Lane Lambert was hired as coach of the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
The 60-year-old replaces Dan Bylsma, who was fired April 19 after one season, and will coach for the second time in the NHL. He was 61-46-20 in 127 regular-season games and 2-4 in six Stanley Cup Playoff games for the New York Islanders, who fired him Jan. 20, 2024, after two seasons.
“My wife and I high-fived, and they may have heard it through the phone,” Lambert said at his introductory press conference Monday. “But (I was just) ecstatic, elated to come here, come to the city. … When we went through the team and the roster, the vision for the team, philosophies, everything aligned for me, so it was a perfect fit.”
Lambert was an associate coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season under Craig Berube. Toronto (52-26-4) won the Atlantic Division and reached the Eastern Conference Second Round, losing in seven games to the Florida Panthers.
The Kraken (35-41-6) missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third time in their four seasons, finishing seventh in the Pacific Division and 20 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card from the Western Conference. Jason Botterill was promoted to executive vice president, and Francis was promoted from general manager.
Botterill confirmed April 22 that assistant coach Jessica Campbell will be retained for next season. Assistant Dave Lowry and goalie coach Steve Briere were fired last week.
Campbell became first woman to coach behind an NHL bench after following Bylsma to Seattle from Coachella Valley.
“I've had some good conversations with her, and she's been integral in the development of some of our young players, so she'll be back,” Lambert said. “We are going through the process of evaluating, and we're in a position right now to find the best people to add to the staff and put them in a position to have success.”
Lambert was Islanders associate coach under Barry Trotz for four seasons (2018-22) and won the Stanley Cup as Trotz's assistant with the Capitals in 2018. New York reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2020 and what was called the Stanley Cup Semifinals in 2021 because of the temporary divisional realignment cause by the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a Nashville Predators assistant from 2011-14 under Trotz, coached Milwaukee of the American Hockey League for four seasons (2007-11) and was an assistant for the Islanders' AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 2006-07.
Lambert was a second-round pick (No. 25) of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1983 NHL Draft and had 124 points (58 goals, 66 assists) in 283 regular-season games as a forward for the Red Wings, New York Rangers and Quebec Nordiques.
“When you put a list together of all the possible candidates, you’re trying to look at different things,” Botterill said. “We talked about leadership, we talked about someone focused on working with our young players, but also having a presence to handle our veteran players. And as we started going through things with Lane, we realized, ‘Wow, we're talking a lot about the same vision.’”
The Pittsburgh Penguins are the lone team without a coach. The Boston Bruins ended the season with Joe Sacco as interim coach and are conducting a search for a permanent coach.
Jeff Blashill was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks on May 22, Rick Tocchet (Philadelphia Flyers) and Adam Foote (Vancouver Canucks) were named on May 14, Joel Quenneville filled the Anaheim Ducks vacancy on May 8, and Mike Sullivan was hired by the New York Rangers on May 2.
NHL.com independent correspondent Darren Brown contributed to this report
