Oilers coach excited to see how Kraken built on foundation he helped lay

Dave Tippett will not return to Seattle as a former member of the Seattle Kraken. Not exactly.

He worked as senior adviser for the NHL expansion team and left to become coach of the Edmonton Oilers before the nickname was announced.
But he helped lay the foundation for the Kraken, studying the success of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, poring over blueprints for Climate Pledge Arena and Kraken Community Iceplex, reaching out to the Seattle-area hockey community, and searching for a general manager.
He stays in touch with Tod Leiweke, Kraken president and CEO; Ron Francis, Kraken GM and a former NHL teammate; and Dave Hakstol, Kraken coach and a fellow University of North Dakota alum.
When the Oilers play at the Kraken on Friday (10 p.m. ET; ROOT-NW, SNW, ESPN+, NHL LIVE), Tippett will experience for the first time how the vision has come to life.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing it," he said. "It's the people and how much work they put in there. You tell people, like, 'This is a big job.' It's amazing. Tod Leiweke, he had so many balls going at once. It's incredible."
Tippett's former co-workers are looking forward to seeing him too.
"He had a heck of an impact here, and everyone loved the man," Leiweke said. "It was really a terrific part of the beginning of all this, and we'll never forget."
Tippett's connection to Seattle goes back to the beginning. He received a call in late January or early February of 2018 from Tim Leiweke, Tod's brother.
When Tippett was an assistant with the Los Angeles Kings from 1999-2002, Tim Leiweke was CEO of their parent company, AEG. Tippett was unsure of what he wanted to do after 14 seasons as an NHL coach with the Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes, and Tim Leiweke was CEO of Oak View Group, which was trying to redevelop the former KeyArena and bring an NHL expansion team to Seattle.
Tim Leiweke asked if Tippett would be interested in helping.
The night of Feb. 28, Tippett texted Tim Leiweke to wish him luck, because OVG was starting a season-ticket drive the next morning. OVG received 10,000 deposits in 12 minutes and 32,000 in little more than a day.
A few weeks later, Tippett met with the Leiwekes and Jerry Bruckheimer, a Hollywood producer and member of the ownership group. Tippett left excited about the project and sent Tod Leiweke a note outlining ways he could help, and he and Tod Leiweke met afterward.
Tippett moved to Seattle three months later and worked in a cubicle as one of a handful of employees in a temporary office near the former KeyArena.
"When you're starting a hockey team, it's good to have hockey people there," Tod Leiweke said. "So Dave came on and early on anchored us as a hockey team, and you couldn't have found a better guy. He's a great coach and he had a heck of a career. But he also has other skill sets."
Tippett studied the Golden Knights, who went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017-18, their inaugural season, and presented his findings to ownership.
He spent time at American Hockey League headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts, researching what might be best for an AHL affiliate. He met with area junior teams and minor hockey associations, and he appeared on radio shows and mingled with fans.
When Tippett played for the Hartford Whalers in the 1980s, he ran a home renovation business in the offseason, buying houses at auctions, doing the repair work and flipping them. When he coached the Dallas Stars in the 2000s, he ordered parts and built two motorcycles himself. He applied that interest and expertise in Seattle, visiting new practice facilities for the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild, gathering blueprints from building across the NHL, and helping Seattle plan for its new facilities.
Tippett appeared at Henry's Tavern in Seattle on Dec. 4, 2018, for the official watch party of the NHL expansion announcement from the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Sea Island, Georgia. The next day he was at the groundbreaking for the arena.
One of Tippett's last tasks was helping with the GM search. Leiweke said Tippett was an advocate for Francis, a teammate with the Whalers (1983-90) and Pittsburgh Penguins (1992-93).
"He would have been a good reference no matter what, but he happened to work for us," Tod Leiweke said.
Tippett was hired by the Oilers on May 28, 2019. The coaching bug returned, and how could he pass up the opportunity to work with forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl?
Seattle hired Francis on July 18, 2019; unveiled the Kraken nickname July 23, 2020; and hired Hakstol on June 24, 2021.
"The blueprints and that, I think [Francis] went in and tweaked them a little bit when he got there, but I'm interested to get in there and see how it turned out," Tippett said. "Both buildings.
"The main building, seeing the mock-ups of it and then just being in some meetings and hearing what they're doing and the design of it, it's going to be amazing. From talking to people that have been there already, it is amazing.
"The practice rink is a different animal. You're looking at building a beautiful three-sheet thing, and basically it's going to be the team's home. A lot of thought went into that."
Now all that thought has become reality.
"I think going out the door Dave wanted very much to see the expansion team in Seattle work," Tod Leiweke said. "So he was just very, very helpful, and it wasn't just that moment in time. He continued to be helpful. I hope he's very proud of what he sees when he comes into the building on Friday."