Islanders fans embrace new era as Darche leads first draft as GM

The Islanders won the NHL Draft Lottery during their search for a new general manager, giving Mathieu Darche an automatic top prospect with face-of-the-franchise potential in his first summer on the job.

While it's technically possible that Darche could entertain trade offers for the top pick, that feels a bit too bold for a brand new GM – especially one who has made it clear that he does not intend to put his team through a full teardown and rebuild from the ground up. At his introductory press conference at UBS Arena on May 29, Darche said he had every intention of using the No. 1 selection and that someone would have to "really knock [his] socks off" with an offer to convince him to trade the pick.

Erie defenseman Matthew Schaefer is the consensus No. 1 prospect in this year's draft class, though there has been some speculation that Saginaw center Michael Misa or even Boston College center James Hagens could supplant him as the first overall pick. Either way, Darche will lean heavily on the Islanders' amateur scouting staff as he prepares to make the first pick in just over a week – but it's going to be pretty hard for him to mess this pick up.

Islanders fans embrace new era as Mathieu Darche leads first draft as GM

All eyes will be on Darche when the Islanders are officially on the clock for the No. 1 pick, but his biggest test will come on the second day of the draft.

In four of the seven NHL Drafts under Darche's predecessor Lou Lamoriello, the Islanders were without a first-round pick. As a result, the organization's failure to develop many of its second-round-or-later picks became very evident.

Even after the addition of Calum Ritchie, acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the Brock Nelson trade, Islanders' prospect pool is among the weakest in the league. There’s plenty of work to be done to build up their system – which is particularly notable for a team that hasn't advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2021.

Darche will have his work cut out for him at his first NHL Draft as GM of the Islanders. He will be tasked not only with threading the needle to retool the NHL roster, but also with building up the organization's future – and it all starts with the No. 1 overall pick on June 27.

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