Reports: "Important" 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 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.)

Before Monday night's Panthers-Lightning playoff game, ESPN's Emily Kaplan said player negativity forced Francis' hand.

"Ron Francis did not want to make this move," Kaplan said. "I was told at the exit meetings, a handful of players, and pretty significant players, made it clear to management, 'I don't want to play on this team in the future if Dave Hakstol is the coach.'"

Reported discontent doesn't square with what Francis publicly 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 .