Mathieu Darche decisively building Islanders into his vision
Emil Heineman of the Islanders skates against the Detroit Red Wings at UBS Arena on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Taking an educated guess here, but there’s a good chance Mathieu Darche does not like eating waffles.
He’s way too decisive.
Bad breakfast puns aside, the Islanders’ first-year general manager has shown in his relatively short yet eventful time on the job that he does not shy away from the hard choices, right or wrong (and it’s been a lot more right).
It’s a trait 100% necessary for a good GM. From coaching decisions to trades to loosening the belt on predecessor Lou Lamoriello’s buttoned-down culture, Darche quickly has reshaped the organization into one reflecting his vision.
He does not allow a perceived problem to fester.
“No, he doesn’t,” Bo Horvat said. “It’s still early and I think he’s done a great job of doing it the way he wants to do it. Kudos to him. It’s his team. It’s his decisions.”
The Islanders (4-3-1) will continue a four-game road trip in Boston on Tuesday with a five-game point streak after Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss in Philadelphia snapped a four-game winning streak.
The latest example of Darche’s willingness to act and act fast came when, with significant input from coach and Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy, he jettisoned goalie coach Piero Greco six games into the season as No. 1 netminder Ilya Sorokin looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable and lacked confidence through his first starts.
There’s no denying that Greco, who joined the Islanders in 2018, is a quality goalie coach and played an integral role in Sorokin’s development into one of the NHL’s top goalies — he was the runner-up in the Vezina Trophy balloting in 2023 — not to mention the work he did with Robin Lehner in 2018-19 when he finished third in the Vezina voting and he and partner Thomas Greiss won the Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals.
But Darche believed promoting Sorokin’s former KHL goalie coach, Sergei Naumovs, from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport was a better option. Time will tell whether it was the right decision. As close as Sorokin is with Naumovs, he also seemed gutted when discussing Greco’s firing.
Before joining the Islanders on May 23, Darche spent three seasons as the Lightning’s assistant GM to Julien BriseBois after joining that organization in 2019 as director of hockey operations. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021, defeating the Islanders in the NHL semifinals both seasons.
“You could tell he learned a lot in Tampa working with Julien BriseBois,” Roy said. “He was ready for this job. Sometimes you have to make those decisions, and he’s not afraid to do it.”
Now rewind to June. Contract negotiations with Noah Dobson were going nowhere, but Darche couldn’t start his tenure by trading away the Islanders’ best offensive defenseman, could he?
After all, to his last day with the Islanders, Lamoriello was criticized for trading Devon Toews to the Avalanche for a pair of second-rounders.
Of course, Lamoriello never had a Matthew Schaefer coming. Darche already had identified the then-17-year-old defenseman as the obvious No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft.
So Dobson was dealt to Montreal, with Darche earmarking some of the money to re-sign defenseman Alexander Romanov to an eight-year, $50 million deal. The Canadiens sent the Islanders Emil Heineman and two first-rounders who could turn into first-round steals in Victor Eklund (No. 16) and defenseman Kashawn Aitchson (No. 17).
For now, it’s the Dobson deal. One day, it could be known as the Heineman heist.
Darche specifically pushed for Heineman, a bottom-six energy player who had 10 goals and eight assists in 62 games as a Canadiens rookie. Darche loved his shot and his speed. Heineman, playing on Horvat’s second line, has five goals in his first eight games with the Islanders.
“You always want to play good for your team,” Heineman said.
That’s Darche. No waffles allowed.
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.
