News out of Denver has the Colorado Avalanche offering their head coaching position to ex-Av Hall of Famer Patrick Roy. Aside from the classy move of the Avalanche offering their head coaching job before they fire their current coach, there are a few other concerns with this story. I’m not sure which is worse: the athlete that wants to come back to coach his old team or the team that wants the ex-star to come back to coach the team. Either way, it looks like we’re probably going to get a taste of Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche Part II.
Just because Roy was a legendary goaltender, doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be a legendary coach. Patrick Roy has stated in various interviews that he WANTS to coach in the NHL someday. But CAN he coach, that is the question.
Anyone else think this might be a bad idea?
Actually, despite all of the negative press that he’s received for being a complete jerk while coaching the Quebec Remparts, he’s been pretty successful. In his first season as head coach, he helped lead the Remparts to the Memorial Cup. The last guy to win Junior hockey’s biggest prize in his first season was Claude Julien in 1997. I’m pretty sure that if you ask Boston Bruins fans how they feel about Julien, they’ll tell you that he’s a pretty good coach (116 points has a way of doing that). But before Avalanche fans get too excited, the only reason the Remparts were in the Memorial Cup Finals was because they were runner-up to Moncton (who was the host city). Good season, yes. Dominating, not really.
So that brings is back to the original questions. Can he coach? Despite the YouTube clips of his son beating down opposing goaltenders, apparently he’s not as bad as most ex-athletes. Despite YouTube clips of his other son (Frederick) cross-checking opponents in the face, apparently the Colorado Avalanche think he can coach too. Think of all of the negative publicity that he’s generated while coaching in Quebec Juniors. Now just imagine what it could turn into if he had the spotlight of the NHL beaming down on him! Being a good coach in Juniors is one thing–being successful in the NHL is another.
What it comes down to, is it just sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. Think back to when former superstars try to come back and rekindle the magic behind the bench? Some of the best players in basketball have been making waves over the last decade or so. Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas were both failures. Phil Esposito tried to pull it off in New York for the Rangers in the mid-1980’s, only to find that scoring goals came easier to him than scoring victories.
If a man named “The Great One” can’t do it, then what makes us think that it’s a good idea for a man with a temper problem to try to do that same? Even if he’s hell-bent on trying his hand at coaching in the NHL, why Colorado? Because of his past success in the Rocky Mountains, the microscope is going to be on him, his moves and his team’s production from Day 1. The team (which was 3rd worst in the league last season), looks like it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Unless Roy plans on getting in a time machine and shaving 20 years off his life, the problem the Avalanche have is that they don’t have any goaltending. All the coaching in the world won’t be able to fix that. The only place that would be a worse fit for Roy would be Montreal—but that’s for completely different reasons.
I’m sure somewhere, Thomas Wolfe is smiling. He might have said this 70 years ago, it’s a lesson that bears repeating. It’s a lesson that people in every industry have learned time and time again. No Patrick, “You can’t go home again.”
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
