After a few months of frustrating Islanders hockey, Lou Lamoriello finally committed to the coaching change this team desperately needed, opting to replace Lane Lambert with Hall-of-Fame tender turned coach, Patrick Roy.
With Lane’s departure essentially unanimously called for by anyone following the team, it was only a matter of time before even a GM as stubborn as Lou would do something about it. So what did he do? He went and got the 4-time Stanley Cup Champion, 3-time Vezina winner, and 11-time All-Star psychopath that is Patrick Roy.
Roy left the NHL as a coach several years ago after a disappointing stint with the Colorado Avalanche (2013-2016), going 130-92-24 in 246 games. His NHL record may be cause for concern to some, but it can’t be ignored how much time he has spent coaching at the junior level, culminating in a Memorial Cup victory in 2023 with the Quebec Remparts (a team he also owns). He had been head coach since 2005, except for the three seasons spent in Colorado. He expressed excitement about continuing to build a positive culture with this team.
What he is capable of doing with the Islanders will be found out soon enough, and we can’t fully expect the change to be a magic or immediate fix. However, the Islanders could certainly use some of those new-coach adrenaline points like we saw in Minnesota and Edmonton earlier this season.
Roy has a tough task ahead of him trying to salvage this season. There are a lot of bad habits to address, starting with a few that he has already mentioned specifically, such as getting the defensive structure back and executing breakouts to minimize turnovers. Time will tell if they can become a team who can compete in the playoffs, as well as if Lou will decide to make any drastic trades around the deadline to supplement the coaching change.
The schedule is also not set up in the islanders favor to start off Roy’s tenure, facing off first against Dallas, Vegas, Montreal, and Florida. All of these games are at UBS, except for Montreal where Patrick started his NHL career and won two of his four Stanley Cups (1986 and 1993).
The first game against the Stars would end in a glorious overtime victory thanks to a breakaway goal from Bo Horvat. Coach Roy gets to start off with a winning record after a game that was largely back-and-forth with two awesome goaltenders. The Islanders still struggled to get shots on goal and gave up another lead, but there were some positive things to take away, nonetheless. The effort level was there and they created a lot of major chances to score throughout the game despite not scoring a lot. Scott Wedgewood played solid in the crease for Dallas after defeating New Jersey the night before, but the Isles came through with a gutsy third period comeback. Can they build on this momentum?
Regardless of how these first few games go, this man is precisely what the Islanders need in at least one department, which is attitude, and he just so happens to have impressive pedigree to match. The man is a champion amongst champions in the NHL as a player, which says a lot about a guy even as a coach now. You just know he is committed to excellence; he knows what it takes to win and wants to be here, and he can be the fire this team needs before the season is lost. We have to hang our hopes on that passion for the time being. He was a winner and a scrapper as a player, and we’d love to see that philosophy embodied again in this Islanders roster.
CP: Darryl Dick
The Morning Skate 