New York Islanders could keep Patrick Roy on board to help new GM transition

The New York Islanders could consider keeping Patrick Roy around for one more season, at least, as a means of supporting the team’s new GM during the transition process.

Arthur Staple of The Athletic floated this idea in a recent piece, speculating that the Isles may not be inclined to cut ties with Roy immediately. Instead, the club could look to harness Roy’s experience in Long Island as a way of facilitating the transition process for the team’s new GM.

That idea makes sense. In my estimation, it’s the most sensible scenario considering that Roy and former GM Lou Lamoriello didn’t always seem eye to eye on roster decisions and team philosophy.

In fact, the public rift between Roy and Lamoriello is one of the various issues we wrote about throughout the season. But with Lamoriello out of the picture, the Islanders could decide to keep Roy, despite other high-profile coaches suddenly available like Mike Sullivan.

While the New York Islanders may still kick the tires on available coaching candidates out there, having Roy on board gives the team some flexibility in building a roster that fits the team’s current ethos, as opposed to starting from scratch with a new GM, coach, and playing style.

Why dumping Patrick Roy now would be a mistake

I pointed out in a previous piece that the current situation the New York Islanders face is similar to the ones the Toronto Maple Leafs dealt with when Brad Trelivng took over from Kyle Dubas in the summer of 2023.

The Leafs held on to former coach Sheldon Keefe for one more season, as Treliving got up to speed on how the team was running. Keefe got one more season, failed to lead Toronto past the first round, and was subsequently let go.

That scenario is one the Islanders could explore this season. The Isles’ new GM could give Roy one more kick at the can to prove he wasn’t the problem this past season.

However, letting Roy go now would be a mistake. Bringing in a new coach and GM at the same time would be like going through a rebuild. Players might feel up in the air and might be unclear on what to expect next season.

Then, the new coach-GM tandem would have to retrain the team in whatever philosophy they choose to follow. Doing so could take the first half of the season to work out. And if things don’t work out right away, the Islanders could be staring at another lost season.

The smart money would be on making the transition to a new administration as painless as possible. Keeping Patrick Roy around could soften the blow, buying the Isles enough time to ponder their next moves.