Those of you scooping up Islanders forwards such as Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal after Barry Trotz was fired can go ask for a refund now. Because the Isles are going with Trotz's good buddy and faithful, long-time assistant Lane Lambert.

Lambert served under Trotz in Nashville from 2011 to 2014. Then he served under Trotz with Washington from 2014 to 2018. After that? Why… the Islanders, of course.

I have a sneaking suspicion that his coaching style will be from the Book of Trotz.

Back in 2010-11, Lambert was Head Coach of the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL. They finished third in the league with 102 points…but they were 14^th in the league in goals scored. I could be wrong about how this will turn out, but my hunch is that this team will play a similar system to what Trotz pushed, focusing on defense over offense.

“The one thing that will never change is our identity,” Lambert said. “We want to be hard to play against. That’s just who we are and that will never change from our standpoint.”

And while that will be great for owners of Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov, the skaters on the team will probably not see a big bump in production. Yes, every coach has their favorites, and if a player becomes Lambert's pet, then he stands to benefit. But there is no way of knowing in advance who that will be.