Clock is ticking already for Seattle Kraken's new coaching hire

It's incredibly rare that NHL teams hire and fire a coach within less than a calendar year.

Dan Bylsma was hired to coach the Seattle Kraken on May 28, 2024. He was fired on April 21, 2025. His replacement, Lane Lambert, was hired on May 29, 2025.

That's a lot of change in 366 days, and when the Kraken moved on from Bylsma, you had to figure it was for one of two reasons. It was possible they thought he wasn't getting enough out of a good roster. But it was more likely they thought they hired him to do one thing and then realized that, organizationally, they had to do another.

By hiring Lambert (no relation), they are very clearly sending a message that it's the latter, and that means they realized they're a lot worse than they thought they were. Which, to be clear, is the correct assessment