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Kraken Hire Former Islanders Head Coach

The Seattle Kraken have their new leader behind the bench.

Jon Alfano

New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert reacts as he coaches against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert reacts as he coaches against the Pittsburgh Penguins. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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The Seattle Kraken have hired former New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert for the same position, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports.

Lambert, 60, coached the Islanders for roughly a season and a half, posting a 61-46-20 record (.567 points percentage). He also led them to the playoffs in 2023, where they lost in the first round to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games.

New York decided to move on from Lambert after a 19-15-11 start to the 2023-24 season, replacing him with Patrick Roy.

Before that, Lambert was essentially the right-hand man to longtime coach and current Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz. He was an assistant under Trotz with the Islanders, Washington Capitals and Predators, winning a Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018.

Lambert spent this season with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an assistant coach under Craig Berube.

The Kraken have made major changes to their leadership this offseason, both behind the bench and in the front office. For the former, they parted ways with former Stanley Cup-winner Dan Bylsma after just one season, during which they finished 35-41-6 and missed the playoffs for the third time in their first four seasons. For the latter, they promoted Ron Francis to president of hockey operations and Jason Botterill to general manager.

Now, the Kraken will trust Lambert to help build them back up and lead them back to the playoffs.

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Jon Alfano
JON ALFANO

Jon is a lead writer for Baltimore Ravens On SI and contributes to other sites around the network as well. The Tampa native previously worked with sites such as ClutchPoints and GiveMeSport and earned his journalism degree at the University of Central Florida.

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