Islanders hiring Mathieu Darche as new GM with massive to-do list awaiting him

The Islanders have their man.After a search that dragged over a month, the Islanders finally found their new general manager on Friday.The Post confirmed that Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche will be named as Lou Lamoriello’s replacement, with the 48-year-old beating out Jarmo Kekalainen and Marc Bergevin for the job.At this time, there are no plans to hire a president of hockey operations above him, The Post has learned.Darche had been Tampa’s director of hockey operations since 2019 and an assistant general manager since 2022.His job with the Lightning primarily focused on salary cap management, budgeting and player contracts at first, but expanded to touch other areas of hockey operations.A former NHLer, Darche was part of the Blue Jackets, Predators, Lightning, Sharks and Canadiens organizations during his playing career.

He was also part of the NHLPA’s negotiating team during the 2012-13 lockout.There is also the apocryphal tale between Darche and Lamoriello: at the end of Darche’s career, in 2013, he attended Devils training camp.The story goes that Lamoriello — still running things in New Jersey at the time — asked him to stay on, but Darche retired. So, at least to some extent, there’s a connection between the old Islanders regime and the new. That could prove important if, as has been reported by The Athletic, Lamoriello does intend to stay on in some capacity.

Either way, early indications are that Darche may be the Islanders’ only hire — which is to say there may not be a president of hockey operations above him.The Islanders reportedly got permission to speak to Brendan Shanahan after he was let go by the Maple Leafs Thursday, and many around the league believed he was the brass’ first choice, but hiring Darche just a day later refutes that unto itself.With the plan being for Darche to report directly to ownership, he will walk into his first job as general manager with no shortage of tasks in front of him, and...