Patrick Roy: This is the team that Lou gave me

[Sol]

Honestly, even just calling this "shenanigans" is an overreaction, let alone "insane shenanigans."

How about buffoonery? Is that less severe?

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

He thought Roy was gonna be goaltending when he hired him

He would probabl be better than some goalies in the league actually lol

 

[JianYang]

I'm currently getting major Doug Weight vibes from this current Patrick Roy coaching stint.

Both took over in January (I think Weight took over in January?) while the Islanders were struggling. They went on to make the playoffs in both instances. Then the Islanders came back the next year and were absolutely horrific under Weight. Both Weight and Garth were fired after that year and that's where Lou entered.

This could be the same thing after this year. I don't think the Islanders situation is currently quite as bad as it was with Weight, at least not yet. But it feels similar and like it will have the same conclusion, if the Islanders don't turn this season around.

I don't think Lou would even be allowed to make a coaching change right now if he wanted to. He probably now has to live or die by Roy for the rest of this year. Both are (probably) out if they miss the playoffs.

Are there even any people left from the Habs organization from the 80s that lou could hire?

That's been his bread and butter move over his entire career.

 

[Bleedred]

Are there even any people left from the Habs organization from the 80s that lou could hire?

That's been his bread and butter move over his entire career.

They’re all retired or have passed away.

Unless you’re just talking players like Roy was.

Not quite the 80s, but Kirk Muller as the next head coach for the Islanders? Things ended badly at the end of his Devils tenure though.

He’s currently an assistant for the Capitals though and they won’t poach him mid-season.

 

[SladeWilson23]

3 Stanley Cups, 5 finals appearances, has pretty much won at every stop. He brings a philosophy of pulling everyone in the organization in the same direction with him. The Islanders were a clown car organizationally prior to him stepping (which is why Tavares left). He cleaned that up and they have been generally competitive since then. That’s why Isles ownership like him.

The aisles aren’t anything more than a bubble team, but they are a better team than the amount of blown leads they have. They are getting those leads in the first place. This is a coaching issue.

Those are all good reasons for him to be the president or director of hockey operations, but not gm. His roster building skills aren't good anymore.

 

[sr edler]

There's no real Lou thread without this Brian Burke gem from Lou's time coaching Burkie at Providence College

 

[trellaine201]

While this is pretty rare, "crazy stuff" seems like an overreaction. Knowing Roy's personality, none of this is all that unexpected, and Lou hired him, so he knows him better than most. They will have a chat and that will be it.

Or this beef is going to continue in which case, grab popcorn.


What makes Roy a good coach exactly? Running Avs with almost the entire core that won the Cup in place into the ground?

I think opposite, terrible NHL coach.

 

[jkrdevil]

Those are all good reasons for him to be the president or director of hockey operations, but not gm. His roster building skills aren't good anymore.

I don’t disagree. But if you make Lou the President of hockey ops then he is also going to be GM. The Devils new ownership tried that a decade when they came in and he left.

 

[SladeWilson23]

I don’t disagree. But if you make Lou the President of hockey ops then he is also going to be GM. The Devils new ownership tried that a decade when they came in and he left.

Good point. I completely forgot about that.

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

I'm seeing the same issues with Lou and the Isles as with his last 5 years at the Devils. He's a legend and has worked magic for the team, so you have to give him respect. But that respect involves running the team into being mediocre at best, with no good prospects in sight. I guess if he still had the drafting talent he did in the 90s it could work (and even in the 2000s he made his picks count with Parise and Zajac and then getting guys like Greene and Clarkson from college free agency). But I'm just not seeing it now outside of Noah Dobson.

 

[PaulD]

What do owners see in Lou that makes him stick around for so long lmao.

He won 3 cups. Been to the finals 6 times. They hope he can do it again.
it appears Mike Sullivan will dine out on those 2 Cups he won 8 years ago for the rest of his life. Cliff Fletcher did same. Won one Cup in Calgary.
Old boys club syndrome.

 

[PaulD]

Some trophies in junior that are evidently all the evidence some people need. That's why Dale Hunter was so great with the Capitals. Oh wait...

Didn't Hunter turn the Caps down ?

 

[SoundAndFury]

Didn't Hunter turn the Caps down ?

He quit because players hated playing for him and obviously the GM/ownership was in the corner of a generational (some say best ever) scorer. It was as much of a "turning down" as "you can't fire me, I quit" is turning someone down.

But that's beside the point. The point was that he wasn't working out for the Caps and you can see the situation unravel more and more over time in that kind of environment. And it applies to Roy's NHL career as well, you can see internal rifts popping up all over the place. This is part of what makes you a good coach, not only the x-y-z of the playing system. If later was the case, Bob Hartley would be the best NHL coach ever but in actuality, nobody wanted to hire him even in his prime.