Ex-Islanders coach Lane Lambert hired by Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs named Lane Lambert as an associate coach Wednesday.

He joins the staff of Craig Berube, hired May 17 to replace Sheldon Keefe. Toronto fired Keefe after the Maple Leafs lost their first-round playoff series to the Boston Bruins in seven games.

The New York Islanders fired Lambert on Jan. 20 in the middle of his second season as head coach. At the time of his dismissal, the Islanders were 19-15-11 (49 points) and amid a four-game losing streak.

Lambert, 59, was an Islanders associate coach for four seasons before his promotion for the 2022-23 season, when the team went 42-31-9 (93 points) and lost in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs.

A Saskatchewan native, Lambert also served as an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals (2014-18) and an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators (2011-14). Lambert was on the bench when the Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup.

Also Wednesday, the Maple Leafs announced assistant coach Dean Chynoweth will not return for the 2024-25 season.

Keefe hired Chynoweth in July 2021 to replace Dave Hakstol after the latter was named the first coach of the expansion Seattle Kraken.