Lou's Hire Of Patrick Roy As Islanders Coach Is A Brilliant Move For Now & Beyond

Signor Lamoriello's hiring of Patrick Roy is his best coaching decision since 1993 when he imported and earlier, brilliant, French-Canadian, Jacques Lemaire to run the New Jersey Devils.

Lou came through!

Signor Lamoriello's hiring of Patrick Roy is his best coaching decision since 1993 when he imported and earlier, brilliant French-Canadian Jacques Lemaire to run the New Jersey Devils.

Within two years, Lou's Garden Staters won a Stanley Cup.

Roy's arrival as an NHL mentor has been long-awaited; actually, too long-awaited!

Lamoriello: "He's firey. He loves the game. It's going to be great for our players."

His winning record includes a Memorial Cup. And, believe me, winning Canada's Junior championship is as hard for a coach as capturing the Stanley Cup.

The Maven gives Lou credit for allowing Lane Lambert to remain behind the bench as long as gentlemanly possible, and now one of the greatest goaltenders of all-time gets a chance to prove what many of us have been waiting for: a chance to prove his worth on an NHL level.

Whether he can push the current edition of the Islanders into a playoff berth is his immediate challenge, but nobody loves a challenge more than Roy.

Since the season began, Lambert appeared to have lost his club's handled.

Here are the reasons Lane failed:

1. Disorganization.

2. Lack of Hustle.

3. Elementary dumb plays right up until mid-season.

4. Inept defensive moves by defensemen and forwards.

5. Deterioration of goalie Ilya Sorokin's game due to all of the above.

6. A total lack of consistency.

7. Negative attitudes.

Interestingly, after the overtime loss in Chicago, captain Anders Lee seemed to have run out of cheery homilies.

Make no mistake, this was not an impetuous Lamoriello decision. To obtain a 14-carat gold ice general such as Roy takes a heckuva lot of negotiating time.

What makes the arrival of Patrick so much more exciting is that Lou has bypassed the "Used Coach Lot" and has -- call this courageous -- made a decision that could explode as much as it could prove a bonanza for the franchise.

But what The Maven sees in Roy is a combination of John Tortorella's fire and Stanley Cup-winning Bruce Cassidy's brains.

"It's playoff hockey for the Islanders from now on," said Roy in his initial interaction with the New York media. 

As for Patrick's inheritance, there's quality to be sure.

With a few exceptions, the Islanders have underperformed. Lord knows that if the current lineup had played the first half of the season with intelligence and determination, it could have been in second place in the Met Division, not sixth.

Then again, that's why Roy will be working for the Orange and Blue Sunday night in Elmont, not devouring poutine in his native Quebec City.

Or as they say in Le Province: C'est Magnifique!

And as we say at UBS Arena.

GO, ISLES, GO.

Or, as The Maven put it right at the start of this essay, it is worth repeating.

LOU CAME THROUGH!