Former NHL player and Olympian James Patrick, the winningest coach in the Western Hockey League the past two seasons, is the new head coach of the Victoria Royals.
Dan Price was relieved of the role Monday after seven seasons with the club since 2016-17, one as assistant coach to Dave Lowry, six as head coach since 2017-18, with three of those as both head coach and GM from 2020-21 to 2022-23.
The Royals, who have missed the playoffs the past two seasons and placed last in the WHL before that in the bubble season, were 8-7-1 this season under Price as head coach.
But his days may have been numbered when Royals owner Graham Lee brought in a wholesale administrative structure above Price in the off-season to try to turn the flagging fortunes of the club, relieving Price of his GM role and hiring former NHL Arizona Coyotes manager of hockey operations Joey Poljanowski as the new Royals vice-president of hockey operations, Jake Heisinger as associate GM and Patrick as director of player development.
Patrick coached the Kootenay/Winnipeg Ice for six seasons and led the Ice last season to the Scotty Munro Trophy and the regular-season WHL championship with a team that included first-round NHL draft picks Matthew Savoie, Connor Geekie, Zach Benson and Carson Lambos.
“[Patrick] brings a winning pedigree and has had tremendous success in developing both strong organizational cultures and future NHL players,” Poljanowski said in a statement.
Neither Poljanowski nor Patrick were made available Monday for direct comment. The Royals said Patrick will hold his first media conference as head coach Wednesday and will be behind the bench Friday when Victoria plays the Seattle Thunderbirds at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Assistant coach Morgan Klimchuk will guide the Royals Tuesday night when they play the Red Deer Rebels at the Memorial Centre.
“In order to take the next steps now and in the future, as we transition deeper into our player development model, we are bringing in a fresh voice to lead our program,” Heisinger said in a statement.
Heisinger worked with Patrick in Winnipeg as VP of hockey operations and assistant GM of the Ice from 2020 to last season.
The Kootenay Ice were a combined 40-83 and missed the playoffs in their last two seasons under Patrick. The club’s fortunes rose steeply as Patrick amassed a 166-49-8 record over the past four seasons the Ice played in Winnipeg, after moving from Cranbrook, including 53-10-5 in 2021-22 and 57-10-1 in 2022-23. Patrick took the Ice to the WHL playoff final in the spring before losing to Seattle, who represented the league in the 2023 Memorial Cup. But new ownership did not bring Patrick to Wenatchee, Washington, when the Ice franchise was moved from Winnipeg over the summer to become the Wenatchee Wild.
Patrick joined the Royals this season as director of player development. It was not announced whether he will continue in that role as well as head coach.
Patrick played 1,280 NHL regular-season games across 21 seasons from 1983-84 to 2003-04 as a defenceman with the New York Rangers, who selected him ninth overall in the first round of the 1981 draft out of the University of North Dakota, and also the Hartford Whalers, Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres before concluding his pro playing career in Germany with the Frankfurt Lions.
The Winnipeg native also had extensive international experience for sa国际传媒. Patrick won gold and bronze at the 1982 and 1983 world junior championships with Mark Morrison of the WHL Victoria Cougars and played in the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics with Victoria’s Russ Courtnall, placing fourth. Patrick also played for sa国际传媒 in five IIHF world championships and the landmark 1987 sa国际传媒 Cup with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
Patrick was assistant coach in the NHL for seven seasons with the Sabres from 2006-07 to 2012-13 and four seasons with the Dallas Stars from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
