Seattle Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2022-23, was fired by the team on Monday.

“Following our end-of-the-season review, we have decided to make a change at our head coach position,” general manager Ron Francis said in a statement. “These decisions are never easy, but we feel that this is a necessary step to help ensure our team continues to improve and evolve. Dave is a good coach and a terrific person.”

The expansion Kraken entered the league in 2021-22 as the NHL’s 32nd team and finished 27-49-6 for last place in the Pacific Division. They improved by 40 points last season, finishing with 100 points, to clinch a playoff spot in their second season.

They then upset the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round before losing to the Dallas Stars in seven games in the second round.

The Kraken rewarded Hakstol last summer with a two-year contract extension through 2025-26. Seattle, though, dropped to a 34-35-13 record this season and missed the playoffs by 17 points.

The Kraken also said assistant coach Paul McFarland won’t be back next season.

Hakstol is the third NHL coach to be fired since the end of the regular season, joining the Buffalo Sabres’ Don Granato and the San Jose Sharks’ David Quinn. The Sabres hired Lindy Ruff as coach.

Seven coaches were fired during the season.

Four zebras being transported to Montana escaped near Interstate 90 in North Bend, Washington, prompting a community-wide effort to corral them.

Three of the animals were subsequently captured but one remained on the loose as of Sunday night, according to King County Animal Control.

It’s unclear why the privately owned zebras were being driven to Montana.

The animals got loose when the driver stopped to secure the trailer near Exit 32 at around 1pm on Sunday, Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Rick Johnson said.

“This is a first for me and all WSP troopers involved. The community has come together to help,” Mr Johnson wrote on X.

According to the Seattle Times, Laura Fisher was driving at 70 mph on Interstate 90 with her son when they noticed the doors of a trailer up ahead flapping in the wind.

They initially assumed it was empty but soon spotted nervous zebras edging towards the trailer’s edge.

“Our main concern was that they were going to jump out of the trailer at 70 and probably die and cause a major issue for the other drivers,” she was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

A few videos shared on Citizen App — a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real-time and allows them to read updates about ongoing reports, broadcast live video, and leave comments — showed the zebras running in traffic, according to KOMO News.

It said the drivers on Interstate 90 had to hit the brakes when they spotted the zebras.

“One’s still on the loose, two are right down the street from me. We got zebras in April in North Bend,” a witness Whitney Blomquist was quoted as saying.

Ms Blomquist’s security camera’s motion sensor alerted her to unexpected wildlife activity in her side yard.

“They start walking up my driveway and they make their way over to one of my rentals,” she added. “I’ve had plenty of bears in my yard but this was a new one, for sure.”

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said that “once we get the other one – I won’t say in custody – but back corralled, it is a feel-good story. We’ve got three out of the four safe right now.”

The King County Sheriff’s Office has also not been able to verify how the animals escaped.

Aiming to follow the footsteps of his brother Tua Tagovailoa, Taulia Tagovailoa will take his first crack at earning a contract on an NFL roster in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Tagovailoa has accepted an invitation and will participate in rookie minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks next week. To this point, he and former San Jose State quarterback Chevon Cordeiro, who reportedly signed as an undrafted free agent on Saturday, are the only two quarterbacks that have been linked to the minicamp.

A unanimous four-star recruit coming out of Thompson High School in Hawaii, Tagovailoa initially joined his brother in Tuscaloosa as a backup quarterback at Alabama, completing nine out of 12 passes for 100 yards in limited action. Without an opportunity to play moving forward, he transferred to Maryland in 2020 and started four out of six games in a COVID-shortened season, earning Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors with 1,011 passing yards and seven touchdowns.