Source : Denverpost.com
When the Avalanche needed a final piece for its roster in 1995 to become a championship club, it looked toward Quebec at Patrick Jacques Roy. Eighteen years later, the Avs look to Roy to lead them back to glory, this time as their coach and vice president of hockey operations.
The Avs again imported one of Quebec's biggest treasures, naming Roy their sixth coach in team history.
"This is an unbelievable day for me," Roy said in a team news release. "It's a new and exciting challenge that I am really looking forward to. I would like to thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me. Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player, I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am."
Because Roy remains in Florida, where he has a second home, and because of the holiday weekend, the Avs will not introduce him at a news conference until next week.
Even though Roy received the front-office title, it will be Sakic, named executive vice president of hockey operations two weeks ago, who has the final say on personnel matters.
"All along, Patrick was our top candidate," Sakic said in the news release. "Patrick has a great hockey mind. There is no one more passionate about this game. He will bring that winning attitude to our dressing room."
Not long after he took over in his new role, Sakic set his sights on Roy — despite originally saying he didn't want to hire a coach from junior hockey, where Roy has coached and been general manager since 2005 with the Quebec Remparts. Sakic quickly amended his words, however, saying the field for a coach was wide open and Roy would be an attractive candidate.
Sakic flew to Roy's offseason home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the
deal essentially was hashed out. Roy, 47, becomes the most high-profile coach in Avs history as a Hall of Fame goalie who won four Stanley Cups (two with the Montreal Canadiens, two with the Avs) and a record three Conn Smythe Trophies in three decades (1986, 1993 and 2001). He compiled a 307-128-32 record with the Remparts, including a Memorial Cup championship in 2005. As he was known as a player, Roy has been a fiery coach in Quebec, with some occasional headline-grabbing because of his temper. But just as when he was a player, he has been known for winning.
"It's going to be good for all the young guys that we have. That's what the team needed," said Avs forward P.A. Parenteau, a Quebec native. "He's a proven winner. I'm really happy."
Playing goalie with Roy looking over your shoulder might be daunting, but Avalanche veteran
Jean-Sebastien Giguere — who grew up idolizing Roy — welcomes the challenge.
"I'm really looking forward to working with him as my coach," Giguere said. "I watched him growing up, and I played against him, and now I get to play for him. It's very exciting. And in all seriousness, I think he'll be good for (Semyon Varlamov) too. To have a man like him giving you pointers as a goalie, that's not too bad."
Former Avs defenseman Adam Foote said he was "just so happy for Colorado hockey fans" with the hiring of his former roommate.
"The special part about Roy is, he's ready," Foote told KKFN 104.3.
"He's
spent almost a decade with his family in Quebec. It's such good timing for
Patrick, and Joe made the right call."
Roy inherits a team that finished last in the Western Conference, a draft lottery team three of the past five seasons. It has 22 players signed for next season, at a salary cap-averaged payroll of about $56 million — about $9 million under the cap.
"He's been successful as a coach and a GM," former University of Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. "They're starting to put some of the pieces back in place that were here during the glory years of the Avalanche, and Patrick is another one of those key pieces."
Roy retired from the Avs in 2003 with 551 regular-season wins and 151 playoff wins. He becomes the first Hall of Fame goalie to coach an NHL team.
"This move instantly reinvigorates the fan base in Colorado," said former DU and Avalanche winger Mark Rycroft, now an analyst with the Altitude television network. "In my mind, to bring back a legend, a guy that's got some real experience coaching, it's a home run."
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