Islanders hiring Mathieu Darche as new GM with massive to-do list awaiting him
The Islanders have their man.
After a search that dragged over a month, the Islanders finally found their new general manager on Friday.
The Post confirmed that Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche will be named as Lou Lamoriello's replacement, with the 48-year-old beating out Jarmo Kekalainen and Marc Bergevin for the job.
3 Mathieu Darche of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates with the Stanley Cup.
Getty Images
At this time, there are no plans to hire a president of hockey operations above him, The Post has learned.
Darche had been Tampa's director of hockey operations since 2019 and an assistant general manager since 2022. His job with the Lightning primarily focused on salary cap management, budgeting and player contracts at first, but expanded to touch other areas of hockey operations.
A former NHLer, Darche was part of the Blue Jackets, Predators, Lightning, Sharks and Canadiens organizations during his playing career. He was also part of the NHLPA's negotiating team during the 2012-13 lockout.
There is also the apocryphal tale between Darche and Lamoriello: at the end of Darche's career, in 2013, he attended Devils training camp. The story goes that Lamoriello — still running things in New Jersey at the time — asked him to stay on, but Darche retired.
So, at least to some extent, there's a connection between the old Islanders regime and the new.
3 Canadiens' Mathieu Darche during a 2010 game against the Rangers.
Anthony J. Causi / New York Post
That could prove important if, as has been reported by The Athletic, Lamoriello does intend to stay on in some capacity.
Either way, early indications are that Darche may be the Islanders' only hire — which is to say there may not be a president of hockey operations above him.
The Islanders reportedly got permission to speak to Brendan Shanahan after he was let go by the Maple Leafs Thursday, and many around the league believed he was the brass' first choice, but hiring Darche just a day later refutes that unto itself.
With the plan being for Darche to report directly to ownership, he will walk into his first job as general manager with no shortage of tasks in front of him, and the chance to reshape a franchise that's stagnated badly in recent years.
He's got to decide the future of head coach Patrick Roy, whether to keep some or all of Lamoriello's hockey operations staff intact — including Lou's son, Chris, currently the general manager of the Bridgeport Islanders — and what to do with the No. 1 overall pick, which the Islanders won in the draft lottery.
There's also negotiations that Lamoriello left on hold between the Islanders and the respective camps of Kyle Palmieri and Adam Boqvist for contract extensions, along with a slew of pending restricted and unrestricted free agents, including Noah Dobson, who could command well upwards of $8 million annually.
3 New York Islanders' general manager and president of hockey operations Lou Lamoriello watches a practice.
Getty Images
And that is just the stuff that needs to get done between now and July 1.
In a greater sense, the first-time general manager will need to reverse the fortunes of a franchise that has been spinning its wheels both on and off the ice. The Islanders need to build out their front office, rebuild a team that's fallen into the pit of mediocrity and rebuild a marketing apparatus that was nonexistent by decree under Lamoriello's aegis.
It is a monumental task for someone who has never run an NHL team — and indeed, Darche's relative lack of experience was the criticism leveled at him during the process.
The Islanders' brass, led by minority owner John Collins, evidently saw enough in Darche's interviews to abate any worries.
This is his show now.
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