Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
Derek Laxdal fell simply wanting championships as head coach of the Texas Stars in 2018 and as an assistant with the Dallas Stars in 2020. The Coachella Valley Firebirds have come up empty in back-to-back Finals.
Possibly this a mixture that may put a Calder Cup championship banner within the Acrisure Enviornment rafters.
Laxdal gained the Calder Cup as a New York Islanders prospect with the Springfield Indians in 1990. With the Stars group, he captured an ECHL title as a head coach in Idaho in 2007 and spent six seasons main Texas, main the AHL membership to Sport 7 of the Finals in 2018. And after being promoted to Dallas through the 2019-20 season, he helped the large membership attain the Stanley Cup Ultimate that summer season.
As a junior head coach, he gained two Western Hockey League titles and the 2014 Memorial Cup with Edmonton, and guided Oshawa to the Ontario Hockey League finals whereas successful coach of the yr honors final season.
Laxdal can win and he can develop expertise – two issues that he has carried out time and again all through his varied stops in a training profession that started in 2001.
Laxdal was employed by the Seattle Kraken on July 5 as their new AHL head coach amid a busy opening week of free company that noticed dramatic modifications sweep the Coachella Valley roster barely per week after their season had ended with a Sport 6 loss to Hershey within the Calder Cup Finals.
A go to to the Firebirds’ base in Palm Desert, Calif., left Laxdal impressed. Acrisure Enviornment, which opened in December 2022, usually hosts giant crowds and options an connected apply facility that might rival one of the best wherever in hockey.
“One of many issues I actually see is the set-up is all-world,” Laxdal mentioned. “The world, the apply enviornment, the ability, the burden room, simply the way in which they’ve set all the pieces up. I believe they’ve hit a house run.”
The fan assist within the Coachella Valley additionally stands out. The Firebirds averaged almost 8,500 followers per sport over their first two seasons within the desert.
“You have a look at the affiliation with Palm Springs and Palm Desert and Indio, the followers have actually taken to the Firebirds,” Laxdal famous. “It’s actually change into their workforce, they usually’ve actually jumped on board. The expectations are very excessive.”
After two seasons of relative stability, this season’s Firebirds roster can have a markedly completely different look. Andrew Poturalski, Kole Lind, Jimmy Schuldt, Cameron Hughes, Ville Petman and Peetro Seppala – all mainstays every of the final two years – have moved on. Relying on how Seattle’s opening-night roster settles out, extra gamers from final June’s run to the Finals might follow the Kraken.
Having made 4 journeys to the NHL Draft now, the Kraken have gathered prospects who’re able to play and develop with Coachella Valley. Anticipate the Firebirds to tackle a youthful, extra development-oriented taste.
After an inaugural season stocked largely by free-agent signings, final season’s Firebirds confirmed the primary indicators of transitioning to a extra conventional sort of AHL roster, as Seattle draft picks like Shane Wright, Ryan Winterton and Ville Ottavainen turned professional.
The Kraken are relying on Laxdal to orchestrate that shift, simply as Dan Bylsma and his employees helped the Firebirds of their launch two years in the past. And Laxdal has proven that he can deal with change. For as a lot stability as he has had in his teaching profession, his return to junior with Oshawa in 2022 confirmed that he might transfer to one thing unfamiliar. Laxdal, a Manitoba native, had no connection to the OHL earlier than taking the Oshawa job. However he tailored rapidly, studying a brand new league and taking over a job as normal supervisor as properly.
The significantly less-demanding journey schedule within the OHL afforded Laxdal far more apply time together with his gamers. He additionally acknowledged that after years of working with professionals, together with NHL gamers, he needed to prioritize endurance together with his younger gamers.
“It was an eye-opener,” mentioned the 58-year-old Laxdal. “I actually loved my time going again to junior. The brand new-age participant has modified. They need to know extra. They need extra info, constructing relationships, constructing that household ambiance.”
Going to Dallas as an assistant additionally offered a distinct wrinkle for Laxdal, who had not been in an assistant position since 2003 within the previous Central Hockey League. He labored for a hockey fixture in Rick Bowness, one thing that provided one other studying alternative.
“It actually taught me to take a step again, hear, and take within the info… digest it a bit bit earlier than you decide,” mentioned Laxdal, whose fellow assistants in Dallas have been now-Hershey head coach Todd Nelson and AHL Corridor of Famer John Stevens. “I believe it actually allowed me to take a step in my maturity as a coach going from Texas to Dallas.”
Laxdal admits he’s a distinct coach than the one who departed Cedar Park 5 years in the past.
“I believe each day presents a brand new problem,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t matter what league you’re in. You’re a problem-solver.”
On the American Hockey League beat for twenty years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at the moment covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is an everyday contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
