Rocket:
As a Canadiens fan, I remember being transfixed to the TV admiring an amazing goaltending playoff performance against the New York Rangers in 1986. At 20 years old, Patrick Roy would go on to lead the Canadiens to their 23rd Stanley Cup and Roy would earn his first of 3 Conn Smythe trophies.
In 1993, there was another Cup for the Canadiens and another Conn Smythe trophy for Roy. He was the key to many of the incredible 10 overtime victories during the playoff run.
After his tantrum and subsequent trade in 1995, Patrick Roy went on to help the Colorado Avalanche win 2 Stanley Cups during his tenure.
Then there are the statistics: 19 seasons in the NHL, 1029 games, 551 wins and so many goaltending playoff records.
Patrick Roy is one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. I am a huge fan of what he did on the ice. He is rightly recognized in the Hockey Hall Of Fame (2006).
14 numbers currently hang in the Bell Centre rafters. To be added to the select group of one of the most prestigious franchises in sport should require hall of fame career performance at a minimum. In addition, qualities such as leadership, honour and loyalty and others should be considered. In my opinion, Roy is lacking in one or more of these areas.
Here’s what my esteemed colleague Habster wrote about Roy’s character:
“The key word here is classy something the extremely ego centric and controversial Roy doesn’t completely understand. He is a hot head who has demonstrated poor judgement on numerous occasions which have been well publicized with only minimum consequences.”
I agree completely.
The well-documented game of December 2,1995 against Detroit where Roy was left in the net for 9 goals against has been the topic of conversation this week. There is certainly blame t be shared on all sides including Mario Tremblay and Rejean Houle. But Patrick Roy’s ego-centric behaviour had lit the fuse to this event long before. Patrick Roy had quit on his team and his teammates.
As his father acknowledged, Patrick needed on the attention and it was more important to him to be a celebrity more than an accomplished athlete.
There is a long list of off-ice incidents while in Montreal and Colorado where Roy exhibited an explosive temper, violent reactions and bullying behaviour towards players, media, fans and his own family. The accounts of each incident a the very least portray Patrick as a man who has little respect for others. Roy has had to defend himself in both criminal and civil courts.
Perhaps the most disturbing event happened last Spring during the playoff game between Roy’s Quebec Ramparts and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. There is no question that Patrick signalled his son to attack Sagueneen goaltender Bobby Nadeau. Jonathan exacted a vicious beating on Nadeau, who was not a participant. For his role, Patrick Roy was fortunate to only receive a 5 game suspension, a ruling considered very lenient by most.
For the above reasons I do not support retiring #33 at this time. Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey and others had to wait 30 years to see their jerseys retired. I would have preferred that the same time period pass before Roy’s consideration. At least there would be an additional 20 years for Patrick to attempt to make up for all the wrongful deeds he has committed.
I concur…the players mentioned earned it by waiting. They could have waited..then again Colorado was even worse about this.
You’re right Stevens. Colorado Avalanche retired his jersey back in 2003. I would have preferred that the Canadiens wait until maybe 2023 to consider Roy for retirement. But perhaps, by that time, his accomplishments will be eclipsed by a #31.
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