After Revitalizing Islanders, Roy Excited for Full Offseason with Team

Head Coach Patrick Roy felt like the New York Islanders had unfinished business after a tightly-contested first round exit at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. 

That the Islanders had any business at all in the playoffs was thanks in part to the coach, whose passion and unwavering belief gave hope to a team struggling to find consistency when he was hired in January, and ultimately led to meaningful games in April. 

"He played a big part in the psyche of the group," Captain Anders Lee said. "He came in with a lot of energy and a great mentality and definitely brought some juice to the room. He believed in us from the get-go."

Roy’s presence was undeniably felt from the moment he stepped into the locker room. The four-time Stanley Cup champion, three-time Conn Smythe and Vezina Trophy winner had an immediate impact on the Islanders, who were quick to absorb every story and lesson the Hall of Famer had to offer. 

“The analogies and stories that he has, I felt like I could really believe them coming from him, obviously because he's been through it,” Mathew Barzal said. “It’s not just fluff. It's all stuff he's been through and done.”

Roy’s winning mentality and inspirational personality was a tremendous asset for the Isles, who qualified for the playoffs in Game 81 on the heels of an 8-0-1 stretch to end the regular season. Getting to that point was no easy feat and Roy gives full marks to his team who was receptive to his message and system from the beginning. 

"I'm thankful to the players for embracing that challenge,” Roy said. “We worked a lot on fundamentals, we worked on our mindset. Try to have a very positive mindset and stay very even-keel.”

For a coach who truly values every step of the teaching process, having limited time to implement his system was admittedly a challenge for Roy, especially with a packed schedule in the second half with a considerably road-heavy slate.  

"The toughest thing that I that I saw coming in halfway of the season is the lack of practices," Roy said. "I mean, you could come in with whatever you want, the structure you want, but when most of your practices are morning state that's hard to come up and make some important change on our team."

But Roy was agile and intentional in making the most of the practice time he did have with his group. He ran intense sessions and demanded a high compete level that he believed would carry over into games.

“It lights a little fire under some guys and brings that competitiveness to practice." Ryan Pulock said. "Practice like you play, it’s true. Showing up to practice [with] battle and work ethic, it translates to games.”

Roy was upfront with his players and found a balance between constructive criticism and encouragement, which was especially helpful in winning streaks or losing stretches. 

“He was the first one to tell you, hey, good job, keep going, you played amazing tonight,” Casey Cizikas said. “But he was also the first one to tell you hey, you need to pick it up a little bit. There's a fine line there but he did a such a good job in my opinion of kind of riding that fine line.”

Islanders President and GM Lou Lamoriello acknowledged the difficult situation he put Roy in, asking him to salvage a season  on the fly. Lamoriello gave full credit to Roy for going above and beyond. 

"I put Patrick in a very difficult situation coming in at the time he came in,” Lamoriello said. "I don't think he could have done any better than he did. He exceeded all expectations that I might have had... I had high expectations."

Though the Islanders reached their goal of making the playoffs, they didn’t go as far as they envisioned. However, the silver lining is the strong foundation that can be built upon for next year. The Islanders are looking forward to a training camp come September where they won’t have to start from square one, and they’re feeling good about it. 

"We know [Roy] pretty well and now moving into a full offseason and a full training camp, we can reacclimate ourselves and get ready to go right from the first game,” Kyle Palmieri said. 

As much as the players are excited, Roy is also looking forward to a strategic offseason where he can hit the ground running with his team come September. 

“I look forward to training camp and I think the players are looking forward as well to a fresh start,” the coach said. “There was a lot of positive coming from this season. I mean, the resilience that the guys have, how we finished the year, the push that we made to make the playoffs, how we played in the playoffs. 

“Summer is going be good to think about how we want to approach a training camp how we want to prepare ourselves,” Roy added. “And what we want to do in order for us to have a strong year.”