The New York Islanders have continued to change their coaching staff, this time relieving assistants John Gruden and Jim Hiller of their duties. That leaves the full run of assistant roles open after Lane Lambert was promoted to head coach, taking the spot of the dismissed Barry Trotz. No replacements have been named at this point.
Gruden, 52, had been with the Islanders since 2018, following stints as the head coach of both the Flint Firebirds and Hamilton Bulldogs in the OHL. He was also part of the USNTDP for several years, and has plenty of experience developing young players. Notably, he’s also the father of Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Jonathan Gruden, who played had 27 points for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season and is heading into the final year of his entry-level contract.
Hiller, meanwhile, spent three seasons with the Islanders following stints with both the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. He too was a CHL head coach before that, leading the Tri-City Americans for five seasons and the Chilliwack Bruins before that.
With these moves, the Islanders will have quite a few new voices behind the bench next season to support Lambert as he makes the transition from associate to head coach. The team did not list director of goaltending Mitch Korn–a long-time collaborator with Trotz–nor goaltending coach Piero Greco as part of the changes and still have them on the official website.
Hope Gruden doesn’t sue them!
What sport is he going to next? My money is on basketball