PHOENIX – Jordan Schmaltz has a picture in his head of the man who will walk into the Arizona State men’s hockey team’s locker room this weekend.

It’s Dave Hakstol in a $3,000 suit, organized down to the minute – the same coach who recruited Schmaltz to North Dakota as a teenager and has since become a family friend. 

Schmaltz reached for a comparison that doesn’t usually get attached to college hockey coaches. 

He went with Nick Saban.

“He’s a leader of men. He’s a pro’s pro,” Schmaltz said. “He’s a guy that’s going to come in and just lead from the front.”

ASU named Hakstol its new coach Thursday morning, pulling the 58-year-old off Jared Bednar’s staff with the Colorado Avalanche and back to the college game for the first time in more than a decade. 

Hours apart, the Sun Devils’ past and future arrived in the same news cycle. Greg Powers, who spent nearly two decades building ASU from a club team into a Division I program, announced he had mutually agreed to part ways with the school.

The decision came nearly two months after defenseman Matthew Mayich collapsed during an outdoor conditioning workout at ASU on Aug. 20.

“Firstly and most importantly, I continue to hope for strength and healing for Matthew and his family,” Powers said in a statement. “Today, I have mutually agreed to leave my position as head coach of Sun Devil hockey.”

In the wake of Mayich’s collapse which has left him on life support, ASU placed Powers on paid administrative leave on Sept. 28, pending an independent investigation. The school later placed assistant coach Alex Hicks on leave and assistant coach Mike Corbett ran the bench for the season’s first four games until the school also placed him on leave.

The Mayich family made clear Thursday that Powers’ exit does not settle anything for them.

“It seems more like a negotiated agreement than accountability, and so we believe Justice Bales’ investigation must continue with its full scope, covering everyone involved in that morning’s workout and in approving it, and its findings must be made public,” the family said in a statement. “Coach Powers’ departure should not limit his cooperation or anyone else’s, and the players who have spoken up must be protected.”

The family also wished Hakstol, his staff and the players a safe and successful season.

In 11 seasons at North Dakota, from 2004 to 2015, Hakstol went 289-143-43, made the NCAA Tournament every year and reached seven Frozen Fours, the most of any program during that stretch. 

His rosters produced NHL stars such as Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie and 42 NHL draft picks overall. 

“We welcome Dave Hakstol and his family to Arizona State University,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said in a statement. “His success building championship-caliber programs, developing players for the highest level of the sport, and leading organizations in the NHL speaks to his knowledge of the game and his ability to develop talent. We appreciate Dave’s belief in ASU and look forward to supporting him as we continue to build Sun Devil hockey into one of the nation’s premier programs.”

In 2015, the Philadelphia Flyers made Hakstol the first coach in more than 30 years to go straight from an NCAA head coaching job to an NHL bench. In 2021, Seattle made him the first coach in Seattle Kraken history, and two years later he was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, which goes to the NHL’s  coach of the year.

Taking the ASU job had people in his past wondering about the move.

“I was surprised,” said Dave Tippett, the former Coyotes coach who played a major role in getting Hakstol hired in Seattle and now consults for the Kraken. “He’s had a very good job and was doing a very good job with Colorado, but I think there’s a part of Dave that he’s a great leader and he aspires to be a head coach. 

Tippett has known Hakstol since his North Dakota days.

“Ultimately, he wanted to be a head coach again,” said Tippett, who played for North Dakota from 1981-83. “This was a good opportunity for him.”

Hakstol coached Schmaltz for three seasons at North Dakota before leaving for Philadelphia, and the two have stayed close since.

“He’s a head coach at heart,” Schmaltz said. “He’s a guy that’s coached in the National Hockey League. He’s been a Jack Adams finalist. He didn’t get a fair shake there in Seattle when they let him go. Now, you’re a one-stop shop. You’re basically the owner. You’re the coach. All these guys you bring in are your recruits.”

Tippett said that is where Hakstol is at his best.

“Some of Dave’s greatest assets are managing people, and I think that’s a role that he thrives in,” Tippett said. “So he’ll get more of a chance to do that at ASU.”

The move brings Hakstol closer to family, too. His son, Brenden, is a freshman at ASU.

“This is a special opportunity, and I couldn’t be more excited to return to college hockey and bring a winning culture to Arizona State Sun Devil hockey,” Hakstol said in ASU’s announcement.

Building that culture starts with a roster Hakstol had no hand in assembling. The college hockey he left in 2015 looked nothing like today’s version, where the transfer portal can remake a roster in one offseason and NIL presents more challenges. 

For now, Tippett said, the short-term challenge is simple: The players Hakstol has are the players he will have all season. The long-term job is making ASU a place players want to be.

“You have to have a place where players feel like they can thrive, and Dave is an excellent coach and a very good person,” Tippett said.

Schmaltz expects the players to feel the difference right away.

“These are none of his recruits, right?” Schmaltz said. “He’s going to give you a different look, and he’s going to be stern, but he also understands players. … They’re going to play fast, they’re going to play heavy. There’s going to be an expectation that these kids maybe are used to, so the demand is going to be there and they’re going to see that right away.”

Hakstol has done this before, on a bigger stage and with less with which to work. When Seattle hired him in 2021, the Kraken did not have a single player. Rick Olczyk, a Kraken assistant general manager, watched Hakstol take a roster assembled from 31 other organizations and turn it into a team.

“He had to cultivate a culture right from the get-go,” Olczyk said. “We have players from all different teams that never played together. … He had to cultivate that, and then eventually led to the first and only time this franchise has ever been in the playoffs.”

In 2023, the Kraken beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche in seven games in the first round. Olczyk credited Hakstol’s ability to communicate, especially with young players.

“His experience building a competitive expansion franchise, coupled with the sustained success in college hockey, makes him well positioned to establish a strong foundation at ASU, develop players and build a program capable of competing for championships,” Olczyk said.

Hakstol will not do it alone. He is bringing Matt Greene, a two-time Stanley Cup champion who captained North Dakota under Hakstol, to the staff as an assistant coach. Jimmy Mullin, an assistant coach for ASU, will be the only member of Powers’ staff who is retained. 

The calendar works in Hakstol’s favor. Tippett said an NHL coach who takes over midseason has almost no time to practice. 

“There’ll be some challenges with it,” Tippett said. “I think it will be easier in a college game because you’re just playing on the weekends. You have a lot more time to practice.”

The program Powers built now has a coach who has won at every level. It plays in the nation’s most successful conference. It has a state-of-the-art arena and a selling point no school in Grand Forks or Duluth can match. Schmaltz, who grew up in Wisconsin and played his college hockey in North Dakota, doesn’t see a ceiling.

“Why can’t ASU be a top-five team?” Schmaltz asked. “Look what you guys have. It’s 70 degrees today.”

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.