Islanders fire Patrick Roy; Pete DeBoer named coach
A massive change on Long Island with just a handful of games left in the campaign.
On Sunday, New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche announced that Patrick Roy has been relieved of his duties as head coach. In his place, the team has hired longtime bench boss Pete DeBoer.
#Isles News: New York Islanders General Manager and Executive Vice President Mathieu Darche announced today that Patrick Roy has been relieved of his coaching responsibilities. Peter DeBoer has been named Head Coach of the New York Islanders.
The move comes with just four games left in the Islanders’ regular season. However, Darche and his staff realized a change was necessary, as the team had lost four games in a row, including a 4-3 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, and had dropped seven of its past 10 contests. Despite the Islanders remaining one of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division, they need to start getting results if they want to make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Isles are the second team this season to fire their head coach with just a handful of games left before the postseason. The Vegas Golden Knights let go of Bruce Cassidy last week, hoping veteran John Tortorella can steer the ship in the right direction heading into the postseason.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, DeBoer’s hiring isn’t on an interim basis, as there’s expected to be term on his contract.
Roy was hired in January 2024, taking over for Lane Lambert. He helped guide the Isles to a third-place finish in the Metro, ultimately losing to the Hurricanes in the first round of that year’s playoffs. Last season didn’t go as well, with the team finishing sixth after going 35-35-12. Even with the team hanging around a playoff spot this year, the team isn’t clicking at a pivotal point of the season, with New York prone to being leapfrogged in the division standings.
Across two-plus seasons, Roy led the Islanders to a record of 97-78-22.
This is DeBoer’s first hire since he was let go by the Dallas Stars last June. It came after a relatively controversial falling out with goaltender Jake Oettinger, as the team bowed out in the Western Conference Final for the third year in a row. Yet the former Golden Knights coach has experience getting teams deep into the postseason, having guided his squads to the West Final in six of the past seven seasons and coaching the New Jersey Devils to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final.
In his career, DeBoer has a regular-season record of 662-447-152, with a 97-82 mark in the postseason.
DeBoer will be making his debut with the Isles next Thursday, when the team hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders (42-31-5) are third in the Metro, just one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets.