The Islanders stunned the hockey world over the weekend, as head coach Lane Lambert was fired in favor of Patrick Roy, who is now behind the bench as a head coach in the NHL for the first time in seven years.
Roy is a Jack Adams Award winner, but his fiery nature and large gap in between NHL gigs made the move by Lou Lamoriello a surprise for many. But Boomer says, if the Islanders were going to roll the dice to try and wake up the team, this was the right roll-the-dice move to make.
"I think this team needed a wake-up call," Boomer said. "This is a huge swing…I need someone to change the communication completely and blow it up. That's exactly what Patrick will do. He's a hothead. He's gonna say 'when you come to the bench after your shift, you better be coming full speed. No lollygagging to the bench or that kind of crap.'
"He knows exactly what needs to be fixed. Number one is gonna be defense, and number two is gonna be breakouts…this is a huge swing by Lou Lamoriello. If you want to make a swing, this is the swing."
