Patrick Roy

Patrick Roy spent three seasons with the Granby Bisons of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before being drafted by the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Montreal Canadiens in 1984. During the 1984-85 season, however, he appeared in one NHL game, although he did help the affiliated Sherbrooke Canadiens win the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup. After that, he became a regular with Montreal through 1996, winning the Stanley Cup in 1986 and 1993. In those years he also captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, and in 1987-1989 and 1992 earned the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltender who allowed the fewest goals (shared with Brian Hayward during the first three years). He also won the Vezina Trophy in 1989, 1990, and 1992 as the best goaltender in the league, the same three years that he made the first All-Star team.

Disputes with the Canadiens led to Roy being traded to the Colorado Avalanche in the middle of the 1995-96 season, a team with whom he would spend the rest of his career until his retirement in 2003. During that time, he won the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001, the Smythe trophy in 2001, and the Jennings trophy in 2002, and made the first All-Star team in the latter year. He also represented Canada in the tournament at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where his country was fourth, and turned down an opportunity to play again in 2002.

After his retirement, Roy turning to coaching and led the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) to a league title in 2006. He then joined the Avalanche as head coach and was with them through 2016. He returned to the Remparts in 2018 and helped them win a second league title in 2023, at which point he was hired by the New York Islanders of the NHL as head coach. His jersey number was retired by both the Avalanche and the Canadiens, and he was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006. He was also made a member of the Colorado Sports and QMJHL Halls of Fame in 2004, and Canada’s Sports Halls of Fame in 2010.