Leading the Islanders into a new era is no light task. Darche will have to make decisions that affect nearly every aspect of the franchise.

Mathieu Darche’s first order of business as New York Islanders general manager is to scout the talent pool available at the 2025 NHL Draft and decipher which player is worthy of being chosen with the No.

And then Darche spent the first 11 words of his answer to the first question he fielded making the most declarative statement of all about the Islanders’ new era.