It was heavily rumored earlier in the week but now it is official that Colorado Avalanche’s assistant coach Dave Hakstol has left the organization to take the head coach position at Arizona State.
The Avalanche tend to hold on to their assistant coaches for quite a while but the start of the 2026-27 season was only the second
with Hakstol behind the bench. He was hired in July of 2025 to replace Ray Bennett and to run the power play among other duties. That special teams unit was a disaster last season finishing 27th in the NHL with a 17.1% conversion rate. The team also finished first in the league with a 57% share of expected goals so it is tough to sort exactly where the credit, and blame, falls between personnel, Jared Bednar and Dave Hakstol in each of these measures.
This season the power play was not improving with three shorthanded goals given up in seven games and only two 5-on-3 goals scored by the first unit, though the second unit scored three power play goals on opening night. Perhaps this was a mutual parting as the Avalanche clearly need a few new ideas behind the bench and Hakstol can return to his roots as a head coach at the NCAA level. Of course, we can’t ignore the absolutely tragedy which recently occurred involving the Arizona State program in which a player, Matthew Mayich, collapsed during a controversial outdoor workout, suffered heat stroke and is currently on life support. Hakstol will be entering a very difficult situation from the get-go.
In Hakstol’s place, Colorado made a quick hire bringing back a former player in Brett McLean to join Jared Bednar’s staff as assistant coach. He played for the organization from 2005-07 and then was part of the coaching staff for the Minnesota Wild for nearly a decade as an assistant at the NHL level and head coach for the Iowa Wild. Most recently McLean was with the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant coach last season.
After a turbulent week, the moves have finally been made and hopefully everyone settles in with their new positions. Welcome back, Brett McLean!
