Is Lou Lamoriello still on planet Earth? The New York Islanders have completely gone off the deep end here as they not only FIRED their head coach in a contending playoffs spot, but they have just hired Patrick Roy to be their new coach!
I admire Patrick Roy as much as the next guy…but he hasn’t coached at the top level in years!!!
Despite being in a contending spot for the playoffs and keeping their playoff hopes alive for now, the New York Islanders and GM Lou Lamoriello have abandoned now ex-head coach Lane Lambert to the wolves as they made the shocking choice of hiring Patrick Roy to be their next head coach. And, despite my admiration for the all-time legendary goaltender, this move is either going to be a smashing success or a disastrous failure.
So, yeah. The Islanders now have Patrick Roy as their head coach.
Before I get into Patrick Roy and the sanity behind this coaching change, I just have to say that this move is really harsh on Lane Lambert. Not only was Lambert’s task of replacing the 2nd best head coach in the history of the Islanders franchise in Barry Trotz, but he also was given an old, aging, and banged up team that had FAILED TWICE to break out of the East and compete for the Stanley Cup.
Oh, and the Islanders finished with a 37-35-10 record in Barry Trotz’s final season to miss the playoffs completely in 2022. For a team to fail to capitalize with a Stanley Cup victory during its Cup-winning window and then miss out on the playoffs completely in the season after those failures, it’s usually a sign they are about to break down and enter a rebuild.
Yet, under Lambert, the Islanders finished with a 42-31-9 record in 2023 for 93 points and a playoff berth against the Carolina Hurricanes (which they lost 4-2), while they’re currently 19-15-11 for 49 points and sitting just 2 points outside of a playoff berth.
Sure, the Islanders have the 9th worst scoring offense in the NHL and are sitting in the 6th spot of 8 in the Metro Division, but New York has always had a low-scoring offense that was counterbalanced by their stingy defense and great goaltending from Ilya Sorokin…which hasn’t been the case this year. So, I get the desire for a switch in spite of being a win away from a playoff berth, but why did Lou Lamoriello pick Patrick Roy of all people to be the Islanders head coach.
I mean, the NHL teams go through head coaches like an Amsterdam Red Light district connoisseur does with his favorite prostitutes, so I appreciate the outside-of-the-box thinking from Lamoriello. But I thought Lou wanted to make the playoff and perhaps get back to the Eastern Conference Finals?
Obviously, Patrick Roy is one of the greatest hockey players to have ever played the sport and had a great opening act during his brief stint as the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, but that’s exactly what that was. A great opening act.
After going 52-22-8 in 2013-24 with the Avalanche and duking it out with the Wild in a hard-fought 4-3 series loss, he then followed that up with a 39-31-12 record in 2014/15 and a 7th place finish in the Central Division, and a 39-39-4 record and a 6th place finish in the Central Division. And, of course, the Avs missed the playoffs in both of his final two seasons in charge as he was relieved of his duties for now HC Jared Bednar (who won the SC with the Avs in 2022).
Sure, that’s not the best look when your successor goes and wins a Stanley Cup with your old team, but maybe Roy plied his trade for another NHL team during the near 8-year absence from the NHL? Well…no, he didn’t. And he didn’t take up a head coaching job in the AHL either. He became the coach of the Quebec Ramparts at the start of the 2018-19 season in the QMJHL…which is one of the three JUNIOR hockey leagues in Canada.
Now, Patrick Roy has been a very good coach for the Ramparts as he is coming off a 2023 Memorial Cup championship and 2 division titles with 50+ wins in division title-winning seasons, but there’s a MASSIVE GAP between a Canadian junior league and the NHL. I mean, that’s like when college football coaches think they can leave the collegiate ranks and win at the professional level.
Yeah, sometimes you get a Pete Carroll or a Jim Harbaugh, but you usually get an Urban Meyer, Bobby Petrino, or a Matt Rhule. At least Roy has NHL head coaching experience on his side, though it’s really 66% of bad/losing experience given his two poor seasons compared to the great first one.
So, we’ll have to wait and see if Patrick Roy can prove he’s not just a one-season wonder as a head coach in the NHL, but I really don’t envy his task as this Isles team isn’t nearly a force as they were years ago.
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