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Only one focus of the newsletter this week, because yes, Patrick Roy’s comments on Anthony Duclair Tuesday night were that big a deal.
It won’t be clear until weeks from now, maybe longer, whether on Tuesday night we witnessed the wheels coming off the Islanders, and specifically Roy’s tenure as head coach, or this was a nothing, a blip on the radar that everyone gets past and forgets about.
What’s clear now is that the former is a distinct possibility, because there’s been a yearlong buildup of Roy criticizing players in public, because what he said about Duclair — “god awful,” “not competing,” “I think it’s an effort thing” — is well beyond normal coach press conference criticism of a player and because the Islanders’ playoff hopes are sinking with six straight losses.
In this space, we are in total, unabashed favor of unvarnished honesty from players, coaches and teams, and not only because it’s good for business.
