Why the NY Islanders worked so hard to land Jay McKee as Hamilton head coach

Speaking after the conclusion of the NHL Draft, general manager Mathieu Darche shared that new Hamilton Hammers head coach Jay McKee had been attracting interest from around the hockey world for the last two summers.

"Jay was very sought after this summer. He was last summer too," Darche said. "The last two summers, he's been."

That interest wasn't hard to understand. McKee had just guided Brantford to the best record in the Ontario Hockey League, continuing a run of success that included an OHL championship in 2022 and a reputation as one of the better developers of young talent in Canadian junior hockey.

While Brantford fell short of the Memorial Cup after an upset loss in the conference finals, McKee's stock around the game only continued to rise.

Darche explained that the timing finally made sense for both sides. "In juniors there are cycles when you build teams," he said. "And they were at the cycle where they felt like Brantford was a very, very strong team this year." The Islanders, meanwhile, were looking for someone who could oversee what suddenly has become one of the organization's deepest prospect pools in years.

For Darche, the decision ultimately came down to McKee's track record. "We just felt that Jay's track record in the OHL, like he won a championship and the way he's developed players, he's dealt with high-end prospects, especially this year in Brantford," Darche said. "His track record was a no-brainer for us."

And if there was one added bonus, it was that McKee has already won in Hamilton before. "The cherry on top was that he's actually won a championship with Hamilton," Darche said.

The Isles will hope he can do it again, this time with a new franchise in the Hammers.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow