Patrick Roy's focus is on an Islanders win, not nostalgia, in his first game against Avalanche
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy looks on in the first period of an NHL game against the Utah Hockey Club at UBS Arena on Thursday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
DENVER – Patrick Roy took a second for himself as the Islanders’ players warmed up for their morning skate. His eyes roamed around Ball Arena, the ice, the stands and, finally, up to the rafters. Two of the Stanley Cup banners – 1996 and 20001 – came with Roy in net for the Avalanche.
Roy spent the final eight seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Avalanche, then coached them from 2013-16 before stepping down a month before training camp because he was not satisfied with his input into personnel decisions. Monday marked his first time coaching against his former club as the Islanders, without a win in their first two games of the new season, played the middle match of a three-game road trip.
“It’s impressive to see the number of banners,” Roy said.
“A lot of good memories. That’s the way I want to look at it.”
But just like he did when he returned to Montreal as the Islanders coach in his third game after taking over for the fired Lane Lambert on Jan. 20, Roy insisted his full focus on Monday was on getting the Islanders their first win and not on taking a nostalgia trip.
After Roy spent his first 12 NHL season with the Canadiens before forcing a trade, he went 262-140-65 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .918 save percentage with the Avalanche, leading them to the two Cups and four additional appearances in the Western Conference finals.
Roy knows his tenure behind the Avalanche’s bench made him a better coach for the Islanders.
“It was a great experience,” Roy said of his first NHL coaching job. “Being back here with the organization and coaching for three years was a privilege. I wish I would have done things differently in the time. I didn’t have enough respect for the position of coaching. I learned a lot from it and it makes me the coach I am today.
“Do I have regrets? No, because it makes me who I am today. I have more respect for the position, more appreciation for being back in the league.”
Roy said he works “a lot harder” at the job with the Islanders.
“In the past, I would take things for granted,” Roy said. “Sometimes it’s nice to put your ego aside and understand it’s a privilege coaching in this league.”
Roy’s abrupt departure from the Avalanche led to the hiring of Jared Bednar, who had been coaching the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland.
Bednar enters this season with the third-longest tenure among NHL coaches behind the Lightning’s Jon Cooper and the Penguins’ Mike Sullivan.
“I probably owe him a big hug and a steak,” said Bednar, adding he had never met Roy and didn’t think he would get the chance to do so on Monday.
“There’s obviously the relationship with fans and the city of Denver for him, that would be something special,” Bednar said. “There’s still some players that played for him.”
Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Chris Wagner are the three Avalanche on the active roster who played for Roy while Gabriel Landeskog is on injured reserve.
MacKinnon helped the Avalanche win the Cup in 2022 and earned the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP last season.
“For those three years here, that’s the thing I’m most proud of because we would not have drafted MacKinnon if I wasn’t there,” Roy said. “I’m proud to see how Mac has been playing for them.”
Notes & quotes: Goalie Ilya Sorokin, who underwent back surgery in the offseason as he entered the first season of an eight-year, $66 million extension, made his first start of the season after missing most of training camp and all six preseason games. “There was a skate in the summer where he was hurt and we were shooting and he was standing behind the net, just tracking pucks with his eyes,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “We all know that he’s done everything in his power to get back…” Former Islanders defenseman Devon Toews, traded to the Avalanche for two, second-round picks in 2020 in a salary cap move, was a late scratch with a lower-body issue, keeping him from playing in his 400th NHL regular-season game…Defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Julien Gauthier remained the healthy scratches for the Islanders.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
