Dave Tippett said he's confident the NHL Seattle expansion team will meet expectations when it begins play in the 2021-22 season, regardless of any pressures to win immediately.
Seattle became the NHL's 32nd team on Dec. 4, 2018. Tippett was named a senior adviser on June 18, 2018 before being hired as Edmonton Oilers coach on May 28, 2019.
The potential pressure to win stems from what the Vegas Golden Knights achieved during their inaugural season in 2017-18, when they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, which they lost to the Washington Capitals, after winning the Pacific Division. Tippett said he believes the fans in Seattle won't be disappointed.
"It's going to be a phenomenal franchise," Tippett said Friday. "Really strong ownership. Seattle's a great city, great leadership on that team with (president and CEO) Tod Leiweke.
"When that comes, that's going to set a new gold standard for expansion franchises, and that's hard to do with the likes of [the Nashville Predators] and Vegas. But it's going to be a great franchise."
The NHL Seattle expansion team has not announced its nickname, with general manager Ron Francis saying April 3 it hopes to do so "sooner rather than later." The team was hoping to unveil its logo and colors in February or March, Leiweke said at the Board of Governors meeting in December.
But when the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, Francis said NHL Seattle needed to first consider the health and well-being of the community.
"We know there is a lot of people who are super excited about the name," Francis said. "We hear you. We're excited about it as well. We also know at the same time there's a lot of people in our community experiencing some challenges. We certainly want to be very respectful and sensitive and think about when is the right time to share our name with everybody."
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report
