The New York Islanders have hired Patrick Roy to be their new head coach, replacing Lane Lambert.

The Islanders' 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago on Friday could have sealed Lambert's fate, as the team had gone 2-6-2 in its last 10 games. Lambert's team had become more fantasy friendly this season, as players like Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal, and Noah Dobson have all seen upticks in scoring from last season.

However, the Islanders are allowing 3.42 GA/GP this season, up significantly from the 2.71 GA/GP from last season that made them one of the league's best defensive squads. Ilya Sorokin has allowed nearly a full goal more this season (3.21 GAA) than he has last season (2.33 GAA). A coach on the hot seat is often connected to struggling defensive play. That isn't all on Sorokin, as regular defensemen like Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, and Scott Mayfield have all missed games due to injury.

Enter Roy, the Hall of Fame goalie with the strong personality. His days as a Stanley Cup-winning goalie with Montreal and Colorado are well-documented, but he has also spent many years as a head coach. His NHL experience spans three seasons with Colorado, where he led an overachieving Avalanche team to a division title in 2013-14 followed by two down seasons of missing the playoffs with a team in need of a rebuild before stepping down suddenly in August 2014. Roy is also an accomplished junior coach, having won two Memorial Cups coaching the Quebec Remparts.

If there's any advantage the Isles have in hiring Roy, it's the potential jolt from bringing in a coach with his style. He won the most recent Memorial Cup for a team that took great pride in playing for him, demonstrating that perhaps he has grown from his Colorado days. Things had gotten stale under Lambert, although part of that is the type of team that they have created. Lou Lamiorello has built a squad that can potentially grab a wild-card spot and succeed with a shutdown style in the playoffs, as they have demonstrated in back-to-back trips to the Conference Final in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Beyond this incident with Bruce Boudreau, Roy was also known for pulling his goaltenders earlier in a game if his team was trailing. In fact, he once pulled a goalie with 10 minutes left in regulation. Although this particular incident was extreme, trailing teams are pulling goalies earlier in a game nowadays. What will we be in store for with Roy now? At the very least, the Islanders have suddenly become a more interesting team to watch.

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Players this helps, in order:

Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov (Roy was a goalie, remember?)

Everyone else in the short term

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Players this hurts, in order:

No one in particular

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