The Islanders hired longtime OHL coach Jay McKee to lead their new AHL club. 

After spending over a decade coaching in the Canadian junior league, McKee returns to the AHL to spearhead the newly named Hamilton (Ontario) 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 his first season with the club in 2021-22, McKee coached the Bulldogs a record of 51-12-5, the best-single season mark in franchise history, winning the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champion and reaching the Memorial Cup Championship. 

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. 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 14th overall pick by the Sabres in 1995, McKee spent the first 10 seasons of his career in Buffalo. 

He also made stops in St. Louis and Pittsburgh, finishing his NHL career with 21 goals and 104 assists in 802 career games.