It’s been more than three months since Patrick Roy spoke with Anthony Duclair.
The Islanders coach is waiting to meet with Duclair in person for a conversation, which will include an apology for the comments that led the winger to take a leave of absence after Roy laid into his effort following an April 1 loss to the Lightning.
“I would like to apologize to him, but in person,” Roy said Thursday when speaking to media for the first time since the season ended. “Not on the telephone and saying, ‘Oh, I’d like to apologize to you.’ That’s not how I want to do those things.
“I want to do it in person and for him to know. He played for me in junior. He knows how much I like him, how much respect I have for him. Sometimes you say things after games and then you regret it, and that’s one of them.”
The expectation is for Duclair to be at training camp in September and ready to rebound from a disastrous first season with the Islanders.
Duclair never seemed to recover from a groin injury suffered just five games into the year, returning in late December but failing to find his game.
His struggles culminated in Roy calling his performance “god-awful” and questioning whether Duclair was putting in a full effort after the aforementioned loss to Tampa Bay.
The next day, the Islanders announced Duclair would take a leave of absence that ended up lasting for the rest of the season.
When Duclair signed last summer, the expectation was he would form of the top line with Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal.
It’s a lot less clear what his role will be going into this year.
“What I love about this, it’s gonna be a very interesting training camp,” Roy said. “There’s gonna be a lot of competition out there.”
Roy offered a few nuggets of information on how he plans to start things during camp.
Barzal, he said, will play center. New signing Jonathan Drouin will start on a line with Bo Horvat, while he and Max Shabanov can play the flanks on the power play.
Of course, that all can and will change.
On the ice from Long Island
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“What I like about [Shabanov], he’s a small forward, but he plays big,” Roy said of the Russian wing who signed with the Islanders on Wednesday. “He goes in traffic, he goes in those areas. What I also like is the way he played in his defensive zone coverage. Sometimes you bring a guy in and you feel like the adjustment’s gonna be very difficult. But I don’t think it will be for him because he’s capable of playing defensively.”
No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer is another piece of the puzzle Roy will have to figure out, with Schaefer gunning to make the team out of camp.
“We’re gonna give him all the opportunity and support,” Roy said. “But the thing I love about him is how humble and successful he is. I do believe he’s gonna be very successful. He’s very intelligent, very mature.”
Roy sported a beard at development camp this week, a reminder of the new reality around the Islanders.
After he and Lou Lamoriello clashed at times last season over play style, things are off to a smooth start between Roy and new general manager Mathieu Darche.
Darche gave Roy a significant say in hiring assistant coaches Ray Bennett and Bob Boughner — the plan is for Bennett to run the power play, Boughner to run the penalty kill, and holdover Benoit Desrosiers to run faceoffs and help Roy with the five-on-five — and the head coach had only good things to say about how the relationship has been so far.
“It was just great,” Roy said. “From the first day I met him to today, it’s been just great. We’ve been talking hockey a lot. Talk about the team, talk about different stuff. It’s been pleasant.”