New York Islanders hire Doug Houda, Brian Wiseman as assistant coaches

The day of hirings continues, this time with the New York Islanders introducing two new assistant coaches. Brian Wiseman and Doug Houda will join Lane Lambert’s staff for the upcoming season, coming over from the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers, respectively.

Wiseman, 50, served for three years with the Oilers after nearly a decade with the University of Michigan, and now joins the new Islanders coaching staff that needed to be built from the ground up. With Lambert taking over from the dismissed Barry Trotz, the team is going in a very different direction following their poor performance this season.

It’s Houda that will draw many headlines though, given his connection with the organization. The longtime NHL defenseman played parts of two seasons with the team in the late 90s, racking up 13 points and 146 penalty minutes in 101 games. He served on the Detroit bench for the last six seasons and previously spend more than a decade with the Boston Bruins.

Given the fact that this will be Lambert’s first NHL head-coaching gig, he’ll have to rely heavily on his two new assistants in the early going. Adding someone like Houda, that not only comes with a long history in the league but some familiarity–the two were teammates way back in 1985-86–will certainly help.