Is Patrick Roy an Av or a Hab?

EpochLink

Canucks and Jets fan
Aug 1, 2006
59,514
15,336
Vancouver, BC
An Av forsure they actually knew how to treat him and with the rich history of Montreal he gets forgotten a bit.

No way, Roy will always be a Hab in my eyes. I haven't forgotten and I grew up watching those Habs of the late 80's/early 90's because of Saint Patrick.
 

Blades of Glory

Troll Captain
Feb 12, 2006
18,401
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California
It's difficult not to identify Roy more as an Av than a Canadien because he was part of the foundation of a wildly successful franchise in a new market (The Rockies were irrelevant). Without Roy, the Avalanche obviously don't win either of their Stanley Cups, but they also don't establish themselves as Denver's flagship sports team, which they were from the day Roy arrived to the day Roy retired. While Joe Sakic was a young superstar and Peter Forsberg was on the verge of becoming one, the Avalanche didn't really acquire credibility as a legitimate Cup contender until they traded for Roy and his 3 Vezinas and 2 Conn Smythes. In Denver, a city devoid of championships like few others, Roy's arrival and the subsequent Stanley Cup run made the fanbase explode to unimaginable heights.

Plus, Roy was the escalator that caused one of the greatest and most heated rivalries in all of sports. Without Roy, the Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry would have died the moment Darren McCarty whooped Claude Lemieux's ass in March 1997 in response to the Draper hit. It wasn't until Roy came flying down the ice and Brendan Shanahan met him head on that the rivalry was born. If you watch that brawl, you would laugh at the "fights" that went on prior to Roy's arrival to the fray. There was little hatred between the two teams beyond the Claude Lemieux factor, and it showed. You had Lemieux being pummeled by McCarty, obviously. There was Peter Forsberg and Igor Larionov hugging each other so tight that they fell onto the ice harmlessly and were separated, which it certainly seems was their plan. Nick Lidstrom and Valeri Kamenski each had an arm around each other and did not even look at the other. It wasn't until Roy skated over that Shanahan made a beeline for him and Adam Foote immediately tried to intervene, thus causing Mike Vernon to join the party and take part in one of the most infamous fights in hockey history. The iconic picture of Roy's bloody face was the image of that rivalry. The scuffle was under control until Roy came in and caused all hell to break loose. If he had not been there, who would anyone hate aside from Claude Lemieux? No Roy, no hatred. No hatred, no rivalry.

There is still an undeniable argument for Roy being a Hab. His greatest individual performances were in Montreal. The Canadiens from 1989-1993 did not have the talent to match up with the Bourques, Neelys, Lafontaines, Sakics, and Lemieuxs that populated the East. But those other teams did not have Roy.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,585
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you could take his career in colorado alone and that would already be one of the greatest goaltending careers of all time. without a doubt, roy only from '96 on is still a hall of famer.

but the montreal years were more memorable. his defining run-- perhaps the defining run of any goalie ever-- was with the habs in '93. the three vezinas were in montreal, and it was in montreal where he had that stretch as the undisputed best goalie in the world.

and, whether one likes it or not, the habs plain matter more as a hockey franchise. and roy was their last truly great french superstar, the last of the legendary lineage (morenz - rocket - beliveau - flower - roy) that won the most storied franchise in hockey history all 24 of its stanley cups. that has to tip the scales decisively.
 

Rhiessan71

Just a Fool
Feb 17, 2003
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Guelph, Ont
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Roy came in as a Hab, made his mark as a Hab, cultivated his entire "best money goalie in hockey" reputation as a Hab.
He WAS the Montreal Canadiens, he was only a part of the Avalanche.

His Playoff OT record as a Hab is one of the most ridiculous things you will ever see around here.
 

SMoneyMonkey

Registered User
Dec 7, 2009
2,506
0
LA/MTL
I'm pretty sure anybody who watched his who career and isn't an Av fan will say he's a hab. He did great in Colorado but, as has been mentioned before, when you think of his defining moments, he's almost always in a habs jersey.
 

Patriks7

Registered User
Oct 20, 2010
648
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I didn't really watch hockey back then, but when I think of Roy I think of the Habs.
 

JT Dutch*

Guest
Split down the middle for me. It's hard to call the guy a Hab when he walked out on the team

... You mean when the Habs allowed him to get embarrassed in a game where the team was absolutely god-awful, and then ran him out of town on a rail?
 

habsjunkie2*

Guest
Anyone who votes Avs isn't old enough to know the rest. Why should we take their opinion seriously?
 

Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
I think if you were to look objectively and had you seen both parts of his career it would be hard to not pick a Hab. He had his best years there. He also had his two best Cup runs there. Was only an all-star once in Colorado but 5 times in Montreal including 3 Vezinas. Unless you live in Denver you will likely be picking a Hab. He was just more engrained in the team in Montreal. I mean, he's there from 1985-'95. He WAS the star on the team those years. Robinson and Gainey had their careers winding down, Naslund and Richer had brief points of dominance and Denis Savard was over the hill when he arrived so in reality this was Roy's team more in Montreal than in Colorado where he was probably 3rd in the pecking order behind Sakic and Forsberg
 

Cooperalls

Oiler Fan!!!
Oct 5, 2010
545
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How could a French-Canadian boy from Quebec not be a Hab?

When he tells the world he wants nothing to do with the Habs. For that I have to vote Av. For him to turn the whole 'legacy' around (in my mind), he needs to land a job with the Habs. That would change alot of peoples minds.
 

Psycho Papa Joe

Porkchop Hoser
Feb 27, 2002
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Cesspool, Ontario
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Vezinas - Habs 3, Avs 0
1st team all stars - Habs 3, Avs 1
2nd team all stars - Habs 2, Avs 0
Jennings - Habs 3, Avs 0
Conns - Habs 2, Avs 1
Cups - Habs 2, Avs 2
All Star Games - Habs 6, Avs 5

Pretty clear, he had the bulk of his accomplishments as a Hab.
 

JaymzB

Registered User
Apr 8, 2003
2,858
127
Toronto
When he tells the world he wants nothing to do with the Habs. For that I have to vote Av. For him to turn the whole 'legacy' around (in my mind), he needs to land a job with the Habs. That would change alot of peoples minds.

I’d agree with that if he and the team hadn’t patched up everything for his jersey retirement/100th anniversary celebration. Once that happened, he became a Hab again IMO. Of course, people young enough to really only remember him as an AV will say he was an Av, and there is nothing wrong with that.
 

CaptBrannigan

Registered User
Apr 5, 2006
4,259
1,580
Tampa
To me, thinking of Roy makes me think of the Avalanche. But of course, I do view Gretzky as a Ranger so it may have more than a little to do with when I started following hockey closely.

I can see an argument for both sides, however the man himself did turn his back on and demand off of the Habs and not the Avs.
 

RECsGuy*

Guest
Credit for Patrick's two championships with the Avs could be attributed to several players, but his Cups in Montreal were all him.

The Avalanche don't trade for Roy if not for the HHOF career he had already established in Montreal.

If the HHOF copied Cooperstown's enshrinement tradition, Patrick Roy would go in as a Montreal Canadien. This is not up for debate.

Threads like this and the Dats/Fedorov thread on the main board shows how very young the majority of HF's posters are. The lack of perspective is stupifying.
 

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