Islanders GM Mathieu Darche on the firing of Patrick Roy: 'It was time to make a change'

This was almost the first full NHL season since 2008 that Pete DeBoer had not coached in the NHL. So he was more than willing to wait until the coming offseason to consider his options. Then Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche called and changed his mind.

“Honestly, this did come out of left field,” DeBoer said after running his first practice as Islanders coach on Monday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. “I think the first communication I had with Mathieu was the Carolina game, postgame [on Saturday]. We really never talked until the next day. It wasn’t like I had been studying the New York Islanders.”

Darche said he needed to move the Islanders "forward." Which is why the first-year GM opted to fire Patrick Roy with four games remaining in the regular season.

“[Sunday] was not a fun day,” Darche said. “Patrick has been awesome for the organization. He moved it forward. Awesome person. Passionate. I just felt it was time to move the group forward. It was time to make a change.”

The Islanders (42-31-5) have fallen out of a playoff spot by losing a season-high four straight and seven of their last 10 under Roy. They open a season-concluding four-game homestand against the Maple Leafs on Thursday at UBS Arena.

There were some changes at Monday’s practice: color-coded practice jerseys for the different forward lines, and DeBoer actually uses a physical whistle compared to Roy’s natural one. DeBoer also started to tweak the offensive and defensive systems.

“I've got great respect for Patrick Roy,” DeBoer said. “He absolutely worked his butt off here. I’ve been Patrick Roy in other spots. The last thing I’m going to do is tell you all the things that weren’t going right and we’re going to fix. This is a good team, there’s good people in there, they were doing a lot of good things for big parts of this year. Just try and get that back on track.”

Roy’s swan song was Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina, a game much more lopsided than the final score indicated. Roy also admitted he needed to do a better job of having his players ready after Friday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting Flyers.

“It’s never one game,” Darche said. “I just felt the last little bit we weren’t as sharp. Let’s face it, we got away with some stuff during the year where our goaltender has been outstanding.

“Moving forward, I felt this put us in a better situation and a better opportunity to win those games, to be in the playoffs.”

DeBoer, 57, has an overall coaching record of 662-447-152 over 17 NHL seasons with Dallas, the Vegas Golden Knights, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers. He led the Stars to the Western Conference final in each of his three seasons in Dallas from 2022-25.

He ranks 18th in NHL history in coaching wins and 22nd with 1,261 games coached. DeBoer led both the Devils (2012) and Sharks (2016) to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Kings and Penguins, respectively.

“It’s like grabbing the No. 1 free agent on the market,” Darche said. “Pete’s an outstanding coach.”

Darche said the Islanders needed permission from the Stars to make the hire since DeBoer was still under contract with Dallas.

DeBoer said returning to the Metropolitan Division and its intense geographical rivalries was one inducement to taking the job. So was the easier travel in the East. The opportunity to coach 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer and No. 1 goalie Ilya Sorokin also played a role.

But DeBoer added the familiarity of working with some former Devils colleagues who had been brought into the Islanders organization by former president/GM Lou Lamoriello played a key role.

So did getting back into the playoff chase.

“I had never spent a season away from the game,” DeBoer said. “When you do that, you get a little different perspective about how fortunate we are to do what we do. How great it is to be in the position we’re in with four games left. A chance to be playing in the playoffs in less than two weeks and don’t take that for granted. Sometimes I was guilty of it, coaching for 18 years.”

Darche said assistant coaches Ray Bennett, Bob Boughner and Benoit Desrosiers as well as goalie coach Sergei Naumovs will be retained for now. DeBoer worked with Boughner in San Jose.

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Alexander Romanov (right shoulder), out since Nov. 18, has been cleared for contact and could possibly return for one of the final two regular-season games . . . Goalie Semyon Varlamov, who has undergone two knee replacement surgeries since last playing on Nov. 29, 2024, went through a full practice with teammates for the first time since getting hurt.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.