Rangers archrival’s new GM says Patrick Roy stays as coach, ‘someone would have to knock my socks off’ to trade No. 1 pick
Mathieu Darche said his first memories of watching hockey “is the Islanders winning every Stanley Cup.” The Islanders won four in a row from 1980-83 – the last three of which included victories over the New York Rangers along the way. His objective now that he’s been named the seventh general manager in franchise history is to build their next Cup-winning team.
Darche met the media Thursday for the first time since being named GM and executive vice president of the Rangers biggest rival last week. He was hired after spending the previous six seasons as director of hockey operations for the Tampa Bay Lightning, including the past three as assistant general manager under Julien BriseBois. Darche was part of the Lightning’s back-to-back Stanley Cup title-winning teams in 2020 and 2021 and their Stanley Cup Final squad in 2022.
He wants the same kind of success for the Islanders, who haven’t made the Final since losing to the Edmonton Oilers in 1984.
“It’s awesome,” he said of the Islanders legacy as the last team to win more than two consecutive championships and the owners of the longest run of series victories (19) in Stanley Cup history. “We want to create our own legacy, our own success. Every day, my focus will be to improve the New York Islanders and make us a winning organization. I want us to be a perennial playoff team.”
Darche said changes are coming on Long Island, but that Patrick Roy return as coach after the Islanders were 35-35-12 this season and finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division, one spot behind the Rangers. However, he said assistants John MacLean and Tommy Albelin will not be back.
The Islanders informed president and general manager Lou Lamoriello on April 22 that his contract wouldn’t be renewed. Darche said that although “Lou left a lot of good people,” he’s already working on bringing in new blood – especially in player development after the Bridgeport Islanders finished last in the AHL with 15 wins and 37 points, 19 fewer than the next-to-last finisher.
Darche said there will be a new coaching staff in Bridgeport next season.
One thing Darche will definitely be eager to change is the Isles’ showing against the Rangers this season. The Rangers swept the four-game season series, winning each game by at least three goals, capped by a 9-2 win at UBS Arena on April 10.
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3 takeaways from Islanders GM’s introductory press conference
1. Patrick Roy stays, his assistants don’t
Perhaps the most important news is that Darche wasted little time meeting with Roy and that the Hall of Fame goaltender will be back behind the bench in the fall.
“I think Patrick’s a winner,” Darche said. “He’s had success coaching. When he came here the first year, he had success. I didn’t know Patrick, but obviously I know a lot of people in the hockey world, and I’ve been on the phone a lot. I went to meet with him last weekend just to get to know him more. And I’m extremely comfortable and excited to be working with him.”
The Islanders hired Roy midway through the 2023-24 season, and he helped rally them to a third-place finish in the Metro, although they lost their first-round playoff series to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. But they were decimated by injuries this past season, especially on defense. Their offense, which was without top-line forward Mathew Barzal for all but 30 games, struggled to score — their 2.71 goals per game was the fifth-worst mark in the NHL.
Roy is 55-47-17 in 119 games with the Islanders through his first two seasons. He won the Jack Adams Trophy as NHL coach of the year with the Colorado Avalanche in 2013-14.
One thing that likely helped Roy’s status was his desire to play an up-tempo style, something that Darche also believes in. “I want to see a fast-paced team,” he said. “There’s nothing worse for opponent than a team that comes at you all the time.”
Assistants John MacLean and Tommy Albelin won’t be back. One big reason for that was the Isles’ horrible special teams – their 26 power-play goals were tied for last with the Anaheim Ducks, and they had the second-worst penalty kill in the NHL at 72.2 percent.
“It’s my decision to make changes to the coaching staff and [Patrick and I] will work together to fill the assistant coaches position,” Darche said
Benoit Desrosiers, the only assistant Roy hired after coming to the Isles, is being retained.
2. Islanders will keep No. 1 pick in NHL Draft
The Islanders defied the odds when they won the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5 despite having just a 3.5 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick after finishing 21st in the overall standings – the last position in the draw that was capable of jumping to the top spot. The Rangers have the No. 12 pick. As of now, Darche said he expects to make that pick when the draft begins June 27.
“I was very fortunate to come in with the No. 1 pick,” he said. “I expect us to make that pick.”
He didn’t say who the Islanders would take with the first selection. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman with Erie in the Ontario Hockey League, is regarded by most people around the League as the consensus No. 1 pick.
Darche didn’t rule out trading the pick, but said it was unlikely.
“You have to do your due diligence — anybody that calls, you have to listen,” he said “But someone would really have to knock my socks off to trade that pick, because we’re going to get a special player.”
3. More focus on development
Lamoriello traded away a number of first-round draft picks in recent years, and there was little focus on player development during his seven seasons running the team. Darche said that’s going to change – and not only because the Islanders have the first pick in the draft.
“I’m a new person coming in,” Darche said. “I want a new [minor-league] staff moving us forward.”
Darche spent much of his time with the Lightning focused on their AHL team in Syracuse. The Lightning must be doing something right: As Darche noted, they did not have a first-round pick on their first or second lines.
“I believe in developing in the winning environment,” he 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.”
For fans, the most tangible early evidence of Darche’s focus on development will come shortly after the draft, when they hold a player development camp. The camp was an annual fixture for years, sometimes capped with an intra-squad game at Nassau Coliseum. But it was discontinued under Lamoriello.
“It’s important, that’s your first touch on the player,” Darche said of development camp, which will allow the Isles to get a close look at NCAA players like Cole Eiserman, their first-round pick last year who excelled as a freshman at Boston University. “You draft a player and you show him what it is to be a professional.”
