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Patrick Roy reveals the reason why he quit on his team.
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Patrick Roy reveals the reason why he quit on his team.

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It appears that a divide between two former teammates is at the heart of Patrick Roy's surprise resignation.

In a shocking decision, head coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Colorado Avalanche, announced that he will leave the organization on Thursday. The decision came at a terrible time for the Avs', who are set to open training camp in less than a month.

It now seems that Roy and Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic did not see eye-to-eye on the direction of the team, namely the signing of big free agents during the offseason.

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun spoke with Roy on Thursday, and got some more information as to what prompted his decision to abruptly leave the team.

"Roy felt timing was right given the philosophical differences. Doesn't know what his future holds for him at this point. Roy also insists people shouldn't read into it more than what he said in the statement... says there's no back story, just time to move on."

Denver Post reporters Terry Frei and Mike Chambers provided further context as to why the decision was made now.

"Roy wanted aggressive move(s) in UFA. Sakic all along said they were standing largely pat, re-signing "core."

Sportsnet's John Shannon put the icing on the cake when he stated that Roy and Sakic weren't even on speaking terms during free agency.

"Bottom line on Roy's resignation today, he and Sakic haven't been on same page for a while. During Free Agency time they were't even speaking."

Roy clearly felt excluded form the decision making process this season and that ultimately led to the surprise decision that was made today. The Avalanche are now stuck in a bad situation, as they need to find a coach who is a decent fit for their players on a very limited timeframe.




Source: ESPN