Could Lane Lambert be new voice Lou Lamoriello wants for Islanders?
Interim head coach Lane Lambert of the Islanders looks on from the bench during the first period against the Oilers at UBS Arena on Jan. 1. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello wants a “new voice” behind the team’s bench.
Can that also be a familiar voice? The well-respected Lane Lambert would be both.
Lamoriello dismissed future Hall of Famer Barry Trotz on Monday, explaining the current group of players needed to hear a new voice as their new coach after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Lamoriello added the rest of Trotz’s staff, including Lambert, his top lieutenant, remained under contract.
But director of goaltending Mitch Korn is unlikely to return as it’s believed he had already informed the team prior to Trotz’s firing that he wished to step away and, most likely, retire.
Lambert, the Islanders’ associate coach for four seasons after also serving on Trotz’s staffs in Nashville and Washington since 2011, has long been considered a future NHL bench boss. But, at age 57, the future may have to be now for Lambert.
He interviewed for the Avalanche’s top job in 2016 and did so again with the Ducks in 2019. Trotz often expressed surprise that Lambert had not yet landed a head coach’s role and was still on the Islanders’ staff.
This offseason, Lambert will certainly be considered a top candidate for the Red Wings’ job after GM Steve Yzerman, his former roommate in their early days together in Detroit, fired Jeff Blashill. That is, if Trotz doesn’t go to the top of the Red Wings’ wish list.
The Red Wings selected Lambert, from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, with the 25th overall pick in 1983 after selecting Yzerman fourth. Lambert went on to play 283 NHL games for the Red Wings, Rangers and Quebec Nordiques from 1983-89 before bouncing around internationally and in the minor leagues until 2001.
Lamoriello, of course, offered few details on why he fired Trotz and what qualities he sought in a new coach.
But Lambert is certainly well respected within the Islanders’ room as the players raved about his attention to details, his teaching abilities, his intensity but also his listening ability.
He ran the Islanders’ penalty kill under Trotz and that unit showed constant improvement. It ranked 17th in the NHL in 2018-19 — Trotz and Lambert’s first season with the Islanders — improved to 15th the next season, sixth in 2020-21 and was fourth this season.
Lambert hasn’t run a team’s bench on a full-time basis since leading the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators’ AHL affiliate, to a 178-103-15-24 mark and four straight playoff appearances from 2007-11.
But Lambert did step in for Trotz for three games and several practices in early January.
Lambert coached the Islanders to a 3-2 overtime win against the Oilers at UBS Arena on Jan. 1 after Trotz’s mother passed away, and then a 3-2 win over the visiting Devils on Jan. 13 and a 2-0 loss to the Capitals on Jan. 15 at UBS Arena with Trotz in COVID-19 protocol.
At the time, Lambert was asked whether his short stint had made him think about landing his own head coaching job and whether it would remind other organizations he was a viable candidate.
“I don’t wonder about it at all,” Lambert said. “The focus is right here, right now, as it always has been. That’s just the bottom line for me is we take it day by day.”
Isles to pick 13th: The Islanders retained the 13th overall selection in July’s NHL Draft in Montreal during Tuesday’s Draft Lottery. The Islanders had only a 2.0% chance of moving up and could only rise a maximum 10 spots. The Canadiens retained the No. 1 pick while the Devils moved up to No. 2.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
