When Patrick Roy was playing, he never wanted his goalkeeping coach to show him his mistakes in front of the team.
He preferred to review the tape in private so that his mistakes were not exposed to all his teammates watching.
So as a coach, Roy focuses on doing one-on-one video work with his players to see where they need to make adjustments to their game.
“First of all, there’s the structural part that contains what you want. Then who would be happy to appear in a negative clip in front of their teammates? No one would like that,” Roy said on Friday. He spoke after Islanders practice. “So I like to go one-on-one and see what fixes I think need fixing.
“Is it more work for me? Yeah. But I’m here for work.”
Roy has already mentioned personal collaboration with the likes of Oliver Wahlström and Pierre Engvall, and the results are starting to show.
Wahlstrom looks more confident than at any time this season, and in Thursday’s win over the Lightning, he cleared space in front of the net to allow Noah Dobson’s shot to bounce off a Tampa defender and score. tangled.
Engvall will pick up points in his second straight game against the Flames on Saturday, marking the first time since Nov. 30-Dec. 30 that he has picked up points in back-to-back games. 2.
“He showed me a lot of movies,” Engvall told the Post about working with Roy. “We’ve also talked a lot about what he thinks about how to make our product line work better. It’s a small thing, but it has a big impact.”
For comparison, Engvall’s line with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri had an expected goal percentage of 70.6 percent against the Lightning.
“I think it comes down to making the puck a little stronger,” Engvall said. “Be more aggressive on the ice, play a little harder. I think the last two games we’ve worked hard as a line to get the puck back. Just being on top of everyone. And making plays there. It’s fun.”
As for Wahlstrom, Roy wants him to play physically but with a purpose and not just throw his body out there.
“He’s working hard on the forecheck and stuff like that. You don’t want him to beat you in battle or on the ice,” Wahlstrom told the Post on Thursday. “It’s up to you whether you score or not, but make sure you don’t let that guy beat you down the ice. He wants you to dig out the puck and attack. That’s great.”
It’s rare in the NHL for a head coach to spend as much time working with individuals as Roy does. But he’s trying to build a system that asks the Islanders to make big changes about their identity during the season, which is no easy task.
“Even if you try to make it, probably 80 percent of people understand exactly what I’m asking. Sometimes only 20 percent of people think they understand. “Sometimes,” Roy said. “So it’s great to take that one-on-one time and make sure they understand exactly what you’re looking for.”
Although it wasn’t evident from the Islanders’ play in Thursday’s 6-2 win over Tampa, Roy acknowledged that his players responded to the session the way he wanted.
“I haven’t seen any bad reactions,” he said. “I always felt like the players enjoyed it. I’m there to help them. I’m there to help them be the best version of themselves. So I feel like I did this when I was a junior too. [with the Quebec Remparts], everyone loves it. I feel like it’s the same for them. ”
