By my math, 23 teams have made coaching changes in the past three seasons, with 13 big moves taking place just in the past few weeks.
Now, in under 100 seconds, is every big coaching move of the summer as the NHL plays musical chairs with the, like, 35 white dudes, tops, that they’ve decided are allowed to be coaches.
By Peter Hassett 1 year ago
The Washington Capitals defeated the Vegas Golden Knights four games to one to win the Stanley Cup four years ago this week.
Since then, the Capitals have not won a playoff series since, getting first-rounded four consecutive times. While the Caps’ core and identity have largely stayed the same, the 2018 team’s supporting cast has moved on. Only nine of those 27 players are still on the team while two others, Shane Gersich and Pheonix Copley, remain in the organization.
Some key members of the 2018 championship team have flourished elsewhere. Others have wound down their careers or retired in different organizations or leagues.
By Ian Oland 1 year ago
The New York Islanders announced the hiring of former Capitals assistant coach, Lane Lambert, as its new head coach on Monday. Lambert will replace his longtime partner, Barry Trotz, who was fired last week.
Lambert, 57, had served under Trotz for the last 10 years as both an assistant coach, associate coach, and an interim head coach (two weeks last season) during stints in Nashville, Washington, and Long Island.
Lambert won the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018 and was responsible for the team’s forwards and penalty kill.
It took five seasons toiling in the minor leagues, but Vitek Vanecek earned his first NHL start on January 15, 2021 in a back-to-back against the Buffalo Sabres. The Czech goaltender was spectacular during the game, stopping 30 of 31 shots to earn his first career victory. “The dream came true,” Vanecek remarked afterward. In the Zoom room, he got a shaving cream pie to the face from Tom Wilson.
While Vanecek’s teammates in Washington and Hershey were especially proud in the moment, so were three old friends on Long Island: Islanders head coach Barry Trotz, assistant Lane Lambert, and goaltending coach Mitch Korn.
All three coaches worked very closely with Vanecek in Washington from 2014 until they departed for the Islanders in the summer of 2018.
Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert, and Mitch Korn walked into the enemy locker room at Barclays Center two hours before puck drop of the Capitals and Islanders game. They were received warmly in an emotional pregame ceremony.
“It’s going to be really hard to not like you guys, it really is,” Trotz said tearing up. “Because you’re always family.”
The three Islanders coaches were presented championship rings for their roles on Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team. Trotz, clapping in rhythm as he first walked into the room, immediately hugged and high-fived Alex Ovechkin, before going around the entire room and saying hi to all his former players. Trotz, Lambert, and Korn all made short speeches.
“All summer I wanted to say this,” Trotz said. “We f*cking did it, okay?”
He added that he thought the Capitals could repeat as champions.
“You can do it again, too,” Trotz said before adding, “you’ll have to go through the f*cking Island.”
Entering Monday, the Capitals geared up to face the New York Islanders and former head coach Barry Trotz. Trotz resigned from the Capitals this summer to join the Isles on a 5-year, $4 million per year deal.
When asked about facing his former team, Trotz said tonight’s reunion would be “awkward” and “weird.”
Before puck drop, the Capitals presented Trotz and former assistant coaches Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn with their Stanley Cup rings. The coaching troika were unable to join the team when they gave out the rings in October.
By Julia Karron 5 years ago
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Lambert’s wedding was on Sunday.
On Sunday, former Capitals assistant coach Lane Lambert had his day with the Cup in his home city of Scottsdale, Arizona. In a day that contained multiple snacks out of the Cup and a tour of the Phoenix Metropolitan area, the biggest surprise came in the news that the former assistant coach was married over the weekend.
By Julia Karron 5 years ago
Thursday morning, the New York Islanders announced they hired Lane Lambert to be the team’s new associate coach, a title Todd Reirden held in Washington before being promoted to head coach. Lambert will join Barry Trotz, who signed a five-year deal to be the new head coach of the Islanders. The Isles recently lost its best player during free agency to the Toronto Maple Leafs, John Tavares.
The only remaining question mark regarding the Capitals coaching staff moving forward is goalie guru Mitch Korn.
By Ian Oland 5 years ago
Now that former Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz has signed on with Lou Lamoriello‘s New York Islanders to be their new bench boss, he needs to fill out the rest of his staff.
In a conference call with reporters shortly after his hiring was announced, Trotz named two Capitals coaches they could potentially join him on the Island: Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
