Hockey fans all over the world are likely familiar with Patrick Roy as a player. Roy, now the coach of the New York Islanders, was once the best goalie in the league. In 1995, he made a shocking and now infamous request to be traded from the Montreal Canadiens. Now, nearly 30 years later, the four-time Stanley Cup champion makes his return to the French Canadian capital.

Roy is set to return to Montreal on Thursday as his Islanders take on the Canadiens. Much of the media attention is likely to center on the newly-appointed bench boss. However, the 58-year-old set the record straight regarding his feelings the obvious central narrative for this contest.

“I don't want it to be about me. I want it to be about the Islanders,” Roy said after practice on Wednesday, via Sportsnet. “We're going there to win a hockey game. We're not going there to win for the coach. It's for our team.”

Patrick Roy cancels Islanders practice before Canadiens contest

New York plays Montreal on Thursday and had a practice session scheduled for the morning of the game. However, Roy decided to cancel that practice. It's part of his plan to block out the noise regarding his return to Montreal.

“That's the reason why I don't want us to go to that morning skate. They're going to ask questions about me. They're going to say this and that. I don't need this and they don't need that,” the Islanders head coach said, via Sportsnet.

Roy's history in Quebec proper doesn't only exist in the past. The former Canadiens goalie coached the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts on two separate occasions. And he led the franchise to two Memorial Cup triumphs in 2006 and 2023.

“We all admire him and idolize him. He meant a lot to me and for the rest of the kids growing up here, he was kind of the backbone of the franchise for a long time,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said of Roy, via Sportsnet.

Obviously, there is a lot of history going into this clash between Montreal and the Islanders. Let's see if Roy can go into his old stomping grounds and steal two points from the team he led to two Stanley Cups during his playing days.