“I’m really excited to join the coaching staff in Tampa Bay,” Lauer said. “It is an outstanding opportunity for me to join a great organization with top-notch ownership and management. They have a young, highly-skilled team and it is exciting as a coach to walk into a situation like that.”

Lauer, a native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, has spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks. He helped Anaheim to a 51-24-7 record and 109 points last season, tied for the most in the NHL’s Western Conference. The Ducks also ranked 11th in the league for average goals per game with 2.78 in 2014-15. They eventually lost to the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Final. During the 2013-14 season Lauer and the Ducks had the best record in the West, going 54-20-8 with 116 points, one shy of a tie for the President’s Trophy. Anaheim was the NHL’s highest-scoring team that season, averaging 3.21 goals per contest.

Hired by the Ducks on July 12, 2011 as an assistant with their then American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, Lauer was promoted to Anaheim on November 30, 2011. During his four years with the Ducks the team finished the regular season in the Top 3 in the entire NHL during all but one.

Lauer made his NHL coaching debut with the Ottawa Senators in 2009 as an assistant coach. Before joining the Senators he served as an assistant with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL from 2007-09. Lauer aided Milwaukee to the Western Division title and a share of the league lead for points with 107. The former player began his coaching career in 2002 as an assistant with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League.

The 48-year-old was drafted by the New York Islanders in the second round, 34th overall, of the 1985 draft. He played in 323 NHL games with the Islanders, Senators, Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins, recording 44 goals and 111 points. .