All right, sit tight, because things are shaking up in the land of the New York Islanders. GM Lou Lamoriello, notorious for dropping the axe when the wind doesn’t blow his team’s way, has decided to stir the pot yet again. The Islanders have kicked Lane Lambert to the curb. And guess what? They’re handing the keys to the kingdom over to none other than Patrick Roy. Yep, you read that correctly, folks—full-time head coach, baby. No one else got the boot, though—assistant coaches are still cozy on the bench.
Rewind to Lane’s time: Lambert had been riding shotgun with Barry Trotz for ages, even sticking with him as associate coach for four seasons with the Isles. When Trotz was shown the door post-2021-22 season, it’s like the Islanders thought Lambert had some kind of secret offensive mojo up his sleeve, but they wanted to stay stingy on defense too.
Fast-forward to results: Last season they scored a whopping twelve more goals (hooray?), crawling from 24th to an eye-popping 23rd in offensive rankings, only to get tossed out of the playoffs in round one by the Hurricanes. Flash to now: The Isles are sitting at 22nd in the NHL for goals. Despite having Mathew Barzal practically on fire, Bo Horvat giving his all, and Noah Dobson dropping a point per game from defense.
The Isles are awkwardly perched fifth in the Metropolitan Division, clutching at a Wild Card spot by their fingertips. They’re hanging on due to 19 wins out of 45 games—plus a little help from 11 overtime/ shootout pity points. Lamoriello must have had a vision, and it definitely didn’t include twiddling his thumbs with the same old bench boss strategy.
Lambert exits with a record of 61-46-20, assembling a .559 points percentage. To put it into perspective, he’s only the fifth coach to get the ax this season—fellow brethren from Edmonton, Minnesota, St. Louis, and Ottawa have also felt the sting of unemployment.
Enter Patrick Roy, hockey’s very own Houdini, famous for pulling disappearing acts. He left the Avalanche’s bench in the dust somewhere between 2013-16, bagging a Coach of the Year award along the way. He went poof because he wasn’t vibing with the team’s big decisions, mirroring his “I’m out” moment back in Montreal during his goalie days in ’95.
Since his last NHL escapade, Roy’s been molding young minds in the major juniors, calling the shots for the Quebec Remparts. He even snatched a Memorial Cup along with a fancy 524-255-66 record before waving goodbye last season. Not too shabby, eh?
Now, Patrick’s mission: squeeze every last drop of potential from an Islanders crew bleeding money into defense and muscle, all while navigating an injury minefield. His balancing act also includes reviving Ilya Sorokin’s goaltending prowess.
While the Isles use Ryan Pulock’s injury as a loophole to stretch their cap space, the clock’s ticking. This coaching switch-up needs to do some magic before March 8th when trade deadline looms. Roy’s starting his new gig against Dallas Sunday, and it should be a show.
And there you have it—just a typical day in NHL drama land. Stay tuned and keep your head on a swivel, because it’s Lou’s world, and we’re just living in it.
*Whew,* and let me not forget—a tip of the hat to USA Today Sports Images for the snazzy pics.