Islanders promote Rocky Thompson after successful Bridgeport turnaround

Rocky Thompson’s year in Bridgeport put him back on an NHL bench. The Islanders elevated the 48-year-old to assistant coach on May 5 after he steered their AHL affiliate to a 34-30-3-5 record and its first trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs since 2022.

That move carries more weight than a standard staff shuffle. Bridgeport had endured a 57-loss season before Thompson arrived, and his first year behind the bench was framed inside the organization as a reset of the club’s culture and identity. The Islanders said the affiliate got back to the postseason for the first time in four years, and that matters in the AHL, where coaching is judged not only by the standings but by whether a team can compete every night while preparing younger players for the next level.

Thompson brings a long development track record with him. He coached the Chicago Wolves from 2017 to 2020 and went 113-71-29, winning two Central Division titles and reaching the 2019 Calder Cup Finals. Before that, he spent four seasons as an assistant with the Oklahoma City Barons, and that team reached the playoffs every year during his tenure, advancing to the Western Conference Finals twice. He also served as an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15, was an associate coach with the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21, and worked as an assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2022 to 2025.

The Islanders are clearly betting on that mix of structure and development. Thompson also won the Memorial Cup in 2017 as head coach of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, another sign that his resume spans junior hockey, the AHL and the NHL. His playing days helped shape the reputation that followed him into coaching, as a hard-edged, energetic presence who spent most of a 10-year career in the AHL.

Now he joins a reshaped Islanders staff that lists Peter DeBoer as head coach, with Ray Bennett and Bob Boughner as assistant coaches and Sergei Naumovs as goaltending coach. For New York, the hire is about more than adding experience. It puts a coach with a proven AHL turnaround onto the NHL bench, one who has already spent a season working the pipeline in Bridgeport and shown he can turn a struggling affiliate into a team that reached the postseason again.