Roy’s demeanor and voice are welcomed and were evident from his first skate.
“Obviously, it was a crazy day yesterday. We got back from the road trip, and the changes, but I think everyone’s excited,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “Patrick obviously brings that presence, brings a lot of passion and energy, as you saw this morning, so it’s good.
“The way we’ve been playing lately, we needed a wake-up call, so to say. A lot of things going on, habits, and details in our game that have gotten loose are unacceptable, and we’re all aware of that now. We know as a group we need to be a lot better, and I’m sure the group itself will have a good response.”
Bo Horvat remembers what it was like to play against Roy’s Avalanche team when he was a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
“They play with a lot of passion. They’re kind of all over you,” Horvat said. “They’re hard to play against, and I think that’s kind of what he wants us to be. They play together as a team, and for us to be successful going forward, we’ve got to all pull on the same rope. There can’t just be one guy going. Everybody has to contribute, and I think that was his main message today.
“I think [the coaching change] is a testament to (general manager) Lou (Lamoriello) that he wants more, and it’s up to us to give him more. Obviously, this gives us an extra jolt to get us where we need to be, but it’s on us to be better as a whole, as a group, and it starts tonight.”
Roy is a Hockey Hall of Fame goalie whose 551 wins in 19 seasons are third in NHL history behind Martin Brodeur (691) and Marc-Andre Fleury (552), and his 1,029 games are third behind Brodeur (1,266) and Roberto Luongo (1,044). His 151 wins and 247 games in the playoffs each rank first, and his 23 shutouts are second to Brodeur (24). His 478 games played, 262 wins and 37 shutouts are each the most by an Avalanche goalie.
Roy won the Stanley Cup four times with the Canadiens (1986, 1993) and Avalanche (1996, 2001), the Vezina Trophy voted voted as the best goalie in the NHL three times (1988-89, 1989-90, 1991-92) and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs in 1986, 1993 and 2001, the only player in NHL history to win the award three times.
“I’m very excited about it,” Roy said. “I love the challenge, and I’m really thankful for the opportunity to be here. So yes, I mean, I would love to bring my passion to the team and bring some excitement and kind of use, I would say, my past experience as a player and maybe as a coach to help this group of players.”
2024-01-21 18:50:19
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