New York Islanders General Manager Mathieu Darche announced Sunday that head coach Patrick Roy has been relieved of his duties with the club effective immediately. In his place, veteran bench boss Peter DeBoer has been named head coach of the team.
New York has lost 4 games in a row, and 7 of their last 10 games and are now fighting for their playoff lives with 4 games in their season remaining. At 42-31-5, the Isles currently occupy the 3rd spot in the Metropolitan Division, but have Philadelphia, Washington, and Columbus all within two points of them, each with at least one game in hand.
Roy was hired by former GM Lou Lamoriello back in January of 2024 as a midseason replacement for fired coach Lane Lambert. While the team initially saw progress under his watch, they’ve since struggled to build any continued momentum despite having key additions such as rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer.
The firing is the second major shake up for an NHL team at the end of the season this week. Only a few days prior, the Vegas Golden Knights parted ways with head coach Bruce Cassidy in an effort to salvage a playoff run amidst their late season slide. In his place, they brought in veteran head coach John Tortorella.
DeBoer previously served as head coach of the Dallas Stars from 2022-23 through 2024-25, leading the team to the Western Conference Finals each year. The 57 year old is a veteran of over 1,200 NHL games split between Dallas, the Vegas Golden Knights, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils, and Florida Panthers. Across his 17 year career, he sports a lifetime record of 662-447-152.
Most recently, he served as an assistant coach with Team Canada for both the 2026 Winter Olympics and Four Nations Faceoff events.
The Islanders are off for a few days now, and will next be in action on Thursday April 9th when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. They’ll then follow that up with games against the Senators, Canadiens, and Hurricanes. Each of those contests will come at home, giving them as good a chance as any to end the season on a mini-run.
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