How The Darche Hiring Should Affect Roy

Will Mathieu Darche retain the Islanders bench boss?

After getting the job as general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations, one of the biggest questions facing Mathieu Darche is whether he'll keep head coach Patrick Roy.

Given the length of the Islanders' search, the firing and hiring of other coaches, and the ones available on the market — Peter Laviolette, Greg Cronin, and Jay Woodcroft, to name a few — is there really an upgrade to be had?

Is Darche going to fire a fellow French Canadian?

I don't think so.

If Roy, whose multi-year extension kicks in soon, is back with the team, he needs to have a say in roster construction.

He also has to have a say in his assistant coaches, with John MacLean and Tommy Albelin coming aboard via Lou. Roy brought in Benoit Desrosiers, his assistant coach with the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts.

Outside of Desrosiers, who helped lead the Islanders to rank first in the NHL in the face-off dot (54.8%), MacLean and Albelin didn't get their jobs done. MacLean's power play (12.6%) and Albelin's penalty kill (72.2%) finished 31st in the NHL.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Roy bring in his own guys or one more guy and assign Desroisiers one of the special-team responsibilities.

Tim Army, Dave Farrish, and Andre Tourigny, Roy's assistant coaches during his time as Colorado Avalanche head coach (2013-2016), all have other jobs.

Army is an assistant with the Anaheim Ducks, Farrish is a scout for the St. Louis Blues, and Tourigny is the head coach of the Utah Mammoth. However, Roy could also pull anyone with whom he's worked previously in juniors, given Desrosiers' success in his young NHL coaching career.

Moving on to the roster.