It has become the new NHL succession program, as seemingly every franchise icon steps from the ice into a front office position.
From Ron Francis to Mark Messier, from Luc Robitaille to Cam Neely, from Steve Yzerman to the entire Edmonton front office, they all are former players that teams trust to bridge the gap for fans who love their former stars but will need time to fall in love again with the next group.
Few, however, have done it quite like Patrick Roy.
A Hall of Fame goaltender and one of the most notorious personalities of his era, Roy could well have taken the short cut right to the general manager’s right hand as a figurehead with the Colorado Avalanche, had he wished to. Or he could have gone the hockey operations route, learned to scout, and jumped on the general manager track well ahead of men with many years more experience than him.
Instead, Roy went down to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he learned the craft the way it supposed to be learned. The result is a credibility, a maturation, that leaves Roy absolutely qualified as he begins his NHL coaching career with the Avalanche this season.
“I changed a lot in those 10 years. You know, I learned a lot,” Roy said in Denver, as Avalanche camp opened this week. “It’s not an ego thing; I’m not here for an ego thing. This is how we won here in Denver — we all put our ego aside. I’m going to put my ego aside.
“Everyone’s opinion, I will listen to them. I’m not going to scream at them, and lose control. You’ll see. I will be under control.”
As it was for Wayne Gretzky with the Phoenix Coyotes — or even a Brian Sutter with the Calgary Flames, who could never find players who tried as hard as he had during his NHL career — dealing with players who do not house that fire, that champion’s will to win, is always an issue when a special player turns into a coach.
In Denver, Roy takes over an organization that has fallen into that vortex of rebuilding, where losing became such an apparent outcome that “expected” morphed into “accepted.”
Coming back to a place that Roy once knew as a championship organization, that attitude must seem completely foreign to Roy.
“We’re going to have a Stanley Cup attitude,” he promised/threatened. “We’re going to be extremely clear on the criteria we’re going to look from our team. If it’s the sacrifice part. If it’s the discipline part. If it’s the work habits part. If it’s the team concept part. Our players, when they’re going to see this, and the direction, they’re going to manage their game … in order to win.”
The Avalanche had made the playoff in one of four seasons, then suddenly descended to the depth of 15th in the Western Conference last year, landing 29th overall. What once was a rebuild had become a free fall, and a shakeup ensued.
Ownership fired head coach Joe Sacco, and gave Joe Sakic the power chair in hockey operations, with longtime GM and president Pierre Lacroix moving aside. Roy came in, and it’s unavoidable that a personality this big with a mandate to be in front of the cameras daily, will become the face of management for this Avalanche club.
It has already started inside the Avalanche offices.
“I’ve been asking for a lot of change,” he said. “I’ve been challenging a lot of people here, and they’ve all responded extremely well. That pleases me a lot.
“I’m thankful to them to believe. The 18 years as a player, and 10 years I spent in Quebec in the junior (hockey), permit me to go through some experiences. I believe in what I’m doing, and appreciate the trust I have from all those people.”
He’s got a 20-year-old captain in Gabriel Landeskog, and an 18-year-old phenom in Nathan MacKinnon, courtesy some good fortune in winning the draft lottery. After that, this team is Edmonton Oilers south — a bunch of youngish, pretty good players who should be able to win one day — but who haven’t accomplished anything yet.
“How far do you want to go?” asked Roy of his roster. “You can pretend that you want to win. But there’s a big difference between pretenders and the ones who will do what needs to be done. That’s what our leaders need to translate to this group.
“A lot of people have question marks about our team, but I like this team.”
But will they like him? Only if the Avalanche win, we suspect.