New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert may survive his first season as an NHL bench boss, and if so, what does that mean for his assistant coaches?
New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello fired former head coach Barry Trotz last summer, citing a new voice was needed after missing the postseason.
Lamoriello decided to elevate Lambert from associate coach to head coach after seeing how he commanded the players and led the group during Trotz's absence.
READ MORE: Islanders Season Finale Mailbag: Now What?
Yes, Lambert made a handful of mistakes throughout the season and in the playoffs and should be held accountable for their failure to get past the first round.
His handling of Ilya Sorokin was certainly questionable down the stretch, especially after Semyon Varlamov was held onto through the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline.
His willingness to run a struggling fourth line into the ground in critical moments of the first round seemed a bit curious.
But through all the craziness of this past season, Lambert did show positives that may have allowed him to keep his job. Despite all the injuries to key personnel, his team made the playoffs when after January, that seemed like anything but reality.
The Hockey News will do a breakdown of Lane Lambert's season at a later date.
This story is about his assistant coaches John MacLean and Doug Houda,
John MacLean
Last offseason, the New York Islanders hired Brian Wiseman to join Lane Lambert's staff, but that did not come to fruition. Instead, the Islanders pivoted to John MacLean, someone who had worked for Lamoriello with the New Jersey Devils as an assistant and head coach.
His last stop before the Islanders was the San Jose Sharks, serving as their power play coach, a power play that finished at 19 percent, ranked 26th in the NHL.
With the Islanders, the power play finished third-worst in the NHL, at 15.8 percent, with a much more talented group.
Their lack of power-play success is one of the biggest reasons why it took until Game 82 for the Islanders to clinch a playoff spot. It's also at the top of the list of why the Islanders were eliminated in the first round after the power play went an abysmal 1-for-18.
Noah Dobson struggled as the quarterback of the Islanders' top power-play unit with Mathew Barzal in the lineup, and more so went, Barzal missed the final 23 games of the regular season. But so did the other four players on the ice.
When Lambert was asked about his top unit, he kept saying, "These are the five guys that have to get it done," No changes were made until Game Six of the series, in which the Islanders went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
The Islanders' power-play struggles are not new to this year, but in 2021-22, under Jim Hiller. The group came through at a 22.1 percent clip.
Hiller, now with the Los Angeles Kings, finished this past season regular season with the fourth-best power play, at 25.3 percent.
It likely makes sense to move on from MacLean.
As for who gets brought in, this name may be an interesting one.
Blaine Forsythe has served as the Washington Capitals power-play coach in 2012-13, before parting ways following this season.
While the Capitals power play isn't crazy -- just get Alex Ovechkin the puck in his office more often than not -- his structure and game plan worked 21.2 percent of the time.
Although the Islanders do not have an Ovechkin, they do have a player that likes to take one-timers on the power play. No, it might not be from the left circle, but Bo Horvat knows how to let pucks rip from the bumper spot, and maybe Forsythe could help in getting him the puck more.
Who knows, maybe Forsythe can unlock something with Horvat the right face-off dot, given his left-handedness.
Doug Houda
Hired to help the New York Islanders' backend, especially the younger players and penalty kill, both things weren't up to par this season.
Houda had served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings before this season, working with the likes of Moritz Seider, who has been relatively strong on both sides of the puck since entering the NHL.
The thought might be that 22-year-old Noah Dobson could take significant strides defensively, but we didn't see improvements. Some may say we saw regression.
The Islanders' defense went from averaging 2.82 GAA in 2021-22 to 2.65 GAA this past season.
So improvements, right?
Yes...in goal.
Ilya Sorokin finished his season with a Goals Saved Above Expected of 38.7, third highest in the NHL.
The Islanders' inability to break out in the defensive zone was at the forefront of their inconsistencies this season.
Adam Pelech, who was coming off an All-Star season, was not at his true elite self this year. After the injury, Pelech looked a bit more like himself but wasn't as consistent.
Sebastian Aho did take strides, which may have been due to Houda, and Scott Mayfield made some big plays down the stretch.
Until the All-Star break, Alexander Romanov struggled to adjust to the Islanders system. But now, that trade may look to have been a strong one.
We saw Samuel Bolduc come up and shine during his first stint, while he struggled in his second before a tough postseason showing.
Unlike MacLean, Houda and Lambert have history, as they were teammates back in 1985-1986.
The question for Lamoriello is did the defensive struggles happen due to the systematic changes, and how much were the struggles due to Pelech's absence?
Houda has certainly earned the right to get another shot because of Romanov's growth