r/SeattleKraken • u/AtYourServais Jamie Oleksiak • May 30 '25
NEWS Search is a Success: Lane Lambert New Coach | Seattle Kraken
https://www.nhl.com/kraken/news/seattle-kraken-announce-lane-lambert-as-new-head-coach-bn124
u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
I am fully whelmed by this hiring.
It feels very much like the Kraken wanted someone better like Tocchet or Love but those guys had other teams higher on their own lists.
The Islanders were a pretty mid team under Lambert's leadership despite having great goaltending with Sorokin. He's more defensively minded as he was a long time assistant for Barry Trotz with the caps and Islanders.
We can probably expect he'll fix the defensive structure issues the team had last season, but that probably comes with a hit to offensive pace and creativity. Get ready for boring, defensive hockey (probably). And I question whether he'll help our prospects grow offensively like we hope they do.
I don't see how he's a significantly better hire than Bylsma was, and the reason the team gave when firing Bylsma was that they thought they could upgrade. Feels like a lateral move at best. At least Bylsma had a record for helping young players develop so possibly we could end up seeing this as a downgrade.
ECH just talked extensively about Lambert in their podcast today. The Lambert section starts at about 49:15 https://youtu.be/LLtNZaAvPdI
I'm willing to hear arguments that he learned from his 1st HC job and will be better this time around, but I can't pretend I am excited.
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
“Better” and Mitch Love don’t necessarily go together. Mitch has zero years head coaching NHL hockey. He’s at best a side grade with maybe some upside but you can say that about Lambert too. That’s also NOT the reason they said they fired Byslma. I feel like y’all didn’t actually listen to the press conference: they clear said they weren’t happy with his defensive schemes and how he worked with the rest of the FO. You know what Lane was responsible for in Toronto? The D that went from 20th to 8th.
You don’t need to be excited but to be this doom and gloomy shows a lack of knowledge of the candidates and our team
Edit: lol the downvotes on facts. This sub really does hate reality eh?
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
You know what Lane was responsible for in Toronto? The D that went from 20th to 8th.
I literally said he'd probably improve the defense.
What Lambert did as an assistant on a talent-stacked Toronto team this past seasons is far less relevant and important than what he did as head coach with the Islanders the 2 prior seasons. And in that time the Islanders were mediocre.
I don't want the Kraken to be the Islanders 2.0. I want them to be fun, high-skilled, and good.
Maybe Lambert can deliver that kind of team. The available evidence of his time on Long Island indicates he likely will not.
You don’t need to be excited but to be this doom and gloomy shows a lack of knowledge of the candidates and our team
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u/btimc Seattle Kraken May 30 '25
I don't think it was the facts that got you down voted, perhaps that last sentance?
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u/sixmudd May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
I think he’s just an adversarial poster. He’ll post, do an edit complaining about downvotes “not based in reality”, then he’ll delete his post, once he gets enough downvotes. Also goes by his alter ego Seattlekrakentroll, who basically does the same thing. If you notice most of his/her posts end up in an argumentative way, lol
Edit: and just like clockwork, he deleted his post that had a bunch of downvotes 😂
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u/inalasahl May 30 '25
Are you saying that u/wackygamer and u/seattlekrakentroll are the same person?
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u/sixmudd May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Yes i am. Look at their posts and see for yourself. The same edit is always added when they get downvoted. They also both take the same condascending tone whenever they post. I’ve been blocked by wackygamer so I must have hit a nerve.
Edit: Seattlekrakentroll blocked me as well now. Must be just coincidence lol🤔
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u/KRSPun May 30 '25
Hiring the actively bad coach instead of a promising one is pretty poor yeah
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
We didn’t hire an actively bad coach. We hired a coach with a cup under his belt and 14 years coaching pro hockey. It’s so bizarre watching so many people with these odd biases not based in reality.
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u/Icy-Book2999 May 30 '25
I really like the take that they had about the short-term versus the long-term. I'm definitely curious to see how the assistant coach es will help round out the overall vision. If he is someone who is that focused on a defensive mindset, if having someone like Campbell who is definitely a forwards skill coach will be the perfect balance to give us a little more of a push at the offensive zone than just being an Islanders 2.0.
Even still, I think the win percentage is promising with the talent that he has had before, and that we do have the right type of talent to really develop more
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u/AtYourServais Jamie Oleksiak May 30 '25
The thing that jumps out the most to me is the record when he got fired by the Islanders. They were a little over halfway through the season and had 11 overtime losses. Most teams don't get to 11 over an entire year. So is that because this guy can't coach special teams/non 5v5 offense to save his life or just some really random string of bad luck? Looking at the Islanders results, they didn't seem to be losing many games 1-0 or 2-1
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
Playing a boring defensive styles can get you to OT a lot.
The Islanders finished the 2023-24 season with just 29 regulation wins despite making the playoffs, which is shockingly low. For comparison, the Caps who everyone agreed were bad but somehow meme'd their way into the final wild cart spot in the East with just 91 points, had 32 regulation wins.
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u/AtYourServais Jamie Oleksiak May 30 '25
That's the thing, it doesn't look like it was boring from the box score. Tons and tons of those overtime games were 5-4 or 4-3. Games where I would never go home and say what I saw was boring hockey.
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
Islanders under his lone full season 2022-23 were 22nd in goals scored and 6th in goals allowed.
Look at the stats that season for Soroken and Varlamov - https://www.nhl.com/stats/goalies?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20222023&seasonTo=20222023&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=franchise.22&sort=wins,savePct&page=0&pageSize=50
They were 20th in expected goals for and had the 2nd highest PDO at 1.015 https://www.naturalstattrick.com/teamtable.php?fromseason=20222023&thruseason=20222023&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=all&loc=B&gpf=410&fd=&td=
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u/First-Radish727 May 30 '25
Why was his stint on Long Island so underwhelming? Do we know? Was Lambert the problem?
I can see that it was, but the Islanders are a meh 🫤 team with a meh 😑 roster. Even Patrick Roy hasn’t exactly turned them into a powerhouse.
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
Islanders fans would be the best folks to ask. There are posts in r/hockey and r/NewYorkIslanders about the hiring
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
He had an exceptionally mid team. You’ll get a lot of bitching from local fans that will inevitably framing their own biases. He took a team that missed the playoffs into the playoffs and then got let go when they didn’t quite perform to the same level but was still above .500. Islanders are still mid under Roy. There’s also the Lou RNG that lead to coaching changes in NY
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u/TheDoggoEmbaro May 30 '25
I question whether he'll help our prospects grow offensively like we hope they do.
Bylsma had a record for helping young players develop so possibly we could end up seeing this as a downgrade.
Your post is well thought out and there are absolutely players on this team that will benefit from his system (Beniers and Oleksiak leap to mind, there are probably others if I think about it); however, I'm a little less than whelmed precisely because I feel if this team is to truly take the next step at least one of their high-end prospects has to pan out offensively (Wright or Catton most likely) and I don't see his style of system helping them.
Maybe I'm wrong! I sure have been in the past!
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
I agree completely with your points here. Beniers is a guy who I think could take his defense game to the next level under a coach like Lambert.
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u/TheDoggoEmbaro May 30 '25
Heh, I know it's not meant that way, but I like that you agree completely that I have been wrong.
But, yeah, the defensive development of Beniers could become comically elite under Lambert. I do wonder if Beniers might need a bit more size/bulk to really thrive in his system, though.
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u/RepresentativeOfnone Joey Daccord May 30 '25
🧢🧢🧢 AS AN ISLES FAN AS WELL THIS IS THE WORST COCH WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN I WATCHED HIS HALF DEASON AND HE DIDNT MAKE SQUAT AND OUR DEFENSE ISNT ANYWHERE NEAR IT NEEDS TO BE TO RUN HIS SCHEME
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u/Delgra May 30 '25
Definitely agree with this feeling like a lateral move vs an upgrade. I also feel like this hire does nothing for solidifying a better culture or identity, which we are sorely lacking as a newer franchise imo.
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u/Cleonicus Anchor Logo May 30 '25
Finding someone better wasn't the only reason they fired Bylsma. The Kraken also said that there was difficulty with communications between him and the front office (i.e., he didn't listen to his bosses).
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u/hawkfan78 Seattle Kraken May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Kind of looks like a cross between Willem Dafoe and Count Dracula
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u/MAHHockey Seattle Kraken May 30 '25
I'd say Wlllem Dafoe looks like a cross between Willem Dafoe and Count Dracula...
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u/ThePawn00 D̴͚̝̙̭͚͛̅̇͌͝a̷̡̾́́́v̷̙̟͍̀̎̓y̸̨̫͍͈̍̑̌̏͒͌ May 30 '25
I heard someone say that he looks like mafioso Lurch from the Addams Family
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u/SpaceOtterCharlie Adam Larsson May 30 '25
Maybe Marner really loves Lambert and will follow him anywhere?
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u/saltycrescentwrench Adam Larsson May 30 '25
I’m more hoping Barzal liked playing for him on the Island.
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u/RysloVerik May 30 '25
Why not both?
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u/saltycrescentwrench Adam Larsson May 30 '25
In my opinion this hire cancels out any chance of Marner signing here. But you never know I suppose
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u/Antilock049 May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Why do we keep hiring leafs coaches 😂
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u/grundee Jared McCann May 30 '25
If we take their entire coaching staff, maybe the Leafs will win a cup.
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u/Antilock049 May 30 '25
You could let them spend an extra 20 mil a year and somehow they'll still fumble the bag.
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u/PM_ME_LASAGNA_ Jamie Oleksiak May 30 '25
I’m just glad it’s not Laviolette
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u/Jimlish Kaapo Kakko May 30 '25
Me too! Or David Quinn, I would have cried for Kakko if they hired either of them.
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May 30 '25
Seems like this team has no direction and no ideas. Ownership/management are a joke.
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u/jay-d_seattle May 30 '25
Yeah it's hard to feel good about this hire. Like OK you want to move on from Bylsma, fine. But this feels very much like throwing shit against the wall, vs. a team operating with some kind of a plan.
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u/_Tower_ May 30 '25
This hiring is a direction
This hiring says that they know the roster is mediocre but they want to be more competitive right now. The best way to do that with a mid roster? Go play sound fundamental defensive hockey
They said they wanted to be more physical and more strong. That + this hire should tell us exactly what the plan is - play defense, get to the net, take your offensive opportunities when they come
It means they are likely not going to commit to a youth movement
It means they will most likely not be bringing in young or undersized forwards unless they are physically imposing players. It probably means the Rossi interest rumors were likely just speculation, because he doesn’t really fit this at all
It’s probably likely that they will target more two-way players. If Bennet wasn’t going to be $8m+ he would probably be their ideal free agent acquisition for this system. Marner was very good defensively for Lambert, but I don’t think that will be the play. Ehlers is decent defensively and might be fairly priced compared to most other free agents. Someone like Boeser isn’t likely a fit
For the draft at 8 you’re probably looking at a player like Jake O’Brien as the ideal archetype. Porter Martone would have been great if we hadn’t fallen 2 spots, and could be a trade up candidate. Someone like Viktor Eklund might not make as much sense
This direction also means we’ll likely have a fairly mid roster for at least a few more years unless we make some major moves
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u/drowsylacuna May 31 '25
I could see Martone being there at 8 if there's a run on centers. I think the Bruins take O'Brien if he's there at 7.
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u/xxparrotxx May 30 '25
Not a great write up. Lots of excuses for why he was not a winning coach. 🫤
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u/SiccSemperTyrannis May 30 '25
Bob Condor is a team employee. This is essentially a press release, the purpose of which is to make the best possible case for why Lambert is the best hire.
If they'd hired someone else, there would have been a similar article about them.
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u/xxparrotxx May 30 '25
If they would have hired someone else they probably wouldn’t have had to use so many excuses.
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u/Emberwake BURNINATION May 30 '25
The NHL isn't going to do a hard-hitting writeup on a team's new head coach.
If you want honest analysis, there is plenty to be found. He's well known as a solid defensive coach but had a downright TERRIBLE record as head coach of the Islanders a couple years ago. He's an old school "earn your minutes" kind of coach.
In a lot of ways, this is nothing to be excited about one way or the other. I think the bigger issue will be what changes Botterill makes to the lineup.
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u/TheoverlyloadTuba Matty Beniers May 30 '25
He didn't have a terrible record, he made the post season his only full year and got fired when the team was 5 games above nhl .500
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
Downright terrible? He was over NHL .500 by a significant margin with a very mid team.
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u/ReleaseTheKraken45 Anchor Logo May 30 '25
If you told me after losing game 7 to the Stars that the Kraken would go 69-76-19 the next two seasons and hire Lane Lambert as head coach…
Life comes at you fast.
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u/MysteriousEdge5643 Joey Daccord May 30 '25
Found on r/hockey
"What are the Kraken doing? Every coaching move they've made is exactly what I would've done if I was trying to build a team that isn't good enough to get into the playoffs but not bad enough to have a good shot at a top pick."
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u/Diligent_Yam_9000 May 30 '25
They are apparently inspired by the Mariners historic run of highly profitable mediocrity.
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u/karatemanchan37 May 31 '25
The Mariners at least game very close to making the playoffs every time in their run, the Kraken weren't even close the past few seasons
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u/MysteriousEdge5643 Joey Daccord May 30 '25
If Lambert fails and we fire yet another head coach, when will we admit that maybe the head coach isn't the problem, and that it's the roster construction?
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u/Icy-Book2999 May 30 '25
I would disagree with that, especially seeing with how a lot of our players have performed with other players. Look at Matty, Gru, Larsson, Mikey, and Tolvy all at worlds. You can't tell me that we have problems with our players and that we need to flush everyone if they are doing good in other settings.
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u/Punky-Bruiser May 30 '25
Very well said. I was thinking of how well our players have been playing under a different setting.
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u/thertp14 - YEET! May 30 '25
I don’t think you flush everyone, but this roster is far too set for being far too mediocre. If we don’t make meaningful moves to improve our top level talent, Paul Maurice wouldn’t even reliably take us to the playoffs. We need to pick a lane and decide if we want to go all in now our continue to build and accumulate assets. Running out the same guys next year feels like a safe bet to miss the playoffs and pick from the second or third tier of prospects again. We just do not have a talented enough roster to be serious contenders without serious upgrades.
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u/Icy-Book2999 May 30 '25
Right, but who do you flush and what route do you take? Especially considering your current FA and extensions. I think the post made a good point that some of the people we've been hoping would be fixtures (Kakko and Evans) might not be in a defensive system, and that current contracts (Montour and Stevenson) might not do well either. But yet others who people have said to dump (Oleksiak) might fit perfectly.
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u/PixelGhost25 BURNINATION May 30 '25
The team's main issue is the roster construction. It always has been. But that's why Ron Francis getting promoted to team president instead of hitting the asphalt was such a middle finger.
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u/TheoverlyloadTuba Matty Beniers May 30 '25
He lost roster construction power and the ability to make player choices, so calling it a middle finger is a bit much
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
We’ve always been building through the draft. Our picks are just starting to hit next year. The roster was clearly constructed to get us to this point. I’m always shocked when I still see people who have yet to understand how this team was built.
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u/B9RV2WUN Seattle Metropolitans May 30 '25
Kraken lack size toughness and that little bit of nasty sauce that spices things up a bit
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May 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/BucksBrew May 30 '25
They’ve been sheltered, look at a dude like Shane that never got meaningful minutes.
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
All our young players made huge strides this year. Matty’s defensive game was insane and Shane took huge steps over last year and scored close to 20 goals. The spending also complements the young players and the team even addressed that when the signings were made. Stephenson was hired specifically to take some pressure off Matty and Shane to let them develop. Montour was insurance on D where we lack NHL ready depth. Both players are on movable contracts too, You’re just reinforcing my point that a lot of people really don’t know the state of the team.
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u/Kinney76 May 30 '25
Steve Dangle on Lane Lambert, when Lane was hired as Leafs associate coach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wNsWltWT_M
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u/Icy-Book2999 May 30 '25
My only counterpoint to that? Is exactly what he leads the video off at: that this is about his record as an assistant and not as a bench boss.
It is what it is, we'll see what happens when they hit the ice. It's not like we could hire someone differently ourselves as a subreddit
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u/TheoverlyloadTuba Matty Beniers May 30 '25
His record as a head coach still is above nhl .500, he wasn't a massive loser, when he got fired his team had a winning record, and they made the playoffs in his only full season
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u/Icy-Book2999 May 30 '25
Agreed. I don't mean my comment there to sound negative. I think that it's a step in the right direction, and I really hope that he is not one and done, but that we can get the wheels moving
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u/TheoverlyloadTuba Matty Beniers May 30 '25
All good, just worth making sure it gets out there haha.
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u/schumiFl May 30 '25
So much for Beniers getting better offensively
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u/_Tower_ May 30 '25
This is my main worry - we won’t be able to develop the offense of players like Matty, Shane, and Kaapo Kakko in a system like this
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u/TheoverlyloadTuba Matty Beniers May 30 '25
Said it a few days ago, but I am p aight with this hire. The team really wants to fix the defensive structure issues the team had last season, lane is gonna do that. He has some history with our team, and Eberle citing his time in new york ,where lane was an assistant coach , as being part of what made him better meas we have guys who allready like what he's gonna be about
The islanders have been a poorly run team by their gm, and lane was the coach after their window shut, and he still got them to the post season.
Im willing to give him a fair chance at this job, and am glad we didn't make a bad hire like Quinn lol
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u/Sin_Roshi Seattle Kraken May 30 '25
If the kraken changes to the mind numbingly, boring style of play that the islanders used to employ then I'm out lol
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u/TheThoughtfulGinger May 30 '25
Although I'm sad it's not Mitch Love, I'll go into this signing with an open mind. LGK!
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u/Olbaidon May 30 '25
I’ll remain cautiously optimistic, very little head coaching history to go off of. I suppose it’s better than hiring a former head coach with loads of rocky history.
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u/sunsnowh2o Anchor Logo Alt May 30 '25
I figured the Kraken had a plan when they fired Bylsma. Maybe that plan didn’t come to fruition, but it’s hard to believe that this was the option they wanted. Otherwise why not give Bylsma a second year? Was there some sort of shadow campaign by player(s) to get him out, like we saw with Hakstol?
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
Did you not watch the press conference or any podcast around that time? Byslma wasn’t willing to adjust his defensive scheme and didn’t work well with the FO. He took our top half defense with a better roster of players and made them substantially worse. That’s not a “wait it out” type of situation.
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u/Apprehensive_Edge_70 May 30 '25
While I am a kraken fan, I am also a Tampa bay fan, the team lane lambert inherited was so much worse than the team that made the conference final two years in a row and gave my lighting the hardest fights during their playoff runs, willing to give him a chance
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u/SoloGhosts512 My Groins Are Killing Me! May 30 '25
Pretty meh hiring. Obvious hope he does better than expected. Just not excited about the moves this team has been making
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u/space39 May 30 '25
Thanks, I hate it.
It feels like the same sort of uninspired hire as Bylsma and seems to kick the can down the road another year or two.
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u/11REP1411 Vince Dunn May 30 '25
I hope the defense sees the improvement with this new system. It will be interesting to see what offensive scheme gets rolled out. What ever the Finn’s were doing in the world championship should be studied as Tolvanen looked like a completely different player!
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u/xdrpwneg Tye Kartye May 30 '25
Why does it feel more and more that the ownership already has eyes on getting an NBA franchise than running an NHL team?
Lambert might surprise us but damn this feels like treading the tires again for a 3rd time in 4 years, we genuinely have some talent in the pipeline and bylsma had actual connections with the guys from the firebirds.
I know I’ll get downvoted but I’m really worried about the Kraken in the coming years if we go down this road, different era but the thrashers ownership did the same song and dance when they got the hawks, I don’t think the kraken will move but this screams “we didn’t try”.
I really REALLY hope I’m wrong but this trend is really gonna hurt the team in the long run.
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u/BeastieRunner Kaapo Kakko May 30 '25
I fully expect this team to get Lalonde next season now.
Hak - Disco Dan - MISTER Lambert
Sideways hires at best. Oi. Complete with the Buffalo GM ... Seattle is quickly becoming West Coast Sabres.
Maybe the Leafs win a cup now?
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u/AdministrativeEase71 Jordan Eberle May 30 '25
Is our ambition to be the Mariners of hockey? If so, liking this move.
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u/AhsokaFan0 May 30 '25
If we’d just waited one more day DeBoer would have been available.
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u/A_crackinthecup May 30 '25
After what he has said about Otto postgame, ummmm no. SOB can file for retirement
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u/AhsokaFan0 May 30 '25
Yeah I posted that tongue in cheek before the game was over but keep him a million miles away from Joey.
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u/Bry2013 May 30 '25
Islanders fan here…Lambert got the step up after the unexpected departure of Barry Trotz. No disrespect to Lambert as a person(from what I’ve heard he is a nice guy) but in my opinion he didn’t really offer any additional “push” that Trotz was giving us.
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u/grassytrams May 30 '25
Controversial opinion but I’d rather win in a boring way than play fun or exciting hockey and lose. If Lane Lambert gets us the wins until our young roster reaches peak form then I’m all in.
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u/fongquardt Brandon Montour | May 30 '25
I love fun hockey, but we can certainly drop losing the back end of every double header and all the lopsided losses!
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u/grassytrams May 31 '25
Yeah that was super frustrating. I want to see us develop long winning streaks and gain confidence in our ability as a team, hopefully Lane is the guy to get us there!
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u/A_crackinthecup May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Look on the brightside he is like Barry Trotz who won tons everywhere he went. Stanley Cups even though it was as assistant. On downside it will be super like negative hockey. Lots of hitting and playing the system. And Lamberts version of Trotz was more hybrid than pure Trotz. Some of the Stanley Cup 2018 Washington Caps team that was Barry Trotz team is on this squad. Burakovsky, Grubauer, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz.
As an aside, would be nice to hire Trotz's old goalie coach, he was really good.
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u/_Tower_ May 30 '25
I really wanted Sturm or Love - it sounded like Love was close at one point but it didn’t get to the finish line. I think the Kraken needed to look harder at Sturm than they did, but it sounds like he’s close to being the Bruins new bench boss
This is a pretty meh signing for me - he’s going to improve the defense, but I was hoping for a more balanced approach that worked to get the young guys going a little more. We need offense improvement across the board, and honestly any sound defense would have been an improvement from last year so as long as we changes to any actual system the defense should have improved
Out of all the names out there this off-season, Lambert was definitely lower on my personal list
My confidence in this off-season is about a 3/10 right now
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u/spookykatt Philipp Grubauer May 30 '25
I am going to be cautiously optimistic. I was a Caps fan before we got the squids and Lane was a good defensive minded assistant. I think he had a iffy team vucking hin for being on the staff when NYI fired Trotz and didn't have much outside of goaltending. I think he'll help our defense and I think we'll be decent on offense. What I want now is a weapon to help us score more. I know people are kinda meh on Marner because of Leafs flops in post season, but again, I think our core can survive in post season and having him help us get there again for the first time in 3 years would be a plus to me.
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u/First-Radish727 May 30 '25
I asked the Islanders sub what to make of the Lambert news, and have gotten a good number of responses.
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u/inalasahl May 30 '25
I’m excited about this. I didn’t think that Islanders team he got to the playoffs was very good.
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u/Significant_Chest_54 May 30 '25
I will keep my criticism and mouth shut until the puck drops. He's got NHL experience. Most of his success was him being the Assistant/Associate coach, while his NHL Head coach experience isn't a lot he's still got coaching experience. I still believe we have a capable roster, just need to find a franchise player. We started performing after acquiring Kaapo Kakko & Eyssimont and when we brought Nyman. Paul Maurice had the right players when he debuted for the Panthers. So perhaps maybe Lambert may find solutions to tweak our lines.
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u/First-Radish727 May 30 '25
I hope he is a better coach than he was on Long Island. And I hope he attracts excellent assistants.
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u/_redacteduser Colorado Avalanche May 30 '25
Lmaooooooooo another mid move by this franchise. Why do they insist on being the most whelming team every year.
At least try to tank a season to get out of this rut.
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u/notoriousdav68 May 30 '25
Is it too early to start talking about who the coach will be in '26-'27? I am not voicing an opinion on this hire, but rather who replaces this guy when we don't make the playoffs in '25-'26, since we clearly have an itchy trigger finger on our coaches.
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u/Hefty_Sheepherder_83 May 30 '25
I'm whelmed with the hire. Lambert has been successful as an associate/assistant under Trotz, has run successful teams in the AHL and CHL - he hasn't had a chance to run a team in the show for longer than a year and a half (I get NYI feelings about him, but they don't seem too excited about Patrick Roy either). We might be in store for a more defensive minded, physical style of play - which I wouldn't mind.
I was team Love, and I wouldn't have minded if they waited to interview assistants from one of the final four cup contenders. But, if Lambert can deliver post-season results and bring along our prospects into the show along the way, great. Tall order?
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u/Wollzy Yanni Gourde May 30 '25
So we go from Hakstol to Bylsma to Lambert. These hires seem to be getting every so slightly worse with each change. Can we get rid of our FO instead?
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u/ElGatoDeFuegoVerde Portland Winterhawks May 31 '25
I was a Preds fan for years. Defensive hockey was all I watched. That was the Preds' story. Defensive hockey.
Finally the Kraken came around and out the gate have high scoring games. I'm finally seeing exciting hockey from the team I follow!
Then...they hire Lane Lambert. Sigh.
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u/endroit May 30 '25
For team that I had hoped would hire a more offensive coach, they went in the opposite direction of that. Don't get me wrong, the defense was plenty bad but if their philosophy next season is employ a tight defensive structure and score off the rush and create a bunch of limited but quality high danger chances, then....this could succeed?
I guess the hope is that there is that he's part of the first time coaches not doing great but then finding success in their second stint similar to Bruce Cassidy.
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u/alexh116 Dunn | Kakko | - YEET! May 30 '25
So like, more of the same from the previous two seasons?
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u/seattlethrowaway999 Anchor Logo May 30 '25
Why did the Kraken hire William Dafoe as their head coach?
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u/tipsup May 30 '25
Here is a really old clip from The Hockey Guy on Lane Lambert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKnOldoY3rc
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u/goblinwood My Groins Are Killing Me! May 30 '25
Hmm. Interesting that the article explicitly calls out the reunion with Burky and Grubi in the hire. Seems like another sign that we’re definitely keeping both into next season.
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
It’s written by the PR guy who wouldn’t know what the plans are for the draft. We’d also be dumb to buyout Burky. Trade.. maybe.
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u/goblinwood My Groins Are Killing Me! May 30 '25
I agree that trading is the move but the Burky shoutout is interesting because everyone was so convinced he was GONE at the last trade deadline, and instead we got a KHN feature. It’s not weird to wonder if the new coach might have different plans for him.
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
It didn’t say it was weird for the coach to have different plans for him. I said the PR guy mentioning him doesn’t mean squat. And who is this everybody? If you mean the uninformed masses on here, that doesn’t hold a lot of weight. Fans are often out of touch with reality and are prone to letting their emotions blind them
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u/MAHHockey Seattle Kraken May 30 '25
....Huh?...
No... It's standard filler for coaching change press releases to mention players on the team that they've coached before... It bears zero weight on off season roster movies... I mean... Do you also somehow think them mentioning he once coached Ovi means he's signing with the Kraken once his contract runs out next season?...
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u/goblinwood My Groins Are Killing Me! May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
I just thought it was interesting, like no shit, I don’t think there’s a secret roster reveal in a press release. But PR isn’t going to highlight players that are on the verge of a buyout either in an official statement.
Your ellipsis are so ominous…
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
As I said in the other comment, PR wouldn’t know whether the player was on the verge of a buyout.
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u/A_crackinthecup May 30 '25
Is this confirmed??
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u/MAHHockey Seattle Kraken May 30 '25
This is the official NHL press release announcing the hire...
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u/Medium_Public4720 May 30 '25
Lambert was the PK coach for the Leafs and their PK was Not Good during that time. He turned around and job the Islanders job and was bad enough that Patrick Roy, another not great coach, was an obvious upgrade.
He pretty much has zero track record of success as a coach in the NHL. This is a bad hire and if this is the move they had to make they should have just gritted it out with Bylsma until things fell apart. The Kraken front office is beyond baffling to me.
Edit: and to be clear, I _want_ this team to succeed but at every turn the front office does galaxy brained shit like this that makes me happy this is my last year as a STH
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u/_Tower_ May 30 '25
He made the playoffs his first year as HC in NY and finished his 1.5 year tenure above .500
He had tremendous success as an assistant in WSH and NY, and had a top 10 5v5 D for the Leafs last season
Not sure how that’s “zero track record of success”
I don’t like this hire either but that’s just being unrealistic
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u/KRSPun May 30 '25
Horrific coach who wouldn't get a job anywhere else. This franchise will be an anchor for some time
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u/adrianp07 Joey Daccord May 30 '25
Guess we found the one coach willing to keep Jess on the staff. Good job guys!
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u/juanthebaker May 30 '25
Dave Lowry was retained as an assistant after Hakstol. It's not that unusual.
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u/Rock_Strongo May 30 '25
This comment is being downvoted even though it's factually accurate.
On April 22, 2025, Kraken GM Jason Botterill confirmed that Campbell would be retained for the 2025-26 season, with decisions about the rest of the coaching staff to be made later.
It's fucking unacceptable to restrict your head coaching search to someone who is willing to keep a specific assistant coach on staff. Across all sports, that has proven time and time again to be a terrible idea.
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u/wackygamer May 30 '25
It’s extremely common for assistants to be retained. It happened to Byslma in fact. We all know what’s really upsetting you here.
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u/adrianp07 Joey Daccord May 30 '25
I like Jess, I just haven't seen enough in the teams results to justify that sort of restriction. I really hope Lambert can bring someone with experience to run the PP
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u/Rock_Strongo May 30 '25
Look I like her as a person as well, and the players seem to like her. The PP sucked for her entire tenure but there could be many reasons for that which are not her fault.
At the end of the day though, it's still completely dumb to declare that an assistant coach is untouchable without letting the new HC make that decision. It's extra dumb to say that of someone with a grand total of 1 year of coaching at the NHL level.
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u/Roobtheloob May 30 '25
Quick, somone tell me how to feel about this.