Islanders fire coach Lane Lambert, name Patrick Roy as replacement
The Islanders have fired head coach Lane Lambert, left, and named Patrick Roy as his replacement. Credit: Jim McIsaac; AP / Jacques Boissinot
Lane Lambert’s long-awaited first NHL head-coaching job lasted only 45 games into his second season with the Islanders. Patrick Roy’s long-awaited second gig did not come as easily as he once expected.
“I thought the phone would ring faster,” said the newly named 19th coach in Islanders history. “But it did not.”
President/general manager Lou Lamoriello turned to the Hall of Fame goaltender and former Avalanche coach — the only candidate he spoke with — after relieving Lambert of his duties on Saturday. Roy will make his Islanders debut against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night at UBS Arena.
The Islanders (19-15-11) sit in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division after a dismal 0-3-1 road trip that ended with Friday night’s 4-3 overtime loss to Central Division-trailing Chicago. The Islanders are 2-6-2 since Dec. 31.
“Watching our team play, I felt that the inconsistency that has been going on for some period of time was not going to end,” Lamoriello said. “It’s always a tough decision. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Lane, but right now, we have to get back on track.
“You come to that point. There is always a line. A fine line. And that fine line, in my mind, was crossed, so this was the time to do it.”
Lamoriello said the rest of Lambert’s staff — assistants Doug Houda and John MacLean (whose son Kyle made his NHL debut in Friday’s overtime loss), director of goaltending Mitch Korn and goalie coach Piero Greco — will retain their jobs.
Roy, 58, went 130-92-24 with the Avalanche from 2013-16, winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach in 2014. He made the playoffs only once, in his first season, and the Avalanche were eliminated in the first round.
Roy resigned as the Avalanche’s coach on Aug. 11, 2016, a month before training camp opened, citing differences with management. He also was the Avalanche’s vice president of hockey operations.
“Zero interest in management,” Roy said. “And that’s the first thing I told Lou. Even at the end of my days in Colorado, Joe [Sakic] was our GM and he was making most of the decisions.
“I think I have plenty on my plate just worrying about my relationship with the players.”
The Patrick Roy File
Age: 58
As a player
Position: Goalie
Teams: Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche
NHL Draft: 51st overall pick in 1984
Record: Compiled overall record of 551-315-131 with 2.54 goals against average in regular season, and 151-94 record with 2.30 GAA in playoffs.
Awards: 1985 Calder Cup; 1986, ’93 2001 Conn Smythe Trophy, 1989, ’90, 92 Vezina Trophy.
Stanley Cup champion: 1986, 93 with Montreal, 1996, 2001 with Colorado
All-Star Game: 11-time participant
As a coach
Records: Three years with Colorado (2013-16), 130-92-24 record, including 3-4 in playoffs. Finished first in Central Division in 2013-14, losing in first round to Minnesota, 4-3.
As QMJHL coach: 13 seasons with Quebec Remparts, 524---255-66 record, 6 division titles, 12 playoff appearances, 2 Memorial Cups.
Current Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, on injured reserve with a lower-body issue, played for Roy with the Avalanche.
Roy served as general manager/coach — and, at one point, owner — of the Quebec Remparts of the then-named Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2005-13 and again from 2018-23. He led them to Memorial Cups in 2006 and 2023 with a cumulative record of 524-255-66.
He split his Hall of Fame playing career between the Canadiens, leading that storied franchise to Stanley Cups in 1986 and 1993, and the Avalanche, winning two more Cups in 1996 and 2001 before retiring in 2003. His 151 playoff wins are an NHL record.
He won a record three Conn Smythe Trophies as the playoff MVP, earned three Vezina Trophies as the NHL’s top goalie and was an 11-time All-Star before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
Roy went 551-315-131 with a 2.54 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 18 seasons, playing 1,029 regular-season games. The Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury just passed Roy for the second-most wins in NHL history, ironically beating the Islanders, 5-0, on Monday for the mark.
“One thing very important to me is the culture, the family culture,” Roy said of watching the Islanders. “And I felt like these guys were sticking together.
“One of my objectives will be to bring some consistency to their play and help these guys in their games.”
Lambert, 59, lasted 127 games with the Islanders after being promoted to succeed Barry Trotz, his longtime boss with the Islanders, Capitals and Predators.
When he fired Trotz after the Islanders missed the playoffs in 2022, Lamoriello said the team needed a “new voice” behind the bench. Trotz, now the Predators’ GM, had long championed Lambert as deserving of an NHL head-coaching job, and Lambert was believed to have previously drawn some interest from the Ducks and Red Wings while still a lieutenant under Trotz.
Lambert went 61-46-20 with the Islanders.
“I wish I had that answer,” Lamoriello said when asked why Lambert’s “voice” did not work. “I don’t have it. I’ll be perfectly honest in saying it.”
Speculation about Lambert’s job status grew in his first season as the Islanders struggled through a 2-8-3 stretch in January before eventually earning a playoff spot in their final regular-season game.
It surfaced again through an 0-4-3 stretch in November, with the UBS Arena crowd chanting for the ouster of Lambert and Lamoriello. But the last two games of that skid turned into the first two games of a stretch in which the Islanders gained at least a point in 17 of 19 games (11-2-6).
Newsday reported during the offseason that Lamoriello, 81, received a contract extension. But it’s also believed that ownership would consider moving on from Lamoriello if the team does not make the playoffs this season.
The Islanders have made the playoffs in five of Lamoriello’s six seasons with the organization, making him the team’s first GM to accomplish that since Hall of Famer Bill Torrey.
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.
