Islanders Make Stunning Head Coach Swap With Just 4 Games To Go

NHL head coaches historically have often had short shelf lives, and the Islanders' Patrick Roy is the latest to fall victim to that premise.

The Isles officially announced a bold coaching change on Sunday, dismissing Roy as head coach and naming Peter DeBoer as their new leader in the same X post. Roy lost his job with just four games left in the regular season, leaving behind a 97-78-22 record.

As the Islanders are mired in a four-game losing streak and losses in seven of their last 10 games, GM Mathieu Darche clearly felt the team needed some kind of wake-up call. Entering Monday, the Islanders are on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoffs, after the Flyers jumped them in the Metropolitan Division in the standings with a big overtime win over the Bruins on Sunday. The Isles find themselves just one point behind the Ottawa Senators (89 vs. 90) for the second wild card spot, but the Sens have a game in hand on them.

It's a relatively soft landing for DeBoer, who now has three days to get the Islanders ready for their next game, while the players have time to familiarize themselves with him. DeBoer's first game as Isles head coach will be a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are 14th in the Eastern Conference with just 78 points. They finish out the regular season with a four-game homestand, which includes a massive showdown with the Senators this Saturday.

The Islanders' performance over these next four games will be a strong indicator of how much of a problem Roy's coaching had become, for a team that held higher aspirations than just missing the playoffs as soon as last month. And for a new head coach who's basically coming in off the street, it's hard to think of a better option than DeBoer, who has coached 179 playoff games in his career with two berths in the Stanley Cup Final. So, he'll be hungry to win a Cup, too.