[News] Patrick Roy New Avs Head Coach

[Miniac]

Roy becomes the 6th head coach for the Avs.

[indes]

Originally Posted by moon

But they are two big names that have spent time getting the experience needed to do their jobs. It isn't like they are handing a guy fresh off the ice the keys to the franchise Garth Snow style. Both Sakic and Roy have experience doing the types of things they will be asked to in their new roles.

As before should the Avs avoid qualified people to do jobs for them just because they are popular with the fanbase?

Agree with moon here, no one is saying they are the best options available but good options nonetheless. Not like we can talk, jay feaster and Hartley were hardly the best out there.

[the_only_turek_fan]

So is the coach the GM's boss here?

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

Curious as to why you think this, did they change all of their defencemen or is adding Seth Jones going to catapult them up in the standings like the Oilers have done with all their high end talent.

If you don't have defense and goaltending in the NHL you don't win.

I think Varlamov is going to have a good season... and I think they'll add at least one solid D in a trade for one of their C ... I see them Top 10 in the West next season... likely in the 7-10 area, closer to 10 is my guess... similar to Columbus this past season.

[Regular_John]

Awesome, we're less than 2 years away from a patented Patrick Roy meltdown, god I hope it's here in Calgary during another 9 goal blow out.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

So is the coach the GM's boss here?

IMO it's never a good thing when a coach has too much authority. It's why the dual GM/coach role has been abolished. I imagine the extra power was needed for him to sign on for the job but to me long term it feels like a power struggle in the making. Either the owners don't want to pay Sherman not to work so they are keeping him or he's the least powerful GM in the history of the league. Perfect scenario for a fall guy role if things don't work out in the immediate future.

[habernac]

Weird situation with Sherman. I'd be happy to have Roy as my coach. He's not going to be intimidated by any player. He's worked hard on his craft with his team in Quebec, I think he'll enjoy the challenge. No one hates to lose like this guy.

[AvsJerk]

As a fan, I'm excited by this move. Shows that the owners are willing to at least try and be competitive again. Is Roy the best choice or even ready for the job? Who knows...only time will tell.

Perhaps Vigneault, Tippett or Ruff would have been better or safer options to go with, but watching this years playoffs, I've been asking myself if any of those coaches could out-coach Julien, Babcock, Sutter, or Bylsma (and the other PO coaches)...and results say no.

Roy is an unknown, he might stink it up worse than Sacco, he might be mediocre, he might be great.

The fan in me is finally excited again. It's similar to Calgary fans being excited for the Flames change of direction...at least we know it won't be more of the same, better or worse.

[trackercowe]

I wonder if this at all might mean they will no longer take Jones first overall. Roy has probably seen a ton of MacKinnon and Drouin while coaching in the Q, so it's probably a lot more likely he'd take one of those guys compared to Sherman.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

IMO it's never a good thing when a coach has too much authority. It's why the dual GM/coach role has been abolished. I imagine the extra power was needed for him to sign on for the job but to me long term it feels like a power struggle in the making. Either the owners don't want to pay Sherman not to work so they are keeping him or he's the least powerful GM in the history of the league. Perfect scenario for a fall guy role if things don't work out in the immediate future.

The Flames were a much better team when their coach was their GM as well.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

I wonder if this at all might mean they will no longer take Jones first overall. Roy has probably seen a ton of MacKinnon and Drouin while coaching in the Q, so it's probably a lot more likely he'd take one of those guys compared to Sherman.

Joe Sakic knows who Seth Jones is as his dad (Popeye Jones) approached him about Seth Jones playing hockey one time when they ran into each other. Not to also mention that Seth Jones is a technically a hometown kid from Denver. Not that means anything but still.

[LGA]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Interesting that he is VP of Hockey Operations... I believe in most organizations that title outranks GM. So Greg Sherman is now a puppet GM?

edit: yup sure sounds like Greg Sherman has little to no power now:

Sherman was never a hockey guy, even before these changes there were rumours (and Sherman himself basically admitted) that there was a group decision when it came to hockey moves. Sherman is still a very good money guy, and that is likely why they keep him around as GM, since he has been pretty good with managing the cap.

I'm personally just happy that the Lacroix's are basically gone. It seems like the last few years the Avs were just their play thing, and wasn't treated as a legitimate hockey franchise. I think having competitive hockey guys like Roy and Sakic will be absolutely crucial if the Avs want to be a respected franchise again.

[MissTeeks]

Interesting tidbits from the Roy press conference today:

Renaud Lavoie‏@RenLavoieRDS25m
Patrick Roy we'll be the one talking trades with other GMs. #avalanche #RDS

Renaud Lavoie‏@RenLavoieRDS12m
Patrick Roy accepted a non guaranteed contract with the Avalanche. He won't be paid if he's fired. #RDS

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

The Flames were a much better team when their coach was their GM as well.

Well not exactly. They were a much better team when Darryl Sutter was the coach. It had nothing to do with them being good because their coach was doing two roles. He said himself the dual role was too much and that the assistants were running a lot of the practices.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Interesting tidbits from the Roy press conference today:

Renaud Lavoie‏@RenLavoieRDS25m
Patrick Roy we'll be the one talking trades with other GMs. #avalanche #RDS

Renaud Lavoie‏@RenLavoieRDS12m
Patrick Roy accepted a non guaranteed contract with the Avalanche. He won't be paid if he's fired. #RDS

Pretty balsy with the non-guaranteed contract. I like it and although I worry about his combustive personality if he can tone it down I see nothing bad about having Roy back in the NHL.

[MissTeeks]

I bet that will be a short conversation:

Renaud Lavoie‏@RenLavoieRDS3m
Patrick Roy told Joe Sakic today that the team needs to study the possibility of trading the team first round pick in a month. #RDS

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pretty balsy with the non-guaranteed contract. I like it and although I worry about his combustive personality if he can tone it down I see nothing bad about having Roy back in the NHL.

Not really that ballsy. He doesn't need the money. His career earnings were in the neighborhood of 55 million

[dammage79]

Renaud Lavoie ‏@RenLavoieRDS 7m
Patrick Roy told Joe Sakic today that the team needs to study the possibility of trading the team first round pick in a month. #RDS
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[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

Not really that ballsy. He doesn't need the money. His career earnings were in the neighborhood of 55 million

Well Jarome Iginla has made $80 million from the Flames but I don't see him signing with a team for the league minimum this summer because he doesn't need the money. This is a bold and unprecedented move and one I'm sure wont go down well with some of the coaching fraternity.

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well Jarome Iginla has made $80 million from the Flames but I don't see him signing with a team for the league minimum this summer because he doesn't need the money. This is a bold and unprecedented move and one I'm sure wont go down well with some of the coaching fraternity.

That's an apples and oranges comparison. Roy isn't putting his physical well being on the line. It's nothing to him if he gets paid or not. Iginla might end up in a wheelchair because some dip decides to cheap shot him, and is compensated accordingly.

I agree 100% it won't be popular. I view it as a BS PR move from an exorbitantly wealthy A-hole who can shrug off guaranteed contracts because he can afford it. He risks nothing by doing so, and sets a precedent within the coaching fraternity - like it isn't already hard enough to hang on to a coaching job.