Islanders Boot Coach Roy, Bring in DeBoer to Energize Slumping Team

Patrick Roy is out as New York Islanders coach with four games remaining in the NHL regular season.

With the season coming to an end on April 14 while skating at their home in Elmont, N.Y., against the Carolina Hurricanes, who have the most points (104) in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division, Islanders’ players have their fingers crossed that they will qualify for postseason play.

Sunday’s matchup with the visiting Ottawa Senators, who are one point ahead of the Islanders for the final Wild Card spot in the conference, in all likelihood is the do-or-die meeting that will determine who goes home for the summer and who continues  in a quest for the Stanley Cup.

On Sunday, Mathieu Darche, first-year Islanders’ general manager and executive vice president, chose to remove Roy from behind the bench in favor of longtime NHL coach Peter DeBoer. With the playoffs still in striking distance, and with less than a handful of games remaining that will determine the Islanders 2025–2026 fate, why a disruption in coaching now?

On Monday, in a story at NewYorkIslanders.com, Darche explained to Cory Wright what led to Roy’s firing.

“I just felt like the last little bit there we weren’t as sharp, or we didn’t get away with as much as we did before, because, let’s face it, we got away with some stuff during the year,” Darche said.

“I just felt at this moment, and the last little bit here, that we were sliding a bit.”

Roy was hired on Jan. 20, 2024, by then general manager Lou Lamoriello. Just one month ago, New York seemed on a sure path to the postseason. But when Roy was dismissed on Easter Sunday, the Islanders were 42–31–5, ranking fourth in the Metropolitan and ninth in the Eastern Conference.

With Friday’s 4–1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at home and coming up short at Carolina on Saturday 4–3, the Islanders had lost five of their last seven games. New York’s 16 shots on goal Saturday, compared with 40 by the Hurricanes, is the second fewest they’ve recorded in a game this season.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported on Monday how quickly Darche went from releasing Roy to pursuing DeBoer.

“Once Pete was out there, without going into specifics, it really intensified [Sunday] morning,” he said.

The Dallas Stars, who had fired DeBoer in June, gave Darche permission to speak with him.

Prior to landing the Islanders coaching job, Roy spent three seasons (2013–2016) as coach of the Colorado Avalanche, the team that Roy won Stanley Cup championships with as a goalie in 1996 and 2001.

Roy’s firing by the Islanders came one week after the Vegas Golden Knights sent their coach Bruce Cassidy packing with eight regular season games left on the team’s schedule. No Islanders assistant coaches on Roy’s staff have been dismissed.

With claims that the Islanders need a new voice in the locker room, DeBoer should have the team’s undivided attention in his 18th NHL season. During the recent Winter Olympics in Italy, DeBoer, 57, served as an assistant coach on Jon Cooper’s staff for Team Canada. With as many as six NHL coaching jobs anticipated to be available after the postseason, the Islanders apparently wanted to get a jump on any other teams’ possible inquiries about DeBoer’s availability.

“I’m ready to get behind a bench again,” DeBoer told The Athletic in January. “I’m ready to dust off my skates and start to coach. You realize how much you miss it, especially as the playoff races heat up. That’s just how you’re wired. I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason, and I know I’ll look back and be thankful that this happened, as painful as it was.”

DeBoer’s five previous NHL teams that he coached (Florida, New Jersey, San Jose, Vegas, and Dallas) won 662 games; good for 17th all-time.

Roy’s contract with the Islanders has two years remaining on it. Unless the former goalie, who is third all-time in NHL wins (551), is signed to coach another team, New York is on the hook to pay him.

DeBoer makes his Islanders debut on Thursday when the team welcomes the Toronto Maple Leafs to UBS Arena.

The Islanders haven’t officially commented on details of DeBoer’s contract.