Wow. Listen, not every single time an NHL head coach, are you going to get a video like this? Not every time a head coach is hired, are you going to get a video like this? But it's a huge name and a complete shock. The New York Islanders have fired head coach, Lane Lambert, and while that part of it might not be such a surprise, his replacement is Patrick Waa, is now the head coach of the New York Islanders. Now, unless you're basically a human baby, like a tiny little baby. You know who Patrick Waa is. He is one of the best goal tenders of all time, arguably the best goal tender of all time, and has by far and away the record for NHL Stanley Cup playoff wins. That's always one of my favorite stats. Martin Brodeur is in second with 113 Stanley Cup playoff wins. Patrick Waa has 151. But does that make him the right fit as head coach? Well, that's the question, isn't it? One thing's for sure, the Islanders had to do At the time I'm shooting this video, the Islanders are only two points out of a playoff spot, out of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

That might not sound that bad. It sounds worse when you realize they lead the league in overtime or shootout losses with 11. That means just shy of a quarter of the Islanders games this season have not gone to overtime or the shootout. No, no, no. Way more than that have gone to overtime or the shootout. One quarter of them have been overtime or shootout losses. They have a record of 19, 15, and 11. That doesn't sound that bad because by the standings, it's not. But at the end of the day, through 45 games, it's 19 wins and 26 losses. On top of that, they're behind the two wild card teams. Right now, that's the The Leaps in the top wild card spot and the Red Wings in the bottom one. The Capitals are one point out of a playoff spot with 50 points. The Devils are two points out of a playoff spot with 49. They are tied with the Islanders, but ahead of them in the standings. And then, of course, there's the Islanders. Here's the big You are six points back of the Carolina Huracanes for the third spot in the Metro. So odds are the way things were going, you weren't going to catch that spot.

Could you catch the Leaps? You're only three behind them. Possible. But you've played two more games than them. The Red Wings are only two points up, and they've played the same amount of games. Okay. But even then, you would have to leapfrog the Capitals, who have played two fewer games, and the Devils, who have played two fewer games. And it appears that the straw that broke the camel's back was losing to a Chicago Blackhawks team who, barely exaggerating, don't have players at the moment. On top of them being a rebuilding team, everybody's hurt, especially Connor Bedard, the most notable player there. Islanders were down 3-1 to the Blackhawks, heroically came back and ended up losing in overtime, again, for their league leading 11th overtime or shootout loss. I've already mentioned that? I've already mentioned that. They had to do something, and they brought in a big name to replace Lane Lambert, Patrick Wall. Dude, it's It's a name that gets your attention. I won't lie to you. Like, right now, the Minnesota Wild fired their head coach earlier this season. Who's the guy who replaced him? Some of you watching this video right now are going, The Minnesota Wild fired their head coach earlier the season?

Yes, it was Dean Everison, and he was replaced with, you have three seconds. Three, two, one. Pencils down. John Heinz. How many of you got it? I'm not ragging on John Heinz. He's been the head coach of the Devils, the head coach of the Predators, and now the head coach of the Wild. He hasn't He hasn't been out of work long when he has been out of work. But dude, it's Patrick Wa. What makes Patrick Wa so fascinating to me is his resume doesn't add up with the hype. To that, you might say, Steve, what are you talking about? It's Patrickois, winner of the Jack Adams Trophy as a rookie head coach. And while that's true, it is leaving out some details. The hype for Patrick Wa as a head coaching prospect was definitely warranted before he made it to the NHL. From '05, '06 to the 2012, 2013 season, Patrick Wa was the head coach of the Quebec Rempards, and they never missed the playoffs the whole time. They never won a Championship, but they were always in the playoffs. Finals, lost in the first round, second round, third round, second round, third round, second round, second round.

That first season in particular, the rem parts were 51, 12, and 2. So then he makes it to the NHL. And what does he do? He immediately starts knocking walls down. And I mean, literally, his first game behind the bench, he was knocking over the partition between his bench and Bruce Boudreau's. Remember that? And the Colorado Avalanche went on to have a preposterous season after that, 52, 22, and 8. They were unreal. They were one of the best teams in the NHL. Except the idea that Patrickois' Avalanche were one of the best teams in the NHL was a hot topic of debate at the time. You might remember that at the time, analytics were really starting to come into their own in hockey, and a lot of analytics did not smile down on the avalanche a lot. They played high-efficiency hockey. They got a lot of saves, they had a high shooting percentage. A lot of indicators that there's some luck here. And it's hockey. There's always going to be some luck, but you don't want your opponent to have the buck more than you. Who cares what the analytics say? Who cares what all the outsiders and the naysayers say?

They're one of the best teams in the league, and here they are in the playoffs, only to lose in the first round. Goodbye. Who cares about what happened in the playoffs? That's in the past. You can have a great regular season, except the Avalanche didn't the next season in 1415. The Avalanche were 39, 31, and 12. Similar to the Islanders, now Yes, that is above Bettman 500, but that is more losses than wins. And sorry to spoil it for you, they didn't make the playoffs. Then the next season, the Avalanche were 39, 39, and 4, which is dead on Bettman 500. And again, more losses than wins. And again, they didn't make the playoffs. How did he do the next season? He quit. That dude quit. He called up Joe Sackik, his buddy, his teammate, his general manager at the time, and he said, I'm not going to be the head coach here anymore. And this was right before the season. The Avalanche were forced to replace Patrick Waal with Jared Bednar, and the Avalanche that season were really, really bad. Now, what happened following that? Well, a lot of good things. The Avalanche eventually recovered, actually rather quickly recovered with a few trades here and there.

Don't answer your phone when Joe Sacket calls. And of course, Jared Bednar and the Avalanche ended up winning the Stanley Cup. After a handful of years off and a ton of rumors that involved Patrickois going to the nonexistent Quebec Nordiques,ois eventually made his return to the QMJHL in the 2018-19 season. The Quebec Rempards were 27, 28, and 13 that season, lost in the first round of the playoffs, meh. The next season, they were 27 and 32, and how did they do in the playoffs? We'll never know on account of that was canceled due to COVID. During the 2020-2021 season, which was super weird, the rem parts were 17, 9, and 6. It was a shortened season, again, COVID, and that record might sound pretty good. But once again, that's the same amount of wins as losses. These past two seasons, though. 51, 15, and 2 lost in the third round. In this past season, 53, 12, and 3 won the Championship. You can't do better than winning the Championship unless you try to win it again. So Patrick Waa took his chances with the NHL, and the Islanders jumped at him. Now, the reason I talk about his coaching resume like that, it's not a bad coaching resume.

I mean, he just won a junior title. But winning a Championship in junior is not the be all end all of how good of a coach you're going to be in the NHL. For example, DJ Smith not only won an OHL title with the Ottawa Generals, but a Memorial Cup, and right now that dude is looking for work. Patrickois may be exactly what the Islanders need because there is some talent on that team. They're a team that works extremely hard, and maybe All they need is that shot of adrenaline that we already know Patrickois can provide because we've seen it. The other side of the coin is I'm not sure many head coaches who don't have the name Patrickois with this resume would have this Yes, he won the Jack Adams in his rookie head coaching season, but that dude has won a grand total of zero NHL Stanley Cup playoff series as a head coach and also quit. You rarely ever hear of an NHL head coach quitting or resigning unless they're allegedly forced to, Mike Babcock. So what do you think of this hiring? Patrick Watts, the New York Islanders with Lou Lamorello as his GM, by the way.

That is fascinating. Even more fascinating that Patrickois, who has had probably more noise around him than any other non-NHL coach these last few years, this was dead silent. No one mentioned this at all. Patrickois is now in the same division as John Torterella. That's amazing. Rod Brindamore. Basically, the whole Metro is hilarious. Do you think this makes the Islanders a playoff team? Do you think this is going to be a gong show? Do you think if Patrick Wauh currently has a beard, Lou Lamorella was going to make him shave it? Yeah, you didn't think of that one, did you? Let me know what you think in the comment box down below. But for now, that is it for this one. Thank you very much for watching. Click like. If you like this video, click subscribe. If you really liked it, tell all your friends, subscribe to SDPN, and in the description down below, tickets to our All-Star events at the Rec Room, February second and February third. It's going to be a blast.