- Stefen Rosner reports Ian Laperriere could land the Islanders’ new AHL head coaching job
- The opening was created when Rocky Thompson moved up to Pete DeBoer’s NHL staff
- Read below for video, Laperriere’s coaching background, and why the Hammers job lines up
The Islanders might already have their next AHL head coach in the building.
NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner reported in his newsletter that current pro scout Ian Laperriere could be a candidate to take over the Hamilton Hammers, the newly-named affiliate replacing Bridgeport for 2026-27. The opening is there because Rocky Thompson left the AHL job to join Pete DeBoer’s NHL staff earlier this month.
Here is the Thompson announcement from the Islanders:
Thompson spent one season behind the Bridgeport bench and went 34-30-8, getting the affiliate back to the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since 2021-22. That earned him the bump up to DeBoer’s group, and it left a new vacancy with the franchise moving north to Hamilton.
Laperriere already knows the Islanders’ building. Anthony Di Marco reported the hire back in September:
He came over from Philadelphia, where he ran the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for four seasons after eight years as an assistant on the Flyers’ NHL bench. The Phantoms went 134-120-38 under him with three Calder Cup playoff appearances, and last spring they pushed into the second round for the first time since 2017-18.
His playing résumé reads like a throwback. Laperriere played 1,083 NHL games across 16 seasons with the Blues, Rangers, Kings, Avalanche, and Flyers, racking up 1,956 penalty minutes and a reputation for blocking shots with whatever body part was closest. Anyone who watched him eat a Paul Martin slap shot to the face in the 2010 playoffs remembers the type.
Take a look at the kind of player he was – the video still holds up:
Hamilton is no small assignment. The Hammers move into TD Coliseum, where the old AHL Bulldogs spent 20 years as a successful Oilers and Canadiens affiliate. But this franchise has missed the last four Calder Cup playoffs across two cities, and new GM Mathieu Darche needs somebody who can flip that.
A guy who built a career on grit, then coached his way to a second-round AHL run, slots right into the brand the Islanders just stamped on Hamilton.
