When Kraken captain Jordan Eberle was picked by Seattle in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, one of his first phone calls came from Lane Lambert, then associate coach of the New York Islanders.
“I remember Lane calling me the day of getting picked,” said Eberle Thursday night shortly after hearing the news from GM Jason Botterill that Lambert was the new Kraken head coach. “We obviously had some success together in Long Island [two straight Eastern Conference finals]. I appreciated all the work that he put in. I appreciated him giving me a call after it all happened. He wished me the best and said, ‘hopefully we get a chance to do it again.’”
Well, here we are.
“I know 100 percent exactly where I was sitting,” said Lambert Thursday night with palpable enthusiasm from his offseason home in Scottsdale, AZ. “I was sitting in my car in the driveway here at the house I’m in right now. So that’s pretty cool. I know for a fact I said we're gonna miss him dearly, his play, his leadership, what he brought to the team on a day-to-day basis. It was a sad day for me because I know what his value is as a hockey player.”
Eberle credits Lambert with making him a more complete hockey player and one who will demand the little and big details that win games and playoff series, the latter of which Lambert has deep experience. Since 2015, Lambert has been behind the bench for 21 playoff series, eight times advancing at least to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including winning the Cup in 2018 with Chandler Stephenson, Andre Burakovsky and Philipp Grubauer as players and Kraken assistant coach for video Tim Ohashi.
“I’m super excited,” said Eberle, expansive about the new hire. “He was overseeing the forward group and our PK [with the Islanders]. He's an intense guy. He knows what he wants. The biggest thing I took out of Lane and Barry [Trotz, head coach] is the detail they put into each game. Emphasizing details of games, whether it was faceoff coverage or defensive-zone structure or wall plays. Just win the simplistic details that, in my opinion, win you hockey games.
“Lane really harped on those details, and me, coming from Edmonton at the time, I hadn't put a lot of emphasis on it. Lane and Barry realized how important it was and that it’s the key to winning. You look at Lane’s pedigree of what he's done, the number of playoff series he's been a part of, the Stanley Cup, all of it. He's had a lot of success. We're lucky to have him. I expect he’ll bring a lot of that to our team, which, in my opinion, we lacked a little bit of the detail aspect, putting an emphasis on sticks in front of the net coverage, that sort of detail. And then his intensity is one thing that sticks out to me, the intensity and passion he brings.”
Botterill and Lambert: Meeting of Connected Minds
In his new GM role, Botterill was exacting and comprehensive in his coach search. He knew what he wanted. He saw it and felt it when interviewing Lambert. The two had only casually met over the years.
“You look at his background, his success, being a Stanley Cup champion, having a lot of success in the playoffs, whether that was as a player, a coach in the American Hockey League, an assistant and associate coach in the National Hockey League, NHL head coach,” said Botterill. “There's a winning pedigree there. Then you look dig in deeper. Very good technical coach. Extremely good from the defensive side, mindset of playing strong defense so you can get the puck out [of the D-zone] quickly and get up to the up the ice to play offense. He’s going to be a good leader for our group ... he has a clear idea of how the team needs to play. He’ll be a great teacher for players but also hold them accountable.”
From his Arizona patio on a warm Thursday evening, when asked what part of this second opportunity to be an NHL head coach was most compelling, Lambert started by praising the staunch Kraken fans, Climate Pledge Arena and the city for all of the enthusiasm and decibels he noticed as a visiting coach. Then he succinctly identified what made him dearly want the job.
"Speaking with the ownership, Samantha [Holloway] and the management, Ron [Francis], and Jason, the organizational philosophy is what excites me the most. I'm looking forward to that. I feel like we're aligned on our thought processes in terms of what direction the hockey team needs to go in.”
Building Relationships, Deciding on Assistant Coaches
That alignment about the systems of play on the ice will unfold as conversations go deeper and training camp approaches. Lambert considers the relationships he builds are paramount to the playoff success and the Cup wins he has experienced as both coach and player (the latter with titles in the American Hockey League and International Hockey League).
“It starts with the relationships, it continues with the relationships,” said Lambert. “That is very near and dear to me, relationships with everyone in the organization, whether it be training staff, medical staff, equipment staff, management, the coaches and then obviously your players. Every player on a daily basis, that's one of the biggest and most important things for me.
“The on-ice stuff, the systems, those are a part of daily discussion. You're teaching on a daily basis and putting structure in place. Your assistant coaches help you with that. There's a direction that will definitely be laid down and a standard that will be required for our hockey team. When I started coaching years and years ago, after playing, the joy for me was helping players improve in whatever area it would be. It excited me then and excites me now ... teaching has always been a big thing for me, it’s a daily challenge that I welcome.”
When posed a question about his coaching that he no doubt will be asked again, Lambert said he looks forward to meeting the team’s assistant coaches as part of “a lot of work to do” while acknowledging, logically, “I just got the job.” Botterill weighed in on the subject: “It's a situation where Lane will come in and have discussions with our assistant coaches to see what's the best fit for his sort of staff moving forward.”
Botterill underscored that “moving forward” will include a leader who has won championships as both coach and player, that those Cups in the NHL as a coach and as an American Hockey League player and International Hockey League player are “earned credibility” that he can apply to the fortunes of the Kraken.
“People talk a lot about winning, but until you've actually gone through it and won a Stanley Cup, it's a lot different actually accomplishing it,” said Botterill, part of the front office leadership that notched three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “The fact that Lane has won a Stanley Cup was something that was very big for both Ron and me. It gives you confidence. He has that earned credibility. You feel his intensity. You feel the energy and passion he has for the game of hockey. You look at his background from a teaching standpoint and where we're at as an organization, making sure he can communicate with both veteran players and young players. We feel it’s going to be a really great mix.”
