Patrick Roy didn’t expect to return to the NHL so soon

For the first time since 1995, Patrick Roy is on the payroll of an NHL team other than the Colorado Avalanche. People remember what they were doing in December 1995, when Roy left the Canadiens for Colorado.

Everyone… except those of us who were still in the womb.

Anyhow… All that to say, he’s now at the helm of the New York Islanders for what’s next. Lou Lamoriello has decided to give him his second chance in the NHL.

The next week will undoubtedly be an intense one for him. After all, tomorrow night, he’ll be called upon to coach a game against the Stars. Remember, he hasn’t yet had a chance to coach a game with his new club.

He has four games on the menu before the All-Star break. Three of them are at home… and Thursday’s game is at the Bell Centre. Needless to say, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Then, on February 5, it’s back to business as usual. He doesn’t have much time (37 games left in the Islanders’ season, 45 of which have already been played) to try and get his team into the playoffs… and he’s going to do it with a lot of pressure and attention.

Because yes, right now, that’s the goal. The Islanders are two points away from making the detail, and clearly, Lou Lamoriello didn’t bring the Roy in to try and win the draft lottery.

In the longer term, the 37 games will also serve to evaluate the club. Roy will then be able to prepare for his next training camp to get the season off to a good start.

At that point, I’m also anxious to see whether any Quebec assistants will join him, as was done in Colorado back in the day. I’m keeping my eye on Louis Robitaille of the Cape Breton Eagles.

I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t expecting to write about this tonight. After all, everyone expected Roy to be (potentially) signed to the NHL this summer.

It’s obviously happened faster than anyone thought, which will force Roy to change his life overnight.

But what you need to know is that if it happened fast for us, it happened fast for Roy too. I say that because his long-time partner, Jacques Tanguay, talked about hiring his good friend.

And according to Kevin Dubé of the Journal de Québec, the two acolytes didn’t expect Roy to return to the NHL so soon.

Tanguay isn’t surprised to see him in the NHL (he knew his friend still had the fire and desire to win the Stanley Cup again), but it really happened sooner than expected.

Even if Roy is feverish, the fact remains that the former goaltender was in the midst of an off-year. But Lou Lamoriello’s call changed everything, as Patrick Roy just couldn’t turn down the challenge.

He took the time to rest.

Maybe it happened a little faster than we’d anticipated, maybe he deserved to rest a little longer. – Jacques Tanguay on Patrick Roy

And since we know that Roy is (more than) competent for the job, I’m looking forward to seeing how much of an impact he’ll have. That’s why the Islanders brought him in: to change the club’s culture and go out and win games.

Nothing he can’t do.

Extension

– Remember that Roy, in his first year as an NHL coach in 2013-2014, won the Jack Adams.

– At the start of the day, only one team had a coach who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame for his prowess on the ice: the Habs with Martin St-Louis. The Habs coach is no longer the only one.