Patrick Roy was fired as coach of the New York Islanders on Sunday and replaced by Peter DeBoer.
The 60-year-old went 97-78-22 in three seasons after taking over for Lane Lambert, who was fired Jan. 20, 2024.
"It's not a fun thing to do," Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said Monday. "Patrick has been awesome for the organization. He moved it forward, awesome person, passionate. I just felt it was time just to move the group forward. I didn't know him before I came here. I now consider him a friend, so it was a tough thing to do yesterday, but sometimes you have to make tough decisions."
The Islanders (42-31-5) have lost a season-high four in a row and seven of 10 games since March 18 while getting outscored 37-26. They are one point behind the Ottawa Senators, who have a game in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
When asked if the Islanders are in desperation mode for the final weeks of the season, DeBoer said they are, just like most of the teams in the League.
"That’s the beauty of parity of the NHL," DeBoer said Monday. "These races are coming right down the wire. That’s why we do this. We have to embrace that pressure and race for a playoff spot.”
When asked if he will make big changes, DeBoer said he didn't think that was necessary.
"I have great respect for Patrick Roy, he absolutely worked his (butt) off here," DeBoer said. "I’d been Patrick Roy in other spots. The last thing I’m going to do is tell you all the things that weren’t going right. There’s four games left, this is a good team, there are good people, they were going a lot of good things for big part of this year, so just trying to get that back.”
Darche also said this wasn't all on Roy, but he sensed a change was needed.
"It's never one game, never one moment," Darche said. "You're evaluating the team throughout the year. I just felt like the last little bit here, we weren't as sharp or we didn't get away as much as we did before. Let's face it, we got away with some stuff where our goaltender's been outstanding and all of that. I just felt that at this moment, the last little bit here, we were sliding a little bit. And this isn't not only about this year. It is partly about this year because do we fully control our own destiny? No, but what we control is the four games we're playing, so moving forward, I felt it put us in a better situation and a better opportunity to win those games to be in the playoffs and going forward.
"This is by no means all on Patrick. Sometimes it's just the circumstance and you need a change and a different voice. That was the time right now."
The Islanders retained assistant coaches Ray Bennett and Bob Boughner. The latter was an assistant to DeBoer with the San Jose Sharks from 2015-17, returned for the 2019-20 season and was named interim coach after the Sharks fired DeBoer on Dec. 11, 2019.
DeBoer, 57, was fired by the Dallas Stars on June 6 and replaced by Glen Gulutzan. He's coached the sixth-most games (1,261) among active coaches, trailing Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers (2,006), Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres (1,933), Joel Quenneville of the Anaheim Ducks (1,845), John Tortorella of the Vegas Golden Knights (1,623) and Todd McLellan of the Detroit Red Wings (1,268). His 662 wins are sixth among active coaches behind Quenneville (1,010), Maurice (953), Ruff (946), Tortorella (773) and McLellan (664).
The Islanders needed permission to speak with DeBoer because he was under contract with the Stars.
"Guys like Pete DeBoer don't stay on the market very long," Darche said. "His pedigree ... he's had success everywhere he's been. He's a very structured coach. It's like grabbing the No. 1 free agent on the market. Pete's an outstanding coach. His success speaks for itself.
"Once Pete was out there, without going too much into specifics, it really intensified yesterday morning. We got into deeper conversations and I decided to make the move."
DeBoer guided the Stars to the Western Conference Final in each of his three seasons, losing to the Golden Knights in 2023 and the Edmonton Oilers in each of the past two seasons.
He was an assistant for silver medalist Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“All I can say is, I’m ready,” DeBoer told NHL.com in a phone interview last Sunday. “There are only 32 jobs in the NHL and it’s a privilege to have one of them. I’m humble enough to know that.
“Having said that, I have a lot of confidence in my track record of coming in and having success in different places. And I’m especially proud of my ability in the playoffs to have teams move forward.”
The Islanders are off until Thursday, when they’ll host the Toronto Maple Leafs (6:45 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, TSN4).
"The timing of it too is we have three days of practice right now before the first game," Darche said. "I met with the team yesterday after making the decision and I talked individually with a bunch of guys. They know the task at hand this year and going forward."
DeBoer is 662-447-152 in 1,261 regular-season games for the Florida Panthers, Devils, San Jose Sharks, Golden Knights and Stars, and 97-82 in 179 Stanley Cup Playoff games while also guiding San Jose to the 2016 Final, a six-game loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. His teams have advanced to at least the third round of the playoffs each of his past six seasons qualifying for the postseason, and in eight of his 10 overall.
Roy is the fourth coach to be fired this season. Rick Bowness was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets to replace Dean Evason on Jan. 12, D.J. Smith took over the Los Angeles Kings after Jim Hiller was fired March 1 and Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy with the Golden Knights on March 29.
"Patrick hasn't lost the room," Darche said. "It wasn't about guys don't want to play for him by any means. Guys respected Patrick. We just wanted to move it forward with where the team was trending the last little bit. Do I think it increases our odds this year? I do think so for those last four games. I felt getting that jolt and maybe a little different tweak to the structure, especially after the last little bit here, those few games, was needed."
