Since the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, several coaching names have been bandied about for the team. Initially, the rumours were just centred around former Vegas Golden Knights bench boss Bruce Cassidy. However, since the leak of those rumours, and especially after the Oilers cut Kris Knoblauch loose from the position, the names have become plentiful.
Cassidy has been joined in the “To YEG” rumour mill by names such as Craig Berube, Peter Laviolette, and even Mike Babcock somehow, who said through a reporter that he has retired from coaching. Last week, veteran scribe Jim Matheson floated another coaching name with experience, who is also freshly out of a job. How about Hall of Fame, Top-5-in-NHL-history former goalie Patrick Roy?
This could actually be as much of an intrigue pick as it is the classic “recycled coach” option so many NHL teams prefer. So how does Patrick Roy make sense as a prospective Oilers head coach? Would he even want the job in the first place? Lots of questions to answer about this one, because if there weren’t, this article might not be written.
With far less talented rosters, Roy has gotten a lot out of them
Think back to 2013, when the Colorado Avalanche hired Roy away from the QMJHL. At the time, the Avs not only made him head coach, but vice-president of hockey operations, meaning he held a position of greater power than the General Manager. Coaches in the NHL today generally do not get that much authority. They did, at least, give him his former teammate Joe Sakic to help out- Sakic seems to have been a really solid pick, in hindsight.
Roy did get to coach the likes of Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, among other names. But nobody viewed that Avs team at the time as anything of a world-beater. In Roy’s first season, however, they won the Central Division and he claimed the Jack Adams Award. He got results out of a team that, on paper, wasn’t supposed to be that good.
A better stint on the Island
More recently, Roy was brought in to coach the New York Islanders. Here, he was given a roster built by legendary GM Lou Lamoriello- which, aside from Alex Romanov and Simon Holmstrom, was quite old. Beyond those two and goaltender Ilya Sorokin, Lamoriello constructed the roster as if it was still 2016.
Even then, Roy managed to steer them to the playoffs in 2024, and keep them in contention both in 2025 and 2026. The job he did this season was actually rather admirable given how many fresh faces the Isles were bringing in. This is a team committing to building around young sensation Matthew Schaefer, and they still nearly made the playoffs.
Only in his last two years in Colorado was Roy somewhat to blame for the team’s struggles. Those Avalanche teams were nowhere close to the same level as the 2022 iteration that won the Cup. The better case to be made is that Roy has never been dealt the best of hands with rosters. Yet, time and again, he gets a lot out of a team, particularly in Year One of his tenure.
If the Oilers want to win the Cup, they could do a lot worse than Roy
As a recent poll of Oilers fans indicates, Bruce Cassidy is really the only stellar name out there to hire. Yet, the Golden Knights are apparently too focused on beating an injured Avalanche team to even grant permission for Cassidy to be interviewed right now. So other options have to be considered, unfortunate as it is to say that.
Certainly, with Berube and Laviolette, you’re banking on the 2026–27 season as being “the one”. With the histories that we’ve seen from those two, the Cup drought likely stretches longer than 36 seasons if 2027 isn’t the year the Oilers win it all. Those two are coaches that are good for a short-term jolt to a team, but not too much beyond that. Laviolette’s Cup ring, by the way, was one he had to beat the Oilers for- in 2006.
We can debate how much fault Roy has from his two previous coaching stints, but he’s certainly not a worse option. He, if anything, fits the same bill: Short-term spark for a team in need of one. Additionally, we haven’t seen him try to coach a truly talented team, so who’s to say he’s not better?
The teams that Roy coaches are pretty solid defensively
The biggest problem that the Oilers have had in recent years has been with defence and goaltending. And goaltending is a major wild card, especially when Roy isn’t about to strap the pads back on, much as the Oilers might make him want to. So how well do Roy’s teams play?
Since 2023–24, the Islanders have been in the top half of the league for limiting goals-against. They peaked at 10th in that very year. The 2013–14 Avalanche also finished 15th in goals-against, again in the top half. Sure, Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov do a lot to help prevent goals-against. But also, the Isles’ greatest problem in 2025–26, as they finished 11th in goals-against, was landing at 28th in goals-for.
When only Calgary, Detroit, Vancouver, and New Jersey are below you in scoring, your defence and goaltending can only do so much to help you win. One would figure that, with some legitimate firepower offensively, a Roy-coached team can make significant noise in the playoffs. And offence often isn’t something the Oilers lack. There could be a matrimonial connection, in this sense.
What would it take for the Oilers to bring him here?
The only question then remains, how willing would Roy be to coach a Canadian team? To which the answer is rather simple: Probably quite willing. You don’t have to look far beyond the surface to see why that would be the case.
In the QMJHL, Roy coached the Quebec Remparts, arguably the most prestigious franchise of that league. In the NHL, he’s coached in Colorado and on Long Island, two American markets where the fans are still rabid, alongside knowledgeable. Even in his playing career, he only ever played for the Avs, and the Montreal Canadiens. Roy is no stranger to being around an intense fan base and more media coverage than in a newer, or non-traditional, market.
Given he’s still chasing down a Cup ring for his coaching career to accompany the four from his playing days, he might actually be a better “Plan B” option for Edmonton. Berube and Laviolette, with their championship pedigree, might cost extra to lure up here. Roy would almost certainly command less, and also be overjoyed if given the chance to coach the Oilers’ star-studded roster. None of his past teams had prime Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Evan Bouchard.
All in all, Roy isn’t a bad option whatsoever. Of course, Cassidy remains the name the Oilers continue to try and snag. But if they’re forced to fall back, maybe “Saint Patrick” can be the coaching saviour this franchise needs.
