Notable Quotables: Roy's retirement
May 28, 2003 - By David Smith

Denver, CO (AZ) -- Given the hugeness of the announcement made by Patrick Roy there was plenty of league reaction, we've collected some of the comments from writers, teammates, and opponents alike.

Mighty Ducks Goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere
"If you want to describe a winner, look at him. Among young goalies, especially in Quebec, everybody looked up to him. He was the idol of a lot of kids and that's one reason you see so many French goalies in the league now. We had somebody to look up to, a great example. Everyone wanted to be like him."

Mighty Ducks Right Wing, Steve Thomas
"He was a big-time goaltender in the big games. I was fortunate enough to score my 400th goal against him. For me, that was a big goal. I've got his name on my plaque so that's something I can always remember him by."

Devils Goaltender, Martin Brodeur
"He's the only who made people really believe that you could be an impact player and a goalie."

Former Canadiens Coach, Jacques Demers
"Patrick Roy is more than a goaltender. He's one of the greatest athletes Canada and Quebec ever produced. After Wayne Gretzky, Raymond Bourque and possibly Mario Lemeiux, the NHL is losing a great ambassador in Patrick."

Former Canadiens GM, Serge Savard
"If I was with the Canadiens at that time, one thing is sure, Patrick might have been traded, but he would not have left the organization with his head down. A lot of athletes I know would not have left $10 million on the table and would probably have played another year, even if they wouldn't play and would be the back-up goalie. You've got to give him high marks for what he's doing. He's going to be G.M. of his junior club and work his way up. That's good. He always knew what he wanted to do.

Former Canadiens Left Wing, Benoit Brunet
"People say he abandoned us, but there's a lot that people don't know. It was a battle of two guys - Mario and him. I'd rate him as the best goalie I've seen play. Even at the end, he was among the top five in the league. To be that good for 18 years is unbelievable."

Canadiens Defenseman, Stephane Quintal
"Patrick's always been sure of himself, some even say arrogant, but to have accomplished what he did, I think he had to be a bit like that."

Red Fisher, Montreal Gazette
"Roy is among the greatest, but take it from a sprightly 76-year-old, the best I've ever seen is Jacques Plante. He was an innovator and a winner. He studied the game and made it work for him on the ice. He played behind the best teams in hockey history, but he was one of the reasons those teams were great."

Cam Cole, National Post
" 'Best' is too subjective. Patrick Roy may or may not have been the best goaltender who ever played in the National Hockey League, or any other league. But when historians look back on the players who changed this game Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky and Jacques Plante St. Patrick's name ought to be very high on that list. For better or worse, we're not sure, but his impact was, is, undeniable."

Bertrand Raymond, Le Journal de Montreal
"Who knows, he might have planted the seed for two or three more goaltending careers in Quebec if he had announced (last season) that he would play one more year. Knowing they would never again have the chance or the privilege to watch him play, the kids might have watched him more closely. And maybe they would have found that they too wanted to become a Patrick Roy, as was the case with Theodore, Potvin, Brodeur, Giguere and dozens of others."

Ronald King, Montreal La Presse
"Patrick Roy may have been the best goaltender of all time but he was certainly the best ever in the playoffs. There's no doubt about that. That explains why on certain nights during the regular season, he'd let in some long shots. It was boring. Not enough challenge. Not enough pressure."

Ed Willis, Vancouver Province
"In the end, he was a player who was as important to his era as any player in the game's history, a player who, like Gretzky and Bobby Orr, changed the way the game and his position was played, a player whose impact stretched far beyond hockey's borders and influenced a generation. It's hard to think of Roy as underrated but today, as we contemplate his career, there's a sense its enormity and its importance are difficult to measure and appreciate."

Al Strachan, Toronto Sun
"Who is to say whether Bill Durnan, or Georges Vezina, or Jacques Plante, goaltenders who dominated their eras, were better or worse than Roy, who dominated his? So let's just settle for saying that Roy was a superb goalie, the best of his time, and perhaps the best ever. If some degree of certainty is required, then let's say he was the most influential goalie to ever put on pads. Never before was such a radical change so widely adopted in such a short period of time. The butterfly style that Roy pioneered now dominates the game worldwide."

Mark Kiszla, Denver Post
"This was not the perfect ending either we or he imagined, with the clock striking midnight on a sad spring night, and a crestfallen St. Patrick walking down a long, quiet hallway of his home arena, defeated in the clutch on a goal by some journeyman named Andrew Brunette, with the Avs' shocking elimination from the playoffs in a Game 7, the very situation that had established Roy's well-deserved fame. Better than anyone, Roy knew it was time to go. He saw the cracks in confidence that could no longer be hidden behind a mask."

Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News
"The most difficult thing any athlete has to face is that moment when he is no longer able to play the game. Few walk away on top. Some are carried away. Most are simply excused ... Roy leaves to chiefly praise, no nit worth picking. He leaves at the top, or near enough to it to recognize the neighbourhood. He leaves on his terms. It is not always so."