Islanders Naming Mathieu Darche GM Is a Calculated Risk

The Islanders will operate differently under Darche, and it starts with drafting and developing young talent. The American Hockey League (AHL) team was a mess, especially in the final season under Lamoriello, and the prospect pool was among the worst in the NHL, even after the Calum Ritchie addition in the Brock Nelson trade. The Lightning have a strong AHL team in the Syracuse Crunch, and plenty of prospects became key parts of the Stanley Cup teams thanks to the front office, and specifically, Darche’s oversight.

Darche will emulate Julien BriseBois, the GM of the Lightning, who continued to add young talent to a great core to put the team over the top. At least that’s what the Islanders hope will happen. They have a core that can get them to the playoffs, but they need a visionary who can turn them into a model franchise.

Islanders Hoping to Mirror Lightning as Model Franchise

The Lightning were the ideal franchise and the standard in the NHL until the Florida Panthers unseated them as the team to beat. They won the Stanley Cup title in 2020 and 2021 while appearing in the Stanley Cup Final twice in a ten-year span, while also reaching the Eastern Conference Final in 2016 and 2018. Since the 2013-14 season, the Lightning have only missed the playoffs once.

So, it’s easy to see why the Islanders want a part of a model franchise running their organization. Darche was part of the Lightning front office starting with the 2019-20 season, so he wasn’t around when they were assembling their core. However, he was around when they kept building around it and finding talent from within to add to an already great team.

It’s not just the winning that the Islanders admire. It’s the culture the Lightning built. They became a destination where players and coaches want to join them. They are known for stability. There’s a plan in place so they aren’t mortgaging their future, but they are also willing to push all their chips in when there’s an opportunity to win the Cup. The Islanders want that and hope Darche provides it.

There are some reasons for pause when trying to pluck from the Lightning organizational tree. The Detroit Red Wings tried it with Steve Yzerman, the original GM and architect of the Lightning, and then with the Derek Lalonde hire. It’s a common issue in sports, where teams look for parts of a successful franchise but forget why the team was successful in the first place (it’s often because of one coach, GM, or owner who they aren’t bringing in).

There’s no telling if Darche was an integral part of the Lightning’s success or not, at least as of now. It’s why the hire puts pressure on the ownership group, who must do their part to make the Islanders like the Lightning. They can make the Islanders a destination and an ideal team to play for if they operate that way, and there are no excuses now that they have the GM in place to do so.

What Darche Did in Tampa Will Translate on Long Island

Darche was hired in the 2019 offseason, the same time BriseBois was promoted to the GM job. He was the assistant GM and wasn’t calling the shots. The Blake Coleman, Pat Maroon, and David Savard acquisitions, three moves that added depth to help the Lightning win back-to-back titles, were a credit to BriseBois. At the same time, Darche had a say in the decisions and saw how to build a Cup contender.

The Islanders expect Darche to follow a similar blueprint to the one the Lightning used to win those Cups. They have reliable goaltending in place, but need the star power at the forward position and a defenseman who can do it all. In short, Darche will be asked to find a Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Brayden Point to lead the forward unit, and a defenseman like Victor Hedman.

Darche will have a head start thanks to the Islanders winning the draft lottery. With the number one pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, he can find his next “Kucherov” or “Hedman” in Misa or Schaefer. The question is where he’ll find the other core pieces and the depth that the Lightning had. Cole Eiserman and Ritchie are prospects with star potential, but otherwise, the pipeline doesn’t have many skaters to turn to.

It will be interesting to see if Darche at some point makes a splash or a blockbuster trade to get the Islanders over the hump. It’s not the Lightning way, and it’s something Lamoriello never did. Yet, the final four teams are showing it’s a must to win the Cup. The Panthers are not a juggernaut without the Matthew Tkachuk blockbuster, and the Dallas Stars are on the cusp of a title thanks to the Mikko Rantanen trade. Darche will build the Islanders into a good team, and there are some prospects to do that, but eventually, he must take a risk, and it will define his tenure.

The Argument to Also Hire Shanahan

The Islanders requested to interview Brendan Shanahan this week, and all signs pointed to him joining the team as the president. That was before they hired Darche. Now that they have made the GM hire, it’s easy to say that the best move is to keep him in charge and not hire a president. It’s easier to say that, considering Shanahan comes from the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that, while successful, always comes up short (it’s also worth noting the last time the Islanders hired from the Maple Leafs for their front office was Lamoriello).

The Islanders are coming off an era where they allowed Lamoriello to run everything. He managed to do it, but eventually, all the roles and different tasks caught up to him, or more accurately, since Lamoriello prioritized the players but not much else, the other aspects of the team fell short. A GM in hockey is more than just roster moves, and it’s why bringing in a president is a good idea.

The Islanders need someone who head coach Patrick Roy trusts and is on the same page as. They need someone who keeps continuity and chemistry within the organization and the front office. Someone must run the business side of things. There also must be someone who decides how much transparency the Islanders will have with the fans and the relationship the team will have with the media (under Lamoriello, the answer was none).

All this is a lot to ask for any GM, and certainly a first-time GM like Darche who doesn’t have previous experience. Bringing in Shanahan to deal with all the extracurriculars while Darche builds the team is not only a great route, but probably the best one to take.

What do you think of the Darche hire? Let us know in the comments section below!