Patrick Roy: Fired With 4 Games Remaining in 2024-25 Season

Kevin Sweeney
Patrick Roy fired as Islanders head coach

Patrick Roy was the Islanders’ head coach until he was fired with four games remaining in the 2025-66 season. This should not mar his legacy, as his playing career is legendary. It is a shame the team was never able to live up to his lofty standards. The system he put in place was not a good fit for the team.

Patrick Roy was so good as a goaltender when he played. He was voted, in 2017, one of the top 100 players in National Hockey League history. He is known as the King of Goaltenders, and in Montreal, where he began his career, he is known as St. Patrick. Do you think he will ever be as successful as a coach as he was as a player?

Patrick Roy Playing Career

The NHL logo is seen on the game net, where Patrick Roy made his name.
Mar 24, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, USA; The NHL logo is seen on the game net before the game between the New York Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Patrick Roy Coaching Career

Patrick Roy was born in 1965 in Quebec City. He played goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens from 1984 to 1995. His statistics there where he played one game as a 19-year-old and a full season (47 games) in 1985 as a 20-year-old. He won the Vezina Trophy, as the best goaltender in the National Hockey League, three times, in 1988-9, 1989-1990, 1991-2.

His statistics in Montreal are amazing; he is known there as St. Patrick. On December 6, 1995, he was traded by the Montreal Canadiens with Mike Keane, to the Colorado Avalanche for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Ručinský, and Jocelyn Thibault. He played eight seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, where he was just about as good as he was in Montreal. Of note, he won 40 games and a Stanley Cup for Colorado in 2000-1. In all, he won four Cups as a player.

In his long playing career, he only had one season where his save percentage was below .900: his age 20 season in Montreal. In all, he played 19 seasons and had 66 shutouts. He is thought of as one of the best goaltenders in the League and was voted one of the top 100 players in history.

Reasons Why Patrick Roy Was Fired by the Islanders

Roy was one of the greatest players in league history, and he is in the argument as the best goaltender of all time. After he retired, he coached the Colorado Avalanche from 2012-2013 to 2015-6. He coached the Islanders from 2024-2025 to 2025-6. He was fired with four games left in that season. Why?

The Islanders stuck with Patrick Roy as a coach almost all the way through last season. The main reason he was fired is that his uptempo, offensively oriented approach did not fit with the team. The team needed a defensive structure, and Patrick Roy’s uptempo approach did not fit with the personnel.

It is odd. You would figure that, as a great goaltender, with a great goaltender in Ilya Sorokin in net for the Islanders, Patrick Roy would know that a defensively oriented approach was warranted. He never changed his structure, and apparently the players knew. Near the end of his tenure, he called a time-out and was yelling at the team until he was red in the face. The players were looking away.

Conclusion

Apparently, Roy took his firing from the Islanders hard. He went to Florida and brooded. He was let go in an inelegant way. He was fired on Easter Sunday, with just four games left in the season. He should not be too upset. He was fairly successful for the Islanders; the reason for the late-season collapse that led to his firing was that his system did not fit the team’s personnel.

Kevin Sweeney is a published author. He is the author of 8 books. He has written an autobiography, a book on stroke recovery, one on presidential politics, and four on sports. Kevin has a Ph.D. in political science; he has published 12 scholarly articles. He lives in Purcellville, VA, with his 3 sons and wife, Kelly. They were married in 2000.

You can get his books here:
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/bookshelf