Maple Leafs hire former Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol as assistant
After officially signing goaltender Michael Hutchinson and defenceman Martin Marincin to one-year deals on Saturday, the news kept coming out of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.
The team’s official Twitter account revealed later the same day that they’ve hired Dave Hakstol as an assistant coach.
The former Flyers bench boss will likely handle the defensive side of the puck and penalty kill strategy — the roles that D.J. Smith filled before being named the newest head coach of the Ottawa Senators back in May.
"I'm excited to have the opportunity to join the Maple Leafs coaching staff," said Hakstol, according to an official press release from the team. "I look forward to building relationships with the players and getting to work with the entire group."
The 50-year-old spent over a decade as the head coach of the University of North Dakota before taking the reins for the Philadelphia Flyers at the start of the 2015-16 season.
In his three-and-a-half campaigns with the team before he was replaced in December of last year, he amassed a record of 116-101-42. During his tenure in Philadelphia, the Flyers were bounced from the first round of the postseason twice and missed the playoffs once.
Hakstol inherits a penalty kill that finished tied for 16th during the regular season at 79.9% but was an abysmal 56.3% during the team’s first-round loss to the Boston Bruins in seven games.
The Leafs 3.04 goals against per game during the regular season placed them 20th in the league.
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