‘Extremely disappointed’ Kraken deny report that players demanded Dave Hakstol’s firing

Kraken general manager Ron Francis on Wednesday disputed an ESPN report that multiple players came to him in exit interviews demanding coach Dave Hakstol be fired.

Francis said “not a single player” made such a statement about Hakstol and reiterated the firing had nothing to do with exit interviews. Francis wasn’t the only one speaking out: Kraken veteran Jordan Eberle said he was “extremely disappointed” by the report and top scorer Jared McCann added it “left a bad taste in my mouth” — both disputing any player would issue such an ultimatum.

Hakstol was fired Monday after a third Kraken season in which the team finished 34-35-13 and out of the playoffs.

Francis said the only people in the exit interviews besides him were individual players — doing the meetings one at a time — and assistant GM Ricky Olczyk. And not once, he said, did any player tell him he wouldn’t play for Hakstol if the coach returned.

“Zero players issued any ultimatums of any kind regarding the coach — that I can assure you,” Francis said. “That’s not what those meetings are really about. Usually, it’s us telling players what they have to do to prepare for next season, or how we thought they did this season. No one sits there asking them ‘What did you think of the coach?’ That’s not what these meetings are there for.”

ESPN rink reporter Emily Kaplan said Monday afternoon on the network’s The Point segment that: “I was told, at the exit meeting with players, there was a handful of players — and pretty significant players — who made it clear to management that ‘I don’t want to play on this team in the future if Dave Hakstol is still the coach.’ And that forced them to make a change.”

The Kraken told Kaplan they feel the report was erroneous. ESPN has yet to issue any updates or clarifications to the initial report.

Francis had said at a news conference Monday, before Kaplan’s report, that exit interviews had nothing to do with Hakstol’s firing. “I think you’re careful on exit interviews,” he said, implying players often need a step back from a just-completed season. “I think you talk about things but that wasn’t what this decision was based on.”

On Wednesday, Francis said some players do express complaints in exit interviews every offseason, especially after a frustrating finish. He wouldn’t elaborate further but reiterated “nothing rose to the level of refusing to play for a coach, or even came close to that. Not a single player, never mind a group of players.”

Eberle agreed, saying of exit interviews: “It’s a tough time of the year to do it, because things are really fresh and it usually takes a few weeks for things to come into focus. But I did not hear from one guy that they wouldn’t come back if Hak was still there. I think that was just overblown.”

He added: “Talking to a lot of guys, I know we all had different opinions, but by no means did anyone have an ultimatum that if Hak was still there, then they wouldn’t play. I mean, that was ridiculous to me. So, I think when I heard that obviously, I was pretty disappointed. That’s not how we as players or as an organization want to conduct ourselves.”

McCann agreed such an ultimatum would be uncharacteristic of any Kraken player. He added that the NHL just isn’t the type of league where anybody but the biggest superstars would even think of threatening not to play if a coach remained employed.

“I have no idea where she would have gotten something like that,” McCann said of Kaplan’s report. “Because that couldn’t be more far from the truth. I know for a fact that nobody would ever, ever give an ultimatum to a team on a coach — ever. So, I don’t understand where something like that comes from.”

McCann went on to say Hakstol “has been nothing but great to me. And a lot of guys will probably say the same thing. He was amazing, but unfortunately, it’s a business. And that’s the way things go when you have a bad season. But from my perspective, I honestly didn’t see this (firing) coming at all.”

None of this is to say Hakstol was perfect; indeed, he’d still have a job if he was. There were Kraken players upset about a lack of ice time, frustrated with his physically demanding system of play and other issues throughout his three-year tenure, while several forwards last season experienced significant offensive declines.

Last season, it was well known Hakstol wasn’t the biggest fan of Daniel Sprong’s defensive abilities — resulting in the fourth-line winger repeatedly becoming a healthy scratch despite scoring 21 goals. Sprong left for Detroit as a free agent last summer.

Morgan Geekie also was restricted in his ice time as a mostly fourth-line center and occasional winger while with the Kraken and didn’t always sound thrilled about his role. He left for the Boston Bruins as a free agent and scored a career-high 18 goals with expanded playing time.

The same season Sprong and Geekie last played for the Kraken also saw Hakstol become a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year.

The Kraken arguably don’t have any pending unrestricted free agents of enough stature to get a coach fired under the threat of walking away or refusing to play. Remaining UFA players include fourth-liners Tomas Tatar and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and third-pairing defenseman Justin Schultz. Restricted free agents include Matty Beniers, Eeli Tolvanen and Kailer Yamamoto, though all are still by-and-large under team control, given how NHL rules provide them little leverage beyond the length of any Kraken contract offer they’d accept.

Eberle had been the biggest remaining impact UFA player, but signed a two-year contract extension in March when Hakstol was still coach.

“My decision as a 34-year-old is, I want to win a Stanley Cup,” Eberle said Wednesday, adding he had faith in Hakstol when he signed his deal. “That’s what I want to do. That’s what I have left to do. And I trust the leadership team that Ron (Francis) has and the team he’s going to be putting on the ice.”