(Quebec) Patrick Roy officially bid farewell to the Quebec Remparts on Tuesday during an emotional press conference where the Memorial Cup winner remained unclear about his future.
“Absolutely none,” Roy dropped out when asked by reporters if he had contact with any NHL teams for a head coaching job.
Roy made the statement as rumors swirl around his time behind the Senators bench. New owner Michael Andlauer knows the former keeper personally.
“Yes, I know him well. When I did my interview with the Canadiens, he was one of the people. He’s a nice guy. Will he call me, that, I have no idea,” Roy clarified.
In front of some twenty journalists and photographers gathered at the Videotron Centre, Patrick Roy and Jacques Tanguay announced that they were leaving the Remparts, a team they had taken over in 1997. The formation, now owned by Quebecor, therefore loses those who were respectively head coach and general manager, and team president.
“The only concern I have is to leave Sunday with Jacques, go play golf in Scotland and continue my journey in Italy, assures Roy. After that, I will take the time to reflect. Right now, I don’t have time to be scared. »
Rumors that put Roy back behind an NHL bench have never stopped since his eventful departure from the Colorado Avalanche in August 2016, when he chose to leave his positions as head coach and vice-president of operations. hockey after three seasons and a record of 130-92-24.
In a statement at the time of his resignation, he cited divergent views with the organization.
Patrick Roy said on Tuesday that he reflected on this episode and learned from it. “Today I feel like having been vice president of hockey operations mixes people up, in the sense that I was not just a head coach, but also vice president of operations. . »
“I had my say and that was one of the conditions… And looking back I realize that maybe trying to get that job maybe hurt me today to come back as a coach -leader in the National League. »
Roy recently made similar statements to Dave Stubbs of NHL.com, comments that must have reached the ears of some teams, we imagine.
“It was a way for me to show some humility, and demonstrate why I understood why maybe it was more difficult for me to have a head coaching job,” Roy explained Tuesday. .
If Roy left the bench of the Avalanche in the controversy in 2016, it is quite different with his departure from the Remparts. The contrast was striking.
“In 2018, I had the privilege of taking him out of a brief retirement and bringing him back with me,” said Jacques Tanguay. We had set ourselves a goal, to do one last round together and try to go for great honors. Only he could do that. »
Roy and Tanguay, the two friends, had been thinking about their departure for a few months. The Memorial Cup victory on June 4 decided them.
It was a turning point in Patrick Roy’s thinking. “There’s no better way for me to come full circle,” he said. In life, you have to know how to leave at the right time, he added.
Who will replace Roy behind the Remparts bench? The bets are open. Quebecor, which acquired the team in 2015 from the hands of Tanguay, preferred not to comment on the matter to leave all the attention to the departure of the two men.
But Roy was full of praise for his assistant Simon Gagné, who he said has “all the qualities necessary to do very well with the Remparts if it is the owners’ choice”.
As for Roy, he admits that at 57, he hasn’t been around the garden yet. “I think when you’re a coach you always have the feeling that you can help a group, you’re always curious to see how far you can go. Will that passion always exist? I think so. »
“Someone once told me: hockey is not your passion, it’s your life,” he recalls. It’s kinda true. Hockey is my life. »