The Seattle Kraken officially introduced Lane Lambert as the third head coach in franchise history with a press conference at Kraken Community Iceplex on Monday. Sitting side by side with new general manager Jason Botterill, Lambert said he was “ecstatic” about the opportunity and spoke at length about his plans for getting the Kraken back into contention next season.
“Being a coach in the National Hockey League is a privilege at any level, and being a head coach in the National Hockey League is an honor,” Lambert said. “It’s one of 32 positions, and I’m greatly honored to take this position. So thank you very much.”
Here are Botterill and Lambert’s opening remarks. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/nf7fgfhsiR
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Lambert, 60, is set to embark on his second stint as a head coach in the NHL after spending a season and a half as the bench boss of the New York Islanders from 2022-23 until being let go on Jan. 20, 2024. At the time of his firing, the Islanders were outside of the playoff picture but had a “winning” record at 19-15-11 (I say “winning” in quotes because they had lost a lot more than they had won but kept losing in overtime) after returning the Isles to the playoffs the season prior, following a miss in 2021-22. He then returned to an associate head coach role with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, running the defense for head coach Craig Berube.
With the presser, Lambert has officially begun his time as the Kraken coach and got right to work Monday on sharing his vision for the group and his approach. Here are some themes from Lambert’s introduction to Seattle.
Structure and details
Playing a structured style and paying close attention to detail were recurring themes of the presser on Monday. Lambert’s commentary echoed what Botterill has said several times this summer about taking care of the important areas of the ice.
“We’ll be strong structurally, but we will also create offense, and we’ll play fast, we’ll be aggressive, we’ll be at the net in the offensive zone, we’ll shoot pucks,” Lambert said. “These are things that— if you look at the balance and you look at stressing offense or stressing defense, there’s both in there.”
Even in the midst of Seattle’s unsuccessful 35-41-6 season under Dan Bylsma in 2024-25, we could already sense that former GM and now president of hockey ops Ron Francis didn’t like the way the team was playing. Bylsma spoke on several occasions about giving players the freedom to play and make mistakes, a stark departure from how the group went about its business under previous head coach Dave Hakstol. It is now obvious that a coach’s ability to clearly articulate to Francis and Botterill how he would re-tighten the screws—particularly in Seattle’s end of the ice—was paramount in choosing a new coach.
With that in mind, and hearing Lambert and Botterill speak Monday, I understand why Lambert’s approach resonated with Seattle’s front office. His style is more similar to that of Hakstol—a coach who valued structure and detail—than that of Bylsma, who was willing to sacrifice some of that structure to attempt to create offense (though the Kraken really didn’t have the horses to outscore teams).
“Lane’s track record as a really good defensive coach, PK coach, is certainly there,” Botterill said. “And when we started getting into the details of it, we certainly saw that.”
Lambert also spoke about players having accountability and eliminating bad habits before they start.
“You set a standard and you don’t deflect from that standard, you don’t deviate from that standard. It’s an everyday thing. You do the same things every day, repetition, and if something isn’t right, you take care of it. You have to nip it. That is the key to the accountability. You can’t turn a blind eye and let something slide.”
Lambert has a reputation as a strong defensive-minded coach, so I do believe him when he says the Kraken will have better structure, which will theoretically make them a harder team to beat in 2025-26. Is that enough to get them back into the playoff picture, though? I still think that depends heavily on what kinds of personnel upgrades Botterill is able to make this summer, but Lambert fits the mold of what the front office was seeking.
Helping the young guns along
Another common theme Monday was that the Kraken see a need for a coach who will help their young players—and players coming up in the system—continue to progress once they reach the NHL level.
“It became very evident that Lane presented the attributes that we’re looking for,” Botterill said. “The combination of having a presence and knowledge to work with our veteran players, yet also be dedicated to interact with our young players for our organization to take the next step.”
Botterill clarified that he was specifically speaking about young players who are truly ready for NHL hockey and reminded us that developing junior players and prospects rising through the minor leagues is not Lambert’s job.
“We have young players in the National Hockey League that are clearly National Hockey League players in Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, and Ryker Evans. They’ve proven that they certainly can be here. It’s our job—our staff in Coachella Valley, led by Derek Laxdal, and our player development staff, led by Jeff Tambellini—to now prepare these players to be ready for National Hockey League games so that they’re ready to be inserted into the lineup.”
Still, the goal of this team has always been to build through drafting and developing. With the expectation of adding more young talent this offseason—both from outside the organization and within—this was clearly a focus in the hiring process as well. Potential arrivals of Berkly Catton, Jani Nyman, and others reinforce that direction.
Can players like Beniers and Wright become key contributors to a playoff-caliber team next season? Botterill and Francis clearly liked what they heard enough to hand Lambert those reins, though he will still have the support of Jessica Campbell, who Lambert reaffirmed will be back next season and will continue working with the young players.
Will the Kraken win in 2025-26 under Lambert?
It is true that Lambert has consistently been around winning teams, whether that’s as an assistant or associate head coach, and his time on Long Island was cut shorter than he perhaps deserved. And since he was let go, the Islanders haven’t exactly dominated; they ended up making the playoffs after Lambert was fired in 2023-24 but lost 4-1 in the opening round to the Carolina Hurricanes. They then missed the playoffs and finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division this past season, leading to Lou Lamoriello’s ouster.
I did ask Lambert what he learned from his previous head coaching gig and what he would do similarly or differently with Seattle.
“That’s a great question,” Lambert said (I couldn’t agree more… GREAT question). “You go through an experience like that, and you get let go, and you have a lot of time to reflect. And if you don’t have an ego, you can certainly say, ‘Gee, I’d do this a little bit differently, or I’d do that a little bit differently, or I’d do this about the same.’ I mean, from my standpoint, our defensive structure, the identity that we that had, the identity that we played with, I’m proud of that. There’s certain little things that I will look at and look into changing, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of what happened in New York.”
Looking back at how things have played out the last four Kraken seasons, Hakstol built a foundation of a team that played tight, structured hockey that could be competitive even without elite talent. Bylsma took a different approach, one that requires high-end offensive players (that he didn’t have) to be successful, and that didn’t jive with the mindset of the front office. So, now they will get back to having a tighter style of play, one that values defense first and looks to create opportunistic offensive chances.
History has shown (once) that the Kraken can win playing that way, and Lambert has proven he knows how to get players to go along with that strategy. Here’s hoping Botterill can bring in some skaters who will capitalize on the opportunities created by stouter defensive structure.
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One last thought that has been rattling around in my brain over the last week. It’s impossible not to wonder if the Kraken were kicking themselves when news broke that Pete DeBoer had been fired by the Dallas Stars on Friday, one day after they announced Lambert as their hire.
But even if that news had broken a couple of days earlier, I’m not convinced DeBoer would have considered Seattle as his next landing spot, when he will surely have opportunities with teams on the precipice of winning in the near future. And who knows? Maybe the Stars were intentionally waiting to fire DeBoer until every vacancy had been filled (Pittsburgh was the other remaining open job, which had also just been filled by Dan Muse). Why they would do that, I’m not exactly sure, but the timing of DeBoer’s firing is interesting.
Regardless, that ship has sailed, and the Kraken will march ahead with Lambert. If we remove DeBoer from the conversation completely (since he really wasn’t expected to ever be a part of it), I think it is safe to say Lambert fits perfectly into the vision that Francis and Botterill have for the organization.
Will that vision finally start working in 2025-26?
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Great article thank you
Great question… that answer was also featured in the Sportsnet reporting.
After the way DeBoer handled his last two No.1 goalies (Fleury and Oettinger) I couldn’t be happier he wasn’t available so the Kraken could make that mistake. That guy was run out of Dallas by the players… not the fans or the media or ownership. Let him go coach the Kings to more playoff exits.
Go Kraken!!!
Nicely written piece Darren!
I wasn’t disappointed at all hearing Lambert’s presser.
Let’s give the man a chance to do his thing.
Go Kraken!!!
Happy to see the part about not falling into bad habits.
I had a mental checklist last year of one specific stupid thing I expected each player to do during the games (ie Beniers falls down at the blue line for no apparent reason, Bruakovsky fully circles the perimeter of the offensive zone than gives away the puck). I usually left the game with more of that list checked than not.
Ultimately a coach can only do so much with a team that lacks elite talent, so with that being the situation for the Kraken I think Lambert makes sense.
Ultimately it likely doesn’t matter unless of course they somehow get elite level goaltending or shooting percentage. Nor were there any other candidates that stood out.
My fear with a coach like this however is they tend to rely on veterans at the expense of younger players when they Kraken need the opposite.
This vet vs youth argument is made all the time and doesn’t hold water. All coaches will rely on the less error prone, know quantities when push comes to shove. Fans will often knee jerk and spout “they’re ruining XXXX’s career” and then this myth will pop up.
I think it’s hilarious you say pretty much what I said above being that coaches prefer “known quantities” or in my words veterans in an attempt to discredit me, while also not providing any evidence either.
Specifically to the Kraken, we’ve already seen what this group of veterans brings and its bottom of the league results. Might as well let the younger players learn through experience instead, which I fear they won’t get with this style of coach.
My guy… you called out THIS coach. I am saying ALL coaches. Your reading comprehension needs work. We also don’t have younger players who are ready to play in the NHL yet dans maybe Nyman. There’s zero evidence of Lane being different than any other coach. The burden of proof is on the accuser. I eagerly await your dissertation on Lane’s use of vets vs other coaches.
Imagine being this upset by a pretty benign counter argument. Check yourself
I said it was hilarious your supposed counter argument literally reinforces mine lol.
Why are you ranting and raving about pushback to your response too?
It’s ok to disagree 🤷🏻♂️
You nailed it; we’ve already seen what this group of veterans brings and its bottom of the league results. Our youth is still not ready, so why not bring in a couple differwnt veteran contributors on shorter contracts until the kids get up to speed. Best of both worlds. We need help and what we’re doing isn’t working.
I’d argue Kakko, Wright and Evans need more exposure to them. Beniers already gets the opportunity so I don’t include him.
They should definitely stick to short contracts for any free agents right now.
The press conference was a nothing burger. It was all stuff we had heard before and recently from the previous two coaches. What that tells me is to not expect Lambert to do a lot of talking to the media. He is not going to be dropping juicy quotes like Bylsma did, and when he seemed to have given reports a little tidbit, Botterill immediately leapt in and covered it up. They are going to be playing things real close to the vest this season and perhaps for Botterill’s tenure as general manager.
Another thing that struck me was the absence of talk about Bob Woods. Woods is a respected veteran coach whose special teams units significantly under-performed the past season. Will Lambert want to keep him around to find out if the deficiencies on the power play and penalty kill were a product of the ill fit between the players on the roster and Bylsma’s aggressive system, or will he try to find another special teams coach? Perhaps Botterill has been waiting to talk about Woods until Lambert has considered other candidates for the position. That would explain the protracted silence.
You know, now that I think about it, there is a pretty good reason for Lambert to want to keep Campbell and Woods, if he ends up keeping Woods, and that is the Kraken’s performance in overtime last season where those two coaches appeared to have been the primary strategists. They were not extraordinary in overtime, going seven-and-six, but they were solid which is a far cry better than Lambert’s Islanders had been when he was the head coach there when they went six-and-nine in overtime in 2022-23. That is especially significant when we can expect some rather low-scoring hockey to be played in Seattle. And correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Woods and Campbell draw up the plays when the Kraken were about to pull the netminder? I cannot find any data about it, but I seem to recall the move succeeding at decent good pace. In tight games, these two may be valuable contributors. Now if only we could get Jay Leach back.
Lane Lambert did an interview with Donnie and Dhali today, and, wow, was he more forthcoming and insightful with his statements than he was in the press conference! He talks about working for Barry Trotz and Lou Lamoriello. He even talks about Jessica Campbell and the process of figuring out what roles his assistants will have. He apparently had an interview with Campbell and came away from it very impressed. Still no word on Bob Woods, but he did mention that they are still deciding on the staff. Donnie and Dhali know their hockey history, so they asked him about that 1983 Detroit Red Wings draft class that he was a part of. Lambert had a great comment about how a coach has to talk to young hockey players these days; he says that young hockey players today often ask why they should do things a certain way and that a coach should treat that as an opportunity to enhance their understanding of the game which can lead to buy-in. Folks who were hoping to hear something more definite from Lambert about the focus on structure than he mentioned in the press conference will no doubt enjoy his much more emphatic take on the subject in the interview. He said that he had watched the tape of the Kraken playing last year and that he wants them to play with “a lot more” (he said with emphasis) structure.
Give the Donnie and Dhali interview a listen. I am now officially excited about the new coach.
Thanks for the heads up.
Good call out (and good interview by LL)