Benoît Desrosiers: the Islanders deny his hiring

Huh?

That’s the reaction I had when I saw the Islanders’ tweet denying the hiring of Benoît Desrosiers.

Earlier this morning, Stéphane Leroux said on Twitter that Patrick Roy had dipped into the QMJHL’s backyard to hire his former assistant with the Remparts.

#Isles Statement: Benoit Desrosiers has not been hired by the New York Islanders. There are plans for President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello to meet with Desrosiers in the future.

– New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 22, 2024

All of this is really bizarre, because it’s extremely rare to see a team announce a non-hiring.

That said, the original tweet states that the Islanders and Lou Lamoriello plan to meet with Desrosiers “in the future” to discuss a potential job offer.

Was there some leak of information that didn’t sit well with the team and Lamoriello, who is known to be an old hand with dinosaur methods? That’s the question I’m asking myself right now.

Almost every media outlet has covered the news that Desrosiers has been hired in New York.

That’s to be expected, because anything to do with Patrick Roy has been the talk of the town since Saturday.

Even QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini took the time to congratulate him on Twitter…

Congrats to Benoit Desrosiers on joining the Islanders – another @QMJHLer who will be “up there”. We’re happy about that.
Bravo To Ben Desrosiers for going “upstairs” with the Islanders – best! @QMJHL

– Mario Cecchini (@MCecchiniALS) January 22, 2024

I can’t wait to see if we’ll be able to learn a little more about this seemingly zany story.

Because honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it in my life before. Imagine how big a deal it would be if someone announced that Bob Hartley had been hired in Montreal and the Habs had to deny it…

News flash: this would be the topic of discussion on the lips of many fans in Montreal. And it’s sure to be the same right now in New York, where the media market is pretty intense.

Breaking news

– Speaking of the Islanders.

Did the Senators miss an opportunity for relevance in the Patrick Roy file? We’re talking about it, and lots of other wonders too: https://t.co/tqc34cwj2f

– Richard Labbé (@Richardlabbe) January 22, 2024

– Well-deserved.

Kirill Kaprizov, David Pastrnak and Logan Thompson are this week’s starshttps://t.co/pLyWjYjmLC

– RDS (@RDSca) January 22, 2024

– Mama Xhekaj is happy.

I’M NOT CRYING
U ARE
Let’s Gooo https://t.co /bGhhQbT4me