<p><p>SEATTLE – Break out those bell-bottoms.</p></p><p><p>“Disco” Dan Bylsma – just Disco to friends and colleagues – is the new Seattle Kraken head coach, and he’ll be ready to boogie just as soon as the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ playoff run ends in elation or agony.</p></p><p><p>His promotion was announced Tuesday, but he’s not available yet. The Kraken’s top minor league affiliate, which Bylsma has guided for two years, has a 1-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Admirals in the Western Conference Finals.</p></p><p><p>His groovy nickname originated late in the grunge era. Bylsma played the 1994-95 season with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the now-defunct International Hockey League, a minor pro league with NHL affiliates. Hockey nicknames are usually just cutesy versions of surnames, and improbable as it sounds for someone with such a unique one, someone already had Bylsma’s moniker. Goaltender Byron Dafoe was already called “Bysie.”</p></p><p><p>So he fell into “nickname limbo” and an audition period began. Teammates pelted him with new ones, hoping they picked the winner. Thanks to his dance moves, he earned himself a reputation as Danny Disco, and eventually Disco Dan.</p></p><p><p>“It just kept following me,” Bylsma, 53, said. “I don’t mind it.”</p></p><p><p>He was known to cut a rug, and still does. The musical genre isn’t important.</p></p><p><p>“I’m not picky. I have an adaptive dancing style,” he said.</p></p><p><p>Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord, who backstopped the Firebirds’ playoff run last season, was delighted at the news Bylsma was the Kraken’s pick to replace Dave Hakstol.</p></p><p><p>“I saw firsthand how hard he works, how detailed he is, how great of a person he is,” Daccord said. “He’s a top professional, and he’s an outstanding coach. I thought he deserved it. I thought he earned it.”</p></p><p><p>Daccord recently wrapped his first season as an NHL regular, and was the Kraken’s starter during its most successful run of the 2023-24 season. It was a long time coming. Already in his mid-20s, Daccord felt pigeonholed as the Kraken organization’s No. 3 goaltender while playing for Bylsma in Charlotte and Coachella Valley. He and Bylsma discussed, several times at length, what he needed to do to make the jump.</p></p><p><p>“He was very helpful in giving me advice based off of his experience and the excellent goalies that he’s had play for him,” Daccord said.</p></p><p><p>“His wisdom and his advice definitely helped me get to where I am today.”</p></p><p><p>Like his dancing style, Bylsma’s adaptive coaching style was a point of emphasis during Tuesday’s introductory news conference in the Kraken locker room. After general manager Ron Francis and owner Samantha Holloway said their piece, the team screened a short video set to Jay-Z’s Public Service Announcement: “Allow me to reintroduce myself,” it began. Bylsma appeared bemused during the highlight reel and had his response ready when it finished.</p></p><p><p>“Being able to find a clip of me scoring a goal is evidence of the great work that’s already happening here in Seattle,” he said.</p></p><p><p>Bylsma, a defense-minded winger, was drafted in 1989 by the Winnipeg Jets but made his NHL debut in 1995 as a member of the L.A. Kings. He went on to play parts of the next eight seasons, all in Southern California, and scored 19 times in 429 games.</p></p><p><p>He had a sense he’d be behind the bench soon enough, he said. He knew what he needed out of a coach – someone who would tell him what to do and how to improve, no uncertainty. That informed his style.</p></p><p><p>“He works and strives to build relationships with his players,” Francis said. “He’s still firm with them, but I would say fair in his approach to doing that.”</p></p><p><p>Armed with firsthand knowledge, Daccord confirmed that.</p></p><p><p>“He does a really good job of knowing when to give us a kick in the butt, and also know when to take the gas off a little bit and let the guys play, let our skill come out,” Daccord said. “Let us do what makes us great.</p></p><p><p>“He knows how to have fun too, and make every day at the rink a great time.”</p></p><p><p>No slow dancing at Kraken Community Iceplex. Break out the platform shoes.</p></p>
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