Lambert takes long road to first top job

This chance has been a long time coming for Lane Lambert.

The new Islanders head coach was always seen as a likely headcoaching candidate this offseason. And in the run-up to Monday’s announcement that he would be taking over with the Islanders, he spoke to the man who has been his boss for the last 11 seasons. Barry Trotz’s message was the same note of encouragement he’d sounded for Lambert whenever anyone asked about his top assistant coach.

“I talked to Barry last week early on and after he had received the news, and he told me he was hoping that I would get the job,” Lambert said. “And then I just spoke to him not too long ago. He used the words that he was thrilled.”

Lambert interviewed for the headcoaching job with the Avalanche in 2016 and the Ducks in 2019, but his last head-coaching job was with the Milwaukee Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators. There, from 2007-11, he held a 178103-15-24 record with four straight playoff appearances.

Trotz had long supported Lambert, 57, becoming an NHL head coach, and when the Red Wings fired Jeff Blashill following the end of the regular season, it was speculated Lambert could fit there. Detroit drafted Lambert in 1983 and as a rookie, he roomed with Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings’ current general manager.

Lambert went on to play six seasons in the NHL — three with Detroit, an 18-game stint with the Rangers and parts of three years with the Quebec Nordiques. Following that, he bounced around various leagues for more than a decade, calling it quits on his playing career in 2001 after three seasons with the IHL’s Houston Aeros.

The Melfort, Saskatchewan native finished his NHL career with 124 points (58 goals, 66 assists) in 283 games. From 2003-2005, he was the head coach of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, then worked for the Islanders’ AHL Bridgeport affiliate as an assistant for a season before going to Milwaukee. He was an assistant with the Admirals for a year before being elevated to the top job.

Since getting promoted to an assistant job with the Predators in 2011, Lambert has been by Trotz’s side in Nashville, Washington and on Long Island.

“Emotions, it’s a good day,” Lambert said. “Something that I have been preparing for, for a long time, throughout many years as a coach.

And so there’s a level of excitement for sure, from a family standpoint and everything like that.”

Lambert served as interim head coach for the Islanders for three games in January when Trotz was away from the team following his mother’s death and a positive COVID-19 test — a two-week stretch general manager Lou Lamoriello cited in explaining the hire.

The possibility of never getting a top job, Lambert said, never crossed his mind.

“I just focused on doing the best job I can no matter what my role is or my position is,” Lambert said. “And you work hard and good things happen. And it’s a privilege to be in the National Hockey League. And I just worked hard and prepared for potentially one day having this opportunity.”

Now, he does.