The Glaring Difference Between Trotz's Game Plan On Long Island & Roy's

EAST MEADOW, NY — With the hiring of Patrick Roy, the New York Islanders had a new voice for the first time since Barry Trotz came aboard in the summer of 2018, right after winning the Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals.

The two coaches, with Trotz now the general manager of the Nashville Predators, share similar styles.

Both preach and demand accountability, and their systems are geared toward keen attention to the game’s little details.

The surface-level difference between Trotz’s and Roy’s time with the Islanders is that Trotz came in before the season, while Roy joined mid-season.

However, the most significant difference is the systems in place and how they came to be.

Everyone views Trotz as a defensive specialist, but that wasn’t his bread and butter before arriving on Long Island.

His Capitals’ team had offensive talent, but to win a Stanley Cup, you need to be able to play a strong 200-foot game. Trotz was able to get Alex Ovechkin and others to by into that, which turned a talented team into champions.

Coming to Long Island, not having an Ovechkin-like game-breaker didn’t allow him to mimic the system and structure. They also lacked a structure.

In the 2017-18 season, the Islanders allowed the most goals in the NHL (293), with 3.57 goals entering the back of the net per game.

Goaltenders Robin Lehner and Thomas Griess, along with the team’s defensive prowess, took home the Jennings Trophy:

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The offense was top eight in the NHL (261), averaging 3.19 goals per game, but a -32 goal differential wasn’t a strong way to win hockey games.

So, Trotz evaluated the roster, which played a run-and-gun style under Doug Weight, and realized that the team didn’t have the talent to rely on offense but did have enough talent to play a defensive style system, as long as the defense and forward all bought in.

In Trotz’s first season, the Islanders drastically improved, finishing the 2018-19 campaign allowing a league-low 191 goals (2.33 goals against per game) while scoring 223 (2.72 goals per game). with a 48-27-7 record.

Although the Islanders never dominated regular seasons under Trotz, his ability to build a system around the Islanders’ strengths and weaknesses allowed for some deep playoff runs, going to back-to-back semi-finals in 2020 and 2021.

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Although Roy, like Trotz, is evaluating the roster, the new head coach came in with a system and is doing his best to get the roster to play his brand of hockey.

Aggressiveness has always been Roy’s mindset, even with the elite talent he had in his first NHL stint with the Colorado Avalanche.

While coaching the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts, winning a Memorial Cup last season, the team was arguably the most structured and disciplined team in the sport.

Coaching NHL players compared to junior players is very different, but Roy’s antics — the way he runs practices and the mindset he instills — is very much the same.

But with an 11-11-4 record in 26 games behind the Islanders bench, it’s clear that not everyone can play the aggressive, in-your-face style that Roy wants.

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If Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello remains in his role following this season, he will have to find the Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender players who play the way he likes.

If not, it makes the Roy hiring essentially pointless unless Roy is willing to adapt his system to fit the roster.

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