Dave Hakstol shares unfiltered view of Toronto's media scrutiny

The Seattle Kraken missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, a disappointing follow up to last year's thrilling chase that saw them advance within one victory of a spot in the Western Conference Final. And because of it, the franchise made their first coaching change with the dismissal of Dave Hakstol; they've since hired former 2009 Stanley Cup winning coach Dan Bylsma in his place. 

Hired as the first coach in franchise history, Hakstol amassed a record of 107-112-27 and was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy as the League's best coach in 2022-23. But before his time with Seattle, he'd previously served as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Having spent two seasons on the bench in Toronto, Hakstol is well acquainted with the intense media scrutiny that comes with being part of the Maple Leafs. His former boss in Sheldon Keefe was also terminated following this past season, and Hakstol is sharing his unfiltered view of how the media operates in hockey's craziest market.  

According to Hakstol, Keefe handled the intense pressure as well as anyone could have. 

“It’s a different world. It really is,” Hakstol said of being with the Leafs. “Being in Toronto, on a daily basis. It’s the media scrutiny, again I go back to Keefer and I thought he handled that extremely well.”

“We could always go through and probably pick our pressers that we would like to do over again; I’m sure that he has a couple,” Hakstol admitted. “But I thought he handled himself very well in that environment.”

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