Tippett Providing Tips

Dave Tippett, pictured to the left when we last saw him as a head coach of the Arizona Coyotes, has returned to the NHL in a rather unique way. The long-time player and coach has experienced and lived through a vast number of experiences, and it seems that the Seattle NHL group is needing a experienced man to navigate them through the initial stages of their expansion bid. Like Murray Craven did in Las Vegas, Dave Tippett has become a senior advisor for the expansion group led by Tod Leiweke. After his experiences in Arizona with the Coyotes, I'm quite certain that Tippett is very aware of the legalities of the NHL and all of its rules, by-laws, and guidelines.

The fact that Dave Tippett has resurfaced in Seattle seems a little odd at first, but it makes entire sense when you consider that the expansion group, who is also responsible in getting an NHL-suitable arena ready, has very little experience in the everyday things an NHL franchise offers.

"There are a lot of times where you need somebody with some hockey experience, whether it be infrastructure like the dressing rooms, the training facilities, or putting together the groundwork of what a skeleton hockey staff would look like," Tippett told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.

While his experiences off the ice will still be needed, it seems that everything there is about a hockey traditionally - facilities, staff, players, trainers - will be handled by Tippett as Seattle prepares to join the NHL. I'd say the Seattle expansion group has a man in place to run the on-ice portion of the franchise as head coach if and when they finally are to name a head coach of the new expansion team, but time will tell what Tippett chooses to do if he wants to pursue that opportunity.

"We'll see," Tippett told Baker regarding a return behind the bench. "I'm not ruling it out. It would have to be the right situation. But also, I'm intrigued about getting into another part of the game with this."

While I wouldn't rule out a potential general manager's position at some point for Tippett, does he have enough experience there at this point? Would he accept a role of some sort of Director or Vice-President of Hockey Operations? Those could be possibilities in the future for Tippett where he wouldn't have to sacrifice the free time he's been using to work "on his golf game and taking trips to Hawaii with his wife," as Baker wrote about his free time.

For the next couple of years, it seems Tippett will resume an office job as he and people in the Seattle expansion bid work towards bringing the 32nd NHL team to life. While it's simple a mere formality for the NHL to announce the expected expansion into Seattle, the work being done behind the scenes to recreate a similar season that Vegas had has already begun.

Having Dave Tippett among those staff is a good hiring by the Seattle NoNameYets.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!