The event itself was evidence of the change at hand with the Islanders, and you didn’t need to look far at Mathieu Darche’s introductory press conference as general manager on Thursday to find more of it.
There were season-ticket holders in attendance and a repeated focus on connecting with the fan base.
There was some transparency, with Darche giving specifics on Bo Horvat’s ankle injury, his plan to keep the No. 1 pick, Patrick Roy staying in charge as head coach and changes elsewhere in the organization.
There was, again and again, emphasis on player development and the importance of fixing up an AHL team in Bridgeport whose struggles were hand-waved by Lou Lamoriello last season.
There was a GM talking about collaboration and communication, being a part of the organization’s community efforts and building a team around pace.
“By saying fast-paced doesn’t mean we’re playing [only] offense, because you can’t win if you don’t defend,” Darche said. “Playing defense and defending are two different things. I want to attack.”
Music to Patrick Roy’s ears.
“Even when the Lightning won the two Cups, everybody thinks it was all offense,” Darche went on. “No — the team defended better than everybody else. That’s why the team won. And that’s the same thing.
“Doesn’t mean that you weren’t scoring goals. That’s what I want. Over time, we’re gonna build a team towards that. You need everything. That’s the recipe: you need everything, build all aspects of it. Fast, high-paced, intensity, compete. That’s how you win in the NHL.”
Once you stripped all the trappings and niceties from the afternoon, got past all the allusions to shoring up the Islanders’ brand and all the change that will come off the ice, that may have been the starkest contrast offered from the Lamoriello Era Isles who — even in their heyday — were a step slow and very much defensive in nature.
Turning it into reality is a different thing, and Darche, a first-time GM, will need to toe the line of changing over the roster while keeping the Islanders competing for the playoffs next season.
The 48-year-old spent the last six seasons as an assistant GM for the Lightning. Before that, he had a 12-year playing career — most of it in the AHL — worked in the business world for Delmar International and was an analyst for French-language station RDS on Canadiens pre- and postgame shows.
“We wanted someone who is really collaborative, but who’s really a strong hockey leader,” said minority owner and operating partner John Collins, who led the search. “… We always looked at Mathieu like he was the best of the first-time candidates because he was so well prepared in terms of his playing career.”
It also helped, Collins said, that Darche’s responsibilities in Tampa went beyond those of most assistant GMs.
“I joked I spent more time with [Lightning GM] Julien [BriseBois] than my wife the last six years,” Darche said. “But I’ve met basically every GM. Every one of them has reached out to me.”
The Lightning, though, were already a contender when Darche arrived in 2019. The Islanders will require more of a face-lift to reach that point.
“I think this team last year, because of various factors, probably should’ve been a playoff team,” Darche said. “Do we have work to do to improve it? Of course we do. This summer, that’s gonna be my focus.”
So the jury’s out on the extent of change the roster will see, though the cap rise combined with a large group of pending free agents gives Darche some leeway to put his stamp on things.
It may be, though, that the pace of change with the NHL roster is slower than the pace of change within the Islanders’ organization itself — be it on the business side, with the AHL roster or in the community.
“When I say I’m vertically integrated, that’s what it is,” Darche said. “You can’t just have a good NHL team and no, I don’t care about the AHL. That’s your pipeline. You have to move forward player development. That’s where I think the Tampa Bay Lightning have done a beautiful job.
“If you look over the years, I think last year, Tampa in the top two lines, not one first-round pick. You like first-round picks, especially the first overall, but the reality of it — you have to develop your players.”
For a team that went from 2020-23 without even making a first-round pick, that’s a whole new language. And Thursday marked an entrance into a whole new world.