from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

While his status as a legendary goalie is forever, the honeymoon period for Roy as the Avalanche's coach is over.

Another NHL season is here. At age 50, Roy has as much to prove as his young players. Was the Central Division title won by Colorado and a rookie coach two years ago more than a fluke?

"I've been learning a lot the last two years. I feel like I'm a much better coach today than I was then," Roy said. "And I'm probably never going to win the Jack Adams (Award as the league's best coach) again. It's kind of funny ..."

It would be a simplistic mistake to give Roy too much credit from the out-of-nowhere success enjoyed by the Avs, when he was named coach of the year in 2014 after the team won 52 regular-season games. It also would be wrong to drop all the blame on Roy for the flop that was last season, when poor puck possession and lack of grit at the blue line caused Colorado to sink near the bottom of the Western Conference.

But, heading into his third season on the Avalanche bench, the sample size will grow large enough to ask: How good is Roy as an NHL coach?

Grade on nothing except the scoreboard, which would merit an "A" for his first campaign and a "D" for his second season, then Roy has been only slightly better than average as a strategist and motivator.

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