Patrick Roy lost the Islanders’ dressing room, and consequently his job, the way Mike Campbell went bankrupt. Slowly, then all at once.
A month ago, you could have made a case for Roy getting Jack Adams Trophy votes. But by Friday night, when he took the blame for the Islanders looking unready to play in the first period against the Flyers, everyone paying attention knew that he was on thin ice. Twenty-four hours later, when his team was again embarrassed by the Hurricanes, it was obvious both that the Islanders had tuned out Roy and that he was very much on the clock.
Turns out, Mathieu Darche had likely already made the decision by then to end Roy’s fascinating-yet-failing tenure behind the Islanders’ bench. With four games left in the season and the club likely to fall out of a playoff spot before Thursday’s home game against the Maple Leafs, Roy was replaced by Pete DeBoer.
The move counted as shocking given the timing, but perhaps not altogether surprising.
DeBoer, per multiple reports, was hired under a multiyear deal. This move would have required consent of ownership given that Roy had time left on his contract, but it is Darche who owns this bold and potentially defining decision.
It is a Lou Lamoriello-esque move from Lamoriello’s replacement, albeit one that — unlike Darche’s predecessor’s famous decision to fire Robbie Ftorek and hire Larry Robinson to coach the Devils in 2000 — seemed to hasten the inevitable.
Roy was hired by Lamoriello, not Darche, and although the two established a good working relationship, that fact always meant that the coach was likely to be the first person to take the blame under a new administration.
For now, The Post confirmed, the assistant coaching staff remains unchanged, though that may not remain true for long once the season is over.
Neither Darche nor DeBoer spoke publicly on Sunday, with the plan being for both to talk after the Islanders practice Monday.
At least in the short term, the task in front of DeBoer is obvious: get the Islanders to the playoffs and avoid what would be an utter calamity.
Up until the March 19 match in Ottawa, the Islanders had looked not just like a postseason lock, but a team that could potentially win a round.
Since then they are 3-7-0, losing control of their own destiny and a vibe that had been impeccable all year — driven by Matthew Schaefer’s ascendant rookie season — has turned aimless.
Captain Anders Lee said the team needed to stick together, a comment that seemed loaded with subtext, and MSG’s footage of the Islanders looking uninterested in what Roy had to say during a timeout the same night only added to the sense that something was not right.
Making matters even worse, Roy took the blame for his team being unready to play in the first period on Friday, only for them to be even worse in Saturday’s first period.
“100 percent,” Ryan Pulock said Saturday when asked whether Roy’s message was getting through. “He believes in us and we believe in him.”
As for the question of why now, the answer is twofold.
First, if Roy had lost the faith of players and management, then there was little reason to think the Islanders’ best chance of making the playoffs was with him behind the bench.
Second, DeBoer has been considered the best candidate available all season after being fired by the Stars last spring. By hiring him now, Darche jumped a market that will be highly competitive in just a few weeks with Bruce Cassidy and Peter Laviolette amongst the big names still available.
Hiring DeBoer, a veteran coach with a proven track record across stops in Florida, San Jose, New Jersey, Vegas and Dallas, also sends a clear signal that the Islanders believe they are close to being a legitimate contender.
Though there will surely be severe ramifications to the roster during the offseason — very possibly including Lee’s exit as an unrestricted free agent — this is not a hire that screams retool.
Rather, it is one whose underlying currents indicate a busy offseason is to come, and that Darche has little intention of letting Schaefer’s years under an entry-level deal go to waste.
First, though, is the next four games. And, the Islanders had better hope, the playoffs.
