Islanders Insider: New Isles boss Mathieu Darche multi-faceted
Mathieu Darche of the Tampa Bay Lightning holds the Stanley Cup following the series-winning victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on Sept. 28, 2020, in Edmonton. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
The scouting report on Mathieu Darche highlights many of the traits necessary to be a successful NHL general manager.
He was a hard-working grinder as an NHL player. He’s been noted for his talent evaluation skills, salary-cap acumen and understanding of analytics. His mother was a teacher, his father an accountant. His brother is a doctor. He’s been a successful executive both within the NHL as the Lightning’s assistant general manager and director of hockey operations and in the corporate world.
In other words, a high IQ, hockey or otherwise.
The real test, of course, is whether Darche, 48, hired as the Islanders’ general manager and executive vice president on Friday to succeed Lou Lamoriello, can capitalize on those skills in his first chance to run an NHL franchise.
“Mathieu was always very sharp,” said Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider, who has covered the Tampa Bay franchise since 2001, spanning Darche’s time as a player and an executive. “The times that you would talk to him, you would get insightful stuff, and that’s when you start to see what’s inside guys’ minds sometimes. How they viewed the game. How they see the game and then how that manifests itself.”
Erlendsson said Darche is “really good with numbers.” He also described Darche as a very outgoing personality. That too will fit in well with what the Islanders’ organization is hoping to accomplish.
The Islanders went to the playoffs in five of Lamoriello’s seven seasons, but this season marked their second miss in four years. So there will be an organizational marketing push to better connect the current players with the fan base through community events.
“He will be given every resource available to put the Islanders first-in-class on the ice, with our business initiatives, and in the community,” Islanders operating partner John Collins, who led the search for Lamoriello’s successor, said in a statement on Friday.
It would not be surprising for the Islanders to funnel more resources into their analytics department under Darche. Not that Lamoriello and coach Patrick Roy did not rely on analytics, but there is the sense that the Islanders can do more in that regard.
While still, of course, maintaining a human touch in their evaluation methods.
“I don’t know about his thoughts specifically, but I do know that as part of the way the Lightning viewed things, they have a pretty decent-sized analytics department,” Erlendsson said. “So they do lean on analytics quite a bit.
“I think in today’s day and age, the best general managers are the guys who do that and the eye test. You take both and compile them in and use all that information available to you to make your decisions. I would anticipate Mathieu is going to be the same way. He’s a numbers guy, there’s no doubt about it. I’m sure those numbers can translate to the analytics side of it. But he can be an evaluator, too. I think he’s going to be the best of both of those attributes.”
It should be seen quickly how Darche stamps his leadership on the Islanders.
He’ll soon meet with coach Patrick Roy to see if they can work together and what, if any, changes are made to the coaching staff. It’s natural for a new GM to bring in those he’s familiar with for other management and scouting roles.
There also could be scheduling changes for the Islanders.
The Lightning, under GM Julien BriseBois, conducted a summer development camp in July. That’s something the Islanders did not do under Lamoriello, instead holding a prospect camp in September just before the main training camp opened.
Darche, a Montreal native who played 250 NHL regular-season games for the Blue Jackets, Predators, Sharks, Lightning and Canadiens from 2000-12, will grow into his new job.
“Mathieu has that player’s perspective on it, as well, so he’s been a very valuable resource for Julien to lean on through these years,” Erlendsson said. “You could see over the last two or three seasons as Mathieu’s name started to become in the searches for other teams, he was going to get this opportunity eventually.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
