Patrick Roy took a moment to survey the Ball Arena rafters after taking the ice for the first time as an opposing coach Monday morning.

Roy saw the banners he was instrumental in achieving, including two Stanley Cup championships in 1996 and 2001 and eight straight division titles as a player, as well as the surprise Central Division crown that earned him the Jack Adams Award in his first game earned three years as a coach. His eyes also fell on all the banners that had been hung since he left.

The greatest goaltender in franchise history returned as coach of the New York Islanders for the first time on Monday night. The coach who got off to a brilliant start but then gave up shortly before his fourth season as coach was not.

“If I go back in time, I wish I had done things differently back then,” Roy said of his time coaching the Avalanche. “I think I didn’t have enough respect for the coach’s position. I think I learned a lot from it. I think it makes me the coach I am today.

“Do I regret it? No, because it makes me who I am today, and I think I’m in a much better position today than I was back then – more respect for the position, more appreciation for being back in the league and in the league work.”

Roy is in his first full season with the Islanders. He arrived in January 2024 and helped New York reach the playoffs after being in 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings on the day he was hired.

One Islanders veteran said Roy brings the same energy to a morning skate in October as he does to a Stanley Cup Playoffs game. Anthony Duclair, who played for Roy with the Quebec Remparts, said a call from his former coach was the main reason he signed with the Islanders this offseason.

“A few more gray hairs, but that’s all,” Duclair said of the changes. “His passion, his intensity, has not diminished at all. I think he’s gotten smarter from his experience at Colorado and going back to juniors.”

When Roy resigned on August 11, 2016, the Avs were put in a perilous position with the start of the season just weeks away. They had missed the playoffs the last two seasons and hiring a new coach in August is never ideal.

Jared Bednar was home in South Carolina spending the final days of his offseason with his family before preparing to return to Cleveland for his AHL coaching job. His plans changed. The Avs hired him two weeks later and have been one of the most successful franchises in the NHL ever since.

“I probably owe him a big hug and a steak dinner,” said Bednar, who has never met Roy. “Everyone does what is right for them personally, but it only gave us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

It will be a big night for the fans at Ball Arena, a chance to welcome back one of their heroes… and enough time has passed not to focus on how the coaching stint ended. It’s also a big game for both clubs, who go into the evening winless.

Roy said, just as he did when he returned to Montreal last season with the Islanders, it would be all business before the game.

“We all know what this is about,” Duclair said. “We know it’s a big game for him. It’s not a conversation we need to talk about openly. … Everyone knows what it’s about. We’re looking for our first win, and what better way to get that than in Colorado?”