NHL

Roy was named the Avalanche's new head coach on Thursday. "I'm really looking forward to working with him as my coach," Giguere said. "I watched him growing up, and I played against him, and now I get to play for him. It's very exciting. And in all seriousness, I think he'll be good for (Semyon Varlamov) too. To have a man like him giving you pointers as a goalie, that's not too bad." Between Giguere and Roy, Varlamov will have a lot of experience to lean on. Varlamov's tenure with the Avalanche has been a mixed bag at best, but it wouldn't be surprising to see the 25-year-old break out under these conditions.

With Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic both taking on a lot of responsibility with the Avalanche, it's natural to wonder if Foote might come back too. The former Avalanche captain is excited about Roy taking over as the team's bench boss, but Foote wants to focus on coaching his son. Consequently, Foote probably won't be one of Roy's assistant coaches, but he might help the Avalanche in some other capacity. Foote also thinks that the Avalanche still need to add a top-three blueliner to their core. Seth Jones seems like a logical fit, although Foote was hesitant to speculate about Jones specifically because Foote hasn't seen him play much.

The club tweeted on Thursday that the two sides have "reached an agreement in principle" and it's expected that the official news conference will be next week because of the holiday weekend. "This is an unbelievable day for me," said Roy, who has spent the last eight seasons serving as the coach and GM of the Quebec Remparts in the QMJHL. "It's a new and exciting challenge that I am really looking forward to. I would like to thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me. Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am."

It looked like Patrick Roy would probably become the Avalanche's head coach, but the availability of Vigneault gives the team another viable option. If nothing else, it gives the Avalanche more leverage when negotiating the terms of Roy's potential contract.

The Avalanche tried to bring Roy in as the team coach in 2009, but those efforts ultimately fell through. However, back then it appeared that Roy was the one that turned down Colorado, while this time around there's reportedly mutual interest. Roy's former teammate, Milan Hejduk, thinks Roy is ready to coach an NHL team after his years as the Quebec Remparts' bench boss. "He was just a fiery guy. He tried to fire up his troops," Hejduk said. "There were a number of times after a bad first period he would stand in front of the locker room and raise his voice and try to get things going. He's done a really good job coaching his junior team, and paid his dues. It should really serve him well in the future."

Mathieu Roy first posted on his Facebook page Monday night that his brother Patrick would be named the Avs' next head coach. Roy then reportedly affirmed those comments in a conversation with Adrian Dater of the Denver Post. Multiple media outlets called the report premature Tuesday morning and Mathieu Roy officially backtracked in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Avs and Patrick Roy have remained quiet the entire time, which makes us think the two parties are in the midst of negotiations. Either way, we should know in the next few days whether Roy will be behind the Colorado bench next season.

The Denver Post quoted Roy's brother, Stephane, early Monday morning as saying Patrick Roy would be named the Avs' next head coach. Stephane Matteau said the Avs and his brother were discussing the "final details" of a contract. Patrick Roy has been considered a frontrunner, but we'll wait until we see something a little more official before jumping to any conclusions.