Islanders fire head coach Patrick Roy with four games left in season
With four games remaining in the regular season, the New York Islanders have fired head coach Patrick Roy.
Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche announced Sunday afternoon that Roy will be replaced by Peter DeBoer.
The Islanders lost 4-3 to the Hurricanes Saturday night in Carolina. It was the Islanders’ fourth straight loss and their seventh in the last 10 games as they battle for a playoff spot.
Heading into Sunday’s games, the Islanders were barely hanging on to a playoff spot with a 42-31-5 record, good for third place in the Metropolitan Division. They were only one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets and two points ahead of the Washington Capitals.
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The Islanders don’t play again until Thursday, when they will host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders’ last four games are all at home — including next Sunday against the Canadiens — where they have a 21-14-2 record.
The Canadiens officially clinched a playoff spot for the second straight season on Sunday afternoon when the Red Wings lost 5-4 to the Minnesota Wild in Detroit.
Roy, who was the Canadiens goalie the last two times they won the Stanley Cup in 1986 and 1993, was in his third season coaching the Islanders, who missed the playoffs last year. The Hall of Famer had a 97-78-22 record during his time with the Islanders. He still has two more seasons remaining on his contract.
Darche, a McGill University graduate who played three seasons with the Canadiens, is in his first season as GM of the Islanders after spending six seasons in management positions with the Tampa Bay Lightning, including the last three as assistant GM under Julien BriseBois.
When the Islanders hired Darche last May to replace Lou Lamoriello he decided to keep Roy as head coach, but fired assistant coaches John MacLean and Tommy Albelin.
“Patrick is a winner,” Darche said at the time. “He had success when he came here the first year, he had success. I went to meet with him last week to get to know him more and I’m extremely comfortable and excited to be working with him.”
Not anymore.
DeBoer has coached more than 1,200 games in the NHL and likely would have been a hot commodity this off-season with other teams looking for a new head coach.
Darche beat them to the punch.
DeBoer was fired by the Dallas Stars at the end of last season and has also coached the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights. He was part of Team Canada’s coaching staff when it won a silver medal at this year’s Milano Cortina Olympics.
DeBoer has never won the Stanley Cup, but did advance to the Stanley Cup final twice — with the Devils in 2012 and the Sharks in 2016. He has a career record of 662-447-152 for a .585 winning percentage.
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