The duo join the organization as assistant coaches
ByPRESS RELEASE @NHLFlames / CalgaryFlames.com
The Calgary Flames announced today the hiring of assistant coaches Dan Lambert and Marc Savard.
Lambert started his coaching career as Ryan Huska's assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL. After three years as an assistant, he took over the reigns as head coach with the Rockets, winning the 2015 WHL Championship before falling to Oshawa in overtime of the Memorial Cup Finals. He jumped to the NHL as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres the following year. He was the head coach with Rochester Americans in the AHL for one season followed by two seasons as the bench boss with the WHL's Spokane Chiefs. Dan spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators before joining the Flames.
As a player, Lambert was a sixth-round draft pick of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989 NHL Draft before embarking on a 19-year professional career in the NHL, AHL, IHL, Germany and Finland. The former high-scoring defenceman and 1989 Memorial Cup MVP with the Swift Current Broncos, retired in 2009 after playing 1,144 pro games.
"Dan served as Ryan Huska's assistant in Kelowna from 2009-2014. We feel those past relationships will allow us to get up to speed quicker and hit the ground running," said Flames General Manager Craig Conroy. "While Dan will be running our defence, he also provides well balanced experience having run the power play in Nashville the past four years. The focus is keeping the puck out of the net, but Dan's approach generates an offensive flair from the back-end."
Savard played over 800 NHL games over the course of 13 seasons, including 221 games as a member of the Flames from 1999-2003. After being drafted by the New York Rangers in the fourth-round of the 1995 NHL Draft, Savard scored 207 goals and added 499 assists for 706 points with the New York Rangers, Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and the Boston Bruins where he ended his career in 2011 as a member of the Stanley Cup Champions.
Savard started his coaching career with the St. Louis Blues as an assistant coach in 2019-20 and improved the Blues power play to third overall in the NHL with an efficiency of 24.3%. He took over as head coach with the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL for the last two seasons accumulating 88 wins (.695 winning percentage) and making the OHL Finals in 2022. Both years the Spitfires power play improved under Savard and was ranked third (26.1%) and second (25.9%) respectively.
"I know how competitive Marc is from when we played together over three seasons here in Calgary," stated Conroy. "Savy has a great offensive mind which will help boost our power-play and help drive our offensive game. He's style was very well known as a player, and he sees the game the same way as a coach."
The Flames coaching staff is now complete with Ryan Huska at the helm, Dan Lambert, Marc Savard and Cail MacLean as assistant coaches, goalie coach Jason LaBarbera and video coach Jamie Pringle.
