Patrick Roy #33 Retired

Tonight, Patrick Roy will have his #33 raised to the rafters forever.

Whatever your opinion of Patrick Roy is, and there are many, the fact remains he is one of the best goaltenders to have ever played the game.

He is the last goaltender to ~~lead~~ carry the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup.

And since the night he left Montreal, the Canadiens began a descent into total and complete mediocrity as a hockey team. One of the darkest periods of Habs history followed and haunted the team up until (arguably) very recently.

Would it have been the same if Patrick Roy was a Hab until retirement?

We’ll never know. All we know is it’s been a long 15 years since a Canadiens goalie hoisted the Cup.

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6 Comments

#1 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 22, 2008 at 8:27 pm

Maybe this will finally take the stanley cup drought off of us now. This needed to be done. Growing up patrick was one of my favorite players and you always knew the team had a chance to win when he was in nets. The team was never the same since he left and now maybe our fortunes will change now that number 33 in hanging in the bell. Lets hope the bad karma has been lifted and we once again will compete for number 25

#2 Mats Naslund says:
November 22, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I was 12 in 93 and have never forgotten through all of the drama of 95 just how much Patrick meant to all Canadiens fans during his decade in Montreal. A great celebration for those of us who idolized the man when he wore the bleu, blanc et rouge. Good first period too!

#3 Joseph says:
November 23, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Tuned in last night to check the Habs’ pulse. A nice celebration for Roy no doubt, but unfortunately, this team is still broken.

I sure hope that they’re fixed by the time the real season begins in January/February.

Incidentally, I’ve never said a single negative word about Carbonneau to this point but I’m not so sure that he knows what the hell he’s doing let alone how to fix this team. An uninspired, disinterested and dismal Alexei Kovalev gets rewarded with not only ice time in overtime but with a shot in the shootout as well? What exactly were the expectations there?

Oh, and Laraque? You can’t just have a conversation with your target and give him a slap on the wrist, you have to put him through the ice as well. :-/

#4 Mats Naslund says:
November 24, 2008 at 3:23 pm

I thought the team played “better” against the Bruins, but they have zero offensive confidence right now. I liked 33 shots, although I can’t understand why Montreal has strayed away from what made them successful last year on the PP. Getting a big blast from Markov is useless unless he hits the net or makes a pass to someone in front of the net. Secondly, where is the backdoor pass that was so effective last season? Montreal’s offensive passing has been reduced to blindly throwing the puck at a teammate regardless of whether or not he is covered. The Habs need to simplify their PP, and throw pucks at the net with guys going in for cheap rebounds.. Its the only way that they’ll be able to snap out of their offensive funk. Way too early to lose sleep over their play though.

#5 Joseph says:
November 24, 2008 at 4:08 pm

They had 33 shots on goal but they probably could have had 53. Far too many times did I witness a Montreal player in excellent shooting position looking for the pass. It’s well documented now – ’100% of the time that you don’t shoot the puck it won’t go in’ – Gretzky et al.

Far more concerning though, did the cancer which plagued Ottawa’s locker room last season somehow become airborne and find its way to Montreal? It certainly seems that way right now.

Meanwhile, they’re 11-5-3 and I’m complaining. Things could be a lot worse. After all, if they were to win as few as three games in a row, they’d again be sitting amongst the league’s best, or rather amongst the league’s second best as the Sharks are in a league of their own this season.

#6 mike morin says:
January 4, 2009 at 11:15 pm

I was 16 when i got to see patrick and the canadiens play the pittsburgh penguins and to this day Patrick will without a doubt be the most interesting and active goaltenders to play the game. Watching the canadiens today they do not seem to have the passion they did from 1986 !

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Senet1 : Actually I agree it was a good move for them to play a shorter season and get the experience. He could not have played in the minors this year he would have had to play junior or the NHL. However, he now has a year under him and knows what to expect next year and hopefully take a bigger responsibility on the team. Did you see those two goals in the bronze game? Wow.
muller93 : Good move by the Habs not having Galchenyuk play in the minors. Now Galchenyuk has 1 year in the NHL and playoff experience this is going to pay off big time come next year.
Senet1 : Galchenyuk scores to back to back goals in shoot out to help USA win Bronze metal. I did not see the second goal but the first was a beauty.
Senet1 : So we could pick anywhere from 25th to 23rd depending on who wins these quarter final series.
Senet1 : First, is the 14 teams in the lottery. Then there are 12 teams that did not make the semi finals in the order of the seasonal finish, Then there are the four teams in the semi final the first two eliminated pick in the order of the regular season points total and the last two based on who wins and who loses the cup. So as it stand now if say Detroit beats Chicago then Detroit moves up to pick after us. Boston or NYR will move up and pick after us. LA or San Jose will move up and pick after us
Senet1 : Basically, I was wrong about the draft pick situation. There are three groups of drafting teams within the 30 teams.
Senet1 : seriously ready to challenge for the cup. He will us win games but he will not be the difference between winning the cup and not winning the cup. You pick up players like that once you have the team ready to challenge,.
Senet1 : I am looking at the players to draft and there are a lot of big 6'3-6'5 forwards available ion the draft this year. If we could draft 3-4 big young players in the 2nd and 3rd round why would you want to give that up for a roster player who may have 2-3 years at best. If we are going to build a winner to have to build it with bigger players and there are a lot of good big players available this year. So you sign Ott and he is with us for the short run, but probably not when we are seriously re
Senet1 : Boullion is a great mentor for the young D-men
muller93 : Boullion is one of MBs great additions--Boull ion is a definite Keeper.
muller93 : Getting rid of Kaberle frees up a lot of cash. Boullion is small but is reliable and doesn't back down from anyone.
muller93 : Exactly Goalie any thoughts on a punishing D-man?
goalie : They;re showing determination adn skill vs Ducks and Blackhawks.
goalie : REd Wings could turn out to be the surprise team of this year's playoffs!
goalie : WE need to rid our team of Kaberle and Webber. Step two would be to then move Diaz. If we get that big d-man I believe that would push Boullion to # 7 on the chart. We'd then go with Georges, PK,Markov (to continue mentoring Ememlin) Tinordi as our starting six . THEN I'd be excited about our chances. We could then work on getting bigger forwards.
goalie : I too would gladly give up a 3rd round pick for Ott- the type of player we sadly lack. AND if we could get one more rugged, expeienced defenceman it would help immensely.
muller93 : Senet what you are saying makes sense but if we can get Ott for a 3rd round I'll take that all day.
muller93 : MB should be looking at a big D-man first, even though I like our blue line with the addition of Tinordi. We need that insurance just in case one gets injured. Also I'm a firm believer in starting with the goalie first then-defense-for wards-and we already have good goalie. We have all noticed when we have the lead Price is tough to beat.
Senet1 : So sometimes you have to sacrifice for one year or two to build that team in the draft. then add the finishing touches through FA and trades.
Senet1 : Muller, Detroit is another good example. They have been in the hunt every year with good well balanced teams yet only one or two cups to show for it. However, they have built a team that has a chance every years for the last 10+ years. That is what I think we have a chance to do this year with a good draft. It reminds me of the habs teams of the mid 80 and 90's we built a team then with sold draft picks and won the cup twice during that time period. So sometimes you have to sacrifice a one
muller93 : Very true Senet, you do need luck and we haven't had any luck it seems since the habs moved to the Bell Center. We had an incredible run in 2010 with some crazy goal tending from Halak. With Galchenyuk-Tinor di-Gallagher all in 1 year--not too bad, even with an early exit in the playoffs.
Senet1 : Muller I guess we all have our own ideas, but there has never been too many times that were successful when they traded their draft picks away. We have a chance to build this team so we have a shot at winning the cup over the next 10 years. Even as good as Pittsburgh has been they have only won the cup once since Crosby and Malkin have been with the team. That is because you not only need great players but you need luck to win, but one thing about Pittsburgh they have a chance every year. The
muller93 : Good point on Torres, he might be a liability. Torres has to tone it down a bit, but that's his game-very aggressive.
goalie : Though I don't condone what Raffi Torres did - thos shows you how repeat offenders or near offenders are going to be treated. His hit was NOT illegal BUT what the rap sheet adn reputation Torres has he got severly punished. Lesson to be learned by OTHER players because Torres dopesn't learn fromk his mistakes.
muller93 : Senet normally I would agree with you on not trading draft picks but we are not in a rebuilding stage. Sometimes draft picks can be a roll of the dice and it can take up to 3 years to be NHL ready. We have a good team and I agree with Stuo players like Clowe-Torres-Ott -Scott will make a big difference. Somebody has to protect Gallagher, he can't keep getting hit the way does--we need a tough forward so they think twice before going after Gallagher.
Senet1 : Really a heathly Habs team would probably win more games against the Pens that we did against the Sens. Reason they Pens would not play as physical against us as against the Sens. If we get good goaltending we win at least two games.
zpezada4ok : hello all «link»
stuo11 : hes a tougher big guy too! Just a minor adjustment but will help a bit
stuo11 : hes better than markov, and hes french who was in mention for defenceman of the year
goalie : Markov for Beauchemin - an injury prone d-man for an ;old timer'd-man. Beauchemin is NOT what the Habs need in my opinion. He is a HUGE defensive liability.
goalie : Stuo 11 I'd make that trade with Oilers fast BUT I doubt the Oilers will make that. Two marginal d-men at the best for a switch of first round picks - not a chance .
stuo11 : markov for beachemin?
stuo11 : let moen go
stuo11 : maybe try and get steve begin back
stuo11 : we wouldve kicked out all other teams but pens, sens,