Patrick Roy is done coaching the Colorado Avalanche.
Roy announced Thursday that he has quit after three seasons on the job because he didn't have enough of a say in personnel decisions. TVA Sports first reported the news.
MORE: Best Avalanche players of all time | Crosby surprises family
Roy, one of the best goalies in history, went 130-92-24 with the Avs and made the playoffs in his first season. They've missed the last two, though, despite the presence of high-end players like Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog.
Roy also served as vice president of hockey operations, though Joe Sakic had final say over personnel decisions. The regime's problems were complicated by an apparent decision to double-down on a questionable decision-making process because of that first trip to the postseason.
He played a huge part in that process — and the idea of a smaller role apparently didn't agree with him.
"I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level," Roy said in a released statement.
"To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-Hockey Operations need to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team performance. These conditions are not currently met."
Roy added that he was grateful to the Avs and remained on good terms with the organization.
It's safe to assume that part of Roy's "say" would include dumping one of his best players — defenseman Tyson Barrie just signed an extension after a contentious negotiating process — rather than make changes himself.
Roy, 50, won four Stanley Cups during his career — two with Montreal, two with Colorado — and three Vezina trophies.
UPDATE: Sakic told reporters Roy was "consulted on everything," but he also allowed the dynamic between the two changed over time. From Yahoo Sports:
"Obviously early on, as I was getting comfortable in my role, I relied upon him more. Now as we built up our staff and a staff that we all really trust, especially in season, it allowed that Patrick’s decisions were focused more on coaching and then in the offseason we started working on free agents together. But this year, this free agency, we knew we weren’t going to be able to do much because we were focusing on (signing restricted free agents) Nathan (MacKinnon) and Tyson (Barrie)."