As rumors swirled that he was ready to rejoin the coaching ranks, Dave Tippett was coming off a weekend of babysitting his grandchildren with his wife, Wendy, in the Seattle suburbs.

“It’s probably as strenuous as coaching in the playoffs,” Tippett said, chuckling, “just a little different.”

If the 57-year-old Tippett does leave his post as senior adviser for Seattle’s expansion NHL franchise, it will be because the coaching fire still burns inside of him, and because somebody – the latest reports list Buffalo and Edmonton as suitors – made him a substantial offer. But don’t be certain Tippett will be looking for that five-year deal he could likely land with his lengthy résumé. He may want to get the lay of the land before committing to a franchise for so long. And don’t be certain Tippett is ready to leave Seattle, where he enjoys working with president and CEO Tod Leiweke and a host of other people.

There is much to be done in the Pacific Northwest and Tippett’s hands are all over several projects, include the search for a new GM, where one candidate fell by the wayside when Vegas promoted Kelly McCrimmon to GM last week.

We caught up with the former Coyotes coach for a quick Q&A on a variety of topics.

What is consuming your time these days?

There’s a lot to do with monitoring the GM search and doing due diligence into an American (Hockey) League location. That’s a big part of it right now, and the demolition has started on the building (Key Arena), but there is a lot of community-based projects, too. We continue to monitor all situations around the NHL and do our due diligence regarding the GM search and our AHL affiliate. That’s all I want to say on that right now.

Do you feel there is any advantage to having a GM in place now vs. a year from now?

There is, if the right guy is available. There is a lot of work that can be done early, even identifying people you’d like to bring into your organization. The GM is an important position because so much filters down from that position when you’re building a staff. Now, I don’t think you’re going to hire all your scouting staff right away, but when Vegas came into the league they had to hire them right away and it’s a scramble. It’s a lot harder to get good ones when you rush it. There is a lot of people that want to be scouts, but you have to do your work to get good ones.

What do you like about your current gig?

I really like the people I am working with and there is something really interesting about being on the ground floor of building an organization. There are so many things that go into it that people won’t see. I liken it to building the foundation of a house. When the house is all done and looks all pretty on the outside, people don’t look at the foundation but ultimately, that is what makes it a good house. The ability to build something from the ground up is something not a lot of people get to do so that’s intriguing and I’m really enjoying it.

Have you given any thought to what your position could become when the team begins play in 2021-22, i.e. your job title and duties?

I have given it some thought and had some discussions about it but it’s still too early in the process to get into that right now.

Is it hard to wait until 2021 to begin play?

You’d like to play right away but I see where the building is at and where the practice facility is at and we had no choice but to wait until 2021 because they weren’t going to be ready. It’s not as if the arena is going to be sitting there empty. I love the competition and the problem solving, and I do miss that, but sometimes competition or problem solving can be different. Figuring out how you’re going to fit 32,000 (season ticket) depositors into a 17,000 seat arena, that’s a problem. Those are ones I am involved in and I’m waiting to see the solution for that. Whoever makes that ultimate decision is doing his homework.

When you see what Vegas did last season, and what some of these unheralded teams are doing this season, are there any lessons to be gleaned or reasons for optimism when you look to Seattle’s future?

You really never know going in, but you’ve got four wild cards that can all say, “We have a chance to win” and you can really justify all of them. It’s crazy. With the parity in the league and now and the salary cap, you really can think, “Just get yourself into the playoffs and you’ve got a chance.” Bob Gainey used to tell me this all the time in Dallas, “Just get yourself into the playoffs and anything can happen.” I don’t think it’s ever been more true in the league than it is right now.

With Vegas, things didn’t go their way in their second year but they’re a good team and the expansion rules allow you to do that. Look at the rules compared to the old rules. It’s not even close. If the league is going to charge the money it is for these expansion teams, they want to make sure that the team is at least allowed a chance to be competitive. Why wouldn’t you do that? We’ll have that chance. It’s about what we do with that chance.

When you have talked about what intrigued you in this position, one of the things you mentioned was building infrastructure and culture. How do you do that without a team, a GM or a coach, and what form does it take?

The biggest thing for me is you want to do it right, from resources and the right people, to doing things with class that make you look good as an organization. I think it starts with the leadership of Tod Leiweke and our ownership. Whatever we’re taking about, they want to do it right.

When we were talking about the importance of a training center where management and coaches and players can walk in and feel like they can maximize what they are doing there, the ownership just says, “Tell us what you need,” and now we have a 20,000-square foot dressing room and three-sheet arena (that will cost somewhere around $80 million). They just asked, “Do we need it?” I say, “Yep, because you can’t win without it,” and they say, “OK, let’s do it.”

There’s the old saying, “You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.” They’re creating this culture and it’s a culture of inclusiveness. They want input from the fans in everything we’re doing. I sit in meetings or these fan forums we’re doing and talk about the design of the arena and they always want to make sure we do it right, not scrimp and save here and there. I don’t know what the original budgets were for the arena, maybe $600 or 700 million and now you’re talking looking at $800 or $900 million. Somebody has got to pay for that, but they understand that it’s part of doing it right and that is an amazing situation to be in.

What steps have you taken in forging a relationship with that community?

Tod is at the forefront of that. He has a great relationship with the community already but we have hired a few community people, not necessarily in the sports business, but people who know this community and can help build that relationship.

We do these fan forums where we bring in about a dozen of the (season ticket) depositors. We have done between 10 and 15 already and ask them about everything from the team name, to team colors, concessions and bathrooms, how they are planning on getting to the game to tech stuff. You just learn what people are thinking, what’s important to them and people have some great ideas.

When will you choose a name for the team?

I’m not sure, but my guess is in the fall sometime. It’s funny. I sit in those naming meetings and don’t say too much, but sometimes they ask me, “Tip, would a hockey player wear that name?” I just kind of give them the thumbs up or thumbs down.

One of the things we have learned from the fan forums is most people would like to see the team name the team. They don’t want that responsibility. They want to know the name but it’s not the biggest thing to them. They want to embrace the team, but their attitude is, ‘”Hey, you guys own it. You name it.”

Is Kraken still in the running?

(Chuckles) I don’t think the Kraken is making the final cut and that’s the only one I have ruled out.

The interesting things about a name is sometimes you think you like one and once you go through the whole branding of it, you think, “Maybe not so much” with some you liked at first. Some are OK and then there are some that surprise you and you think, “Well, maybe.”

Your name has been linked to a few coaching searches recently. Where is your mind on the decision to remain in Seattle vs. returning to coaching, and does that coaching fire still burn in you?

I don’t think that coaching fire ever goes out, but we’ll have to see how things play out. If an opportunity comes along, it’s like anything in life. You look at that opportunity. It’s just like this opportunity in Seattle. I looked at it and it looked pretty good.

How much does your family come into play when considering a move?

We’ve been in the game a long time. Most people understand what we’re doing here and the family understands that. I don’t know if you ever really get comfortable with that kind of uncertainty, but it’s just the reality of this life and you deal with it. There’s a lot of guys that have a way worse situation than I have. I am fortunate that I have been around long enough that I can pick and choose a little bit. There are young guys in the coaching game that are trying to build a career for themselves. When I was younger, it probably affected me different, but as you get older, you go day by day, make the best of each day and some days are better than others. Some days, you get opportunities and some days, you don’t. You can’t lose sleep over it.

(Photo of Dave Tippett in March 2017: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today Sports)