The Brilliance Of Islanders Lamoriello Hiring Roy As Another Canadian NHL Coaching Job Opened Up
When New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello considered a coaching move, he had several options.
Lamoriello could have followed the path of the Ottawa Senators, who fired their head coach, D.J. Smith, on Dec. 13 and appointed Jaques Martin in the interim, or the St. Louis Blues, who fired Craig Berube on Dec. 14 and appointed Drew Bannister in the interim.
Lamoriello could have put the interim tag on assistant coach John MacLean or elevated Rick Kowalsky from Bridgeport to serve as head coach before making a permanent decision.
He could have decided to let the Islanders finish out the year with Lane Lambert and see if the group could have turned things around, as we saw in 2022-23.
If Lambert didn’t rise to the occassion, Lamoriello could have gone the route that four teams have gone since their season ended.
We’ve seen the Seattle Kraken fire Dave Hakstol, the San Jose Sharks fire David Quinn, and the Buffalo Sabres fire Don Granato before seeing our first firing following the First Round when the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe on Thursday.
But Lamoriello went a route that shocked the hockey world.
The shock wasn’t hiring a new head coach mid-season.
It was hiring Hockey Hall of Famer and failed NHL head coach Patrick Roy, who walked away from the NHL bench in Colorado following the 2015-16 season.
It’s fair to say that Roy was immature in his first stint behind an NHL bench, but after returning to coach in the QMJHL for a few years, there’s no question he matured, and Lamoriello believed his passion and energy was exactly what the Islanders needed.
There’s no question that Lamoriello was looking for a coach who could turn the season around with the current group while also building a framework for consistent success in 2024-25.
While the first two months under Roy weren’t amazing, it was clear he was building the foundation. Then, after a six-game winning streak followed by a six-game losing streak, Roy’s Islanders went on an 8-0-1 run to close out the season and make the playoffs.
Roy and his squad didn’t get the job done in the First Round, falling in five games to the Carolina Hurricanes.
While, as a franchise, making the playoffs at this point isn’t something to celebrate — with the team and their fan base having much higher aspirations — Roy came in and got a team that looked lost to believe in themselves, believe in his ways, which ultimately paved a path to their fifth playoff berth in six seasons.
Roy learned a lot about his experience coming in halfway through.
“I learned a lot because it was the first time I jumped in mid-season,” Roy said. “It was unknown on my side, but obviously I had the support of Lou, helping me out. We had a lot of conversations about a lot of things, and going in, I wanted to play a certain way structure-wise. I’m thankful to the players for embracing that challenge and making it work.”
Certain players responded better than others, and no one bought into Roy’s ideas more than Islanders All-Star Mathew Barzal.
“He did an excellent job coming in halfway through,” Barzal said. “He really just gave everybody the confidence that we could do it no matter what. I think the analogies and stories that he has, I felt like I could really come from him because he’s been through it. The confidence that he puts out, I think, really helped our group.”
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Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson, who is expected to sign an eight-year deal this summer, echoed Barzal’s sentiments.
“It was a new experience. I think a lot of us, midseason, have not experienced change, but he came in and did a great job with us,” Dobson said. He obviously brings a lot of passion and energy, and we were able to feed off that.
“It wasn’t an easy position for him to come in with, given where we were at. We did a good job of clawing our way back into the mix, and it obviously didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but it was good for the group to find a way to get a spot and get in the playoffs and he did a good job coming out with us.”
Roy did as good of a job as he could, said Lamoriello.
“I take full responsibility. I put Patrick in a very difficult situation, coming in at the time he came in,” Lamoriello said. “The changes that are necessary to do things the right way, you don’t have a lot of time. … So I’m excited. Patrick knows that. I couldn’t be more pleased where we are today.”
Roy is incredibly excited for next season because of what he was able to establish this season.
“Coming up short (in the playoffs) doesn’t make you feel good about it. But at the same time, seeing the improvement of our team and the way that we played certainly motivates us to be more ready for next year. And I look forward to the training camp, and I think the players are looking forward as well to a fresh start and having a training camp again because there was a lot of positive coming from this season.”
Had Roy been hired come season’s end, he would have lost the ability to lay the groundwork, having to do so in September, less than a month before the season began.
Also, if the Islanders don’t hire Roy, does someone else jump on him before Lamoriello gets the chance?
Roy wasn’t someone who was in the spotlight waiting for a coaching job, but after being hired by the Islanders, there was word out of Columbus that he was up for the job.
The Blue Jackets decided to go with Mike Babcock, and we all know how that went (if you don’t, he was fired right before the start of the season due to taking players’ phones and looking through their photo galleries).
Looking at teams that need coaches, Ottawa would have been a great spot for Roy, New Jersey too.
But Lamoriello quickly filling Lambert’s replacement with Roy left nothing up to chance, as he got his guy.
Now, it’s up to Lamoriello to build a roster that works with Roy’s system and trust that Roy can get the most out of the players.