Hamilton Hammers add Vince Laise and Kain Tisi to coaching staff

Hamilton kept building its inaugural AHL blueprint on June 18, adding Vince Laise as assistant coach and Kain Tisi as goalie coach around head coach Jay McKee. The hires matter because Hamilton is not just filling bench jobs, it is building the first hockey-operations structure for the New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate before the first puck drops at TD Coliseum.

Laise, 43, brings a familiar profile for McKee. The Brampton, Ontario native spent the previous two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford Bulldogs, which gives Hamilton another coach who already understands McKee’s expectations and the way he wants his teams to play. That kind of continuity is valuable in a first-year setup, where systems, language and daily habits have to be installed quickly rather than slowly refined over time.

Tisi’s role is just as important, even if it tends to stay quieter in the headlines. A new AHL franchise needs more than a standard bench structure, it needs a goalie coach who can manage prospects moving up the pipeline and veterans moving in and out of the NHL picture. For an Islanders organization that wants Hamilton to function as a true development stop, adding a dedicated goalie specialist is a practical move, not a decorative one.

The coaching additions also fit the larger launch sequence that has moved fast across the spring. The American Hockey League Board of Governors unanimously approved the relocation of the Islanders’ affiliate from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Hamilton, Ontario, on March 31, 2026, for the 2026-27 season. The Hamilton Hammers brand was unveiled on May 21, with the crossed-hammers identity tied to the city’s steel-working roots, grit and togetherness. McKee was named head coach on May 29 after spending the previous five seasons with the Hamilton and Brantford Bulldogs in the Ontario Hockey League.

That timeline says plenty about what Hamilton is trying to build. This is an expansion-style start, even if the franchise comes into the league through relocation, and the Hammers are being treated like a Central Division club that needs its infrastructure in place now. Laise and Tisi are not splashy hires, but they are the kind that matter immediately: one coach to help carry McKee’s structure into the room, and one to make sure the crease is managed properly from day one.