Islanders Hoping Roy Effect Is Strong Enough to Upset the Hurricanes

After three seasons at the helm, Roy quit before the start of his fourth season, explaining he felt he didn’t think he had enough input in player personnel decisions in his public statement. The timing of his departure was far from ideal, and it probably explains why it took eight long years before someone decided to give him a new head coach position in the NHL.

Legendary Players Are Not Guaranteed Legendary Coaches

Being an NHL legend does not guarantee success behind the bench of a professional hockey team, Maurice Richard only lasted two games when he coached the Quebec Nordiques in the World Hockey Association. Years later, the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, couldn’t get the Phoenix Coyotes into the playoffs during his four years in charge. Perhaps Gretzky’s particular skillset couldn’t be taught. It’s hard for a forward who has made his bread and butter out of going where the puck would be later rather than where it was to teach that, it’s a gift very few people possess. Meanwhile, a goaltender who got to watch his team attack for years has had the time to study the different systems and see what works and what doesn’t.

When Roy arrived with the Islanders, he immediately decided to change the defensive zone system, doing away with the “dice” and replacing it with a more modern-day man-to-man approach. NHL players are always meant to obey their coaches, even more so when a goaltending legend tells you about what works in the defensive zone, it’s hard to argue.

Can Roy Have the Effect Desired by Lou Lamoriello?

Implementing such a system change takes both time and plenty of reps. Another former NHL player has been trying to put the same system in place for the team he now coaches. Martin St. Louis has been behind the Canadiens’ bench for two seasons and a half, and his young blue line is still struggling to execute the coverage properly. It could have something to do with the fact the Canadiens are the third youngest team in the league with an average of 26.3 years old according to the NHL’s By the Numbers 2023-24 Opening Day Rosters. Meanwhile, Roy’s Islanders were the sixth eldest with an average of 29.2 years old on opening day.

Still, it took some time for the Islanders to fully comprehend what their coach was trying to do and now that they have, they need to stick to the system and keep doing what they are doing well. Most pundits agree that the Carolina Hurricanes should have little trouble beating Roy’s Islanders, but this writer is not ready to throw in the towel. After all, Roy was an absolute beast in the playoffs when he still wore the pads. In his storied career, he won four Stanley Cups and three Conn Smythe Trophies; he remains the only player to have won the playoffs’ MVP trophy with two teams.

Roy’s biography Le Guerrier has been translated into Winning and Nothing Else in English. The Quebec Remparts have won the Memorial Cup three times in their history; in 1971 when Roy was still learning to read in primary school and then in 2006 and 2023, both times, he was behind the bench. Of course, junior hockey is not professional hockey, but Roy’s leadership and passion sure transcends the different levels of the game.

Granted, the Hurricanes took the first game of the matchup, but they didn’t exactly blow the Islanders out of the water. The score was 1-1 after 40 minutes and while Carolina took a 2-1 lead early in the third, it stayed a one-goal game until Martin Necas scored an empty net goal. The Roy we all saw the next morning on the highlights show didn’t look annoyed or surprised in the least, he’s been there, he’s done that. It’s not his first rodeo, and he’s fully aware it takes four wins to take a series.