Only one focus of the newsletter this week, because yes, Patrick Roy’s comments on Anthony Duclair Tuesday night were that big a deal.
It won’t be clear until weeks from now, maybe longer, whether on Tuesday night we witnessed the wheels coming off the Islanders, and specifically Roy’s tenure as head coach, or this was a nothing, a blip on the radar that everyone gets past and forgets about.
What’s clear now is that the former is a distinct possibility, because there’s been a yearlong buildup of Roy criticizing players in public, because what he said about Duclair — “god awful,” “not competing,” “I think it’s an effort thing” — is well beyond normal coach press conference criticism of a player and because the Islanders’ playoff hopes are sinking with six straight losses.
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In this space, we are in total, unabashed favor of unvarnished honesty from players, coaches and teams, and not only because it’s good for business.
