During Joe Sakic’s conference call with media members Thursday, I mentioned a “blowup” in his relationship with Patrick Roy.

Sakic took issue with that.

“I’m not going to say it was a blowup,” he said. “It caught us off guard, but this was something he was feeling and contemplating for himself the past few weeks. It’s not a blowup. I respect him. He didn’t have a lot of fun last year and the last month or so, he came to this decision on his own. There’s nothing but the utmost respect for somebody who comes to that decision and tells you before you get going in the season.”

This was not an epithets-over-the-phone blowup. This was not a raising-the-Cup-together-no-longer-matters blowup. This was not a you-don’t-exist-to-me-anymore blowup. But it was confirmation that working for a friend — and that’s what this was, Roy working under Sakic — is risky, especially in the instances where the feeling is that friendship trumps all.

Three years ago, when Sakic introduced Roy as the Avalanche’s new coach and vice president of hockey operations, I wrote a column about how tough it would be to redraw the parameters to GM and coach, to boss and, yes, underling. I also wasn’t alone in not buying Roy’s assertion that the VP title wasn’t important to him, that it was an afterthought, and that he would have taken the job without it.

That didn’t ring true then, and it doesn’t ring true now. Related Articles August 13, 2016 Kickin’ it with Kiz: Would Avs have been better off if Joe Sakic left the team instead of Patrick Roy?

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Roy truly viewed this as a partnership, as a collaborative process with him having an influential voice in personnel decisions, and perhaps as important, in business decisions that affected roster strategies in a hard-salary cap league. A partnership, as when Sakic scored goals and Roy stopped pucks, and they needed each other — and won.

For three years, Roy’s influence in personnel decisions was undeniable. In many cases, that involved his affinity for Quebec Major Junior Hockey League products, ranging from Nathan MacKinnon going to Colorado with the top pick of the 2013 draft (still a justifiable decision, of course) to such players as Marc-Andre Cliche, Jordan Caron, Eric Gelinas and Mikhail Grigorenko joining the Avs.

As Roy got farther removed from the QHJHL, where he was co-owner, GM and coach before returning to Denver, that became less of an issue.

I actually didn’t find Sakic’s and Roy’s statements Thursday to be contradictory, as some did.

Sakic emphasized Roy was consulted on everything and was in the loop. But he also said that that as he grew into the GM job — he was new, too, after serving what amounted to an ex-player’s internship in the front office — and became more comfortable with the staff around him, Roy’s role evolved.

I’m paraphrasing Sakic and maybe drawing between-the-lines inferences, but I’m convinced that was the reality. I interpreted it more as Sakic, perhaps even inadvertently, saying Roy was right rather than disputing him. Consulting Roy on everything, keeping him informed about everything, is different than saying: “OK, that’s what we’ll do.”

With all due respect to Joe Colborne, the Avs didn’t sign a major unrestricted free agent — a defenseman or anyone else. They didn’t make any significant trades, whether involving their core or otherwise. Their last move was the commitment of $22 million over four seasons to Tyson Barrie just as an arbitrator was about to hit send on her contract award two days after a contentious arbitration hearing.

With the Avalanche ending up only $1 million under the $73 million salary cap after MacKinnon’s and Barrie’s extensions, it’s ludicrous to chide the Kroenke ownership for mandating a penny-pinching approach. But many did. The only issue involving ownership and the Avs is whether the Kroenkes’ preoccupation with the Rams and the Los Angeles stadium project has been distracting. But that shouldn’t even matter if the hockey approach is telling Sakic and his staff: Go to it, fellas.

Roy started to feel like a coach. A coach only. He was starting to feel like men he had played for who might or might not have been good behind the bench but had little influence on the organizational decisions about who was on his roster. He thought it would be different, working with a fellow Hall of Famer and teammate in a market where he paraded twice. It would have been similar in Montreal, but not exactly the same.

Did he quit on the Avs? Sure, he did. As coach. Because he thought he had been fired as a VP.

Sakic was adamant that “for now” none of the three current assistant coaches would be candidates to replace Roy, though that probably was a misstep. Because the Avs have to get permission from any team to talk to coaches under contract, and that approval will be tougher to get because of the timing, former Providence College coach Tim Army — an Avalanche assistant for five years and respected by the players — should be in the race, at least as a fallback.