Lane Lambert hired as 3rd head coach in Kraken history

With a “lock and key” approach a part of the forefront in this summer’s coaching vacancy, the Seattle Kraken have given Lane Lambert the proverbial key for unlocking potential, his job to unlock the door. 

Lambert was named new head coach of the Kraken on Thursday, officially succeeding Dan Bylsma, fired after one season and a 35-41-6 record. The Kraken missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. 

Lambert, 60, well known for his work with the defensive side, comes to Seattle after one year on the bench with the Toronto Maple Leafs, serving as associate coach on Craig Berube’s staff – an elevated role from a typical assistant position. This will be his second NHL head coaching position, previously running the New York Islanders bench for a season and a half, ending with his firing midway through last year. 

Mitch Love and David Quinn were also among reported candidates for the Kraken coaching vacancy. 

WHAT WE KNOW: 

·      Lambert will take on the second head coaching job of his NHL career 

·      This season, his only one in Toronto, he was the steward of a Maple Leafs defense that finished in a tie for eighth, at 2.9 goals allowed per game and were eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 

·      He guided the Islanders to a playoff berth two seasons ago with a 42-31-9 record, fired after 45 games last season with a 19-15-11 record 

·      Lambert has 11 additional seasons under associate or assistant coach roles, all on Barry Trotz-coached teams in Nashville, Washington, and with the Islanders 

INSTANT ANALYSIS BY 93.3 KJR-FM: 

After weeks of deliberation with names such as Mike Sullivan and Rick Tocchet off the board, the Kraken visibly honed in on Lambert as a candidate with experience, and a lengthy resume that’s robust in a variety of roles. His time spent in the NHL as an assistant or associate coach heavily outweighs his time as a head coach: 12 in a support role, and one-and-a-half in a head role. But there’s something to be said about how NHL head coaches learn from experience, and some take the next step in their second capacity (think Bruce Cassidy, Mike Sullivan, and Scott Arniel). 

It's clear that one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, Lambert was brought in: defense. 

Look at how some of the top teams in the NHL are constructed: the Kings, Jets, Golden Knights, Panthers, and Stars – they have rostered stars to drive the offense, but are educated and programmed with disciplined defensive fundamentals. 

Lambert helped design the structure the Islanders and Capitals adopted ultimately under his head coach Barry Trotz, a defensive icon in his coaching career. The Kraken defensive game this season became lost in the offensive current, plummeting from eighth to 24th in goals allowed. Their needle will most certainly move back toward a lockdown approach. Lambert’s hand also improved the Maple Leafs penalty kill this year, and previously engineered solid to lights-out units with the Islanders and Capitals (with whom he also steered the forward group, with productive results). Kraken general manager Jason Botterill has maintained they would maintain a high tempo skating identity. 

How far the needle actually moves is a matter of question.

Lambert’s task of getting buy-in from the Kraken dressing room should be a relatively smooth process, from his track record of accountability, to built-in relationships from previous stops already with Jordan Eberle, Chandler Stephenson (a childhood neighbor of Lambert), and Andre Burakovsky. Toronto Marlies AHL coach John Gruden, on the Islanders bench previously with Lambert, additionally gushed last fall about his pre-scout abilities and direct communication style with his players. Owning a Stanley Cup ring with the Capitals and two trips to the Eastern Conference Final with the Islanders doesn’t hurt. 

Mitch Marner, who is due to enter unrestricted free agency, raved about Lambert’s intensity. 

The unknown of course begins with how Lambert handles this in a Western Conference environment, where travel is much more intense than his recent previous stops in Toronto and with the Islanders. Their power play was 30th in the NHL two years ago, a unit run by Lambert’s assistant John MacLean, a Lou Lamoriello hire. Before Lambert and the Islanders parted ways, they had stretch of nine blown third period leads in 20 games. How will his hand, this time around, steer the Kraken when they battle in tough games or in a crunched schedule? 

For noted history, Lambert’s Islanders went 8-6-1 in the second game of back-to-backs during his sole full season as head coach. The Kraken, this year, went 0-12. 

The Kraken have been adamant that the new coach, a role now taken by Lambert, will need to take on the objective of developing younger players. They are preparing for a likely youthful injection to their roster next season which could include forwards Berkly Catton and Jani Nyman. Matty Beniers is looking to re-capture his Calder Trophy form of two seasons ago, while Shane Wright was banging on the door of 20 goals in his first full NHL season. Ryker Evans has settled into a permanent role on an upper-tier defensive corps, among many players looking to tap into Lambert’s development track record which traces back strongly through the Predators organization and into the AHL waters of Milwaukee between 2007-11, when he reached the playoffs all four seasons and was instrumental in the growth of Roman Josi, Pekka Rinne, and Patric Hornqvist. 

Catton is potentially nine games away, tops, from being told “go find an apartment” after back-to-back 100-point seasons in the WHL, yet ineligible to play in the AHL for one more season. Nyman, 20, virtually checked every box in his first stint to prove he belonged in the NHL, with six points in his first eight games. Others out of Coachella Valley might be in the mix to make the opening night roster. 

How long it takes for developmental progress and results in the standings to intersect is also unknown for Lambert’s case. But with long resumes such as Tocchet, Sullivan, and Joel Quenneville committed elsewhere, it's a move to steer the wheel towards defensive fundamentals, with experience at the controls.