After a couple of weeks of speculation, the Islanders made the hiring of Benoit Desrosiers official on Friday, adding the 35-year-old assistant to head coach Patrick Roy’s coaching staff.
He will serve alongside Doug Houda and John MacLean.
Desrosiers was in his first season as head coach of the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) after serving time as an assistant for the Chicoutimi Saguenees, the Sherbrooke Phoenix, and the Quebec Remparts.
It was with the Remparts that Desrosiers worked under Roy, who was the head coach of the junior club for 13 years across two stints, most recently serving from 2018-2023.
Desrosier was with him in each of those five seasons, including a 2023 Memorial Cup-winning campaign that ultimately landed him a head-coaching gig with Gatineau.
Roy stepped down shortly after winning his second Memorial Cup and ultimately returned to the NHL when he replaced Lane Lambert as Islanders head coach on Jan. 20 — his first NHL head-coaching gig in seven-and-a-half years.
Shortly after his first morning skate as Islanders head coach, French-Canadian outlet RDS reported that Desrosiers would be reuniting with Roy in New York. However, the Islanders stymied those rumors saying that he was not hired — though team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello was planning to speak with him in the near future.
It was all but certain that he would make the move to the NHL, though, when he stepped down as Olympiques head coach on Tuesday.
