The New York Islanders announced that head coach Patrick Roy has been relieved of his duties, and the team has hired former Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer as his replacement. The move comes with four games remaining in the Islanders’ regular-season schedule.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that, unlike other recent mid-season coaching changes, such as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ hire of Rick Bowness and the Vegas Golden Knights’ hire of John Tortorella, this hire has not been made with just a one-year term. DeBoer’s contract to coach the Islanders includes multiple years. Specifically, DeBoer will reportedly be signed through the 2028-29 season per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. This deal will align with Mathieu Darche’s GM contract. Roy had two years remaining on his deal as Islanders coach, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
Just one week ago, it looked as though the Islanders were on their way to the playoffs. New York won three games on its four-game homestand, and although a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks was deflating, a regulation win over the rival Blue Jackets gave the team a significant boost. New York sat second in the Metropolitan Division, three points clear of their closest out-of-the-playoffs division rival.
The Islanders have not won since that victory over the Panthers. They suffered an 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 30, paving the way for Pittsburgh to vault to the No. 2 spot in the division. They lost to the Buffalo Sabres the following day and have since dropped games to divisional rivals (Philadelphia and Carolina) on back-to-back days.
With playoff odds that once looked relatively certain, the Islanders have responded to a rapid, albeit relatively brief downturn in on-ice fortunes by making a coaching change. Their decision to swap coaches, likely in search of a spark to keep the team in a playoff position, is similar to the aforementioned decision by the Golden Knights to fire Bruce Cassidy in favor of John Tortorella.
Roy himself arrived in New York as part of an in-season coaching change. The 60-year-old, who was widely considered one of the greatest goalies of all time during his playing days, won the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 2013-14. He went 20-12-5 in his first season with the Islanders, leading them to the playoffs, where they would fall in five games in the first round. The team took a step back last season, going 35-35-12, but appeared to have rebounded this season.
Fueled by star rookie Matthew Schaefer, the Islanders were one of the league’s resurgent organizations. Their prospect pool has significantly improved (rising from No. 25 in the NHL to No. 12 in just one year, according to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler rankings), and, just a week ago, they looked poised to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence. But the last week has not been kind to the Islanders, as mentioned, and, with time running out to secure a playoff spot, they decided to swap coaches.
DeBoer comes in a little under a year after his tenure in Dallas came to a shocking end. The Stars reached the Western Conference Finals in all three seasons he was at the helm and compiled a 149-68-29 (.665) regular-season record, his best run with any of the five NHL teams he’s coached and the best regular-season record in the league from 2022 to 2025. Their inability to get past the third round, plus his decision to pull star goaltender Jake Oettinger after he allowed two goals on his first two shots faced in what became a season-ending Game 5 loss to the Oilers last year, ended up resulting in one of the more high-profile firings in recent memory. They waited to ultimately relieve him of his duties after all the other coaching vacancies last offseason had been filled, leading to him not being on an NHL bench for the first 95% of the season.
One could argue that DeBoer is the most accomplished active coach without a Stanley Cup ring. He has an exceptional record of deep playoff runs, particularly in his first couple of years with a club, and has reached a Conference Final in six of the last eight seasons. Despite the Isles now being his sixth team in the last 18 years, he’s been behind an NHL bench as head coach for at least one game every year since breaking into the league with the Panthers in 2008.
DeBoer’s 662 wins are 18th all-time, and he has a 662-447-152 (.525) lifetime record across 1,261 regular-season games with Florida, New Jersey, San Jose, Vegas, and Dallas. Only Barry Trotz had more experience as a new head coach hire in team history.
DeBoer now must correct a four-game losing streak in regulation to help the Isles recover. Their playoff odds had dropped to 31.4% ahead of today’s games, per MoneyPuck, with all the teams chasing them having one or multiple games in hand.
Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.
PHR’s Josh Erickson contributed significantly to this article.
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Big mistake, hope the Kraken snatch him.
Poor Lane Lambert if this happened
Agree. Big mistake. Roy has that visible fire that few coaches have. He won’t be unemployed very long. With the recent 5-game losing streak in Anaheim, is Coach Q’s job safe (haha)?
Seattle currently sits 22nd in the league defensively, Hiring Roy would actually make them worse on defense.
only acceptable if they clean house and fire Ron Francis, Jason Botterrill, and the Kraken’s incompetent scouting and player dev people first.
Blues fan here really rooting for Detroit and the Isles to miss the playoffs
Just remembered though that I think the pick from NY is actually Colorado’s. Damn.
Now I am rooting for the Blues to lose the lottery :)
The copycat league never disappoints! 😄
Things come in three’s, so which team is next to do this? 🤔
With Roy and Cassidy out there I could see the Kraken doing this as well
There is absolutely no science that backs up the mythical everything comes in threes, And, Honestly, It’s usually referenced in celebrity deaths.
You just reminded me of something: I forgot to put you on mute!
Yep. There is a mute button, Good job.
Second will third itself my mother always said.
Things come in three’s? Like rootbeer floats? Baskets of laundry? Dented fenders? Triplets?
They will now make the finals and lose. They may as well trade for Perry now.
The Islanders defensive structure was poor beyond Sorokin, Roy was calling out his players publicly far to often, DeBoer is a great coach who will clean up the defensive shortcomings immediately. This was a no brainer.
Couldn’t they have waited until game 81, like everybody else? 🙄 If Pete DeBoer does what he did at the end of his Dallas tenure, they’ll be doing this dog-and-pony show all over again during the offseason. Throwing your goalies (or skaters) under the bus doesn’t work anymore in today’s NHL.
Clearly DeBoer made a mistake in his last NHL game, He has an ego like every single head coach in the league, But, 5 Conference Finals in seven years, He’s more than deserving of a head coaching position in the greatest league in the world.
Roy was probably one of only 2 or 3 coaches who would have given Schaffer a shot. Guys like Berube, and Torts, would have sent him back to Junior hockey within the first practice. And I think the dead cat bounce theory will (should) get Roy back in the saddle in a few days, he is a good coach !!!
More often than not, When a club has a coveted rookie like Schaefer, It’s usually a group decision is to how to bring the player along.
No one recycles head coaches more than the NHL.
Quite possibly because it work. Paul Maurice and Bruce Cassidy won the past three Cups. Other recent recycled champs are Craig Berube, Barry Trotz, Joel Quenneville, Darryl Sutter, Mike Sullivan.
DeBoer is a loser. Couldn’t win with a stacked roster in Dallas then threw his goalie under the bus. Wears out his welcome everywhere he goes. Islanders will regret this big time in a season or two.
Agreed! This guy has had plum gigs too…
NJD/SJS/VGK/DAL
He could never get his Teams to the promise land.
Let’s list the truly bad NHL coaches that get more chances, Jeff Blashill, John Hynes, Andrew Brunette, Travis Green, Rick Tocchet, And Lane Lambert. Martin St. Louis doesn’t qualify for this list, But, He will in time.
The Islanders overachieved in a huge way this season. Really awful move to fire Roy
Good move, but one week too late.
Expect this kind of thing become a norm.
I’m a Euro football fan & this happens all the time, mostly when teams are facing a relegation battle. The manager turnover is crazy.
Funny, Roy usually takes himself out. He’ll have to buy another team in order to coach it!