Mathieu Darche’s 1-Year Anniversary As New York Islanders’ General Manager Retrospective: A Mixed Bag

Mathieu Darche is having his first anniversary as Islanders General Manager. There was excitement about his tenure. It has now faded, after three bad trade additions near the deadline. Optimism stemmed from the fact that Darche engineered the trade of Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadians for a first-round draft pick and sniper Emil Heineman.

The second year of the tenure of Mathieu Darche as General Manager of the Islanders will hinge on how he manages the veteran presence on the team and the young talent that is on the way. Darche is hamstrung by several bad contracts with aging and ineffective stars on the roster. He said changing the roster would be a two-year project, so we will see. The results will be in the point totals. Do you think Mathieu Darche was a good hire as General Manager?

Mathieu Darche’s First Anniversary As Islander GM, Major Moves

The first big move for the new Islander’s General Manager, Mathieu Darche, was a trade with the Montreal Canadiens. He traded defenseman Noah Dobson, who had demanded a new contract worth in excess of $9 million a year. He flipped the defenseman for Heineman, a player who was thought to be a fourth-line player for the Islanders. He also got two first-round draft picks. Heineman proved to be a sniper who far exceeded his career-high in goals. The picks became Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson.

Dobson has played great for Montreal. However, Mathieu Darche won this trade based on the quality and quantity of offensive talent the Islander’s got back. Because this was the first move that Darche made, there was optimism that he would do a good job. That optimism did not last.

Mathieu Darche, with the Islanders in second place in the Metropolitan Division, looked to add talent before the trade deadline. It did not go as planned, and the team acquired old, slow veterans. The first trade was to acquire Carson Soucy from the New York Rangers. The Soucy acquisition was widely viewed as a miss. Even with logical intent, the result was blunt: “a net negative.” In a vacuum, a third-round pick (which the Islanders gave up in the trade) is not that crippling, but Soucy was not good with the Islanders, so this was a weak move.

Worse for Mathieu Darche was the Ondrej Palat deal. Palat was terrible for the team. He is under contract for next year for $6 million. Everyone who examined this trade was emphatic: “straight F.” Palat is a declining player who “was a ghost” offensively, which compounded the error. Even factoring in cap flexibility, the move failed to deliver value.

The most polarizing decision came at the deadline: acquiring Brayden Schenn. On one hand, he added toughness and produced at a respectable pace. He is a former captain who also provided leadership. On the other hand, the concerns are structural. At 35 with years on his contract remaining, Schenn represents exactly what the Islanders have tried to move away from.

The Future

Because of these three trades and the success of the Dobson trade, the grade for Mathieu Darsch is a middle-of-the-road B-. However, it is important to point out that with all of the young players coming, he will ultimately be evaluated on how he integrates this young talent with all the veterans stuck on the roster.