Reports emerging that the Toronto Maple Leafs have reached out to former Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy have been making the rounds this news cycle.
It seems interesting that Toronto would be interested in the former Jack Adams winner, considering how things ended for him in Long Island.
The Islanders fired Roy with about a week to go in the season, in a last-ditch effort to get the team back into the postseason. That effort didn’t work, and it left the organization wondering why it didn’t move on from Roy sooner.
There were plenty of conflicting reports regarding Roy’s ousting from New York. The usual “new voice” and “new leadership” spiel became the official organizational narrative. But beneath the evident political correctness, there were concerning rumors.
For one, the Isles front office had gotten tired of Roy not wanting to play the team’s younger prospects. In fact, some chatter posited that Roy wasn’t too happy about deploying rookie star Matthew Schaefer early in the season. The decision to play the Calder Trophy winner reportedly came from above, much to Roy’s displeasure.
Roster issues weren’t uncommon at all. In fact, Roy ran into very public spats over roster construction and lineup decisions with former GM Lou Lamoriello. The rift between Roy and Lamoriello became a bit of a spectacle.
When Lamoriello was replaced by Mathieu Darche, the incumbent Islanders GM gave Roy a vote of confidence by keeping him behind the bench for one more season. But that situation did little to ease the tension in roster and lineup decisions.
But what seemed to break the camel’s back was Roy’s message. According to rumors, which were officially rebuked, Roy eventually tired players of his war stories, regaling everyone with his tales of winning multiple Stanley Cups.
It got to a point where players felt Roy was rubbing his Cups in their faces. Players were asked about the situation, but everyone did the right thing by denying the reports.
Roy often didn’t have answers to Islanders' issues
There were more than a handful of occasions in which Roy had no answer to reporters’ questions following Islanders losses. Roy looked like that kid who got called on by the teacher when he didn’t do his homework.
Roy was unable to furnish responses to defensive and consistency issues plaguing the team. He wasn’t shy about deflecting the blame to players, and didn’t really go out of his way to protect players from public scrutiny.
Towards the end of his tenure, the breaking point became Vezina Trophy nominee Ilya Sorokin. Sorokin carried the Islanders all season. The situation frustrated the Russian netminder as he felt the team was doing little to play well defensively in front of him.
Roy, for his part, agreed. Instead of making a public commitment to bolstering the defense, he let the team take the blame for leaving Sorokin out to dry.
While there’s no indication that Sorokin’s displeasure had anything to do with Roy’s dismissal, it’s clear that the organization valued Sorokin more than Roy. The decision to sack Roy and hire Peter DeBoer, a defensive specialist, signaled that the organization wanted to protect its franchise goalie.
Based off this entire discussion, the Maple Leafs could do a heck of a lot better than Patrick Roy. While he may be a legendary goalie, his track record as a coach is an iffy one. He tends to do well in his first year behind the bench, but things tend to go downhill after that.
At this point, Peter Laviolette would be a better choice than Roy. The club needs to be thinking more along the lines of finding a coach who can better develop young players, while also embracing the veteran core currently in place.
That’s no easy task, and it’s a good thing the organization is taking its time in finding a suitable replacement.
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