Ryan S. Clark
The Seattle Kraken have their third head coach in the franchise’s four-year history, announcing Thursday that they have hired former New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert.
Lambert, who spent this season as an associate coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, replaces Dan Bylsma, who was fired in April after one season. Dave Hakstol was head coach for the Kraken’s first three seasons.
“After conducting an extensive search, we’re thrilled to announce Lane as our new head coach,” Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said in a statement. “We cast a wide net for suitable candidates. Lane impressed us throughout the interview process with his strategy and vision for the team.”
Lambert’s hiring comes amid a series of changes for the Kraken. In April, the franchise fired Bylsma after he guided the team to a 35-win season that saw them finish 20 points adrift of the final Western Conference wild-card spot. They won 34 games in what was Hakstol’s final season in 2023-24.
Shortly after firing Bylsma, who coached the Kraken’s AHL affiliate for two seasons, the organization promoted Botterill from assistant GM to GM which saw Ron Francis get elevated from GM to team president.
Botterill, who was an assistant GM with the Kraken for five seasons, had previously served as the GM of the Buffalo Sabres between the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons. He was then immediately charged with trying to find a new head coach in a cycle in which up to eight teams were seeking a new bench boss.
The Kraken hiring Lambert now leaves the Pittsburgh Penguins as the only team still searching for a head coach with Mike Sullivan stepping down after 10 seasons behind the bench and eventually getting hired by the New York Rangers.
Lambert played 283 NHL games before he entered coaching in 2002. He was a head coach in Major Junior and the AHL before he was promoted to being an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators in 2012. He was part of Barry Trotz’s staff for three years before following Trotz to the Washington Capitals where he was part of the group that helped the franchise win its first Stanley Cup in 2018.
With Trotz leaving the Capitals to take over the Islanders, Lambert came with him and continued to develop as one of the more promising coaches waiting for the first NHL head coaching opportunity. Lambert was an associate for four seasons before he was hired to take over at the start of the 2022-23 season.
He finished with a 42-31-9 mark and guided the Islanders to the playoffs where they lost in the first round. A year later, he was fired after winning 19 of 45 games.
Now he joins the Kraken, a team that’s expected to go through even more changes this offseason.
PuckPedia projects that the Kraken will have more than $20 million in available cap space this season to improve upon a roster that finished 16th n goals per game but was 24th in goals allowed per game.
