Hall of Fame legend now considered leading candidate for Maple Leafs head coach: Patrick Roy
Patrick Roy interviewed for the Toronto Maple Leafs head coaching job, and word out of those meetings is the conversation went exceptionally well.
Insider Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday that the buzz around Roy's interview was strong.
"I heard Patrick Roy interviewed really well," Friedman said. "The word on the street is the Roy interview was really good."
That's not noise. When Friedman says something moved in a coaching search, it means someone in that building is talking.
The Leafs finished the season 32-36-14, 78 points, 28th overall in the league. They allowed 299 goals against. For context, only two teams in the entire NHL gave up more.
Roy's track record gives Toronto's coaching search real stakes
This isn't a name they're kicking around for optics. Roy won a Stanley Cup behind the bench in Colorado in 2001. He coached the Avalanche from 2013 to 2016 and posted back-to-back 100-point seasons before eventually stepping away.
The Leafs' locker room has needed a harder hand for years. Seven straight losses to close the regular season tells you something about the state of that bench culture.
Roy is the kind of coach who sets the tone from day one. Players don't coast in his systems. The Avalanche teams he ran were physical, accountable, and they competed. Toronto, 299 goals against and a 7-game skid to close the year, needs exactly that reset.
Hiring a Hall of Fame goaltender to fix a team that gave up 3.6 goals per game feels almost poetic, and not in a feel-good way. It's the kind of desperation move that tells you the Leafs' front office knows this roster needs an identity transplant, not a slight adjustment.
The question nobody in Toronto wants to answer is this: if Roy walks in and immediately demands accountability, how many of those veterans actually respond?
The Leafs' coaching search is still open and no decision has been announced. But the signal from inside those walls this week is that Roy left a very strong impression.
Whether that translates to a hire remains to be seen. In the meantime, the rest of the Atlantic Division is watching. Closely.
-
|
YESTERDAY
JUNE 2, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||