Montreal Canadiens goaltenders have a long and storied history of greatness.
Carey Price is a Hart Trophy winner. Ken Dryden won most of the games he played. Jacques Plante dominated his era. The award for league’s best goaltender is named after Georges Vezina.
And the best of all of them is probably Patrick Roy.
His tenure with the Canadiens ended infamously when he was left in to take the brunt of an 11-1 drubbing at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. He demanded a trade before he even got his mask off his head and that request was granted a few days later when he was headed to the Colorado Avalanche.
Roy would finish his career with the Avalanche before turning to the managerial side of the game. He has served just about every role for the Quebec Remparts from owner to Head Coach.
Roy also had a three year stint as the head coach and VP of Hockey Operations of the Avalanche from 2013-16. It started well with the Avalanche surprising everyone by making the playoffs in 2013, but it ended almost as poorly as his playing days with the Canadiens.
Roy basically stormed out shortly before the 2016-17 season began, re-signing from his position with the team and leaving them in a tough spot. Jared Bednar came in and the team had an awful 2017-18 season. They have since bounced back, and Roy has landed on his feet again with the Remparts.
However, a tweet seemingly out of nowhere yesterday made it clear that Roy wants back into the NHL.
Proud day for @pbisports in announcing that we are now representing @NHL HOF'r Patrick Roy with NHL coaching and management opportunities. Welcome to the group, Patrick!
— PBI Sports / Neil Glasberg (@pbisports) April 26, 2021
Neil Glasberg, the founder and President of The Coaches Agency, is now representing Patrick Roy as he attempts to find work in the NHL as a Head Coach or General Manager.
Well, what team, with ties to Patrick Roy, could very well be in the running for a new GM this offseason and need to find a new Head Coach?
I can think of one off the top of my head pretty quick. Marc Bergevin is on quite the hot seat at the moment and Dom Ducharme hasn’t been very successful as the interim head coach of the team.
The tweet is fairly ominous and leaves us to speculate Roy’s intentions. But the timing of it, just after the Habs lost two games in regulation to the Calgary Flames and had their worst playoff odds of the season, leads me to believe Patrick Roy is interested in returning to the team he carried to two Stanley Cups.
We will have to wait and see, as we probably won’t hear much in the next few weeks about coaching and management decisions. But once the Habs season ends, especially if it is early in the postseason, keep an eye out for an interview between Patrick Roy (and Neil Glasberg) with Geoff Molson.