Colorado Avalanche Final Word on Why Patrick Roy Left

Joe Sakic Changes Course

Patrick Roy had general manager (and owner) experience from his eight years with the Quebec Remparts. That’s largely why Kroenke and Sakic expanded his duties beyond that of traditional head coaches. He was supposed to have a big say in player personnel.

Joe Sakic was the GM, though, so technically he had the final say. And for some reason he lost faith in the vision that he and Roy had crafted together. He started marshaling forces around himself, hiring a new assistant GM, Chris MacFarland, who started taking over some of Patrick Roy’s duties.

Sakic also deviated from the vision. He drafted an undersized center, Tyson Jost, when a center more in the Avalanche mold of the time, Logan Brown, was still available at the #10 slot.

What’s more, he started making moves like the team was in a rebuild rather than striving for relevancy. He picked up some cheap role players in free agency rather than go after Roy’s preferred candidate, Alexander Radulov (18 goals, 36 assists with the Montreal Canadiens).

He also traded away one of Patrick Roy’s favorite defensemen, Nick Holden, essentially just to get rid of him. Colorado got a fourth round pick back for him.

Sakic took undersized defenseman Tyson Barrie to arbitration then signed him to a fat contract (four years with an annual cap hit of $5.5 million). While Roy valued Barrie, he wasn’t in the Avalanche mold, and he’s a definite defensive liability.

And then Joe Sakic announced that Patrick Roy wouldn’t be having as much say in team management — he’d be focusing on coaching. This was not the agreement.

Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic were supposed to be working together to build a team to a shared vision. Sakic broke faith with that agreement. So, when Roy decided to resign, he did so by observing the following, from his PR statement:

"“I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level. To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-Hockey Operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance. These conditions are not currently met.”"

I repeat: Sakic and Roy were supposed to be working together to build the Colorado Avalanche to a shared vision. Sakic changed the plan. He broke faith with Patrick Roy.

Now, think about it this way — how do you think Patrick Roy, he of the immense ego, the Stanley Cup rings in his ears, the collapsed partition — how was that man supposed to take the news that he’d been demoted, he’d still have to answer for team decisions, but the Avs were no longer on the relevancy track?

Do you really expect a man like Patrick Roy to accept that? Now imagine Joe Sakic, who’s known Roy for decades. Do you think Sakic really expected Roy to accept what amounts to a patsy role?

No. He knew what he was doing. In the battle of egos, Sakic out-egoed the egotistical Patrick Roy.