The cone of silence is lifting on Long Island.
In Lou Lamoriello’s seven years as the New York Islanders’ GM and president of hockey operations, it was sometimes unclear if players were even under contract to the team, never mind the details of any injuries.
By comparison, new GM Mathieu Darche is reading like an open book.
At his introductory press conference on Thursday, Darche left no grey area regarding the status of the team’s top point producer, Bo Horvat, who was injured last week while playing for Team Canada at the World Championship in Sweden.
“He’s got a little ankle injury, nothing serious,” Darche said. “Four to six weeks – he’s already rehabbing. There’s no concerns whatsoever. They said it’s the type of thing that maybe in the playoffs he would have tried. I think with Bo, you have to tell him ‘You’re not playing’ because he is probably going to try to play through everything. But no, we have no concerns with Bo’s injury.”
Any questions?
Darche was equally straightforward when updating the status of the Islanders’ coaching staff. After clarifying that he and Patrick Roy have not previously met, even though they’re both French Canadian, Darche confirmed that Roy will be back behind the bench next season, but he’ll have new assistants after John MacLean and Tommy Albelin were let go.
“Patrick’s a winner,” Darche said of the Hockey Hall of Famer. “I went to meet with him last weekend, just to get to know him more. I’m extremely comfortable and excited to be working with him. I know he’s passionate. He works hard. And I just decided that was my decision to make changes in the coaching staff. Now Patrick and I will work together to fill the assistant coaches’ positions.”
Islanders Ink Kyle Palmieri, Adam Boqvist To Extensions On Friday, the New York Islanders announced they had signed forward Kyle Palmieri to a two-year extension and defenseman Adam Boqvist to a one-year extension.
Coaching changes are also coming for the Bridgeport Islanders, who finished at the bottom of the AHL standings last season with just 37 points in 72 games.
Darche, 48, spent the last six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He joined them as their director of hockey operations in 2019 and added the title of assistant GM in 2022.
Darche won two Cups as a member of the Lightning’s management team, but his playing career as a left winger could best be described as ‘journeyman.’ With 250 NHL games and more than 500 in the AHL, that outcome was a win for an undrafted player who made it to The Show after playing Canadian college hockey for four years while studying marketing and international business at McGill University in his hometown of Montreal.
“That’s where I met my wife,” Darche said Thursday. “I told her I’m not a hockey player – I’m just a student that plays hockey. Next thing you know, she followed me for 12 years.”
After ending his pro career with three seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, Darche transitioned to broadcasting for the French-language RDS network when he hung up his skates in 2013. Then, he spent seven years as vice-president of sales and marketing for Delmar International, Inc. — a Montreal-founded global player in logistics and supply-chain management and, interestingly, an important corporate partner of both the Canadiens and the Islanders.
Darche’s experience playing in the AHL and his experience helping to oversee the Lightning’s affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, should help him rebuild the Islanders’ prospect pipeline, which hasn’t produced a homegrown star since Noah Dobson was drafted 12th overall in 2018.
This year, of course, the Islanders have won the NHL draft lottery and will have a chance to make their first No. 1 pick since John Tavares in 2009. Darche didn’t tip his hand on whether he’d pursue Long Island-born center James Hagens but did acknowledge the special opportunity of holding the first pick.
“You have to do your due diligence,” he said. “Anybody that calls, you have to listen. But someone would really have to knock my socks off because we’re going to get a special player. I’m going to do my due diligence, but I expect us to be picking at the end of June.”
Darche’s business acumen will also be welcome for an Islanders team that has squandered the momentum gained with their fans from back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference final in 2020 and 2021, where they lost both times to Darche’s Lightning.
And after decades of fighting for a first-class arena on Long Island, average attendance has dropped every year since UBS Arena doors opened in 2021, and even homegrown players like Mat Barzal are commenting on the number of empty seats.
“The first line that Mathieu said to me when he did the social media, called Delmar, called the season ticket holders, he said, ‘Look, I want you guys to make more money so I can spend more money,’ ” said John Collins, the Islanders’ co-owner, operating partner and alternate governor, on Thursday.
The Islanders have nearly $21 million in available cap space for the 2025-26 season after signing Kyle Palmieri to a two-year contract and Adam Boqvist to a one-year deal. Now, the team’s most important business on the player side should be a new contract for Dobson, who’s an RFA with arbitration rights. After Brock Nelson’s deadline trade, the opportunity also exists for Darche to retool the forward group and perhaps get younger.
The Islanders only have four players born in the 2000s on their roster: defensemen Dobson, Alexander Romanov and Adam Boqvist and forward Simon Holmstrom.
Amiable and forthright, Darche’s first impression on Long Island was strong on Thursday. Now it’s up to him to walk the walk.
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