Roy of Avalanche putting friendships aside against former team in West Final

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Nicolas Roy has already activated the cone of silence. 

The Colorado Avalanche forward knew many of his strongest friendships would have to be put on hold once the Vegas Golden Knights victoriously ended their second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. 

With the six-game series win, the Golden Knights advanced to play the Avalanche in the Western Conference Final, which begins at Ball Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

It's Roy's current team against the team with which he broke into the NHL and with which he claimed the sport's greatest honor, winning the Stanley Cup in 2023. 

The idea that champions walk together forever is a quaint sentiment, but it doesn't apply here. The pugnacious Roy is walking belligerently in the path of many of the players he once considered his best friends.

"You know you aren't going to text each other for the next week-and-a-half, two weeks, and then we are going to talk about it," Roy said Saturday after Colorado held its first practice since advancing with a five-game series win against the Minnesota Wild that ended Wednesday. "I think it is respect. For right now, we are putting the friendships aside a little bit and we will talk after."

The Golden Knights will arrive in Colorado next week with 11 active players from the Cup win in 2023 against the Florida Panthers.

The familiar faces will cause memories to flood back about the greatest time in Roy's hockey life.  

He admits he doesn't know how it will affect him to go toe-to-toe against championship brothers. But he knows he is eight wins from another Cup ring and those men stand in his way.  

"Already the emotions are building up," he said. "It's a conference final. The emotions are already high enough. It just adds to it, I guess. I'm pretty excited to get it going and we will see."​

And he will help with whatever tidbits he can about the Golden Knights, although much changes in three seasons in the hockey ecosystem. Vegas is no longer coached by Bruce Cassidy, who was replaced by John Tortorella with eight games left in this regular season. Alex Pietrangelo is no longer patrolling the blue line and Adin Hill, the Cup-winning goalie, is a backup, supplanted by Carter Hart. 

"They have an older group," Roy said. "Lots of experience. They have some depth, everybody can play in their lineup. They are physical, play simple. A lot of stuff is similar to us, I guess." 

As coach Jared Bednar starts the pre-scout of the Golden Knights, he may lean a bit on Roy for tidbits, but he won't be a primary resource.

"They have a lot of the same guys, but I would say for the most part we know this team pretty well too, their personnel, their tendencies and the way they play," Bednar said. "Not a lot has changed with the new coach, but they are getting better results and they are a hungry, hungry team."

When the Golden Knights look across the ice at Roy, those around in 2023 will be reminded of the player that was so effective that postseason. Roy had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 22 postseason games, playing the straight-ahead, hard-along-the-walls style that was the calling card of his game.

It's been a long three seasons since for Roy. The 29-year-old was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1, 2025, the centerpiece in the deal that landed the Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner. Then, on March 5, after an up-and-down 59 regular-season games with the Maple Leafs, he was dealt to the Avalanche as depth for what they hoped would be a long playoff run.   

In nine playoff games, he has six points (three goals, three assists) and has provided much-needed depth scoring. 

"We Looked at him in Vegas and we looked at him in Toronto and we tried to figure out how we would deploy him and could we get him back to playing as well as he did in Vegas, because he was a highly effective player for them, not only regular  season, but in the Stanley Cup run.

"I think he has done that for us. He is a guy that can help us in a bunch of different areas."

Colorado will practice two more times before the first game of the series, and it remains unclear how healthy they will be. 

Defenseman Sam Malinski practiced Saturday but was in a noncontact jersey. Defenseman Josh Manson took part in warmups but left before practice started. Defensemen Cale Makar and Brent Burns and forward Artturi Lehkonen each did not practice.  

"They are all dealing with stuff and they are day to day," Bednar said. 

Makar, Manson and Burns all played in Game 5 against Minnesota. Malinski and Lehkonen have missed the past two games with undisclosed injuries. Colorado will practice Sunday and Tuesday.

"I think some of them will practice in the time we have," Bednar said.