Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma has been relieved of his duties one season into his tenure as the second bench boss in franchise history.
No immediate replacement was announced. The Kraken finished five points behind their record of a season ago.
Bylsma had guided Coachella Valley to successive Calder Cup appearances in the Firebirds’ first two seasons while serving as an assistant coach the prior year when the Kraken split a Charlotte Checkers affiliate with the Florida Panthers. He coached several current young Kraken players during that AHL time, including Shane Wright, Joey Daccord, Ryker Evans and Tye Kartye.
“We thank Dan for his commitment and the energy he brought to our organization over the past four years at the NHL and AHL levels,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said in a release. “After a thorough review of the season and our expectations for next year and beyond, we’ve made the difficult decision to move in a different direction behind the bench.
“Dan is a great person and a respected coach. He played an important role in the development of many of our young prospects and was a big part of our early success in Coachella Valley. We sincerely wish him and his family nothing but success moving forward.”
The Kraken this past season struggled with early injuries to Vince Dunn and Jordan Eberle and never quite got their season fully on track. The team played better after the March 7 trade deadline, going 9-8-2 down the stretch after dealing away Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev.
Bylsma spoke at his final media session last Wednesday about the team being “disappointed, almost to a man” about the past season’s performance.
