The playoffs are a bonus — not the focus.
In the midst of a season-worst four-game slide that has put the Islanders in danger of missing the postseason for the second straight year, first-year general manager Mathieu Darche made the stunning decision on Sunday to fire head coach Patrick Roy, replacing him with Pete DeBoer with only four games remaining in the regular season.
Though the change could provide an immediate spark, Darche’s bold move was shaped by long-term logic.
“Guys like Pete DeBoer don’t stay on the market very long,” Darche said before Monday’s practice. “His pedigree, I mean he went to five of the last six conference finals. He’s had success everywhere he’s been. He’s a very structured coach.
“I think it’s what we need moving forward. It’s like grabbing the No. 1 free agent on the market.”
DeBoer, 57, ranks 18th all time in wins in league history (662) and has the most playoff wins of any coach who has never won the Stanley Cup (97). He appeared in the Cup Final with two different teams (Devils, Sharks) and reached the conference finals on eight occasions, most recently making three straight runs with the Stars before being fired in June.
After receiving permission from Dallas to negotiate with DeBoer, the Islanders general manager spoke with the coach following Saturday’s loss in Carolina. Talks intensified Sunday morning.
Then, Darche spoke with Roy — a coach he didn’t hire — ending the Hall of Famer’s three-season run on Long Island.
“Patty was the utmost professional. That’s probably what made it harder,” Darche said. “He’s a great person. He cares a lot. He understands the business that we’re in. I have nothing but total respect for Patrick.
“I just felt it was time, just to move the group forward, it was time to make a change. But Patrick, I only have great things to say. I didn’t know him before I came here. I now consider him a friend, so it was a tough thing to do, but sometimes you have to make those decisions.
Howie Kussoy/NY Post
“This is by no means all on Patrick. Sometimes it’s just the circumstance that you need a change and a different voice, and that was the time right now.”
Before the current losing streak, the Islanders had won seven of 11 games, but Darche noted how the team had been overly reliant on goaltender Ilya Sorokin to clean up the mistakes his defense has made all season.
The timing of the firing blindsided virtually everyone outside the front office, but the switch comes during a lull in the schedule, giving DeBoer three full practice days before the Islanders (42-31-5) return Thursday against the Maple Leafs at UBS Arena.
“That helps a bit, but it wasn’t necessarily like, ‘Wow we’re desperate because, oh, we have four games left.’ If it was really desperate about this year, I would have made the change a month ago,” Darche said. “But I wasn’t there a month ago with the way the team was playing. I think there’s going to be tweaks. You don’t do a whole system change because at the end of the day, it’s not enough time. But it’s tweaks, it’s a different message.
“Do I think it increases our odds this year? I do think so for those last four games. We don’t control everything that’s coming, but we do control the way we’re playing. I felt that a jolt and maybe a little different tweak to the structure, especially after the last little bit here, those few games, it was needed.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
