The Islanders hired longtime OHL coach and former NHL defenseman Jay McKee to lead their new AHL club in Hamilton, Ont.
After spending over a decade coaching in the Canadian junior league, McKee returns to the AHL to spearhead the newly-named Hamilton Hammers in their first season of existence in 2026-27.
The 48-year-old spent the past five years as head coach of the Bulldogs, a team that relocated from Hamilton to Brantford in 2023.
In 2021-22, his first season with the club, McKee coached the Bulldogs to a 51-12-5 record, the best mark in franchise history, winning the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champion and reaching the championship of the Memorial Cup.
Last season, the Bulldogs had the best record in the OHL (48-10-8-2) under McKee.
This will be McKee’s first head coaching job in the AHL, after the former NHL defenseman served as an assistant for the Rochester Americans in 2011-12.
He joined the OHL’s Erie Otters as an assistant in 2014-15 before the Kitchener Rangers hired him as an associate coach the following season.
Kitchener then promoted McKee to head coach.
As the Rangers’ head coach, McKee compiled a record of 120-88-17.
McKee, who began his coaching career as an assistant at Niagara University in 2010-11, played 14 years in the NHL.
The No. 14 overall pick by the Sabres in 1995, McKee spent the first 10 seasons of his career in Western New York and played a key part in Buffalo’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999.
Known for his prowess as a shot-blocker and ruggedness as a defensive defenseman, McKee also made stops in St. Louis and Pittsburgh, finishing his NHL career with 21 goals and 104 assists in 802 career games.
McKee replaces Rocky Thompson, who was promoted to assistant coach with the Islanders under Peter DeBoer.
Thompson led the Bridgeport Islanders to a playoff berth in his only season in charge of the club.
