The New York Islanders hired Jay McKee on Friday for their American Hockey League team. He is the first coach in the Hamilton Hammers era and will replace Rocky Thompson. It’s all part of the chain reaction. Thompson was promoted to the NHL bench as an assistant for Pete DeBoer, so the Islanders have found their next AHL head coach, their third in as many years. 

McKee is 48 years old and coached the Brantford Bulldogs in recent seasons. His track record and background make him a great hire for a Hammers team on the rise. It starts the new era of hockey in Hamilton with a bang, with a coach who’s sure to get the most out of this team. 

The Hammers will have no shortage of prospects on their team and some big names for the new head coach to keep in check. Victor Eklund might be on the team but considering how he played in Bridgeport, there’s a better chance of him making the NHL team out of camp. Cole Eiserman, however, still has some work to do before he’s an NHLer, while KaShawn Aitcheson is a rookie defenseman who will be on the AHL team after an impressive OHL career. 

They need a head coach who can work with these players while also working with the talent (and presumed egos) that come with it. McKee just coached a Bulldogs team with NHL-caliber players throughout the lineup, some of whom were playing depth roles to make room for other elite prospects. 

For many, this is a knock on McKee, since he had a great team, so naturally, he’ll look like a better coach (wouldn’t anyone do well with that Bulldog team?). However, he had to keep a team full of these players together and get the most out of them. There’s an art to coaching talented teams, and sometimes, it’s harder to lead a team with a high bar than a team with no bar. McKee got the most out of the prospects, with many of them taking significant strides forward. Caleb Malhotra is a prime example of a player who entered this season as a late first-round pick and is now projected to go in the top five in the upcoming draft. 

It’s also worth adding that the Islanders don’t land McKee if they aren’t a team on the rise. It’s a credit to Mathieu Darche, the general manager, who has turned around the AHL and established a winning culture. The Hammers are suddenly an attractive spot, a place where McKee wants to coach over Belleville, Toronto, or other teams in the greater Toronto area. 

After a Jan. 9 Springfield Thunderbirds' win over the Hartford Wolf Pack, Steve Konowalchuk was asked about the toughest adjustment to coaching in the AHL after coming over from the Western Hockey League. He talked about the age gap. 

He was a great coach in the WHL, where the junior hockey players are bunched up age-wise. However, he never adjusted to the AHL. Konowalchuk was replaced a few weeks later by Steve Ott, who turned their season around and is one of the hot names in the coaching world now. 

The AHL has players of all ages and backgrounds. Some players are in their early 20s and both young and developing. Others are journeyman players with families. McKee doesn’t have experience with the latter, the players who are integral to the team, and the prospects' development. 

It’s one of the reasons the AHL is the toughest league to coach, tougher than the NHL. Another is the turnovers and the lack of control over the roster. McKee had some turnover with the Bulldogs since players would play at the World Juniors or other international competitions, and the younger players would replace the older ones by the end of the season. However, it’s not the same. In the AHL, the team can look completely different from one night to the next. 

Like many OHL coaches, McKee is young and still developing (ironically, like the players he led). He’s the type of coach who is starting his career and looking to take that next step with his eyes set on the NHL someday. 

For many coaches like McKee, it’s hard to make the big move to the AHL and, particularly, to relocate. With a young family, it’s always tough to uproot everything and move to a new city (it comes with the territory but it’s still never easy). 

For the Islanders, their relocation from Bridgeport to Hamilton opened the door to make this hire. Considering how close the drive is (traffic permitting), McKee won’t relocate from Brantford to Hamilton to coach the Hammer. The Islanders can make this hire and more like this as they can attract more upstarts from the OHL. 

The questions about the relocation remain, notably the logistics of cross-board travel for prospects who are called up and sent down. That said, the relocation gives them this option, and they can attract big names in the future, even after McKee moves on after a few seasons.