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Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy were a great pair on the ice, but maybe not in the front office. USATSI

The Colorado Avalanche are suddenly a team without a coach, and according to executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic -- he didn't see it coming.

On Thursday, Patrick Roy surprisingly announced in a statement sent through an independent PR firm to select media that he is resigning his posts as coach and vice president of hockey operations of the Avalanche, effective immediately. Roy cited differences in vision for the team and a lack of input on player personnel decisions as reasons he could no longer continue in his roles.

Sakic said he did receive a call from Roy before the now-former coach's statement was released to the media. It took the Avalanche about 90 minutes after Roy's release to put out a statement to confirm the resignation.

It's pretty rare to see an individual preempt the team on something of this magnitude, but then again, Patrick Roy is a pretty rare quantity.

The timing of Roy's exit is obviously not ideal. Training camps are set to open in just over a month. Sakic said the team will be looking outside of the organization for their next coach.

Despite the pickle he has been put in, Sakic avoided throwing his former teammate under the bus. Roy's statement he didn't have enough input and wasn't seeing eye-to-eye with the rest of the front office wasn't exactly a direct call-out of Sakic, either, so much as it was a tad passive aggressive.

Meanwhile, Sakic painted a rosier picture of the way things were going despite his being "definitely caught off-guard" as he told reporters Thursday.

From the AP:

"Patty was always involved," Sakic said on a conference call Thursday evening. "Especially early he was a big help to me. He was always involved. He was aware of all the decisions we were making. To be honest with you I think that's a question that you'll have to ask Patrick, but I know we talked about everything.

"The big thing when he talked to me today was last year was a tough year, he didn't have a lot of fun and we always said as long as we're enjoying what we're doing and having fun we'll keep doing it. He said in the last three, four weeks he just really contemplated not coming back and not coaching and thought he made the right decision for himself. I totally respect him for that."

These guys are friends. They won two Stanley Cups together as players. They probably have spent a lot of time together away from the ice over the years as well. Therefore, the whole truth is not going to come out. This is very much a "what happens in the room, stays in the room" kind of thing.

Reports continue surfacing that there was a legitimate fracture between the two -- at least on the business side.

Even if that was the case, the two are staying far away from criticizing each other, which is smart for both men. These are two of the biggest stars the Avalanche franchise ever had, and they're going to be forever be loved by the fans. Both of their numbers hang in the rafters at Pepsi Center. A public dispute would potentially put the fans in a bit of an awkward position.

This may be yet another reason why going to the legends of the organization to fill the most important hockey business positions is a risky play. They get a long leash from the fans who remember the glory days fondly, but they might make some pretty poor decisions that ultimately hamper the organization in ways they did not intend. The Avalanche of the last two years have looked like a team squandering its tremendously talented young core. Roy and Sakic have to share the blame for that.

While the timing of Roy's exit is certainly a surprise, the fact that he went out on his own terms should surprise literally no one. As one of the great players of his or any generation, Roy demanded excellence of himself and his team. That seems to have continued in his current role, which again, is no surprise.

Recall his exit from the Montreal Canadiens, when he demanded a trade during a game where he felt personally embarrassed by coach Mario Tremblay. When he felt the Avalanche could not provide him a team to be better than they have been over two seasons where they missed the playoffs, he pulled the 'chute. Vastly different situations with the same result -- Roy called his own shot.

The interesting thing about the Avalanche situation is that, despite Roy's demands for success and his visible and audible frustration over his team's aggressive mediocrity, the players liked him. At least most of them did, according to defenseman Erik Johnson.

Here's what the veteran and former No. 1 overall pick had to say about his former coach during an interview with Altitude Sports Radio in the immediate aftermath of Roy's resignation:

"From the players' perspective, myself and probably 90 percent of my teammates -- which is a lot on any team because no coach is going to have everyone that loves him -- but I can tell you that probably over 90 percent of the guys absolutely loved Patty. We respected him, we thought he was a great coach and we'll all really miss him. I got a phone call from a lot of the guys and everyone was super upset.

"It's going to be tough for sure. It's going to be an adjustment. The timing of it is strange, to say the least."

The 90 percent figure may come as a surprise to some, especially with how often toward the end of the season that Roy called out some of his best players - notably captain Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene. He often called the team's leadership into question as well.

Roy's credentials as a player and the team's immediate success in the standings under him would have garnered him some instant respect. The last two seasons were not good, though.

The Avs were among the worst possession teams in the NHL over Roy's tenure and his reported desire for a big, physical defenseman in free agency would have done little to change that fact. The team's focus on avoiding a week free agent class and focusing on signing their most important restricted free agents -- Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie -- to long-term deals, while also keeping the core intact, looks to be the better move for the long-term future of the franchise.

Sakic had to at least have an inkling that Roy would have a low tolerance for the way things went the last two seasons. With such small changes in free agency, even though most of the moves the Avs made this offseason were pretty smart, and the season rapidly approaching, Roy just couldn't go through another year of mediocrity or worse.

He has one year left on his contract, which means any team that might consider hiring Roy over the course of the 2016-17 season would have to potentially give up a draft pick as compensation to the Avs. However, given Roy's abrupt and ill-timed exit and his desire for control in player personnel decisions, how many general managers in the NHL are going to jump at the chance to bring in the Hall of Famer to run their bench?

Though Sakic expressed his surprise and maybe hinted at some disappointment, this move is probably best for all parties, even the players who apparently really liked their coach. It's never easy when a fracture like this occurs, but the organization and maybe Roy himself will be better for it in the long run.