Patrick Roy: Here’s What May Have Cost Him His Job

Jonathan Di Gregorio
Patrick Roy: Here’s What May Have Cost Him His Job
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

There was a major surprise in the NHL today as Patrick Roy was fired with just four games remaining.

Peter DeBoer is the new coach of the Islanders

This marks the second coach fired in less than a week in the League, and he is immediately being replaced by an experienced coach.

While firings at this time of year aren't surprising—as some clubs begin to shake things up ahead of next season—in both of these cases, the teams are currently in the playoffs.

However, in the case of the Islanders, the team is having a season that has exceeded expectations since before it began, and one might wonder what led to Roy's dismissal.

According to Emily Kaplan, Islanders management was dissatisfied with the defensive system implemented by the coach, which left goaltender Ilya Sorokin too exposed.

It's understandable, given that the Long Island team had just gone through a four-game losing streak in which they allowed 20 goals to their opponents.

The team had been struggling defensively lately and needed to shake things up a bit to ensure they didn't miss the playoffs.

Additionally, the Islanders likely wanted to secure Peter DeBoer's services, as he could have been hired by another team during the offseason.

And he's not just there to finish out the season—he's been signed for the remainder of this campaign and the next four years.

It really seems like Darche had DeBoer on his radar for a while.

Besides, let's not forget that Roy was already in place when Mathieu Darche arrived, so he wasn't “his guy,” meaning it's possible the general manager was just waiting for an excuse to replace his coach.

And the timing was perfect, because in addition to their current four-game losing streak, the Islanders have a long four-day break and won't play again until Thursday night.

That will give DeBoer time to lead a few practices to implement his new system before his new team's next game.

As for Roy, one wonders what the future holds for him and if we'll ever see him back behind an NHL bench.


In a nutshell

– That's not many.

– Good question!

– What a feat!

– We can thank him.

– The Flyers open the scoring.

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