“He’s a brilliant coach, he’s so smart with his structure,” Chris Terry
Rocky Thompson was asked to turn around the Bridgeport Islanders after a disastrous 2024-25 season. It was no easy task considering the team won 15 games all season with only four wins at home. He brought a winning culture to the New York Islanders American Hockey League team as they finished the season with the fourth-best record in the Atlantic Division, with their young team taking significant strides forward at the end of the season.
The Islanders rewarded him for it. They promoted him to the NHL team as an assistant coach on Peter DeBoer’s staff. “He’s a brilliant coach, he’s so smart with his structure,” Chris Terry noted at the end of the season, after the team secured a home playoff game, the last in Bridgeport. The move brings Thompson back to the NHL as the AHL team enters the Hamilton, Ontario era.
This is the Best Option for the Islanders
This move keeps Thompson on their staff, and he won’t leave the AHL team for another opportunity. It’s easy to assume he wouldn’t have done that but it’s better to be safe than sorry. The Hartford Wolf Pack fired Grant Potulny earlier in the week and needs a coach to come in and clean up the mess, something Thompson did with the neighboring Connecticut rival (and New York NHL rival)
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Thompson is also a good coach to have around for a younger team, especially a team that retooled on the fly this season. It’s unclear if the Islanders are leaning into a retool or pushing to contend or attempting both at the same time. Regardless of the direction, the Islanders have a youth movement on the way, and it’s good to have Thompson around for that.
He’s not an X’s and O’s coach or a coach who is brought in because of the system he runs. Instead, Thompson is someone players want to play for, and they play above expectation under his watch. That’s all the Islanders need. DeBoer will handle the systems, while Thompson will be a motivational voice behind the bench.
Hamilton as an Attractive Destination
It would have been crazy to say a year ago that the Islanders are an appealing spot for a head coach. However, they are the ideal team for a young up-and-coming coach to come in and take them to the next level, both as a Calder Cup contender and a development factory for the NHL team.
The Islanders are a lot like the Philadelphia Flyers and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms from last season. They have a lot of the right pieces in place, and after a step forward this season, they just need a coach to pick up where the previous one left off. In the Phantoms case, it was John Snowden developing the prospects to turn the rebuilding Flyers into a playoff team. In the Islanders' case, it will be a coach who can develop the prospects to join the roster by midseason.
Even if Victor Eklund is on the NHL team next season, a safe assumption considering how he played down the stretch, there’s a good chance Cole Eiserman is on the AHL team. Likewise, the Islanders have a handful of other prospects to work with and round things out at the AHL level.
The Islanders can find an experienced coach to come right in and pick up where Thompson left off. Hamilton is also a good place to lure in a coach from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) who is young and poised to be in the NHL someday. Jay McKee of the Brantford Bulldogs or Greg Walters of the Windsor Spitfires can take that next step soon enough. The move from junior hockey to the AHL is a tough adjustment, especially considering how coaches at both levels are young and not ready to make that big move. Going from one part of Ontario to another is an easier transition.
Islanders AHL Coaching Candidates.
The experienced coach who stands out is Ian Lapperriere. He coached the Phantoms from 2021 until 2025 and is currently a scout for the Islanders. The irony is that he’s a great coach to take a team from point A to point B, specifically, to build up a team into what the Islanders are now. That said, they know what they’re getting if they hire him.
The Islanders can also promote someone internally. David Cunniff is the assistant who checks that box. He’s someone players love to play for. The only two issues with Cunniff are that he’s the assistant moving into the head coaching role, which is known as the good-cop bad-cop adjustment, plus he’s 55 in a league that always looks for youth behind the bench.
One fascinating name to keep in mind is Chris Terry. Terry is a 37-year-old veteran who has been in the organization for years. The next logical step after years of being a leader in the locker room is becoming a leader behind the bench. “I love the game. I love the experiences I’ve had. I’ve had a lot of different coaches and long-time mentors. So, I feel like I have a wealth of knowledge to put to use after hockey, whenever that is,” he mentioned in a conversation with The Hockey News. Even if he’s not the head coach, an assistant role can be in the works for the longtime Islander.
The Islanders have a fascinating future ahead of them. Thompson's move to the NHL team makes the Hamilton era a haze right now but with the right coach, the team will only build on what he started.