Controversies

On April 2, 2002, Roy received a combined 13-game suspension by the NHL, after prematurely exiting the penalty box and assaulting a linesman the previous night, amid a loss against his hometown New York Rangers.^[2] With only seven games remaining that season, the suspension carried over into the first six games of the 2002-2003 season.^[3]

Roy was ultimately removed from the Tampa Bay Lightning official roster, after a fallout with then-coach John Tortorella. In an away game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Roy fought Riley Cote twice. After being knocked down from a punch in the latter fight, Roy made a "slash throat" hand gesture toward Cote while on the bench. Tortorella had to physically remove Roy from the bench. For the remainder of the 2007–08 season (about 15 games), Roy was a healthy scratch. On July 20, 2008, Roy signed with the Calgary Flames.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2009, Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi attracted skepticism by singling out Roy as a "one-dimensional player." Said Lombardi, "So who's the one-dimensional player? André Roy from Calgary, maybe. They dressed him the other night. He's a battleship. He played, what, two minutes? So, okay, there's one, but I'd like to know how many of those guys there really are."^[4]

Regular season and playoffs