Montreal Canadiens
Former Canadiens Player Beats Former Canadiens GM For Job
Former Montreal Canadiens forward Mathieu Darche is expected to be named the new general manager of the New York Islanders.
Mathieu Darche is expected to be named GM of the New York Islanders today, as per sources.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 23, 2025
The Islanders have been looking for a new general manager after firing Lou Lamoriello in April. Lamiorello had been with the team since 2018, and though the Islanders made the playoffs five times under his watch, it was quite clear the franchise failed to take a significant step forward.
Darche was not the only finalist for the job with a history in Montreal. According to several reports, former Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin was also among the last candidates being considered. Time heals all wounds, but given how Bergevin treated some of the most important legends in Canadiens history, finding another general manager job may prove to be difficult.
ON TOPIC: Former Canadiens GM Bergevin Mistreated Franchise Heros
Darche, on the other hand, quickly established himself as one of the smartest members of management around the NHL. He spent six years with the Tampa Bay Lightning, serving as the Director of Hockey Operations, as well as the Assistant General Manager in the last two seasons. In that time, Tampa Bay won back-to-back Stanley Cups (2019-20, 2020-21).
Mathieu Darche is one of the more refreshing names connected to the NYI. Contract/cap management are a real strength, will be interesting to see what he does outside TBL https://t.co/zdznfYku3C
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) May 23, 2025
Having served under Julien Brisebois in Tampa, we can expect Darche to use an aggressive approach to solve glaring issues, the opposite of how Bergevin addressed problems in Montreal. It remains to be seen if former Canadiens goaltender Patrick Roy will serve as the Islanders’ head coach for the remainder of his contract, but one thing is certain, Long Island is starting to have a certain Montreal flavour among their newly hired members of management.
Mathieu Darche spent parts of three seasons with the Montreal Canadiens (2009-2012), scoring 22 goals and 26 assists in 149 games. He retired following the conclusion of the 2011-12 season.
I know that we are happy with Kent Hughes and I have a good feeling that he’ll be around for another decade, God willing, but the more bilingual GMs in the NHL, the better it is for the Canadiens in terms of future candidates. The same goes for coaches. The more bilingual ones the better.
The pool to pick from 10 years ago was extremely shallow. We ended up with a very green GM who made a lot of mistakes in his first 5 years and had lost his political capital by then.
Montreal should be stocking the pond- even if they don’t have any immediate need for coaches or GMs. It’s being proactive.
Great post !!
All NHL team need whatever edge they are able to muster in order to be successful in such a competitive league . There are not a lot of bilingual GMs as you point out although more teams are employing coaches that are . Among them are head coaches in Utah , St.Louis , New York Islanders and Utah . Assistant coaches with the Habs , Blues , Florida , Isles , Red Wings and Vegas as well as a number of goalie coaches .
Meant to say there are bilingual head coaches in Montreal , St.Louis , NewYork (islanders) and Utah . And following the lead of many teams historically, in the last few years we’ve seen success in Tampa Bay (GM) and in Florida ( assistant coach Lefebvre ) .
I know he had higher aspirations (like becoming a GM) but I had always hoped we could add his mind to our executive group. He has an excellent reputation, and his experience with Tampa would definitely have been beneficial to us as we hope to build a champion. Cue the Dobson to Montreal rumours? 😂