Opinion: Islanders Coach Patrick Roy's Eye-Catching Empty-Net Call Raises Questions
Patrick Roy
Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
As is true with most NHL teams that are at or near the bottom of the standings, there’s an air of desperation currently enveloping the New York Islanders.
In recent days – including their 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday – Islanders coach Patrick Roy pulled out some things you don’t often see from bench bosses in the best hockey league in the world, whether that’s good or not.
Earlier this week, Roy called out his team at an open practice, giving the assembled crowd of fans an apology for what they've been seeing from the club lately.
And on Tuesday, in the late stages of the game against the Leafs and with the Isles on a penalty kill, Roy pulled goalie Ilya Sorokin for a defensive zone faceoff. In short order, Toronto got an empty-net goal from center John Tavares for the third and final Leafs goal of the night.
After the game, Roy told reporters that even if Sorokin stayed in the net, if the Maple Leafs won the faceoff, they would've controlled the puck and won the game anyway.
"Because it was a penalty, we could ice the puck and try to get some possession offensively," Roy added.
All in all, you must wonder where Roy has been coming from with decisions like that. We’re not suggesting the coach has no room for creativity, and apologizing to the crowd at practice shows some accountability. But it’s also worth noting that none of these decisions seem to generate many positives.
Were it not for the almost comical struggles of the New York Rangers, the Islanders would be last in the Metropolitan Division. Even then, they're only two points ahead of the Rangers with an extra game.
Many projected the Islanders to be a wild-card team at best. This writer projected them to finish sixth in the Metro. But many of us also thought they would have more fight in them.
Instead, we’ve seen the Islanders look utterly lost on both special teams, ranking last on power-play and penalty-kill success rates. They’re also the league’s seventh-worst team on offense, averaging just 2.63 goals-for per game, and the 10th-worst defense, allowing 3.18 goals against per game. It’s difficult to find a statistic that compliments the Islanders aside from the league's best faceoff win percentage. As much as Roy is trying to improve the club and trying different lines and players and strategies, the results are partly on him.
Of course, it’s also on Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello, but we don’t see him going anywhere. It’s easier to envision Lamoriello firing Roy and trying to start over with someone new, just like he did last year by replacing Lane Lambert. Lamoriello can be as cold-blooded as any GM in the game.
That said, Roy has said he and Lamoriello communicate regularly, and the GM provides support to him and the coaching staff. Changing the coach seems unlikely at this point, but that doesn't ease any pressure Roy and this club face.
We’re nearly at the midway point of the regular season, which means there’s precious little time for Roy to steer this team out of its current trajectory. While Roy may have some more little-seen tricks in his bag, nothing short of a miraculous string of victories will boost the Islanders up the standings.
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