Ford, New Kraken Farm Team Coach, Driving Prospects To NHL Goals

The newest coach in the Seattle Kraken organization has as good an explanation of modern-day hockey coaching as you’re likely to hear.

Scott Ford, 46, was hired July 15 as an assistant coach by the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds. Most recently, Ford spent two seasons as an assistant with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Scott replaces Stu Bickel, who took over as head coach of the AHL Iowa Wild.

“Especially nowadays,” Ford said in a conversation with Firebirds broadcaster Evan Pivnick, “it’s not so much of a ‘When the coach says jump, you say, ‘how high?’ Players ask questions, and you better be ready to answer.”

Kraken Farm Team Coach Toiled For Decade As Minor League Defenseman

Kraken, Ford

Scott (above image) was a pro player himself for a decade, skating for five AHL and five ECHL teams between 2004-15. “I haven’t forgotten how it was to be a player, how hard the game is, how many hours you have to put into it.

“Coaching, sometimes you can get stuck behind the computer and you can nitpick. You can dive into that as much as possible, but the trust factor, the communication factor, is huge. Developing relationships with your players. You’ve got to pick them up when they need picking up, and when they succeed, you reinforce it.”

Ford Saw Firebirds Up Close From Behind Opposition Bench

Most of Ford’s 522 AHL games were spent as a rugged defenseman (6-foot-3, 216 pounds) for the Milwaukee Admirals, including two seasons as captain. When his playing career ended, the Fort St. John, BC native served for eight seasons behind the bench as an Admirals assistant coach. Twice during that time, Milwaukee reached the Western Conference Finals.

Kraken, Ford

But in both 2023 and 2024, the Admirals were beaten by Coachella Valley, the team Ford just joined. “It was like an NHL atmosphere,” Ford recalled. “I couldn’t believe the outpouring of support, the excitement surrounding the whole community.

“You couldn’t go to a place outside of the arena without seeing somebody with a jersey on. You guys have such a great base there. People had the building blacked out with the fire sticks. The way the building’s set up is first class.”

Kraken Prospects Need Individualized Attention

As opposed to those veteran-laden Firebirds teams, the 2026-27 squad Ford will help guide will be one of the youngest in the league. (Last season, they were THE youngest.) Ford says a cookie-cutter approach to instruction with this generation’s players won’t do.

“You’re going to have different personalities, different mindsets, guys developing at rapid rates or maybe declining a little bit. You build a plan around each guy individually. Different strokes for different folks.

“You need to reach that level with players and speak to them. Maybe their play is not great. Sometimes you have to sit down and have those hard conversations. But sometimes there’s things outside the game that are affecting that. They might be going through a breakup, family issues, things of that nature. You want to find ways to get involved with them personally and work with them on a day-to-day basis. The biggest thing is getting the most out of the guys and having team success.”

Firebirds general manager Troy Bodie said in a statement that Ford is the perfect fit for today’s young player.

“He’s a tremendous teacher of the game. Scott understands what it takes to develop players, compete every day and build a winning culture. Those qualities align perfectly with what we’re striving for in Coachella Valley.”

There’s one player-coach interaction that Ford enjoys above all others. “It’s an amazing profession, to be a mentor, a teacher, a friend as a coach. It’s the American Hockey League. We’re here to not only develop hockey players, we’re here to develop people as well. There’s nothing better as a coach than to be able to tell a player he’s going up to the NHL.”