HIGHLIGHTS
- The Islanders fired Patrick Roy on Sunday after a four-game losing streak and a 7-of-10 skid since mid-March
- Pete DeBoer takes over immediately with four games left and the Islanders clinging to a playoff spot by one point
- Full details on DeBoer’s playoff pedigree, New York’s standings situation, and what comes next below
The Islanders just fired Patrick Roy with four games left in the regular season. Pete DeBoer is the new head coach.
New York has lost four straight and seven of its last 10, getting outscored 37-26 in that stretch. Roy went 97-78-22 over nearly three full seasons after replacing Lane Lambert in January 2024, but the late-season slide pushed Lou Lamoriello to pull the trigger now rather than wait.
It’s an aggressive call. The Islanders sit third in the Metropolitan Division at 42-31-5 with 89 points, just one ahead of Philadelphia and Columbus. The Flyers have two games in hand. This isn’t a team that’s locked in. It’s a team that could miss the playoffs entirely if the skid continued.
DeBoer, who was one of the top coaching free agents on the market after Dallas let him go last June, brings a playoff resume that’s hard to argue with. His teams have reached at least the conference finals in six of his last six postseason appearances. He took San Jose to the 2016 Final and guided Dallas to three straight Western Conference Finals. He also served as an assistant for Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics.
“I’m very confident with my ability to come in and get a team on the same page and play the right way and being able to win in the playoffs,” DeBoer told NHL.com back in September. “My confidence in being able to do that is really high.”
Roy is the fourth head coach fired this season, joining Dean Evason in Columbus, Jim Hiller in Los Angeles, and Bruce Cassidy in Vegas just last week. The Islanders don’t play again until Thursday against Toronto, giving DeBoer a few days to get his feet under him before the final push.
New York’s core of Barzal, Horvat, and Schaefer has the talent to make noise in a playoff series. Whether DeBoer can get them there in four games is the question.
