Patrick Roy to Remain Islanders HC for 2025-26 NHL Season After Missing Playoffs

A coaching change won't accompany the arrival of Mathieu Darche as the New York Islanders' general manager.

The team announced Thursday that head coach Patrick Roy will remain in place for the 2025-26 season:

The legendary goaltender guided the Islanders to the playoffs after taking over for Lane Lambert midway through 2023-24 but couldn't get them back to the postseason this year.

While Roy is keeping his job, the coaching staff will experience some turnover. Darche said assistants John MacLean and Tommy Albelin won't be back. The upheaval is extending to the Bridgeport Islanders, New York's AHL affiliate, with their coaches being let go as well.

During Thursday's press conference, Darche underscored his desire to groom more homegrown talent:

The start of the 2025 NHL entry draft is a little less than a month away (June 27). Firing Roy would've required Darche to divert some of his focus from prospect evaluation toward vetting coaching candidates.

From that standpoint, retaining Roy makes sense. This season wasn't such a disaster that he absolutely had to go, either. A 55-47-17 record is respectable through a year-and-a-half.

For as much as Darche wants to make the Islanders better at developing talent, they have a little more than $26.5 million in projected salary-cap space. They can be aggressive in free agency if returning to the playoffs in 2025-26 is the goal:

Maybe Darche instead uses that flexibility to look more toward the future by signing younger players and flipping some of their high-priced vets in trades that add to the payroll now but clean up the books moving forward.

The Isles need a lot of improvements to be a serious contender again. It's up to Darche to determine whether that process will be quick or unfolds over a period of years.

For Roy, his job security may hinge on having something tangible to show from 2025-26, be it an improved record or progression from the skaters who will lead the next good Islanders squad.