Report: Maple Leafs grant Kraken permission to speak with associate coach Lane Lambert

The Kraken are looking to hire their third head coach in franchise history after firing Dan Bylsma one year into his tenure of manning the Seattle bench. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Mitch Love and David Quinn are other names that are being considered for the opening, apart from Lambert.

Lambert was hired by the Leafs on June 5, 2024, where he has worked closely with Craig Berube and run the penalty kill. He arrived in Toronto with plenty of experience running a successful shorthanded unit with the likes of the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, the latter of whom he would spend two seasons as their head coach.

The 60-year-old spent a lot of time working alongside Barry Trotz, the current GM of the Nashville Predators, during those aforementioned prior stints.

“He’s been a very good coach for a long time in this league, going back to his time with Barry Trotz,” Berube said on November 5 about Lambert. “I know Trotzie well. Trotzie and I had talked about it and he thought it’d be a great fit. I’ve heard nothing but great things about him as a coach and a person, and it’s all true. He’s detailed, great guy to work with, fits in really well with the coach and staff, and very intelligent.”

In Lambert’s first season on the Leafs bench, the shorthanded unit saw a slight improvement from their efficiency numbers a year prior, though it would have been higher if not for a downturn in the latter half of the regular season. He did help turn around Toronto’s penalty kill proficiency in the postseason in comparison to last spring, improving from 64.7% (13th among playoff teams) to 81.6% (fifth in the playoffs at the time of filing).

Although the Leafs once again failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs, their penalty kill was thankfully not one of the reasons for this thanks to the work of Lambert. While it is unclear right now if he will indeed be snagged up by the Kraken, his potential departure would leave a gaping hole on the coaching staff.

Presuming this transpires, this would mark the second time Seattle poached someone from the Leafs to become their head coach. The previous such instance was Dave Hakstol, who became the first coach in Kraken history and spent three years with the team before being let go after the 2023-24 campaign.