The 2023-24 season was one of midseason hirings and firings. The tone was set days before the season began when the Columbus Blue Jackets fired Mike Babcock despite hiring him earlier in the offseason. For those who missed all the midseason coaching changes or lost track, this was the timeline.
- Nov. 12: Edmonton Oilers fire Jay Woodcroft and Kris Knoblauch is hired.
- Nov. 28: Minnesota Wild replace Dean Evason with John Hynes.
- Dec. 14: St. Louis Blues fire Craig Berube and promote Drew Bannister as head coach.
- Dec. 18: Ottawa Senators hire Jacques Martin to replace D.J. Smith behind the bench.
- Jan. 12: New York Islanders fire Lane Lambert and hire Patrick Roy.
- Feb. 2: Los Angeles Kings hire Jim Hiller to replace Todd McLellan.
- March 4: New Jersey Devils fire Lindy Ruff and promote Travis Green as the interim.
Roy was one of the eight coaches who was asked to fill in and it’s safe to say, that the Islanders found the right person to lead this team. He went 20-12-5 which was good enough to secure the third-best record in the Metropolitan Division. Sure, the Islanders were quickly eliminated in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes but the Roy hiring provides optimism for next season and the future in general.
The question is how he stacks up compared to the other coaches who were hired, some of whom are doing remarkable jobs with their current teams.
Kris Knoblauch
There’s no debate between Roy and Knobluach, who might have been the best hire not just this season but in recent seasons. He was hired early on in the season and he turned the Oilers into a contender almost immediately. More importantly, Knoblauch balanced out the Oilers, allowing them to become a sound team on the defensive end of the ice to go along with a high-powered offense.
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Knoblauch wasn’t a finalist for the Jack Adams Award but he finished fifth in the voting and there’s an argument to be made that with a full season, he would’ve taken home the award. The Oilers are in the Western Conference Final and on the doorstep of winning the Cup, largely because of his influence behind the bench and ability to bring out the best in the roster at both ends of the ice.
John Hynes
Hynes improved the Wild but only to an extent. They went 34-24-5 with him behind the bench to finish the season with a 39-34-9 record and in sixth place in the Central Division. The problem with Hynes is that he was brought in to fix the defense and while the Wild improved on the defensive end of the ice, they still struggled, allowing 2.95 goals per game in his tenure with the team. Ultimately, they looked better with him behind the bench and can easily be one of the top teams in the Central Division next season but his transformation was minor compared to Roy’s.
Drew Bannister
It’s a hard act to follow when the previous coach led the team to its first and only Stanley Cup title. Bannister, however, is a young and promising coach who put together a respectable start with the Blues. He’s going to be a great coach in the NHL and has all the tools needed to make this team competitive. The problem Bannister will have to deal with is the roster, one that is aging and filled with many difficult, immovable contracts. It sounds familiar to the Islanders except Roy has top-end talent to work with, which goes a long way with an otherwise middling roster.
Jacques Martin
When the Senators fired Smith, they brought Martin into a mess. They were a team without direction and identity and despite having a talented roster, they underachieved on a nightly basis. When the season ended, the Senators were still a mess. Did they improve in his tenure? Not really. They went 11-15 under Smith and then after the coaching change, they went 26-26-4 to close out the season. Was the Martin hire better than Roy? To answer the question, he wasn’t brought back.
Jim Hiller
The Islanders’ former assistant is off to a good start. He took over behind the Kings’ bench during the All-Star Break and led them to a 21-12-1 record and third place in the Pacific Division. The roster is deep, and he kept it from falling apart, but Hiller relates to the players and that gives him a high upside. For now, Roy is a better coach but it will interesting to see what he does with the Kings in the long run.
Travis Green
Ruff was fired after the trade deadline with only a few weeks left in a lost season for the Devils. It gave Green a relatively uneventful tenure as he didn’t turn the team around and they didn’t fall apart either. Simply put, a Devils team that wasn’t going to make the playoffs anyway still missed the playoffs. The good news is that Green still received another chance to coach. All he has to do is hope the team that hired him isn’t a mess (he was hired by the Senators so good luck with that).
Stacking Up Roy With The Group
Islanders’ general manager (GM) Lou Lamoriello receives a lot of criticism for the way he operates, but it’s hard to ignore that he did well with the Roy hire. He helped a lost and chaotic team reach the playoffs and he instilled in the roster a competitive edge. It’s possible that Roy ends up as the best head coach of the group of midseason hires. It’s hard to best Knoblauch and Hiller’s tenure is also off to a promising start, but the Islanders can win the Cup with their recent hire leading the way.
The roster will change over time and some players might be moved around this offseason. However, Roy is instilling a culture with the Islanders and with time, he can make this team a contender.
