FILE- Quebec Remparts general manager and coach Patrick Roy announces his retirement from junior hockey, during a news conference Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. The New York Islanders fired coach Lane Lambert and replaced him with Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, President of hockey operations and general manager Lou Lamoriello announced Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
It’s been seven-and-a-half years since Patrick Roy last coached an NHL game after a messy split-up with the Colorado Avalanche and the phone didn’t ring much during that time. So when Lou Lamoriello and the New York Islanders did come knocking, the decision was a no-brainer.
“It means a lot. When I left Colorado, I thought the phone would ring fast, but it did not,” Roy said during his introductory press conference as the new head coach of the Islanders on Saturday after the team parted ways with Lane Lambert. “I understood that the way I left Colorado was probably not the best way to do things.”
A firey, impassioned bench boss as he was during his Hall-of-Fame goaltending career, Roy returned to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) where he had a philosophical re-awakening. After all, the modern-day player doesn’t always respond to the hard-nosed borderline frantic tenacity that was once commonplace in the days of yore.
It worked. His Quebec Remparts won the Memorial Cup last season — his 13th and final campaign as the team’s head coach across two stints.
“I’m proud of taking the time to go back to juniors, working with those guys, resource myself in the game, and make sure I stay on top of that different culture,” Roy said. “The player today is different than what it was in my time. It changes and you have to adjust to the younger guys. I’m very happy that I did this and I’m very happy that I received this call.”
Roy now inherits an Islanders team that appears…
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