The New York Islanders have fired coach Patrick Roy and replaced him with former Dallas Stars coach Peter DeBoer, the team announced on Sunday. This move comes on the heels of four straight regulation losses that dealt a devastating blow to the Islanders’ playoff chances with just four games left in the regular season.

Roy took over for the Islanders midway through the 2023-24 season, when the team fired Lane Lambert. Roy led New York on a playoff push that season, but the team lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in a brief first-round series. In 2024-25, his lone full season with the Islanders, Roy guided the team to a 35-35-12 finish that fell well short of the postseason.

This year, with rookie superstar Matthew Schaefer leading the way, the Islanders have managed to hang around in the Eastern Conference playoff race. At the time of Roy’s firing, New York sits in playoff position at third place in the Metro Division at 42-31-9. Roy exits Long Island with a career record of 97-78-22.

The Isles will now bring in DeBoer in hopes of clinging to a playoff spot, while also looking to the future. Most recently, DeBoer led the Stars to three straight Western Conference Final appearances, and he was fired after making the bizarre decision to pull standout goaltender Jake Oettinger in a do-or-die Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers.

DeBoer has won everywhere he’s been, and he’s taken two different teams to the Stanley Cup Final. He was behind the bench with the New Jersey Devils when they lost to the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, and he led the San Jose Sharks to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016.

In his 1,261 games with five different teams, DeBoer has compiled a career record of 662-447-152. In the postseason, DeBoer has posted a winning record of 97-82, but he’s still looking for a Stanley Cup.

The big question: Why now?

Late-season coach firings have suddenly become the vogue new trend in the NHL between the Islanders making this move and the Vegas Golden Knights replacing Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella last week.

At least in the case of the Golden Knights, that move made some degree of sense. On paper, Vegas is a Stanley Cup contender, but the team was reeling as the offense went ice cold and the goaltending bottomed out. Tortorella can provide a motivational spark on short notice, and he seems to have done just that. The Golden Knights have now won three in a row.

However, the Islanders are in a much different situation. This is a franchise that veered toward a rebuild just over a year ago when it traded one of its best players, Brock Nelson, at the deadline. The Islanders were rewarded with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which they used to select Schaefer, the presumptive Calder Trophy winner.

As good as Schaefer has been — and as brilliant as Ilya Sorokin has been between the pipes — it’s probably a testament to Roy’s coaching ability that this team is in the playoff race at all.

Beyond stars like Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat, New York lacks true impact players at forward. Outside of Schaefer and Adam Pelech, the blue line remains a work in progress, contributing to the Islanders being one of the worst defensive teams in the league. Only two teams, the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks, surrender expected goals against at a higher rate, per Natural Stat Trick.

This is a very flawed team, and it’s tough to imagine another coach getting more out of this bunch than Roy has, which only makes the timing more curious.

According to MoneyPuck, New York’s playoff chances have dipped to 31.4% on the heels of four consecutive regulation losses. Yes, the Islanders still sit in a playoff spot, but every team chasing them has games in hand. Does New York expect DeBoer to coach the Isles to a 4-0-0 finish?

The only good explanation for making this move now might be getting ahead of the coaching carousel. DeBoer was going to be the top candidate on the market in the offseason, and if the Islanders were unsure about whether to move forward with Roy, they may have wanted to act quickly and lock down a coach with 662 career wins.

This last-second coaching change only really makes sense if you view it as a long-term play as opposed to a short-term fix for a team on the fringe of the playoffs.