Lane Lambert and the Seattle Kraken have concluded their search to round out their coaching staff, hiring Aaron Schneekloth and Chris Taylor as assistant coaches and Colin Zulianello as a goaltending coach.
"It is vital to trust in people to do their jobs," said Lambert. "The cohesiveness of the staff and the chemistry of the staff, it can’t be overstated. You spend upward of 300 days a year, all in the same room and at times 14 hours a day. There’s got to be real chemistry there. That’s one of the reasons this process took a little while. First and foremost, we were looking for the right people, the right fit, good people, and we feel we've found that with these three individuals."
Schneekloth was mentioned by Elliotte Friedman just a couple of days ago as a potential hire for the Kraken. Today, the former head coach of the Colorado Eagles has been brought onto Lambert's staff. As an assistant coach in both the AHL and ECHL, Schneekloth was in charge of defensive duties, and his teams played a very sound game. The 46-year-old was only a head coach for two seasons in the AHL, but transformed them into a strong AHL team, posting an 83-46-15 record in that time.
Taylor has been serving as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils for five seasons now, but before that, he worked as the head coach of the Rochester Americans in the AHL, putting up winning records in each season.
Zulianello had been working with the Coachella Valley Firebirds as a goaltending coach for three seasons and worked extensively with Joey Daccord during the team’s 2023 conference championship run while drawing high praise from Philipp Grubauer last season when the netminder joined the Firebirds for a stint.
"He is also widely credited in the Seattle organization for guiding AHL All-Rookie Team goaltender Nikke Kokko from a backup role into a clutch No. 1 starter in the playoffs for Coachella Valley this season," from the Kraken's press release.
“We put a real emphasis on finding people that are adept at a teaching and development style,” Lambert said, “but also mixing in coaches that have had success who are in a position to help our team have success at the NHL level. It’s a two-fold process.”
The Kraken are keen on building an identity that begins on the defensive side of the puck, and the hires they are making are an attempt to ensure they are difficult to score on.
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