Islanders name Jay McKee first coach of Hamilton Hammers

Jay McKee will be the first coach in Hamilton Hammers history, a hire that tells you exactly what the Islanders want their new AHL affiliate to be: organized, competitive and built to develop players from the start.

McKee arrives with a résumé that fits that mandate. He spent the last three seasons as head coach of the Brantford Bulldogs, where his club posted the OHL’s best record last season at 48-10-8-2 and finished his five-year run at 213-91-36 overall. Brantford also reached the Memorial Cup Championship under his watch, and his 2021-22 team went 51-12-5, a level of consistency that does not happen by accident in junior hockey. Before Brantford, McKee coached the Kitchener Rangers for four seasons and spent time as an AHL assistant with the Rochester Americans, giving him a clean read on both sides of the development pipeline.

The Islanders are not hiring him just because he has win totals. They are hiring him because he has lived the job from every angle. Born in Kingston, Ontario, on Sept. 8, 1977, McKee was a first-round pick of Buffalo in 1995 and played 802 NHL games with the Sabres, Blues and Penguins. He finished with 21 goals and 104 assists over 13 NHL seasons as a defenseman, which matters in a league where teaching details to young players often starts with someone who has actually survived the grind of the pro game.

The timing of the move underscores how serious the Islanders are about Hamilton. The franchise announced its intent on March 19, 2026, to relocate its AHL affiliate from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Hamilton for the 2026-27 season, and the AHL Board of Governors approved the move unanimously on March 31. The Hammers will play in the North Division at TD Coliseum, the 18,000-seat building the Islanders say underwent a $300 million transformation.

Hamilton’s brand was unveiled on May 21, with a logo built around the city’s steel-working heritage, crossed hammers and the Islanders’ orange-and-blue palette. Mayor Andrea Horwath said the team would create energy, visitors and opportunities for the downtown, while AHL president and CEO Scott Howson said the relocation would send the franchise to Hamilton beginning in 2026-27. The league, founded in 1936, says it remains the top development circuit for NHL organizations, with nearly 90 percent of current NHL players coming through it. With season-seat deposits opening April 6 and the team identified as the Islanders’ official AHL affiliate, McKee’s hire gives the Hammers a development-minded coach before the first puck drops.