Hiring Of Mathieu Darche Represents A New Era For The New York Islanders

The first sign the Islanders were ushering in a new era during a press conference introducing Mathieu Darche as their new general manager and executive vice president Thursday morning is the fact they held a press conference introducing Mathieu Darche as their new general manager and executive vice president Thursday morning.

Technically, the Islanders publicly welcomed Lou Lamoriello as their president of hockey operations seven years ago last week, But that was via conference call (this was two years before we all had to learn how to Zoom) and everyone in sports knows who Lamoriello is — and that his no-frills introduction would set the tone for his entire tenure, one in which he was the lone and rarely revealing voice of authority on all Islanders matters.

So Darche, a first-time general manager who won two Cups as a member of the Lightning’s front office, stepping to the podium with co-owner John Collins — the type of senior level executive rarely pictured alongside Lamoriello — moments after Free’s “All Right Now” blasted out of the loudspeakers within the suite level at UBS Arena signaled a fresh start for the organization.

And then Darche spent the first 11 words of his answer to the first question he fielded making the most declarative statement of all about the Islanders’ new era.

“Well, first of all, Patrick will be our coach next season,” Darche said, referring to Patrick Roy, whom Lamoriello hired in January 2024.

Darche also announced the fates of assistants Benoit Derosiers, who will remain on staff, and John MacLean and Tommy Albelin, each of whom were dismissed. Later, he said center Bo Horvat should be recovered from the ankle injury he suffered at the IIHF World Championship after four to six weeks and that “…someone would have to really knock my socks off” for him to trade the no. 1 pick in next month’s NHL Draft.

That’s four bits of information Lamoriello wouldn’t have released if Jack Bauer was the one doing the interrogating. This is not meant to denigrate or mock Lamoriello, whose ways worked extraordinarily well for a longer period of time than just about any executive in sports history.

He arrived at a critical juncture for the Islanders, who didn’t have an arena and were about to lose John Tavares to free agency, and helped steer the club to UBS Arena while overseeing consecutive runs to the NHL semifinals in 2020-21. Lamoriello’s insistence on not rebuilding and instead trying to squeeze as much as he could out of the Islanders’ core was admirable in an era in which tanking is encouraged.

But the Islanders, at another unique if less delicate intersection in franchise history, needed a fresh and collaborative perspective — especially after spending the first quarter of this century as the most insular team in the league.

Mike Milbury’s chaos gave way, ever so briefly, to Charles Wang’s committee approach in 2006. Neil Smith, the nominal general manager, was fired after a mere 41 days and replaced by backup goalie Garth Snow, who remained in place for 12 seasons and one postseason series victory.

Snow and Lamoriello both stayed unusually loyal to the Islanders’ core — as prospects under Snow, who was reluctant to add to the mix, and as increasingly wizened veterans under Lamoriello. Eleven members of this season’s team were with the Islanders since at least the 2019-20 season. In addition, Matt Martin (2009-10), Casey Cizikas (2011-12), Anders Lee (2012-13), Scott Mayfield (2013-14) and Brock Nelson (2013-14) all debuted with the team more than a decade ago.

The Islanders’ farm system dried up in infamous fashion this season, when Bridgeport won just 15 games — including an AHL record-low four at home — while Lamoriello had to pluck Tony D’Angelo from exile in order to shore up a depleted blue line. (And again, to be fair, D’Angelo immediately became the Islanders’ most durable defenseman)

“I believe in developing in the winning environment,” Darche said. “The AHL will definitely be a focus for me, because your players have to be ready. Because, let’s face it, every team needs players called up during the year.”

Pivoting to a general manager enthusiastic about player development is doubly important thanks to two bits of good fortune that unexpectedly landed in the Islanders’ laps. Lamoriello acquired promising center Calum Ritchie from the Avalanche in exchange for Nelson on Mar. 6, albeit only after he couldn’t sign the impending free agent to an extension. A little under two months later, the Islanders won the NHL Draft lottery despite entering the proceedings with a 3.5 percent chance at landing the top pick.

The lottery win, in particular, was a reminder any success the Islanders have enjoyed since the dynasty years has been of the serendipitous variety.

The 1993 team made an unsustainable Cinderella run to the then-Wales Conference finals. In 2018, Lamoriello hired Barry Trotz a little more tan weeks after he won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals, who refused to sign him to a long-term extension.

The Islanders were on the verge of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race when the pandemic hit in 2020, but the four-month pause allowed players to get healthy and for Trotz to rework their defensive system for a semifinal run. The 2021 trip to the final four came following a 56-game regular season in which the Islanders had the 12th-most points in the NHL.

Hoping for everything to go right once in a while underneath an all-powerful general manager is not a recipe for long-term success. Of the 21 teams in the NHL in 1984, only the Islanders, Winnipeg/Arizona/Phoenix/Utah and the Maple Leafs (LOL) have failed to make the Stanley Cup Final since 1984, when the Oilers ended the drive for five.

“There is a championship legacy here that needs to move forward,” Collins said on the day in which there was no way of knowing how Darche and a collaborative effort would fare, only that it was time to begin finding out.