Lane Lambert on taking over as Seattle Kraken coach: ‘It was a perfect fit’

The Kraken formally introduced Lane Lambert as the third coach in their five-year existence Monday. The team hosted a similar event a year prior.

When Dan Bylsma was introduced as coach, Ron Francis was seated at the table, then the general manager instead of his current position, president of hockey operations. The mood was positive instead of defensive.

What everyone wants to know this time: How is Lambert, a somewhat surprising hire, going to turn this thing around?

Lambert, 60, said he doesn’t feel the pressure placed on the franchise, adding that he doesn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.

“I have an expectation on myself,” Lambert said, “of my role, my job, my abilities.”

The Kraken’s track record spiked in their second season, but has gotten progressively worse the past two outings. Their power play was in the bottom third of the league at 18.9% (23rd NHL) in 2024-25, and their penalty kill was not much better at 77.2%, 21st in the league. Bringing in expensive free agents Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson and adopting a speedier, hungrier style got them no closer to the playoff cutoff.

Bylsma was let go April 21, a move coinciding with a front office scramble. Francis moved to a new role and assistant GM Jason Botterill moved up.

Botterill’s first hire was the associate coach of the Maple Leafs, charged with keeping an eye on Toronto’s defense and penalty kill.

“As we went through this process … it became very evident that Lane was a great choice to be our new head coach,” Botterill said. “At the end of the day, Lane is a winner.”

Twenty of Lambert’s 21 NHL playoff runs were while he was an assistant. He cited former Dallas Stars, Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett, who is conveniently a Kraken coaching consultant, as someone he relies on. Coach-turned-scout Claude Noel is another mentor.

This is his second NHL head coaching gig. Lambert was in charge of the New York Islanders’ bench from 2022-24.

He said he felt a sense of family within the Kraken organization almost immediately.

“I knew within about the first three minutes (of) conversations that I wanted to be here,” Lambert said.

“When we went through the team and the roster, the vision for the team, philosophies — everything aligned for me, so it was a perfect fit.”

Kraken captain Jordan Eberle has seen him in action as a head coach as a former member of the Islanders. Forwards Stephenson and André Burakovsky, plus goaltender Philipp Grubauer, know him from his days as a Capitals assistant. They all won the Cup together in Washington.

Lambert suspects they know him as straightforward, fair but demanding. A coach who doesn’t let issues fester, but makes a commitment to “nip it.”

“Everybody knows what (their) role is, and there aren’t any gray areas,” Lambert said regarding his own winning formula.

He’d already won the job, but it felt like a stump speech. Lambert promised improvement in the defensive zone, where the Kraken backslid under Bylsma, and in back-to-back games. That’s a fairly safe vow as there’s nowhere to go but up in 2025-26. If he wins just once in the latter game of a back-to-back, that’s more than the prior season, when the Kraken went 0-12.

He wants the Kraken to be fast and aggressive.

“There’s priorities in certain areas, but everything has to be addressed,” Lambert said. “You can’t build Rome in a day.”

The Kraken let go of assistant coach Dave Lowry and goaltending coach Steve Briere, both of whom were hired in 2022 during the Dave Hakstol coaching era, on Friday. There was no mention of Bob Woods, a Bylsma hire who ran the power play with Jessica Campbell.

The Kraken made it clear from the start of the coaching search that regardless of who the hire was, Campbell would continue on with her first NHL franchise. Lambert said he’d had “good conversations” with Campbell, the first woman in her NHL role. As for the rest of his staff, he’s still evaluating.

“We’re in a position to find the best people to add to the staff and put them in a position to have success,” Lambert said.