Patrick Roy and Colorado Avalanche Team Structure

Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy has a clear vision of what he wants the team to look like. His seemingly perplexing moves are a part of the larger plan.

In scrolling through Twitter recently, I came across a theme that comes up periodically with the Colorado Avalanche (or probably any team). Fans wonder if head coach Patrick Roy has “seen the light” regarding certain players.

This has been a theme that has centered on various players this season alone, including Brandon Gormley, Nikita Zadorov, Andreas Martinsen, Nate Guenin and Brad Stuart. The general consensus has usually been that the first two (Gormley and Zadorov) deserve more ice time, and the last three deserve little or no ice time.

Fans and sports writers usually base their opinions on a comparison or a general evaluation of a player’s skill set. For instance, the opinion came up repeatedly that fans would rather see Gormley in the lineup over Guenin. (Ironically, both exited the lineup almost at the same time — more on that shortly.) Likewise, most fans shake their heads when Martinsen gets slotted into a top line.

These opinions generally take on the tone of “Why isn’t Patrick Roy seeing what is so clear?” What they mean, though, is, “Why isn’t Patrick Roy seeing what I see?”

I’ve already documented that I think that type of sentiment is, well, arrogant, so I’m not going to go into that aspect of the matter. Instead, let’s take a look behind the curtains. Patrick Roy is renowned for being honest in interviews, and if you listen carefully and watch what he does, you can get an inkling of what he’s trying to accomplish.

Next: Power Forwards

Power Forwards

Coach Roy likes gritty players. He wants big players who aren’t afraid to get physical — at the right time, of course.

Roy likes to have a power forward on each line — he’s mentioned that more than once. This could be a highly skilled power forward, such as Gabriel Landeskog or Jarome Iginla. This could be a grinder, such as Andreas Martinsen, or an out-and-out energy player, such as Cody McLeod.

In additional to the physicality, he wants these players to make room for puck-possessors. This was his stated rationale for placing Martinsen on a top line one of the several times he’s done that.

A physical player in a physical game also helps provide a spark. Coach Roy is big on sparks — he can’t stand flat play, and he’ll blame that for losses more often than not. Coming out flat is also a quick way to get on Patrick Roy’s bad side. (More on that later.)

Of course, the potential for a spark is also how Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras earned their most recent chances on the team.

MORE FROM MILE HIGH STICKING: Avs Recipe for the Power Play

Next: Rushing the Net

Rushing the Net

“Good things happen when you go to the net.”

I can’t attribute that quote because Patrick Roy says it in pretty much every interview. He wants his players to drive the net and hang out around it. He wants players to be ready for rebounds, chip-ins, and other ugly goals.

For example, when forward Matt Duchene was struggling at the beginning of the season, he pulled the young center aside. Roy and showed Duchene video of himself scoring goals while around the net. He also took Duchene off the center position to give him a chance to implement his net-play. (He proceeded to go on a historic scoring streak in November.)

Likewise, watch this video that ended Alex Tanguay’s scoring drought:

Coach Roy praised Tanguay’s positioning in his post-game presser:

“That was a big one. He was right in front of the net, and good things happen when you’re there.”

That’s right — one of the many times coach Roy has mentioned the wonders being in front of the net produces.

This also comes out in his expectations for the defense. He likes his defensemen to pinch in, to jump into the play. However, he wants his defensemen to be smart about how they join the play.

More on that…

Next: Hockey IQ

Hockey IQ

You can’t just go around hitting things and driving the net and stay on Patrick Roy’s Colorado Avalanche team. You’ve got to be smart about how you play.

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For example, in his first year as coach for the Avalanche, coach Roy like to pair a stay-at-home defenseman with an offensive one. (Remember Erik Johnson with Jan Hejda, Tyson Barrie with Nate Guenin.) This has evolved into pairing two-way defensemen and expected them to sort out which takes which role.

This is clear in his top defensive pairing of Erik Johnson and Francois Beauchemin. Both are known for being two-way players. However, the pair keeps getting top minutes against the best opponents because Johnson tends to stay back while Beauchemin jumps into the play. This means one is always in the correct position to defend against a turnover.

Defensemen need to be good puck movers, too, but it’s essential that they maintain their ice vision.

This goes for forwards, too, of course. At the beginning of the season, players were making mental errors at the absolute worst time and costing the games.

Coach Roy has been working hard to create a team of players who maintain their focus no matter how the game rolls — he’s talked a lot about mental preparation, the need to stay “even keel” before, during and after games. This language has definitely permeated the locker room as you hear everyone from captain Gabriel Landeskog to newbie Chris Bigras remark being “even keel.”

Next: Leadership

Compete Level

Perhaps the most important tenet of the Gospel According to Patrick Roy has to do with compete level. This should come as no surprise. In his playing days, Patrick Roy was infamous for his own compete level, what some would call pride bordering on arrogance. He wanted to win — and hated losing — more than anything in the world.

The quickest way to find yourself on the outs with Patrick Roy is to drop your compete level.

For example, center Mikhail Grigorenko keeps dancing in and out of the lineup. This isn’t because he’s less-skilled than, say, Andreas Martinsen. Coach Roy said more than once that Grigorenko will get a chance in the lineup until he stops winning his one-on-one battles. Roy seems to see this as a drop in compete level.

Coach Roy praises Cody McLeod for his compete level. When Patrick remarks about needing a spark, quite often he’s referring to compete level — and McLeod has that in spades.

A waning compete level is the reason Patrick Roy gave for waiving and sending down Brandon Gormley. A high compete level is why Jack Skille was able to make the surprising move of making the team on a professional tryout. It’s why Blake Comeau was acquired and gets good minutes in games.

Patrick Roy was a man who played through appendicitis to help his team win playoff games. This is not a man who understands “not feeling it” or whatever else might lead to flat play.

MORE FROM MILE HIGH STICKING: Gabriel Landeskog and the Captaincy

Next: What it Means

What This Means

Head coach Patrick Roy has joked a few times about playing Monopoly, but I bet he’s a mean chess player. I think he’s also part chemist, part psychologist.

Coach Roy looks at his lineup — including scratches and prospects down in San Antonio — for what’s going to fulfill his vision.

I remarked in a previous post that GM Joe Sakic and coach Roy are the architects of the current Colorado Avalanche. And you can’t have architects without blueprints.

Coach Roy has blueprints for what he wants to see on the ice. As he said to the Fan, “Sometimes you’re looking at the fit.” He’s gotten into the specifics more than once, such as remarking you can’t have two shooters or three passers on the same line.

This is where chemistry comes into play. First of all, a solid line or defensive pairing must have players who display solid chemistry with each other. This could be because they have a similar style of play and have worked out how to use that to their advantage — as in the case of Beauchemin and Johnson. That could be because of a mentor-youngster relationship, as in the case of Tanguay and MacKinnon.

Next comes psychology — specifically that compete level and hockey IQ. Players have to come ready to give even more than they think they have. And they have to be disciplined enough to implement their roles. This aspect of Roy’s blueprint led to both the rise and downfall of Brandon Gormley and, especially, Nate Guenin.

From there, it’s a matter of implementing the moving pieces that fulfill the roles of Patrick Roy’s vision for the team. So, it sounds like coach Roy probably looks at his roster and mentally gives pluses or minuses to players based on their compete level and hockey IQ. He then considers the moving system of passers, shooters and energy players he needs to implement Avalanche-style hockey — in all situations (even strength, power play, penalty kill, overtime).

From there, he slots players into their spots based on all these factors. Ever a mastermind — or chess master — coach Roy isn’t afraid to make a change mid-game if something needs adjustment to make Avalanche hockey go the way he wants it to.

This is why a Nate Guenin might have gotten into the lineup over a Nikita Zadorov — because at the time Guenin had a higher hockey IQ and filled a stay-at-home role. The need for spark and rush play is why Zadorov eventually wound up back in the lineup over Guenin.

Next: Avs Control Their Own Destiny

In the end, this is why head coach Patrick Roy doesn’t need to “see the light” that advanced stats or other metrics tell laypeople. Patrick Roy’s eyes are the light — we just need to look in the same direction to figure out what’s going on.