A Winner at Every Stop, Laxdal Steps In

Through a wide and deep search, American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley has landed another championship-caliber head coach in Derek Laxdal. The former NHL player and long-time coach across the NHL, AHL, ECHL, Western Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League is a proven winner with a clear mission to develop players for the next step in hockey.

In the southern California desert, that means helping both prospects and NHL-tested veterans to improve their games and get called up to the Kraken and/or make future opening night rosters. It also means Laxdal will be following a tough act in first-ever Firebirds coach Dan Bylsma, now, of course, holding the same role with Seattle. Bylsma headed up two straight Western Conference titles and trips to the Calder Cup Final, in which title dreams pushed to a Game 7 overtime and Game 6 overtime.

“We are pleased to welcome Derek and his family to the Firebirds,” said Kraken GM Ron Francis. “Derek has a successful history of coaching and developing players at all levels. We look forward to him leading our group as we continue to build upon the foundation we have established in the AHL and the local community in our first two years in the Valley.”

Laxdal, 58, who appeared in 67 NHL games for Toronto and the New York Islanders, was a coaching fixture in the Dallas Stars organization from 2014 to 2022, first as head coach of the AHL Texas Stars for five seasons, then three with Dallas as an assistant coach. In 2018, Laxdal led the Austin-based Texas Stars to the Calder Cup Final, losing in seven games to the Toronto Marlies. In the 2020 pandemic-induced NHL bubble, Laxdal was part of Dallas winning the Western Conference and reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

Some of the elite NHL players on Laxdal’s AHL teams include Dallas standouts: forward Roope Hintz, defenseman Esa Lindell, and former Dallas defenseman who had two game-winning goals in the 2020 playoff run and Kraken stalwart defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who played three full seasons in Laxdal's first three Texas Stars years.

When Rick Bowness stepped down as Dallas head coach in 2022, Laxdal was part of the Stars changing out the entire coaching staff. Laxdal took the head coaching job at the Ontario Hockey League Oshawa Generals. The storied franchise was in a rebuilding year during 2022-23 with a young squad but still qualified for the OHL playoffs. This past season, Laxdal’s squad jelled in a big way, posting a 49-19-0 regular season and advancing to the league final.

Among his Oshawa players was star center Beckett Senneke, whose season-over-season improvement convinced the Anaheim Ducks to surprise pretty much all draftniks to select Senneke at No. 3 overall in last week’s NHL Draft. As for opponents in the 2024 OHL playoffs and regular season, Laxdal will see a lot of familiar faces at the Kraken and Firebirds training camps. He viewed an impressive performance by North Bay captain and defenseman Ty Nelson (2022 third round) in a seven-game postseason series while working to stop the likes of 2023 first-rounder Eduard Sale, OHL leading scorer David Goyette (2022 second round) and OHL second-leading goal scorer Carson Rehkopf (2023 second round).

“I would like to thank Ron Francis, David Bonderman, Samantha Holloway and the entire Seattle Kraken ownership group for the opportunity to lead the Firebirds,” said Derek Laxdal. “I look forward to the season and meeting the great fans in Coachella Valley. My family and I look forward to making the Valley our new home.”

A closer look at Laxdal’s Hockeydb.com entry shows an encouraging and hard-to-ignore pattern. In 19 seasons as head coach in the Central Hockey League (later merging into the ECHL), ECHL, WHL and OHL, he has led his teams to 16 winning records during the regular season. The three losing records? All were in his first year with the franchise. One was the aforementioned rebuilding season with Oshawa, the others his first year as a head coach with Central League Wichita before two winning seasons (75-41-8 combined) and then his inaugural year with the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings in 2010-11 season (going 31-34-0 but still making the playoffs).

The next three years in Edmonton, Laxdal’s teams posted three consecutive 50 or more wins during the regular season, advancing to the WHL final all three postseasons. The Oil Kings won the WHL championship in 2012 and 2014, then capped Laxdal’s success in Edmonton by winning the coveted Memorial Cup (championship of the Canadian Hockey League) in 2014. Dallas clearly took notice and hired him to run its AHL affiliate.

“We are excited to welcome Derek to the Firebirds," said John Page, senior vice president of Oak View Group/Acrisure Arena/Coachella Valley Firebirds. “Our first two years in the Coachella Valley have been outstanding and we believe we have set a high standard in the American Hockey League. We thank Dan Bylsma and Jessica Campbell for their tremendous contributions. We have built something special here, and we look forward to continuing our momentum in front of our great fans.”

What’s more, Laxdal knows winning as a player. He was part of the 1990 Calder Cup champion Springfield (MA). A potent goal scorer, he was a 6-foot-1, 210-pound right wing who chipped in eight goals and six assists during Springfield’s postseason run. He spent part of that season with the NHL parent club, the New York Islanders.

Laxdal equally understands the dreams of making the NHL and even debuted – rare back then and now – as an 18-year-old after getting drafted by Toronto in the eighth round of the 1984 NHL Draft. Laxdal played in three games for the Maple Leafs in the spring of 1985 after notching 61 goals and 41 assists, totaling 102 points in 67 games for WHL Brandon. The new Firebirds head coach knows the pro hockey journey and landscape. He played 27 seasons of professional hockey in several leagues including the NHL, AHL, ECHL and Finland’s Liiga among others. As an amateur, he represented Canada internationally, winning a U20 World Juniors Championship silver medal in 1985-86.