New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said he apologized to forward Anthony Duclair after he made critical comments about Duclair’s play late last season, and that the two are now on good terms.
Roy told media at the Islanders’ charity golf tournament on Monday that he regrets the comments he made about Duclair.
“It’s an emotional game, and sometimes you’re saying things, but the outcome didn’t do anything good for us,” Roy said. “I feel like it almost was negative more than anything else, and I think Anthony had a lot of trust in me, and I felt like I let him down a little bit there.”
“We’re in a performance sport, and we have expectations and I’m sure Anthony has his, but it’s behind me now and I want to move forward to this year and really hope that Anthony will start like he did because he had a really good start,” he added. “When he came back from his injury, it was a little tougher for him for some reasons. But I want him to be who he was before he got hurt.”
After a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Apr. 2, Roy called out Duclair postgame after he had zero points and minus-1 in 12:15 minutes of ice time.
“He was god-awful. He was god-awful. He had a bad game. That’s why I didn’t play him a lot. And he’s lucky to be in the lineup. Sorry if I lose it on him right now, but that’s how I feel,” Roy said.
“He’s not skating, he’s not competing, he’s not moving his feet. He’s not playing up to what we expect from him.”
The 30-year-old winger then took a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons shortly after Roy made the comments.
Duclair said on Monday that he appreciated Roy driving Montreal to apologize this summer and that their meeting went well.
“I told him I didn’t need an apology — I just needed him to know I was playing hurt, and he told me he didn’t really know the extent of the injury,” Duclair said. “I think it was just a miscommunication by everybody, myself included. He just obviously thought I was playing (at) 100%, which I wasn’t.”
Duclair revealed that he tore his groin off the bone five games into the 2024-25 season and played hurt the rest of the way while also missing large chunks of time. He said he spent this off-season rehabbing the torn groin but it did not require surgery.
In his first season with New York, he had just seven goals and 11 points in 44 games. He has three seasons remaining on a four-year, $14 million contract.
Roy unveils lineup plans, Varlamov update
In looking ahead to the 2025-26 season, Roy also revealed some lineup plans.
He said he expects to have Mathew Barzal in the middle between captain Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri, with free-agent additions Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov flanking Bo Horvat.
Horvat also said he’s “good to go” after suffering an ankle injury while representing Canada at the World Championships in May. His tournament was cut short as Canada lost in the quarter-finals to Denmark. Prior to his injury, Horvat scored four goals and eight points in six games.
The 30-year-old centre led the Islanders in scoring last season with 57 points in 81 games.
Roy also added that he remains unsure if goaltender Semyon Varlamov will be ready for training camp after missing most of last season with a knee injury.
The 37-year-old goaltender appeared in only 10 games last season, last playing on Nov. 29 before knee surgery in December shut him down for the year.
In April, Varlamov said he was still rehabilitating his knee with the goal of being ready for training camp.
“I expect to be ready for next season,” Varlamov said in April. “Everything is going well with rehab and physiotherapy. “The main focus for me to finish the rehab, hopefully soon, and have a good summer of training, and then ready for September for training camp. That’s the goal.”
