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New York Islanders

BREAKING: Islanders Hire Two New Assistant Coaches

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Ray Bennett and his wife Karla celebrate a great victory with the raising of the Stanley Cup immediately following the Colorado Avalanche's cup winning game on June 26 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. // Rocky Mountain Outlook

The New York Islanders did not wait too long to fill their coaching vacancies. The Islanders announced the hiring of Ray Bennett and Bob Boughner as assistant coaches under Patrick Roy.



Additionally, the team confirmed what was already known, that current assistant Benoit Desrosiers and goaltending coach Piero Greco will both return to the franchise.

Bennett had coached the Colorado Avalanche power play each year since 2017 until being fired this spring.

From Colorado Hockey Now:

“Bennett, who was hired in 2017 to join Jared Bednar’s staff, was in charge of the power play. Colorado was ranked 14th out of 16 playoff teams on the man advantage.

‘When you look at how we lost, we just feel maybe a different voice should help,’ Avalanche President Joe Sakic said. ‘Our power plays have been top-10 over the last few years, but we feel the way things ended, maybe a different voice going into next year could help that.’

The Avs were 3-for-22 on the man advantage in their seven-game series against the Dallas Stars, and Nathan MacKinnon had all three of those goals. In a game of inches, every opportunity matters.”

Bennett’s tenure in Colorado is one of large success, but one where Colorado felt they needed a fresh voice. Eight years at any one stop for an assistant coach in this league is a long time. Bennett has a Stanley Cup ring from 2022, when his Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.

Bob Boughner:

The New York Islanders also hired Bob Boughner to the coaching staff. Most recently, Boughner coached the defense and penalty kill for the Detroit Red Wings for the last three years.

Detroit fired him and his head coach, Derek Lalonde, back in December.

From Detroit Hockey Now:

“Boughner was the man in charge of Detroit’s pathetic penalty kill. At 68.8%, the Red Wings are 31st among the 32 NHL teams in PK percentage.”

At the time, only the Islanders had a worse penalty killing unit in the league. For Boughner, he ran a solid kill in Detroit with a team lacking just about any responsible, defensively elite players, Dylan Larkin aside. As a former head coach in San Jose, Boughner had a consistently elite killing unit while he ran the bench, another feather in his cap.

Boughner is another strong hire, despite some warts in his final season in Detroit.

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The Ghost of Kvasha

“Boughner was the man in charge of Detroit’s pathetic penalty kill. At 68.8%, the Red Wings are 31st among the 32 NHL teams in PK percentage.”. At the time, only the Islanders had a worse penalty killing unit in the league.

We’ll be second worst – we can’t be worse than the Islanders PK… oh wait…

Michael Galligan

Congratulations 🎉 and good luck!

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