Seattle Kraken Coaching Staff and General Manager 2023-24

Dave Hakstol has been serving as the head coach of Kraken since the franchise was founded in 2021. Dave began his coaching career in 1996.

His contract with the franchise has been extended through the 2025/26 season. He was the assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs before he joined the Kraken as the inaugural Head Coach on June 24, 2021. 

Hakstol, in his first season with the Kraken, finished with a record of 27-49-6 finishing 6th in the Pacific Division. In his second season with the Kraken, he led the team to their first Stanley Cup playoffs.

Dave compiled a regular season record of 46-28-8 last season finishing 4th in Pacific. He won 7 playoff games and lost 7 playoff games leaving his current playoff win percentage at 0.500%.

Dave Hakstol Coaching Record

Hakstol played in the IHL for five years before beginning his coaching career in 1996 with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL mid-season. 

He coached the Musketeers for four years until he was hired as the assistant coach by the North Dakota Fighting Hawks college hockey team.

During his 11 seasons of coaching the Hawks, he compiled an impressive record of 289-143-43 leading them to the Frozen Four seven times.

Hakstol was named the WCHA Coach of the Year in 2009 and the second recipient of the NCHC Herbs Brooks Coach of the Year in 2014/15.

Following his successful stint with North Dakota, Dave was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015 as the 19th head coach in franchise history.

On December 17, 2018, he was fired as the Head Coach of the Flyers 31 games into the 2018/19 season after posting a record of 12-15-4.

His coaching record during his time with the Flyers reads 277 games coached with 134 wins, 101 losses, and 42 overtime losses. He made two playoff appearances with Philadelphia winning 4 games and losing 8 games.

Seattle Kraken assistant coaches are Jay Leach, Paul McFarland, and Dave Lowry. Leach and McFarland have been in their role since 2021.

Dave Lowry was named as the assistant coach of Kraken in August 2022. Leach and Lowry both played in the NHL formerly for multiple teams.

McFarland spent his playing career in the OHL and the Atlantic University Sport (AUS). He excelled in the role of left winger back in the day.

Dave Lowry has 2 sons, Adam and Joel Lowry who were both drafted by NHL teams. Adam Lowry, drafted by the Winnipeg Jets is the 10th captain in the Jets franchise history and has played 621 games in the NHL. 

Jay Leach 

Jay Leach played in the league for the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, and San Jose Sharks.

After bidding adieu to his professional playing career, Jay was hired as an assistant coach in the German league in 2014. He stayed with Adler Mannheim for one season helping them to win the DEL championship before returning back to North America. 

Before joining the Krakens bench in 2021, Leach was the head coach for the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League for four years. 

He initially joined Providence Bruins in 2016 as the assistant coach. Later in his time as the head coach, Jay led the team to the 2019/20 and the 2020/21 division championships. 

Paul McFarland

McFarland began his coaching career in 2012 as the assistant coach for the OHL team Oshawa Generals. He resigned after 2 seasons with the Generals to lead the Kingston Frontenacs as the Head Coach.

He stayed with the Frontenacs for 3 seasons before resigning from his position to become the assistant coach for the Florida Panthers in 2017.  After the 2018/19 season, he was fired by the Panthers and went on to join the Toronto Maple Leafs as the assistant coach. 

He resigned as the assistant coach of the Maple Leafs on May 8, 2020, with the intention to return to Frontenacas. The COVID outbreak barred him from coaching any games for the Frontenac, and McFarland went on to join the Kraken in 2021.

Dave Lowry

After retiring as a player, Dave Lowry began his coaching career in 2005. He served as the assistant coach for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL.

He was promoted to the Hitmen head coach role in 2008 where he spent a season. Then he became assistant coach for the Calgary Flames. 

Lowry spent 3 years with the Flames before heading back into the WHL to lead the Victoria Royals. He coached the Royals for five seasons.

He was hired as an assistant coach by the Los Angeles Kings, the team that drafted his son Joel Lowry in 2017 where he stayed for 2 seasons before heading back into the WHL again but this time to lead the Brandon Wheat Kings. 

In November 2020, he was hired as the assistant coach by the Winnipeg Jets,  the team that drafted his son Adam Lowry. He was promoted as the Interim Head coach for the Jets in 2021 where he coached 54 games with a record of 26-22-6.

The first female on the NHL coaching bench is Kori Cheverie. Jessica Campbell is the second lady in the NHL to be called up to coach a team.

Jessica was called up to coach the Kraken's preseason game against the Calgary Flames. Kori Cheverie, the head coach of the Montreal team in the PWHL stood behind the Penguins bench a day earlier.

Campbell and Cheverie are the first women to stand behind the bench for an NHL team as the assistant coach. Van Rees was the assistant athletic trainer for the Canadiens and Visram filled in as the head athletic trainer for the Kings in 2022.

Cambell had already made history in the AHL as the first woman to coach an AHL team full-time after she was hired by the Kraken's AHL affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds.

In 2022 when she joined the German team as the assistant coach, Campbell broke another glass ceiling becoming the first woman coaching staff of a team participating in the World Championship. 

Jessica has won two gold medals and three silver medals in international competitions in her time as a player representing Team Canada. Her first gold came at the 4 Nations Cup held in 2014 and her second at the World Under 18 Championships held in 2010.

She won her first silver at the 2009 IIHF Under 18 World Championships. She won two more silver medals in 2015 at the World Championships and the 4 Nations Cup.

Emily Engel-Natzke was the first woman to join an NHL team as a full-time coaching staff member. She joined the Washington Capitals as their Video Coach in 2022.

Ron Francis is the general manager of the Kraken. He is the first GM of the franchise and his contract was extended through the 2025/26 season. 

Before he began as an executive in the NHL, Francis had spent more than two decades as a player in the NHL playing for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Drafted as the 4th pick by the Hartford Whalers in 1981, Francis was active as a player until 2004 and retired in September 2005 with a career record of 1,731 games played, 549 goals, 1,249 assists, and 1,798 pts. 

He is still the second-place holder of all-time regular season assists with his 1,249 assists and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. Wayne Gretzky is the record holder of the all-time regular season assists with 1,963 assists

Francis won 2 Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 playing for the Penguins and is the winner of the 1995 NHL Plus-minus Award, the 1995 Frank J. Selke Trophy, the Lady Byng Trophy three times in 1995, 1998, & 2002, and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2002.