Mathieu Darche should be considered the front-runner for the NY Islanders' General Manager position

There is little doubt that the Tampa Bay Lightning have been the most successful team in the NHL over the last six seasons. Two Stanley Cup triumphs and another trip back in which they lost, the Lightning have been the only thing standing between the NY Islanders and their own trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

While Julien BriseBois is the mastermind behind the operation, Mathieu Darche is his right-hand man.

Darche is the man for the job

Playing 250 games across nine seasons with five teams, Darche found his calling as an NHL executive. But the road to Assistant GM of the Lightning didn't come easily. Before Julien BriseBois hired Darche as the Director of Hockey Operations, he was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Delmar International, a Canadian customs broker and freight forwarding company.

From there, Darche was hired as Director of Hockey Operations, a role he served in for three years before being promoted to Assistant GM.

In his current role, Darche advises BriseBois on player personnel and contract decisions and is considered a mastermind when it comes to navigating the salary cap. As many are familiar, Tampa has found ways to use the cap in their favor, whether or not most people agree with their tactics. Most notably, placing Nikita Kucherov on LTIR for an entire regular season before activating him for Game 1 of the playoffs.

The Islanders have some cap issues of their own, and Darche could be the guy to help solve their problems, which are desperately needed within the current roster.

Darche and BriseBois are incredibly close, so it won't be easy to pry Darche from Western Florida, but at some point, it's assumed he'd like to branch out on his own. With a new state-of-the-art building and ownership that'll let him operate as he pleases, Darche could be the perfect candidate to become the next GM of the New York Islanders.