FanHouse Patrick Roy

After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) Jacques Martin will be named the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. During his four-year stint in charge of the Panthers, the team failed to make the playoffs each season, while he brings 14 years of head coaching experience to the Canadiens.

After a brief two-year tenure with the St. Louis Blues in the late 1980s, Martin took over the Ottawa Senators in 1995, leading the team to the playoffs eight times in nine years, while also winning three division titles and the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1999.

For the past week there has been a lot of speculation as to whether or not Patrick Roy would return to the Colorado Avalanche under the coach/GM role they offered the team's former goalie.

On Wednesday came a conclusion to the story. Roy explains that he has turned down the Avalanche offer for family reasons.

Last week it was reported that Hall of Fame goaltender and former Avalanche netminder Patrick Roy was offered the team's head coaching position currently occupied by Tony Granato. Today, a report from Ruefronteac.com cites sources close to Roy that the Avs have stepped up their offer to include their GM position.

The report goes on to mention that the Avalanche have stepped up the offer to try and draw Roy away from other suitors, particularly the Montreal Canadiens, whose head coaching job is currently vacant. The Habs fired Guy Carbonneau earlier this year and GM Bob Gainey filled in for the remainder of the season.

According to the Denver Post, the Colorado Avalanche have offered their head coaching position to Hall of Fame netminder Patrick Roy. Roy helped lead the team to two Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001 and retired in 2003 as the winningest goaltender in NHL history, a record recently surpassed by New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.

Roy may be the ideal candidate in the mind of Pierre Lacroix but there's one problem. They already have a coach. As in current coach Tony Granato who is still in charge of the team at the moment.

During last night's game against the Bruins, Canadiens fans really let Carey Price, their starting netminder, hear their displeasure with him. Chants of "Carey! Carey!" rained down towards the end of the third and at one point, there was a lot of sarcastic applause for a save he made (video above). Price reacted to that by saluting the fans and, as the announcer on TSN points out, Price's reaction looked awfully similar to one from Patrick Roy in his final game as a Canadien.

Not many NHL teams would be happy with a 32-45-5 season. The Colorado Avalanche, with a history of division titles, playoff appearances and Stanley Cups, certainly aren't going to be one of them. They fired general manager Francois Giguere Monday, less than 24 hours after the season concluded with the Avs being shut out for a third time in four games.

What's next for this usually-competitive franchise? And what does Patrick Roy have to do with any of it?

With the NHL playoffs just around the corner, FanHouse takes a look at some of the lesser-known teams that qualified. Friday's installment: the Carolina Hurricanes

When the Whalers left Hartford back in 1997 to become the Carolina Hurricanes, they left a lot of things behind: the best jerseys in the NHL, Brass Bonanza, and, perhaps, most importantly, a losing tradition. In their 18 seasons in Hartford, the Whalers qualified for the playoffs eight times, and only once advanced beyond the first round.

Since moving to Carolina, the team has played in the Stanley Cup Final twice (2002 and 2006) while ultimately winning it all during the 2005-06 campaign. Heading into the playoffs this year, the Hurricanes are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, steamrolling the opposition. So, who are these guys?

NEWARK, N.J. -- As we wrap up our coverage of Tuesday's record-breaking night in New Jersey, it's important to note the symmetry and asymmetry alike between Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias.

Brodeur, you may have heard, set the NHL's all-time wins record, but it wasn't the only record broken on the night. With an assist on Brian Gionta's shorthanded, game-winning goal, Elias surpassed John MacLean with his 702nd career point, making him the leading scorer in franchise history ("I was very excited. I think you could see that in me right away," he would comment later). That the players' two careers dovetailed, leading them both to milestone moments on the same night, is pretty remarkable considering the paths both players took to get here.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Martin Brodeur and the Devils clearly didn't have any interest in dramatic flair. With the storybook stuff out of the way, the Devils' focus was not on providing column fodder for the packed press upstairs. They wanted the win, as quickly, efficiently and mercilessly as possible.

The result? A 3-2 win over the Blackhawks that pushed Brodeur over the top of Patrick Roy. It was Brodeur's 552nd career win, the most of any goaltender in NHL history.

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On Saturday night in Montreal, all eyes were on hometown pride Martin Brodeur -- friends, family, random people from random encounters who probably remember him better than he remembers them. Yet if Brodeur felt any of those pairs of eyes on him in particular, they surely belonged to Patrick Roy. With Brodeur's childhood hero watching, the Devils goalkeeper tied Roy's all-time record with his 551st career win, nudging the great over to create more room atop the scroll of iconic backstops in hockey's rich history.

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