More information revealed on Patrick Roy's dismissal and it's stunning the hockey world

That's understandable - radio host Ray Cloutier recently confirmed through an intermediary on Énergie 98.9 that Roy remains deeply shaken, weeks after losing his job with four games left in the regular season.

But the emotional state is a symptom.

The actual story is the cause.

Cloutier also confirmed something far more significant: the decision to fire Roy did not come from general manager Mathieu Darche.

It came from above him.

Darche sits at the top of the New York Islanders' hockey operations structure.

The only layer above him is ownership.

That means ownership removed a head coach - while the team was still alive in a playoff race, with four games remaining - by stepping over their own hockey ops department.

Darche had publicly called Roy a friend.

He described the firing as one of the toughest decisions he's had to make.

That's not the language of a man who drove the process.

That's the language of a man who received a call he didn't initiate.

Roy has spent the weeks since his firing in Florida, away from the public eye.

His name circulated around coaching vacancies this offseason, but nothing materialized.

Peter DeBoer, his replacement, still couldn't get New York into the playoffs despite being handed the final stretch.

Every conversation about Roy's NHL future focuses on whether he wants to coach again.

The better question is whether he can find an organization where hockey operations - not ownership - actually controls the roster and the bench.

Roy wasn't fired by his GM.

He was fired by people above his GM.

That distinction is the reason the blow landed so hard.

And it's the reason his next job, whenever it comes, matters more than the last one.

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