Toronto Maple Leafs hire former Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde as assistant

The Toronto Maple Leafs did not take long to fill the gap left by outgoing assistant Lane Lambert, hiring former Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde to join Craig Berube’s staff on Friday.

Lambert left the organization on May 29 to take over the Seattle Kraken’s bench after a lone season at Scotiabank Arena, where the former New York Islanders head coach helped Berube and the Leafs improve to eighth in scoring defense after finishing 21st in the category in 2023-24.

Another former head coach, Lalonde, will step in to replace Lambert after his run as the Wings’ bench boss ended with his dismissal in December. Despite narrowly missing the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs by a tiebreaker, Lalonde failed to end Detroit’s club-record postseason exodus in parts of three seasons at the helm (89-86-23).

An experienced head coach at the NHL, developmental (USHL), and minor-league levels (ECHL, AHL), Lalonde’s greatest professional success came as an assistant to Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

‘Newsy,’ so nicknamed for his shared surname with one of the greatest players of the 1920s, helped Tampa to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020-22. Two of those trips yielded championship rings for Lalonde, who returns to assistant coaching with the added perspective of an uneven tenure in the big chair. 

Lalonde joins Toronto ahead of what will be a transitional season in their title window. Star player Mitch Marner will likely leave as an unrestricted free agent, and the loss of his two-way game could exacerbate the spotty even-strength metrics (23rd in xG%) the reigning Atlantic Division champs battled throughout last season.

If Lalonde successfully helps Berube and incumbent assistants Marc Savard and Mike Van Ryn steer Toronto’s five-on-five game in the right direction, he could, like Lambert, benefit from the increased exposure of hockey’s biggest market to get another crack at head coaching.