Dave Hakstol is the steady hand Arizona State hockey needs
The Avalanche assistant who took North Dakota to seven Frozen Fours is finalizing a deal to take over a Sun Devils program under investigation.
Arizona State needed a grown-up behind the bench, and it's about to get one with a résumé nobody in college hockey can wave off. Dave Hakstol, an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche, is finalizing a deal to coach the Sun Devils.
It isn't official yet, and ASU said there would be no announcement Monday. But Colorado gave the school permission to talk to him, and ASU picked him over Brad Berry and Grant Potulny. For the worst moment in the program's short history, this is the right hire.
Why it fits
Hakstol ran North Dakota from 2004 to 2015. His teams made 11 straight NCAA tournaments and seven Frozen Fours. Then he coached the Flyers for about three and a half seasons and was the Kraken's first head coach for three more.
He knows what a national program looks like from the inside. He also knows what an NHL room expects from the kids ASU wants to recruit, and that's a pitch few college coaches can make.
The knock on him is real. His North Dakota teams lost six straight NCAA semifinals, and at a place that counts banners, that stuck. At Arizona State, a Frozen Four semifinal would be the banner.
Why the job is open
The program is in a hard place. Greg Powers, the only head coach the Sun Devils have ever had, is on paid administrative leave. Transfer defenseman Matthew Mayich collapsed during an Aug. 20 off-ice workout and has been hospitalized since.
An independent investigation into the program is expected to finish in December. Acting coach Mike Corbett and longtime assistant Alex Hicks are on paid leave too. Assistant Jimmy Mullin and volunteer assistant Taylor Pyatt are what's left of the staff.
Because Powers is still under contract, Hakstol would technically start as the interim coach. Don't read much into the label. Nobody pulls an NHL assistant off a contender's staff in October to keep a chair warm.
The number
By our count from the college scoreboard, ASU is 2-2 and has given up 15 goals in four games. Nine of them came in one night at Lindenwood. The Sun Devils split with Holy Cross at home this past weekend, losing 2-1 and winning 5-4 in overtime.
That's a team playing with a lot on its mind. Structure is the first thing a new coach can give it, and structure is what Hakstol's teams were known for.
What I'd watch
The first job isn't the power play. It's giving a room that's had a brutal two months one steady voice every day, and a veteran with nothing left to prove is built for that.
ASU plays at UMass Lowell on Friday and Saturday, its first trip east this season. My call: Hakstol is behind the bench at the Tsongas Center, and the Sun Devils take at least one of the two.
