Patrick Roy Throws Hat in The Ring for Canadiens General Manager Job

The Montreal Canadiens began an overhaul of their front office over the weekend.

While Marc Bergevin and Trevor Timmins were fired, the only replacement in place as of now is Jeff Gorton. The former New York Rangers and Boston Bruins general manager is the Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Canadiens.

Essentially, he is going to be the future general manager’s boss.

Who that general manager will be is yet to be determined. One former player with a very high profile has expressed his interest in being hired for the job.

Patrick Roy was interviewed by Le Journal de Quebec and he made it known he would be more than willing to join the team he once said he would never play for again.

Roy is a Hall of Fame goaltender and one of the finest to ever play net in the city of Montreal. That all came to a. crashing halt in December of 1995 when he was torched by the Detroit Red Wings for nine goals and told Team President Ronald Corey that he would never play in Montreal again.

To be fair, he didn’t say he would never choose who gets to play in Montreal again.

Although Roy did kind of disappear from his latest NHL job the same way he retreated from the Canadiens crease 25 years ago.

After three seasons as the Colorado Avalanche Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations, Roy resigned his position in the middle of August 2016 stating that he didn’t have enough say in the decisions on how to build the team.

That doesn’t really bode well for his chances of becoming general manager in Montreal. Not only did he just up and quit his last job, but he did it because he wanted more control. The Canadiens just hired Jeff Gorton as the GMs boss, so the next general manager of the Canadiens will technically have less control than any of his predecessors.

Would Roy really be able to handle that? He is known for his bombastic personality, so would he work well with Gorton telling him to be patient and build the team slowly?

It doesn’t sound like a terrific setup for the Canadiens. Roy seemed somewhat resigned to the fact he won’t get the job in the interview, suggesting there are several good candidates and he didn’t appear convinced owner Geoff Molson would be willing to hire him in the first place.

Roy also mentioned at the end of the interview that he thinks the team needs more of a reset, and not a drastic rebuild.

I think the fans are more ready than ever for a rebuild. Patrick Roy was a phenomenal goaltender, but he has not proven to be a great management person at the NHL level. It really wouldn’t make sense to bring Roy into this position at this time.