OTTAWA, Ontario — Patrick Roy has long been popular in Montreal, my last stop on this five-game Avalanche road trip, and the first-ballot Hall of Fame goalie was back in the Quebec headlines before and after Colorado defeated the Canadiens 4-1 at the Bell Centre on Thursday.
Roy, the Avs’ goalie from 1995 to 2003 and head coach for three seasons from 2013-16, threw his name in the hat to become the Canadiens’ next French-speaking general manager on Tuesday. Days after Montreal fired GM Marc Bergevin and hired Jeff Gorton — who is not fluent in French — as executive vice president of hockey operations, Roy said the following to Le Journal de Quebec:
“Since 1993, the team has been running in circles.