Islanders Moving On From Assistant Coach Doug Houda, Retain John MacLean
New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello has made his assistant coaching decisions for the 2024-25 season.
VEGAS -- Following the conclusion of the 2024 NHL Draft, New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello updated us on his assistant coaches for 2024-25.
Assistant coach Doug Houda has been relieved of his duties, while John MacLean and Benoit Desrosiers, whom Patrick Roy brought aboard a few weeks after being hired, will remain on.
Houda's replacement will be named in the coming days.
Both Houda and MacLean were hired after Lane Lambert was elevated from associate head coach to head coach following Barry Trotz's dismissal after the 2021-22 season, and both survived when the first-year head coach was fired on Jan. 20.
Despite staying on when Roy hired Desrosiers, his defensive-minded assistant when he was behind the Quebec Rempart's bench, the defense and penalty kill were atrocious this past season.
The defense's play wasn't good enough either, with New York allowing 3.15 goals per game in 2023-24 (15th).
Don't be fooled by the Islanders having the fifth-best defense in 2022-23, allowing 2.65 goals per game, as Ilya Sorokin bailed the team out on his way to being named a Vezina finalist.
The Islanders penalty kill, which came through at an 82.2 percent clip (9th) in 2022-23, finished the 2023-24 season as the worst in the NHL, at 71.5 percent.
In 37 games under Roy, the shorthanded unit came through just 69.1 percent of the time, allowing five power-play goals to Carolina on 15 attempts (66.7 percent).
Although MacLean is back, the offense and the power play weren't great either.
In 2022-23, the Islanders averaged 2.95 goals per game (22nd) before seeing it elevate a few ticks to 2.99 this past season (22nd).
The power play, which was horrific in 2022-23, coming through at just 15.8 percent (30th), was better this past season, with a success rate of 20.4 percent (19th).
Over Roy's 37 games behind the bench, the power play came through at 17.6 percent.
It still wasn't good, particularly when the games mattered most (3-for-11 in playoffs), but with many assistant coaches already finding new homes, it seems likely that MacLean will remain behind the bench, as we have not heard his name regarding opening assistant positions.
No, his son Kyle getting a three-year extension worth $775,000 annually has no barring on what happens to John.
The staff is set, and now the Islanders will turn their attention to sending out qualifying offers to their restricted free agents on Sunday before free agency begins on July 1.