The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to interview veteran head coaches Patrick Roy and Peter Laviolette this week as their search to replace Craig Berube continues, TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports.
Roy spent the majority of this past season as head coach of the New York Islanders before he was fired with just four games remaining in the season. Peter DeBoer replaced Roy, but was unable to spark the Islanders into a playoff spot.
Roy went 42-31-5 behind the bench with the Islanders this season. He went 97-78-22 over parts of three seasons, having taken over from Lane Lambert midway through the 2023-24 season.
The Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender served as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2013 to 2016, making the playoffs once. He has also spent 13 seasons as head coach of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts over two stints, winning a title with the team in 2023.
Laviolette spent this season out of the league after being fired by the New York Rangers at the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign. He spent two years with the Rangers, helping the team win the Presidents’ Trophy and reach the Eastern Conference Final in his first season before a significant drop off the next year.
Laviolette has served as head coach of six NHL clubs and won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. He has also worked as the bench boss of the Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals and Rangers. He reached the Stanley Cup Final with both the Flyers in 2010 and Predators in 2017, falling just short of a title in those years.
Laviolette spoke to TSN’s OverDrive last month on the coaching vacancy in Toronto.
“For me, a potential coach eyeing that, I still think it’s a top job,” he said at the time. “And I’m not saying that for me, I’m just saying in general, it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have good players there. They just got the No. 1 pick. They’ve got an amazing fan base. And so for me, there’s a lot of potential there.”
There have been no shortage of changes already this off-season for the Maple Leafs after the team missed the playoffs. The team hired John Chayka as their general manager last month, with the news that Berube had been dismissed as head coach coming a few days later. Along with Chayka, Mats Sundin, Judd Brackett and Freddie Hamilton have also joined the team’s new-look front office.
