Patrick Roy parts ways with Avalanche organization
Posted: 12:26 PM, Aug 11, 2016
By: Mark Belcher
DENVER -- A staple within the Colorado Avalanche organization is parting ways with the club as Patrick Roy announced his resignation on Thursday.
A release from Roy's press agency confirmed Roy resigned his duties Thursday after three years of acting as the Avalanche head coach and vice president of hockey operations, a dual position that gave Roy a great deal of power within the organization.
"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," Roy said. "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."
In his announcement, Roy said the announcement is saddening, but didn't come without a great deal of thought behind the decision.
"Patrick informed me of his decision today," Joe Sakic, Avalanche executive vice president and general manager, said. "We appreciate all he has done for our organization and wish him the best of luck in the future."
Later on Thursday, Sakic said in a conference call, "We both respect each other really well. We've always been friends and we'll always continue to be friends. He was contemplating this for a few weeks. It was tough on him, stressful and I know right now he's very comfortable with his decision and probably relieved that it's over for him. So I'm happy that he came to this decision for himself and he's comfortable with it and ready to move on. I wish him the best."
"It definitely caught me off guard," Sakic said of the phone call from Roy. "We had a good conversation today I was surprised, but I also thanked Patrick for his three years and letting me know now. It would be a lot harder if he came to training camp and his mind-set wasn't fresh and ready to go. He was at that point of letting me know. I respect that decision, and I support him."
Roy thanked the Avalanche organization and its players, for which he played 478 games and coached 253.
Roy has two Stanley Cups to his name with the organization.
The Avalanche front office said they will begin immediately searching for a new head coach.