The Toronto Maple Leafs announced this afternoon that the club has hired former New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert as an associate coach, joining Craig Berube’s coaching staff for next season.
We’ve hired Lane Lambert as an associate coach
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) June 5, 2024
Lambert, 59, was formerly with the New York Islanders organization for the last six years, four as an associate coach and two as a head coach, replacing Barry Trotz ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Swift Current native was recently fired by the Islanders after a 19-15-11 start and was replaced by Patrick Roy, who coached them to a 20-12-5 record, clinching a playoff spot.
Over the past week, rumours started to swirl that Lane Lambert to the Toronto Maple Leafs was a real possibility after TSN’s Darren Dreger and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman were the first insiders to link his name to Toronto.
Lambert brings 13 years of experience behind an NHL bench. He began coaching in the NHL with the Nashville Predators with Barry Trotz in the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach and spent three full seasons there before heading to Washington with Trotz to help coach the Capitals.
From 2014-15 to 2017-18, Lambert was an assistant coach under Trotz and was part of the 2018 Washington Capitals team that hoisted the Stanley Cup, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season. After seven years of coaching alongside each other, Lambert joined Trotz on Long Island, coaching the Islanders ahead of the 2018-19 season.
As mentioned above, the 59-year-old spent four consecutive seasons as an associate coach to Trotz and later replaced him, becoming the next head coach of the Islanders during the 2022-23 season. His tenure as a head coach didn’t last long, as he was let go by the Islanders in late January of this year.
The Maple Leafs also announced that former assistant coach Dean Chynoweth will not be returning next season. Chynoweth spent the last three seasons (2021-22 to 2023-24) on the Maple Leafs’ bench after joining the organization after three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes (2018-19 to 2020-21).
