ASU officially names NHL coach Dave Hakstol new hockey coach on 5-year deal

Arizona State named Colorado Avalanche assistant coach Dave Hakstol its new head hockey coach on Thursday, nearly two months after newcomer defenseman Matthew Mayich collapsed during an outdoor workout and was hospitalized.

The ASU hockey coach’s deal will be for five years, pending Arizona Board of Regents approval, Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported.

He will replace coach Greg Powers, who was placed on paid leave on Sept. 30, two days after seven of Mayich’s teammates anonymously demanded an independent investigation into Mayich’s collapse. An independent investigation was announced Oct. 2.

The Athletic’s Katie Strang reported that ASU came to a “mutual agreement” to part ways with Powers.

Hakstol has 18 years of major head coaching experience, including seven years in the NHL and 11 years at the University of North Dakota, which included seven Frozen Four appearances.

His ASU staff will include former Los Angeles Kings player and assistant coach Matt Greene and one hold-over from Powers’ staff, first-year assistant coach Jimmy Mullin, according to Gambadoro.

Hakstol will meet with the team for the first time Thursday morning ahead of making his ASU coaching debut in games Friday and Saturday at UMass Lowell. ASU is 2-2 through four games having been led by Powers assistant Mike Corbett.

“This is a special opportunity, and I couldn’t be more excited to return to college hockey and bring a winning culture to Arizona State Sun Devil Hockey. Our goal is to grow a championship-caliber program, and we will,” Hakstol said in the announcement. 

ASU hockey coach Dave Hakstol’s extensive coaching history

Hakstol’s first coaching job at the NCAA or NHL levels was at North Dakota, his alma mater, as an assistant coach in 2000.

He was promoted to head coach when his predecessor left for the NHL, and Hakstol led North Dakota to a national runner-up season in his first campaign. Greene was the captain on that team.

The Fighting Sioux made the Frozen Four in six of the following 10 seasons. The final two were after North Dakota joined the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, in which ASU is entering its third season.

ASU athletic director Graham Rossini told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo last week that the top priorities in a new coach included “veteran experience within college hockey and a great knowledge of our conference.”

“The focus all along has been finding somebody who’s really aware of the unique situation that they would be coming into and the importance of stabilizing and leading this group of men,” Rossini said. “These guys want to play. That’s been the message consistently from the team is that we want to go forward.”

Following Hakstol’s prolific 11-year college coaching tenure (289-143-43 career record), he made a move for the NHL where has coached for about a decade.

He was the Philadelphia Flyers’ head coach for four seasons (2015-19), which included two playoff appearances. He later led the expansion Seattle Kraken to the playoffs in their second season as part of his three years (2021-24) as their head coach.

He had a 241-213-69 record as an NHL head coach.

Hakstol was early in his second year as an Avalanche assistant when he pivoted to the ASU job.

Powers was placed on leave two days before ASU’s season opener in the aftermath of Mayich being placed on life support after collapsing Aug. 20 during a military-style workout led by a former Green Beret.

Mayich remains in “terrible, critical condition,” Mayich family attorney Leonard Aragon told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Oct. 2.

“Frankly, I don’t believe he’s ever going to walk out of there,” the attorney said. “The family’s praying for a miracle, and absent a miracle, he won’t walk out of that hospital.”

Mayich, a sophomore defenseman, transferred to ASU this past offseason after getting drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft.

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