You've heard this from us before, but it bears repeating: Coach Lane Lambert is one hell of an interview. He's extremely generous with his time and is as candid with his answers as any coach I've dealt with in 13 years of sportscasting.

Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions for questions. I did use some of them, and re-worked some others.

The 30 minute interview is rather long, so we'll break it up into parts. Part One begins as Coach Lambert and I settle into his office and discuss summer recreational activities. 

Short Shifts: I know you're a golfer. Have you gotten the sticks out much this summer? Photo courtesy of milwaukeeadmirals.com

Lane Lambert: Yeah. I get out early in the morning. I find it very relaxing, especially at that time of the day. There's really no one else around. You know - that's a passion of mine. I go to ******* ***** now, which is in (some city). It's a little hidden gem. It's nice. It's not that long, but you can't hit errant shots. If you do, you pay the price. It's in great shape, the greens are awesome. It's 29 bucks including a cart before 9 am. Today I finished 18 holes in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

SS: Is that a Personal best?

LL: No. (Smiling) I had to wait for the greens guy to cut the greens on 2 holes or I would have been done earlier.

(pause)

Don't mention ***** ***** to anybody.

SS: You were at Nashville's development camp this year. You've been to a number of these now - do you actually learn anything from the camps?

LL: Yeah - you learn a lot from these. There seems to be a different angle to the same type of theme every year. You're always picking up little things that you can use. It is a tremendous week for the prospects of the organization. The impact that you have during that week extends for a long, long time. For most of these guys, it's their first experience with a National Hockey League franchise.

Because you're trying to learn new angles to send the same message, you do learn. This particular camp is the best one I've been to. From a talent standpoint, Nashville has some good talent that is coming up in the next couple years.

SS: It's your job to develop players for the NHL. All of a sudden, a player like Kelsey Wilson decides he has a better chance to develop overseas. Is it difficult not to take that personally?

LL: All you can do is your best for the individual while he's here. Decisions that he makes about the career path that he wants to go on are entirely his choice. I certainly don't take it personally. I feel Kelsey Wilson has made some great strides over the last 3 years with his game. I wish him all the best in continuing his development. And you know what? We may see him back here again at some point. He's moving forward, we move forward, and I wish him the best.  

SS: It seems like a lot more players are going overseas this year. Is it more prevalent now, or have I just not been paying enuff attention in the past?

LL: I think it's a little more prevalent. It's always been around to a certain extent. The difference now is there are more high profile guys leaving because they're getting paid more. There's always been players that leave and go like the Kelsey Wilson type, but there hasn't been so many players that have gone like the Jiri Hudler type because the money hasn't been there for those guys. Now there is, so it's getting a lot more press. There's a league out there that's trying to rival the National Hockey League - on a salary basis anyway.

SS: You must be Irate with Brad Lauer for leaving. Photo courtesy of milwaukeeadmirals.com

LL: For me, he's done an excellent job over the last couple of years. No matter who you are or what position you are in you have to do the job to the best of your abilities. He did that and he's been rewarded for that. It's an opportunity for him to get into the game at the highest level. I'm very happy for him. We're very good friends and I couldn't be happier for him.

SS: So now you bring in another guy (Ian Herbers) and that comfort level gets reset. Do you adjust the coaching roles to fit Ian's skill set, or do you mold Ian into the position.

LL: That's a great question. First of all, by having an opportunity to work with Ian it gives me a chance to grow as well. I want him to push me and challenge me and bring in new ideas. Initially what we have to do is sit down and see how we want it to work. Before we define roles we work on things together. I want his input in everything and I also want him to understand and know how I do things. I think it's great. It keeps the competitive juices flowing and allows you to get fresh ideas and to continue to grow as a coach.

SS: How about with the team? Do you change your tactics, or do you just tell the guys this is the system, figure it out and fit into it.

LL: I think you have to adjust a little bit - but I think it's a lot of tweaking. I don't think we're going to make too many wholesale changes to what we do. Tweaks here and there - there is no question that we have to look at our personnel and adjust the way we want our team to play to what our personnel will give us. There's a little tweaking to be done but there's also a very good blueprint in place. I know what players we have coming, and I know what they have to offer for the most part. So we're gonna have a pretty good idea of how we're gonna play.

SS: It's been a few months since the second round playoff exit to the Aeros. Do you look at that in a different light now? Photo courtesy of Fred Trask

LL: It still stings. It's gonna sting for a while. At some point we move forward. We're doing that. I think you can always learn from wins and losses, and at some point you also have to tip your hat to the other team or potentially to the other team's goaltender. In my mind, I still don't think we deserved to lose that series - but we did. We made some critical mistakes at critical times that cost us. 2 too-many-men penalties in game 7 just can't happen. We had some errors that weren't acceptable. I have to make sure that things like that don't happen again. I just think we had a couple of pockets in the series that cost us the series. The first five minutes of game 7 was one of them; and the first five minutes of game one when we went down 5-on-3 right off the hop knowing full well that we would be full of emotion after a 9 day layoff. It wasn't game 7 that lost us the series. It was a few games leading up to game 7.

SS: Is the AHL Schedule release an "event" for you, or a non-factor?

LL: There's a lot of work to be done once the schedule comes out. It's something I'm waiting for. Ultimately it gives up the opportunity to set up our entire season. From games to practices to off-ice training to days off, because those are equally important as your days on. You have to make sure your team gets a proper mix of both rest and work. You can't do anything with that until you get the schedule - so I am anxiously awaiting that thing to come out.

SS: A couple of rules changes this year - one to the shootout format and one to the length of penalties in overtime. Will those have a big impact?

LL: No. I think that's extremely minor. Although, the shootout will have a bit of an impact. Sometimes you only have 3 or 4 top guys, but you need to use 5 anyway. Now you start having to go 6,7,8 and it becomes a little bit different ballgame. We had a shootout last year in Quad Cities that went 15 shooters. I like it - I like that you have to use everybody. It adds strategy and gives other people opportunities to step up. What's wrong with that?

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To be continued.....