Lane Lambert was introduced as the new head coach of the Seattle Kraken on Monday.
“My wife and I high-fived, and they may have heard it through the phone,” Lambert said about confirming acquisition of the new position. “Just ecstatic, elated to come here, come to the city, and again, like I said, when we went through the team and the roster, visions for the team, philosophies, everything aligned for me. It was a perfect fit, I was pretty super excited, yeah.”
Lambert’s coaching career highlight came when he helped win a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals as an assistant coach in 2018. That team included current Kraken players Chandler Stephenson, Andre Burakovsky, and goalie Philipp Grubauer.
If Kraken management plays their cards right, at least one of those latter two will be gone later this month via buy-out. Maybe this coach’s presence will change that concept, but it shouldn’t.
Lambert’s been a head coach in the NHL once before, recently. Despite posting winning records for a season-and-a-half, he was replaced as the bench boss of the New York Islanders midway through the 2023-’24 campaign.
In the spring of 2023 his team lost in the 1st-round of the playoffs to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games.
Prior to that, he worked for the club for four seasons as an associate coach, when he got to know current Kraken captain Jordan Eberle. The two reached a conference final in 2021, Eberle’s final season with the Isles.
They appear to have an excellent relationship.
Lambert described his x’s and 0’s approach as one that emphasizes structure, strong team defense, with a quick transition game.
“It starts day one, it’s a process, it’s a journey,” Lambert said Monday. “If you do the right things through that journey, and do the right things every day to get better every day, and stick with the process, then the results take care of themselves. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself.”
While stats often reflect the personnel you’re provided and the impulses of the general manager you work for, in the case of 2022-’23 in New York it was Lou Lamoriello, Lambert’s Islanders squad finished 22nd in scoring offence, while 5th best in the NHL in being stingy.
That’s fits, and maybe more of what we’ll see.
The Kraken aren’t exactly loaded with high end scorers.
That could change a bit this summer. Seattle head coach number-3 in the franchise’s first five years is hopefully counting on it.
