Habster:
Like Pat Hickey, I’ve always admired Patrick Roy’s accomplishments on the ice for the most part (with the exception of his last days in Montreal). He was one of the greatest goalies to play the game………definitely top five.
With all that being said, Roy escapades off the ice can’t be ignored and reflects rather poorly on him. He was a selfish player who thought of himself (his stats especially) before he thought of the team. Roy treated himself as a larger than life figure with the ego to go with it which probably helped him develop his deserved Hall of Fame status.
When he played in Montreal, he insisted on selecting the games he would play during the regular season regardless how well he was playing. This was confirmed by many of his teammates (ie- Brian Hayward or Ron Tugnutt) who resented his self-absorbed, selfish nature.
Until the ill prepared and undeserving Mario Tremblay arrived on the scene as head coach during the 1995-96 season, Patrick Roy had coaches who understood (rightfully or wrongfully) that he needed to be pampered and coddled in order to keep him happy. Tremblay didn’t believe in this approach which built a lot of anomosity between he and Roy……to the point where Roy was openly ridiculing Tremblay in front of his players.
It was this hatred along with Tremblay’s and Roy’s huge pride/egos that led the incompetent Ronald Corey to have the equally incompetent Rejean Houle trade Roy away for a few pucks named Thibault, Rucinsky and Kovalenko (granted Thibault and Rucinsky are still playing in the NHL). If only cooler heads had prevailed over the entire situation, then Roy may have finished his career in a Canadiens uniform.
Canadiens fans can’t re-write history and neither can Patrick Roy for that matter but I’m sure he wished he had another chance to right a wrong which happened last Saturday in Chicoutimi. It was an embarrassment to his family, the QMJHL and hockey in general and was absolutely inexcusable.
