, just weeks after general manager Ron Hextall was relieved of his duties by Philadelphia.

Hakstol’s hiring by the Kraken has raised some eyebrows. He was a surprising name that hadn’t been in rumors that often and wasn’t mentioned as much of an option compared to the likes of fellow coaching candidates Rick Tocchet, Tony Granato, and Kevin Dineen.

The hiring has now added more fuel to the burning question of who Seattle will claim from Philadelphia in 2021 Expansion Draft. The Flyers currently have 16 players on the active roster who appeared in games under Hakstol’s tenure: Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Oskar Lindblom, Nolan Patrick, James van Riemsdyk, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Robert Hagg, Sam Morin, Brian Elliott, and Alex Lyon.

There has been plenty of speculation as to who the Flyers will choose to protect and which player who is left exposed will be selected by the Kraken. The three most popular names in the fold have been Voracek, van Riemsdyk, and Gostisbehere. The Flyers will be looking to shed salary in order to make a big splash in the offseason via free agency or trade, and van Riemsdyk ($7 million AAV through 2023) and Voracek ($8.25 million in AAV through 2024) certainly fit the mold of salary cap dumps that the Kraken could be interested in based on their track records of offensive production.

Gostisbehere has been deemed as the odd man out on defense from the Flyers’ protected list. Ivan Provorov is an obvious choice for protection, and Travis Sanheim and Phil Myers are the other two likely candidates to fill out the list. Gostisbehere carries a $4.5 million cap hit through 2024, rendering him as an attractive asset due to his reasonable contract and his offensive abilities from the back end. Hakstol’s hiring, however, could throw a wrench into that theory based on his prior history with Gostisbehere.

Hakstol, Gostisbehere in Philadelphia

When Gostisbehere was recalled by the Flyers during the 2015-16 season due to an injury to defenseman Mark Streit, he immediately breathed fresh life into a struggling team and helped the Flyers inch their way into the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Hakstol’s first season with the team. The 2016-17 season did not go nearly as well, and Gostisbehere’s play fell off along with the rest of the team’s, Hakstol seemingly did not know how to help his club adjust in tough situations and routinely made questionable decisions, including healthy scratching Gostisbehere and Travis Konecny on multiple occasions.

It didn’t help that Hakstol relied heavily on low-skilled veterans such as Andrew MacDonald, Dale Weise, and Chris VandeVelde either. His coaching and decisions were looked upon as the glaring reasons for the disapointing finish, and Gostisbehere’s lack of playing time was frequently called into question.

While Gostisbehere had a career year in 2017-18 that saw him rack up a career-high 65 points , Hakstol was still under fire for his lack of in-game adjustments. An embarrassing display in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Pittsburgh Penguins which saw all four of their losses come by three goals or more, including a 7-0 thrashing in the opening game of the series, further added to the notion that Hakstol wasn’t the right man for the job. Travis Sanheim and Oskar Lindblom were healthy scratched at different points while Brandon Manning and Andrew MacDonald logged significant minutes on defense. Hakstol chugged along like everything was okay.

31 games into the 2018-19 season, Hakstol was finally let go. It was only fitting that during his last game behind the Philadelphia bench, he dressed Jori Lehtera over Lindblom in a 5-1 drubbing against the Vancouver Canucks. He chose bad veteran presence over youthful skill one final time, and it came back to bite him.

Expansion Draft Strategy

Should Philadelphia leave Gostisbehere exposed to Seattle as expected, the Kraken may not be as inclined to select him as they may have before due to their new coaching hire. Justin Braun, Robert Hagg, and Sam Morin will be other options on defense that Seattle could pick up, and Hagg and Morin have played under Hakstol before so that’s something worth keeping an eye on.

Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher is also no stranger to working out expansion draft deals. While he the GM of the Minnesota Wild, he orchestrated the Alex Tuch trade with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 to entice them to draft forward Erik Haula instead of one of his defensemen in Matt Dumba or Marco Scandella. Fletcher does have valuable draft picks and other assets at his disposal and could perhaps swing another deal based on Seattle’s desires and who he protects for the Flyers.

Hakstol’s hiring was certainly a surprise today, and maybe we’ll be in store for another one when the Flyers’ protection list is revealed ahead of the expansion draft on July 21st.