From the moment Patrick Roy walked through the doors of Northwell Ice Center and took the ice with the New York Islanders, you knew things were going to be different.
From the moment Patrick Roy walked through the doors of Northwell Ice Center and took the ice with the New York Islanders, you knew things were going to be different.
From the moment Patrick Roy walked through the doors of Northwell Ice Center and took the ice with the New York Islanders, you knew things were going to be different.
There was no longer going to be a "country club" mindset.
No one was going to be comfortable. Every minute of every game was going to be earned.
We saw that over the first few months of Roy's tenure when the team made an impressive run to get into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But with Lou Lamoriello still at the helm, how much of a say would Roy have on the roster?
The answer is a lot, and it's clear the Islanders have a two-headed monster running the show, not just one.
When Barry Trotz was brought to the Islanders in 2018, he had to find the best system to fit the roster. He did an exceptional job, but the roster had a ceiling, lacking a goal scorer.
When Lane Lambert took over for Trotz ahead of the 2022-23 season, he tried to use that same roster and convert the team from a defensive juggernaut that had lost its way to a more offensive-minded team.
While the offense was there, the defense fell apart, which led to Lambert's removal from his duties this past January.
The Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender had no choice but to use the players rostered to field the best lineup, but unlike the two past coaches, Roy was going to play his system regardless of the players he had.
Roy and the team benefited from many players' ability to adapt to the new, fast, aggressive systems. However, there were still some holes, which Roy helped fill this summer.
It was Roy who convinced Anthony Duclair, his former junior player, to come to Long Island. The former Quebec Rempart forward listened to his old coach and took a team discount, too.
Although Mike Reilly likely wasn't going to have many offers — there was definite interest — his play and fit in Roy's system made bringing him back a no-brainer.
Certainly, Roy let it be known how much he valued Reilly at 5-on-5 and in the power play.
On Sunday, we saw exactly how much of a role Roy plays in management decisions, even though the Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender repeatedly told us that the decisions were up to Lou Lamoriello.
Obviously, we'll never know if the Islanders make the same moves they made on Sunday, with Pierre Engvall and Samuel Bolduc among the two players to hit waivers.
But it was clear that Engvall, a Lamoriello signing, just didn't fit Roy's aggressive style, and now he's no longer on the NHL roster.
It's not crazy to think that another coach would have found a role for Engvall, who signed a seven-year deal worth $3 million annually.
It's not crazy to think that even though Bolduc struggled as the seventh defenseman last year, he could have remained on the roster given the risk of sending a right-handed 23-year-old former second-round pick on waivers.
This doesn't mean that Roy told Lamoriello that X, Y, and Z had to happen because that's certainly not true.
But it's abundantly clear that Lamoriello values Roy's outlook on the team immensely, and both are working hand in hand to ensure that the Islanders are in the best situation to succeed in 2024-25.