Patrick Roy was fired as coach of the New York Islanders on Sunday, another late-season change in the NHL that comes with the team in the middle of a spring tailspin that has put its playoff chances in jeopardy.
First-year general manager Mathieu Darche announced the abrupt decision to part ways with Roy and name Peter DeBoer his replacement with four games left in the season. The Islanders have lost four in a row and seven of their past 10 games, going from comfortably in a playoff spot to needing help down the stretch in a competitive Eastern Conference race.
Getting outshot 40-16 and losing 4-3 at division-leading Carolina on Saturday night in another must-win game was the final straw for Darche, who took over last summer and decided at the time to keep Roy behind the bench.
Roy is the second head coach fired over the past eight days. The Vegas Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy and hired John Tortorella on an interim basis a week ago.
This is not an interim move. DeBoer is taking the job full time.
The 57-year-old is fresh off serving as an assistant on coach Jon Cooper’s Canada’s staff at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, serving as an advanced scout and helping a talented group reach the final before losing to the U.S. in overtime.
“More of preparation was just when everybody arrived here and you’ve got basically three days to prepare, that a lot of the grunt work is done,” DeBoer said in Milan. “I was involved in the scouting selection process. That was totally different for me and an exciting kind of wrinkle in what we usually normally do as coaches.”
DeBoer has taken two teams to the Stanley Cup Final and most recently coached the Dallas Stars to three consecutive trips to the Western Conference final before being fired last year following their latest exit.
Internationally, DeBoer was an assistant for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year and has filled that role at multiple world championships. He called it a great opportunity for learning and perspective, even if being a head coach suits him better.
“Oh yeah, I’m a head coach,” DeBoer said. “I’m a short-term assistant coach. … You always come back a better head coach for, I think, doing that.”
Roy, a Hall of Fame goaltender considered one of the best to ever play the position, was hired by former GM Lou Lamoriello in January 2024 as a midseason replacement for fired coach Lane Lambert. Sparked by his arrival, the team made the playoffs that year and lost in the first round to Carolina. Regression has followed since, though players in recent days still had praise for Roy.
“He cares about the guys in the room,” captain Anders Lee said last week. “I think his messaging this season has been on point and he’s been able to read the room in a really good place and done his best to continue us on this journey of an 82-game hockey season.”
Roy did not make it to game No. 82, nor did he have the kind of public outbursts during games that were part of his first NHL gig with Colorado.
“I heard [about] his temper and stuff, or I’ve seen it over the years, like everybody,” said winger Ondrej Palat, who joined New York in a trade from New Jersey in late January. “He seems very calm. On the bench, he could get heated with all the circumstances that happen in a game. But in the room and around the boys, he’s pretty calm and positive.”
Parting ways with Roy comes at crucial point for the organization. Rookie of the year front-runner Matthew Schaefer has been a revelation in his first NHL season at the age of 18, and several other top prospects are on their way.
Roy was in his second job running a team in the league, following a three-year tenure with the Avalanche from 2013-16 that included winning the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year and abruptly resigning in the middle of the summer. They hired Jared Bednar, who then coached them to the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Darche and the Islanders are hoping for the same trajectory after making this change.
