Winner at every stage, Laxdal intervenes

Among his Oshawa players was star centre Beckett Senneke, whose season-over-season improvement convinced the Anaheim Ducks to surprise nearly every draft fan by selecting Senneke third overall in last week’s NHL Draft. As for the 2024 OHL playoff and regular-season opponents, Laxdal will see plenty of familiar faces at Kraken and Firebird training camps. He saw an impressive performance from North Bay captain and defenceman Ty Nelson (third round, 2022) in a seven-game playoff series while also working to shut down the likes of 2023 first-rounder Eduard Sale, OHL leading scorer David Goyette (second round, 2022) and OHL second-leading scorer Carson Rehkopf (second round, 2023).

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

A closer look at Laxdal’s entry on Hockeydb.com reveals an encouraging trend that’s hard to ignore. In 19 seasons as a head coach in the Central Hockey League (later merged with the ECHL), ECHL, WHL and OHL, he led his teams to 16 winning regular-season records. The three losing records? All came 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 side Wichita before two winning seasons (75-41-8 combined) and then his first year with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings in 2010-11 (going 31-34-0 but making the playoffs).

Over the next three years in Edmonton, Laxdal’s teams posted three straight regular-season wins of 50 or more games, reaching the WHL Finals in each of the three seasons. The Oil Kings won the WHL championship in 2012 and 2014, then capped Laxdal’s success in Edmonton by winning the coveted Memorial Cup (Canadian Hockey League championship) in 2014. Dallas clearly took notice and hired him to lead its AHL affiliate.

“We are thrilled to welcome Derek to the Firebirds,” said John Page, Senior Vice President, Oak View Group/Acrisure Arena/Coachella Valley Firebirds. “Our first two years in the Coachella Valley have been exceptional 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 look forward to continuing the momentum in front of our incredible fans.”

Laxdal also knows how to win as a player. He was a member of Springfield (Ma.)’s Calder Cup champion team in 1990. A formidable scorer, he was a 6-foot-1, 210-pound right winger who had eight goals and six assists in Springfield’s playoff run. He spent part of that season with the NHL’s parent team, the New York Islanders.

Laxdal also understands the NHL dream and even made his debut – a rarity then and now – at the age of 18 after being drafted by Toronto in the eighth round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Laxdal played three games for the Maple Leafs in the spring of 1985 after scoring 61 goals and 41 assists for 102 points in 67 games for WHL Brandon. The new Firebirds head coach knows the journey and landscape of professional hockey. He played 27 seasons of professional hockey in several leagues, including the NHL, AHL, ECHL and Finnish Liiga, among others. As an amateur, he represented Canada internationally, winning a silver medal at the 1985-86 World Junior Under-20 Championship.