Exclusive: Inside Benoit Desrosiers’ Impact
The Islanders have retained Benoit Desrosiers after relieving the rest of Patrick Roy's coaching staff. Here's quotes from players and Roy on his impact.
When the dust settled, only one assistant coach from Patrick Roy’s staff remained.
That man goes by the name Benoit Desrosiers.
The 35-year-old who coached with Roy in Quebec, joined the Hockey Hall of Famer shortly after he took the job on Long Island. Nobody should be shocked that he’s being retained.
For obvious reasons, Desrosiers was a Roy hire while John MacLean and Tommy Albelin were Lou Lamoriello hires.
Each assistant coach had a specific task or tasks, and Desrosiers was the only one who consistently completed his tasks effectively, I might add.
Desrosiers was mainly in charge of face-offs, working with the centerman and even the wingers after practice, especially on positioning after a face-off was won or lost.
The Islanders finished as the No. 1 face-off team in the NHL at 54.9 percent, with Jean-Gabriel Pageau (59.6%), Bo Horvat (59.2%), and Brock Nelson (52.8% before being dealt) setting career highs, while Casey Cizikas (55.2%) hit his highest mark since 2020-21.
“I have nothing to do with face-offs. That’s Benny,” Roy said. “He’s been working with those guys, and they work hard at it, and they've been performing really well. I mean, and I think this is something that guys are putting a lot of pride but it's not only the centermen. It's also the wingers jumping in, get those loose buck and bring it back. That makes it wins for our centerman. So the fact that our guys are face-off ready, helps us.”
But that’s not all Desrosiers did. He also was a second voice really everywhere, helping out where he could. He seemed to be very active alongside Albelin, who ran the defense and penalty kill. I could very well see Roy giving him that task for the 2025-26 season.
It’s worth mentioning that Desrosiers worked on both special teams with Quebec.
Before season’s end, I spoke with countless players to get their thoughts on B.D.