The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
58°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Kraken fire assistant coaches Dave Lowry, Steve Briere

By Kate Shefte Seattle Times

About a week after Lane Lambert became the Kraken’s third head coach in three seasons, the team let go of its longest-tenured assistant coaches.

“As Lane Lambert evaluates the coaching staff, we’ve made the decision to relieve assistant coach Dave Lowry and goaltending coach Steve Briere of their duties,” New Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said in a team statement. “We appreciate all their hard work and dedication to the Kraken and wish them luck on their future endeavors.”

This isn’t an unusual occurrence. New coaches, like new general managers, often prefer to bring in their own people. Lambert appears to be retaining half of former coach Dan Bylsma’s assistants.

Lowry and Briere were hired about a month apart in the summer of 2022, right before the Kraken’s lone playoff season. Lowry had just been the interim head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, taking over for Paul Maurice midseason.

Briere had just been let go as goaltending coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after seven seasons and joined forces with former Toronto assistant coach Dave Hakstol, who in 2022 was head coach of the Kraken.

Briere helped stabilize the Kraken goaltending, which was one of many weak points during the inaugural 2021-22 season. He guided Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer to a solid campaign, and later saw late bloomer Joey Daccord become an NHL starter. Grubauer backslid after the playoff run and is a rumored buyout candidate this summer.

Lowry, the father of Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry, oversaw the Kraken’s 21st-ranked (77.2%) penalty kill. The PK was also Lambert’s area of focus during his last NHL stop as associate coach of the Maple Leafs.

There was no mention of Bob Woods, a 14-year NHL assistant who was hired last summer to round out Dan Bylsma’s staff. He focused on the defense and ran the power play alongside trailblazing first-year NHL assistant coach Jessica Campbell, the first woman in her full-time role. Campbell’s retention was announced soon after Bylsma was fired April 21.