The Toronto Maple Leafs are seeing their coaching staff start to take shape. First came the Craig Berube hiring, a move that replaced Sheldon Keefe with an established coach who has a championship pedigree. Most recently, the Maple Leafs hired Lane Lambert as an associate coach and the move signals that the team is looking to change things up after several seasons of remaining in the same place.
Lambert’s tenure ended poorly with the New York Islanders. When he was hired in the 2022 offseason, he looked like the next great coach in the league. A season and a half later, he was fired. There’s a lot that went wrong in his tenure with the Islanders and Maple Leafs fans should be concerned.
The thing is that Lambert has a lot to offer the Maple Leafs, especially for a Berube-coached team. His value can make this team better and allow them to head into next season a well-rounded group ready to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Lambert as a Reliable Associate Under Trotz
To understand why Lambert is a great hire, it’s important to go back to his days as an assistant. He was behind the bench when Barry Trotz coached the Washington Capitals to a Stanley Cup title in 2018 and then joined the Islanders to help them reach the Eastern Conference Final in 2020 and 2021.
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Trotz coached up the defense and he was a tough and disciplined leader who preached structured hockey. Lambert was the opposite. He was the coach who the players knew as the player-friendly one and his on-ice style was to allow more freedom and the willingness to take risks. The combination of Trotz and Lambert was ideal as the opposites moulded balanced hockey teams that could make deep playoff runs.
Berube will be the one taking on the “bad guy” role on the coaching staff and he’ll bring the tough love behind the bench. Lambert will cancel him out but also be a coach the players can easily communicate with hoping he can relay messages to the head coach. Likewise, this team will remain a disciplined one because of Berube’s presence and Lambert won’t change that.
Lambert’s Style Will Unlock Some Skaters Offensively
The catch, and plus side, of Lambert’s tenure with the Islanders is that he allowed the skaters to play with an aggressive mindset. The defensemen joined rushes and the skaters took the first shot on the net rather than the best one. The result was an improved offence, but also some production from the defensive unit, which was lacking in the Trotz era.
The Maple Leafs have the defencemen capable of opening up the offence from the point. Morgan Rielly scored seven goals and 51 assists this season and Jake McCabe added eight goals from the blue line. However, the other defencemen adding a spark to the offence will go a long way. Lambert will help those depth defencemen help out the offence.
Similarly, the Maple Leafs will play faster and more aggressively because of Lambert. William Nylander is already a star-caliber player but Lambert’s influence can further optimize his skillsets. The Maple Leafs shouldn’t be overaggressive but having a foot on the gas at all times will make a team that already has a potent offense, an unstoppable one.
Where Lambert Can Hurt the Maple Leafs
It’s hard to ignore how Lambert’s tenure ended with the Islanders. The team looked undisciplined and struggled on the defensive end of the ice, especially late in games as they blew third-period leads like they were a nightly occurrence. Moreover, the Islanders looked mentally checked out by midseason and Lambert’s lack of energy behind the bench didn’t help his cause.
The Maple Leafs need a fiery coach to bring out the best in the roster. Lambert is far from that. It also isn’t a good sign that they already struggled on the defensive end of the ice last season and Lambert won’t make things better. All the issues that resulted in his firing could come back to hurt this team this season.
In Lambert’s defence, he wasn’t given a great roster and the issues from a poorly constructed team made him the scapegoat. However, great coaches make the most out of what they have and he couldn’t do that. Conversely, when Patrick Roy was hired by the Islanders, he was able to will the team to the playoffs. The Maple Leafs are hiring a coach with a bad track record, at least recently, and they are betting on him not causing this team to struggle the way the Islanders did in the first half of last season.
Ultimately, It’s Berube’s Team
Lambert will leave a mark, for better or worse, on the Maple Leafs but this team will be reflected in Berube’s style. He’s the one who will lead this team and at the end of the day, they will play in his vision. Along with the on-ice factors, he will have them ready for playoff matchups against opponents the Maple Leafs can’t seem to beat.
Berube led the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019, bringing a title to a franchise that never had one until he got there. Ironically, it came against the Boston Bruins, a team the Maple Leafs have struggled against in the playoffs. Lambert was behind the bench when the Capitals won their first title in franchise history, oddly enough, one season before Berube led the Blues to their title. Now, two coaches who helped lead teams with demons face the biggest challenge of them all.
The Maple Leafs have not won the Cup since 1967. It’s the longest title drought in NHL history and the market only further amplifies the pressure to win it all. Every victory and defeat is a big deal and it takes a great coaching staff to handle that pressure.
Berube was hired for these reasons. He can handle the pressure in the biggest hockey market and more importantly, lead a cursed team to a title. Lambert looks to follow in Berube’s footsteps with the hope that he can eventually get another chance as a head coach.
