The Islanders are looking forward, but the future is informed by the pain of last season.
“I think there’s a sense from the players of having something to prove,” Lambert, the new Islanders coach, said in his first public comments since a short Zoom press conference upon his hiring. “There’s no question about it. But at the same time, you look at it, you can say whatever you want about road games or COVID or this or that. There aren’t any excuses. We can’t make any excuses.”
One day before Islanders prospects report for camp, and eight before they are joined by the rest of the team, Lambert cast the character of an on-message coach, giving little away and projecting confidence. He knows this roster, having been an associate coach on Barry Trotz’s staff for four years prior todealing for defenseman Alexander Romanov
at the draft, it’s possible Lambert and his staff will be the only people on the Islanders’ bench in new or different roles to last year on opening night against the Panthers. After a calamitous 84-point season that left the Isles 16 points adrift of the playoffs, Lambert stressed his comfort with that fact.Everything the Islanders have done for the last six months has pointed toward the organization’s belief in its core, and that last season was an anomaly.
“The reason I’m comfortable, and the comfort level is, I know we have good players and good people,” Lambert said. “It’s that simple. There’s a lot of talent, there’s a lot of character. I’m extremely comfortable with what we have.” This was Lambert’s first offseason as a head coach, an adjustment he said required him to be more involved than he had as an assistant. The differences once training camp starts will be subtle — don’t expect a John Tortorella-esque sea change. Lambert reached out to his players over the summer, and he’s seen them since they got back to Long Island, but took care not to interfere.
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