Report: Unnamed Kraken Players Forced Out Coach Hakstol

Above Photo: Then-Kraken coach Dave Hakstol and GM Ron Francis one year ago, when Hakstol received a two year contract extension.

At least some in the Seattle Kraken dressing room reportedly expressed negative opinions about former coach Dave Hakstol, which could have contributed to his Monday dismissal by general manager Ron Francis.

That's according to Renaud Lavoie, who works for French-language TVA Sports out of Montreal.

“There are important players on the team who said, ‘I’m not coming back if he’s here,'” Lavoie said on Jean-Charles Lajoie's TVA show.

(TVA, like English-language sibling Sportsnet, is a Canadian sports channel owned by Rogers Communications.)

Reported discontent wouldn't square with what Francis answered in his Monday press conference, when I asked whether comments from player exit interviews impacted his decision.

That Q and A, and more from Francis about the coaching change, is today's Kraken Reaction .