The New York Islanders have a plan. Most of it appears to begin next summer.
Mathieu Darche used his first full offseason in charge to clear the runway for 2027. He signed a handful of players to one-year contracts, avoided a reckless free-agent deal and watched longtime captain Anders Lee leave for Utah.
There is logic behind it. Darche expects to have around $40 million in cap space next offseason, when more players could be available, and the Islanders will have a much cleaner financial picture.
Fine. But what exactly are they supposed to do until then?
The Islanders still have a scoring problem
The Islanders went 43-34-5 last season and missed the playoffs after falling apart late. Their answer was not a major trade or a proven scorer. It was Matias Maccelli, Mitchell Chaffee, Matthew Kessel and backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek.
Maccelli is the name worth watching. He recorded 57 points in 2023-24 before his production dropped over the following two seasons. He is only 25 and could give the Islanders some badly needed creativity.
He could also continue to be the player who struggled badly enough to become available on a one-year deal. There is a reason the contract did not come with balloons and a parade.
The Islanders finished 25th in goals last season. That was not some hidden weakness buried underneath advanced statistics and hockey jargon. They did not score enough. Everyone saw it.
Mathew Barzal led the team with 72 points, and Bo Horvat scored 31 goals. After them, the offense became far too easy to contain. When the Islanders needed a goal during their late-season collapse, Ilya Sorokin could only watch from the other end and wonder if anyone planned on getting one.
Probably not the preferred offensive system.
Ilya Sorokin cannot do everything himself
Sorokin finished with 29 wins, led the NHL with seven shutouts and became a Vezina Trophy finalist. He did everything short of jumping into the rush. Yet the Islanders are once again preparing to enter a season in which their best path to victory may be asking him to allow one goal or fewer.
That is where Darche’s patient approach becomes dangerous.
Sorokin is 30. Barzal is 29. Horvat is 31. They are not ancient, but they are also not waiting at the beginning of some five-year rebuild.
Then there is Matthew Schaefer, who changes the entire conversation. The 18-year-old scored 23 goals, won the Calder Trophy unanimously and already looked comfortable playing more than 24 minutes per night.
The Islanders landed a franchise defenseman without enduring a miserable teardown. That was a gift. Teams are supposed to take advantage of those.
Mathieu Darche is betting on patience
Peter DeBoer was also hired after Patrick Roy was fired with four games remaining. DeBoer has reached five conference finals during his career. Hiring him and then handing him a roster that looks like a placeholder would be an odd use of everybody’s time.
Darche deserves credit for refusing to spend just because money was available. Bad contracts helped create this problem in the first place.
But there is a difference between being patient and punting.
If the Islanders return to the playoffs, Darche’s restraint will look smart. If Sorokin carries another offensively challenged team to ninth place, nobody will want to hear about next summer’s cap space.
