Kraken add former Royals head coach Dave Lowry to staff

Former Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry was announced as the new assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken on Monday.

The Emerald City will be the next stop on a long and storied coaching career for Lowry, who has served behind a bench at either the junior or NHL level since the end of his playing career in 2004.

The Sudbury, ON product spent five years as head coach of the Royals for five seasons from 2012-2017, amassing a record of 209-124-14-13 and leading the club to a BC Division title during the 2015-2016 season.

Lowry has made two other stops as a coach in the junior ranks, serving as head coach of the Calgary Hitmen during the 2008-2009 season and the Brandon Wheat Kings during the 2019-2020 season.

He also has spent a significant amount of time behind the bench at the NHL level, serving as an assistant with both the Calgary Flames from 2009 to 2012 and the Los Angeles Kings from 2017 to 2019.

Lowry most recently worked for the Winnipeg Jets organization, where he served as an assistant coach from 2020 until halfway through the 2021-2022 season, when he would replace then-head coach Paul Maurice as an interim coach, serving in that capacity until the end of the season.

Prior to his coaching career, Lowry spent 19 years as a player in the NHL, appearing in over 1000 games for the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames.

He will now join a Seattle Kraken team hoping to improve in their second season as a franchise under head coach Dave Hakstol.