Blackhawks Daily: Hakstol Out In Seattle; Stamkos’ Future

The National Hockey League has a lot going on right now. In addition to the playoffs, some big things are happening with the teams that are already out. One of the non-playoff teams already making noise is the Seattle Kraken. They fired their head coach on Monday as Dave Hakstol is officially out. He has been with the Kraken since their inception back in 2021. The first head coach in franchise history is officially out.

After making the playoffs in 2022-23, the standards are officially set in Seattle. They want to win the Stanley Cup just like everybody else. They aren’t quite Vegas but they’d certainly like to get to that level.

There are going to be job opportunities out there for Hakstol but that will be it for him there. Now, it is on Seattle to find a replacement that will help them get back into the playoff race. There are some really good candidates out there for them to consider.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there were only two games on Monday night. The first game of the night, Game Five in the Battle of Florida, took place in Sunrise. The Florida Panthers came in with a 3-1 series lead over their in-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In this Game Five, the Panthers showed their dominance and beat the Lightning 6-1 and won the series. They took no time bouncing back after losing in the Stanley Cup Final last spring. The question now is if Steven Stamkos has played his last game with the Bolts as he’s set to an unrestricted free agent and the Lightning have things to figure out with the Cap.

In the second game of the night, the Dallas Stars took on the Vegas Golden Knights. After going down 2-0 at home, Dallas had a chance to then tie the series on the road as they won game three in Vegas.

Vegas had a 1-0 lead and a 2-1 lead in this game but they weren’t able to hang on to either lead. The Dallas Stars won the game 4-2, tying the series after many wrote them off.

There is a reason that the Stars won the conference in the regular season. They are one of the deepest teams in the NHL and you can argue that they have been the significantly better team in the series despite the record.

The Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, and Vancouver Canucks are all up 3-1 and have a chance to close out their series. Who will advance and who will have to lace them up for a Game Six?

Blackhawks In Case You Missed It

• Nikita Zaitsev served his role out with the Chicago Blackhawks. His time with the organization is probably over.
• “Two Truths and a Lie” about Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson ahead of a very important off-season.
• Nick Foligno was the unofficial Chicago Blackhawks captain in 2023-24. He went above and beyond to be the best version of himself on and off the ice.

Hockey Now Playoff Focus:

• Boston Hockey Now: The Boston Bruins are riding with Jeremy Swayman while he is hot and Linus Ullmark is completely okay with it.
• Colorado Hockey Now: The depth that the Colorado Avalanche have right now is a nightmare for the Winnipeg Jets.
• Nashville Hockey Now: The Nashville Predators blew a great chance to win game four. Instead, they are going back to Vancouver down 3-1 and their backs against the wall.