List of New York Islanders head coaches

Al Arbour led the Islanders to four consecutives Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983

The New York Islanders are an American professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. They play in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team joined the NHL in 1972, and won their first Stanley Cup championship in 1980. The Islanders play their home games at UBS Arena in Elmont. ^[1] Jon Ledecky and Scott D. Malkin are the Islanders' majority owners, Lou Lamoriello is their general manager, Patrick Roy is the head coach and Anders Lee is the team captain. ^{[2] [3]}

There have been 19 head coaches for the Islanders franchise. The team's first head coach was Phil Goyette, who coached the team for part of the 1972–73 season. ^[4] Al Arbour is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular season games coached (1,500) and the most regular season game wins (740); he is also the franchise's all-time leader for the most playoff games coached (198), and the most playoff game wins (119). ^[5] Arbour is the only Islanders coach to have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. ^[5] He and Trotz are the only Islanders coaches to have won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach. ^[5] The franchise has participated in the Stanley Cup Finals five times, coached by Arbour each time; they won Stanley Cup four of those times. Arbour, Terry Simpson, Peter Laviolette, Steve Stirling, Ted Nolan, Jack Capuano, Barry Trotz, and Lane Lambert are the coaches who coached the team into the Stanley Cup playoffs. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]}

Key

#	Number of coaches [a]
GC	Games coached
W	Wins = 2 points
L	Losses = 0 points
T	Ties = 1 point
PTS	Points
Win%	Winning percentage [c]
†	Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder
*	Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Islanders

Coaches

Butch Goring coached the Islanders from 1999 to 2001

Peter Laviolette coached the Islanders from 2001 to 2003

Jack Capuano coached the Islanders from 2010 to 2017

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2023–24 season.

#	Name	Term [d]	Regular season						Playoffs				Achievements	Notes
			GC	W	L	T	OTL	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%
1	Phil Goyette*	1972–1973	48	6	38	4	—	.167	—	—	—	—		[4]
2	Earl Ingarfield*	1973	30	6	22	2	—	.233	—	—	—	—		[10]
3	Al Arbour†	1973–1986	1,038	552	317	169	—	.613	171	109	62	.637	Stanley Cup champions (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983) Jack Adams Award (1979)	[5]
4	Terry Simpson	1986–1988	187	81	82	24	—	.497	20	9	11	.450		[6]
—	Al Arbour†	1988–1994	461	187	220	54	—	.464	27	10	17	.370		[5]
5	Lorne Henning	1994–1995	48	15	28	5	—	.365	—	—	—	—		[11]
6	Mike Milbury	1995–1997	127	35	73	19	—	.350	—	—	—	—		[12]
7	Rick Bowness	1997–1998	100	38	50	12	—	.440	—	—	—	—		[13]
—	Mike Milbury	1998–1999	66	22	39	5	—	.371	—	—	—	—		[12]
8	Bill Stewart*	1999	35	10	18	7	—	.386	—	—	—	—		[14]
9	Butch Goring	1999–2001	143	41	89	14	4	.338	—	—	—	—		[15]
—	Lorne Henning	2001	17	4	11	2	0	.294	—	—	—	—		[11]
10	Peter Laviolette	2001–2003	164	77	62	19	6	.546	12	4	8	.333		[7]
11	Steve Stirling*	2003–2006	118	56	51	11	6	.520	5	1	4	.200		[8]
12	Brad Shaw*	2006	40	18	18	—	4	.500	—	—	—	—		[16]
13	Ted Nolan	2006–2007	82	40	30	—	12	.561	5	1	4	.200		[9]
—	Al Arbour† [e]	2007	1	1	0	—	0	1.000	—	—	—	—		[5]
—	Ted Nolan	2007–2008	81	34	38	—	9	.475	—	—	—	—		[9]
14	Scott Gordon	2008–2010	181	64	94	—	23	.417	—	—	—	—		[17]
15	Jack Capuano*	2010–2017	483	227	192	—	64	.536	24	10	14	.417		[18]
16	Doug Weight*	2017–2018	122	59	49	—	14	.541	—	—	—	—		[19]
17	Barry Trotz	2018–2022	288	152	102	—	34	.587	49	28	21	.571	Jack Adams Award (2019)	[20]
18	Lane Lambert*	2022–2024	127	61	46	—	20	.559	6	2	4	.333		[21]
19	Patrick Roy	2024–present	37	20	12	—	5	.608	5	1	4	.200		[22]

Notes

• ^a A running total of the number of coaches of the Islanders. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
• ^b Before the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties. ^[23]
• ^c In hockey, the winning percentage is calculated by dividing points by maximum possible points.
• ^d Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.
• ^e Arbour replaced Ted Nolan as an interim head coach for one game in order to have coached 1500 Islanders games. ^[24]

References

General

• "New York Islanders Coach Register". Hockey-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
• "New York Islanders: History". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
• National Hockey League (2007). National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2009 (77 ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Triumph Books. p. 88.

Specific

1. "New York Islanders". NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
2. Neumann, Thomas (January 20, 2024). "Islanders Name Patrick Roy Head Coach". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
3. "Players". New York Islanders. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
4. "Phil Goyette". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
5. "Al Arbour". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
6. "Terry Simpson". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
7. "Peter Laviolette". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
8. "Steve Stirling". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
9. "Ted Nolan". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
10. "Earl Ingarfield". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
11. "Lorne Henning". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
12. "Mike Milbury". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
13. "Mike Milbury". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
14. "Bill Stewart". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on August 30, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
15. "Butch Goring". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
16. "Brad Shaw". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
17. "Scott Gordon". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
18. "Jack Capuano". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
19. "Doug Weight". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
20. "Barry Trotz". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on August 30, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
21. "Lane Lambert". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
22. "Patrick Roy". Hockey-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
23. "Official Rules" (PDF). NHL.com. Lincoln Hockey and the National Hockey League. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
24. "Al Arbour returns to coach 1500th game". New York Islanders. July 19, 2007. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.