The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Mathieu Darche (General Manager of the New York Islanders)

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

Newly appointed New York Islanders GM Mathieu Darche stops by to talk about stepping into the role, the decision to draft and sign first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, ushering in a new era on Long Island, and what fans can expect moving forward.Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Simply Spiked: https://www.simplyspiked.ca/en-CAReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose. Maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. We have the Islander's general manager standing by.

He is Matthew Darsh. He is the GM of the New York Islanders, and he joins me now on the sheet. Matthew, thanks so much for stopping by. And listen, I know it's August the 6th, and here we are talking about hockey. I know you never sleep and never leave the office. So I appreciate you parking a little bit of time for me today. How are you today? Hey, thank you.

Thanks for having you, Jeff. Listen, when you knew on the job, you work through the summer, but I won't lie. I'm going on vacation this Saturday with my family, so it's going to be nice to get away. So that's what I wonder, because it seems as if, like, managers once upon a time, like, and you know this, like after free agency, like maybe the week after free agency,

everyone sort of pieced out for the summer, those days are gone. You guys all stick around. You give yourself like a week, maybe a week and a half in August, and then come back because everyone's terrified of offer sheets and you want to get back to the office and get back to business. But I want to ask you, and I know you were only eight years old, I believe, when this happened.

But in 1984, The Pittsburgh Penguins had the first overall draft pick, and teams won, like Mario Lemieux draft, right? And Montreal desperately wanted Lemieux. They traded for Hartford's pick. They ended up taking Svoboda. Hartford didn't end up going first overall. Pittsburgh did.

The Quebec Nordiques offered all three Stassanis. And don't forget how great Peter Stassany was. And plus a first round pick to try to get Mario and Eddie Johnson, the GM of Pittsburgh. No, no, no, no. I mean, everybody came. Minnesota offered every pick. Lou Nanny, no, no, no, no.

on the scale of we're offering the Stastnys and a first rounder. How big were the offers for the first overall pick this year, which turned into Matthew Schaefer? Well, there was no really offers. A few teams called, just like, hey, would you, what are your plans? And right away, I would just say, I'm picking, you know? So there was never offers.

And listen, I got like here, I got the job, and I can't take credit for that one, because the lottery before I got named, Kenny Morrow, was our good luck charm. at that lottery so I wasn't moving the pick and obviously I didn't know the player

as well as our scouts it's not like if Tampa where I was we were drafting very often in the first round to start with but obviously I've seen Matthew before he got hurt at the junior world championship and you know

obviously once I got this job I watch quite a bit on him and it was a clear cut for me that he was going to be he was going to be our guy and it just reinforced it once I met him at a cop-eye and the kid is an impressive young man the maturity is beyond his years

and I mean this is all great to hold the maturity the whole thing I dealt with the adversities had by the end of the day he's a hell of a hockey player so that's why we drafted him first overall he really is and listen I'm not the only one like the entire hockey world I think really has a lot of respect and admiration

for how you've handled him and whether it's you know touch the ribbon on the jersey, the kids who have lost parents very young. I was, I was, I remember the first time I talked to Matthew Schaefer. I lost my mom when I was 16 similar to him as well. And we had like a 20 minute conversation about the way that you handled how we, how we signed his entry level deal and having all those kids around. I'm like, all the, I know you can say like, hey, listen, we haven't played a game yet.

But like, there's a lot of like, write notes that the Islanders have really hit early on in your tenure. And when specifically with Matthew Schaefer, how, how, like, what goes in. to the ribbon on the jersey? What goes into the kids while he's there for the entry level sign? Take us a little bit behind the scenes on those decisions. Well, when you're up, obviously the story,

everybody knew a story about his millet mom, his mom and all these things. I actually walked into Kimber Arbach, our senior vice president of communication here. I said, how can we do something special at the draft for the kid? You know, so it was, listen, it was, it was, when we met with him at the combine, we went to dinner with him,

just as the whole way, the whole, how he dealt with all that. He kept telling us, my way of dealing with is talking about my mom. You know, I'm proud of my mom. I love my mom. She's the big reason of who I am. So, and then, you know, we debated and a few of the people internally. Then they came up, but let's put the ribbon on the jersey, which we obviously had to ask the league. And I even joke as, hey, I need to hear from Gary and Bill that it's okay, you know, and they, they love the idea.

And then we added the initials. And as far as the signings, I mean, Pat Morris, his agent, used to be my agent when I started playing. So I have a relationship with Pat. And we talked about different ways of doing it. And I know Matthew wants to get involved in some community work and foundations that, you know, grieving centers, things like that. So we thought about that. And what's impressive about Matt is he walked in the room. Remember, he's 17 years old.

He's not 18. He commanded the room. He told them about his story. and then we had about 2025 families and they each had a jersey one by one they were at the table with Matt and he would sign a picture and sign the jersey but at one point I had to tell Pat Pat

can you kind of tell him to he was taking 15 minutes with every kid asking them their story and we were going to the meds game after and I was like hey we you know we need to move this and I think it was outstanding because you can see like it's genuine like he was generally talking about those stories

with every single kid and even when he started talking to the kid to the whole group at the start and you know you could see some parents that were teary eyed I guess the older you get you get more emotional and at the draft we're all kind of crying in our room when we drafted

him the way I could and even I was like God he's got to stop he's got to make me tear up again you know so his maturity and the way he took time with every one of those kids like it wasn't just here I sigh a nice to meet you like he asked them about their story and he said

what he felt, you know, one of them was a, I don't know, for a soccer player or a sport, hey, your mom's there on the sideline, you know, or a baseball player, she's conning balls and strikes and things like that. I think he knows, so he's amazing. By the end of the day, the main reason we'll draft him is because he's a good hockey player.

We hope he's going to play with us for for years. Listen, it's, I have a positional bias. I look at, I look at defensemen and say, like, you have a chance to grab someone who's going to be a first pairing defenseman for 10, 15 years. Like, you're run to make that. You run to make that pick.

When you close your eyes and think about opening night, Matthew Schaefer on this team, who's he playing with? Who's he paired with or do you say, like, that's up to Patrick? It is up to Patrick. And at the end of the day, Matthews tell us to go through training camp. He's got to show us that he's ready to bring in the HR. Do we think he has a chance? Absolutely. But he's got to show us also.

And he's dedicated. He's focused. He's skating with a lot of NHL players. in Toronto. So Camp will tell us where and how much he plays depending on it goes.

Because let's face it, he was great out of developing camp. The NHL's another. Training camp is a step and the NHL is another. I still remember as a player, and I've mentioned it to Barry Trott. So I went to Nashville

at training camp one year and I was mostly the minor from Milwaukee and then I scored three goals, one inner squad game. And they asked Trotsie about, hey, this guy scored. three goals and as well because he's 100% right he goes remember those inner squad games it's like you make it because he's in the u.s is talking baseball it's like double a preseason game is

like triple a then there's a major you know so let's let's take in stride so uh pop the break but i'm i'm confident his skating abilities and there's hockey sets and all that but like he's uh he's 17 years old he's going to be 18 10 days actually five days before rookie camp so uh his play at training camp will dictate where he plays I look at him and I say to myself, Matthew, like I never thought that I would see and maybe you have a different comparison. I'm initially when I saw him, I think, oh, I see Drysdale.

And I go, no, no, it's just because he's in Eriotti's jersey. And I watch him. I'm like, he skates like J. Beaumister. Like, is there someone who's skating style he kind of reminds you of at all? Because, like, his skating is elite, capital E. It is. And the way, guys, I don't know if it's fair to compare, like, whether it's Scott neither or my ear.

Like, I don't know it's saying that because it's, It's just he's a glider. His edges are great. He can open up and create space for himself. You can see in a development camera, he gave the puck. Boom, he would be up on the rush, which that's the style of play we want to play. Patrick and I are on the same page. We want to play an uptempo.

Dee joined the rush when it's time to join us. Obviously, sometimes you don't join the rush, but his skating abilities is what enables him to have a chance to make our lineup. Because if he wasn't that good of a skater, it's tough as a young defenseman. And there's going to be work to be done because every young D when he comes. I mean, the biggest part is the defending part of it. And what's great this summer, he's skating on the ice with Margeordano quite a bit in Toronto, which Mark is a smart defender.

And we have, you know, he's going to, on our team, there's Adam Pelleck, who's an outstanding defender. So I'll have a lot of people to learn from. But let's face it, for any young guy, that's the biggest adjustment you have to do when you join the NHL. You've hit a lot of the right notes, certainly with Islanders fans as well. I think a lot of people are excited about your team.

I know a lot of people are excited about the possibility here of Matthew Barzell playing in the middle again and what that could mean. Like, what kind of player do you see when you look at Matthew Barzell? And I'll kind of ask you a similar question about Schaefer. Who do you see him playing with? Honestly, and I'm a big believer that managers, manage, coach as coach. So if I wanted, I obviously always going to have discussions with Patrick.

By the end of the day, I'm not behind the bench. you don't get the feel directly in the game. So the beauty of it, to me, with Matthew, is he's, yes, he's a sentiment, but the more players you have that can play different position gives you options. Right here, you had good moments with Bor Horvath, but sometimes they might board be centers, and sometimes during times of the games or times of the year, maybe they play together.

So having that flexibility is great. By the end of the day, with the coaching staff, I'll have discussions with them. And listen, I've learned from the way things are done in Tampa between Julian and Coup and, Yeah, we'll talk. Well, I'll give my opinion. By the end of the day, you're the coach.

Like, you know, how do you hold your coach accountable if you tell him who plays with who and things like that? So the reason I wanted to work with Patrick is I trust him as a coach. So we'll have discussions all the time, of course. But he's the coach. He's going to, I'm not a micromanager. Like, even with my amateur staff, the pro staff, like you hire the right people, you let them do their job. And that's all I get them. But one thing that we're on the same page, me and Patrick, is we want.

want to play that uptempo style. That's, listen, maybe I got, I got squatted in Tampa for that style with the players we have. But, you know, like, you talk about Matthew. Matthew's an elite player, skater,

and we're released those guys in it. This episode of the sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose.

Maybe it's a little too flimsyl. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. Here's another thing, too, about Tampa as well. People, players went to Syracuse and did their time, as you all know, like, and then graduated to the big club in Tampa. and you talk about uptempo style and like, look, I just lived down the street from the Ashwa Generals

and saw plenty of Cal Ricci and know what you have and you know what you have. Your organization does. Again, I'll put you in the spot to say, like, what's going to happen with Calar Ricci? But I look at him and I say, I don't know how long he's going to need

in the American Hockey League, but I am a firm believer that that jump from junior hockey to the NHL is hard. And that time in the H.L. It shouldn't be looked at as a step back. It should still be looked at as a step forward. How do you see sort of Cal Richie's progress to being a full-timer in the National Hockey League?

Well, I was still then, like, it's a process. I want them to have NHL career, not play games. It's not a race. Whoever plays his first game or his first 20 games. Having said that, play at training camp. Yes, we have a lot of forwards. If Kowen comes to training camp and, yeah, I'll plays everyone. I'll make room for him on the roster.

and the example I have and one of them was previous to my time in Tampa I think Braden Point from what I was told in Tampa like he was supposed like everybody else probably go in Syracuse he was that good at Camp he made the team last year with Connor Geiki in Tampa like we think he was going to make the Roth throughout a camp

that we always open-minded he had a great can the out-paid guys he started the year but you know what after a few months because it is a step he needed a little step back so we sent him to Syracuse and then he came back and he was was even better. So it's a process. At the end of the day, I'm a firm believer that the players will tell you where they should play. And you're right. It's not because you go to the

HL. You don't have to play as long as me and play 600 games. That might be too much. But if you have to, it's fine. The HL is an outstanding. It's a second-best league in the world. I don't care if you can say it's a single thing in the world. And it's the best place to develop for the NHL. It's a grind. It's demanding. It's actually more physical in the HL. So if guys going to, I want guys to believe in the HL. I don't, I believe in you eat what you kill. So whether you're a prospect or not, if you play well, I'm the best example. I've paid almost all my games after I was 30 years old. Yep. I got to Montreal. I still remember I was in Hamilton. Guy Bouchain meets with all the players and he said, Guy, I know my role is to be a good

veteran for the guys here. And Guy stopped me and he says, you know what? That's BS. Yes, it's part of your role, but you too, you want to get to the NHL again. And you know, I was like, well, and I was 30, 31 years old and I ended up playing over 225 of my, or like almost 200 of my games after I was I was 30. I got my first one-way

contract at 33, so for me, it doesn't matter where you come from. It's how you perform and it's going to dictate where you play. A quick thought on Bridgeport, as we're talking about the American Hockey League here, last year was a challenging season for the Bridgeport Allenders, as We all know Rocky Thompson comes in to Shepard things behind the bench.

What do you say to specifically younger players who are there for a challenging year last year with Bridgeport heading it into this year? How do you address them? How do you talk to them? How do you get them to sort of maybe park what happened last season and look forward to something new under Rocky Thompson? Well, first of all, what happened last year doesn't matter at this point. I think we've improved the team. I believe in developing in a winning environment. I want guys to earn their ice time.

It's not because you're a prospect that you're going to go down. And for sure, it doesn't matter if you're playing well or not. You're going to pay all those minutes. I don't quite believe in that strategy. Guys will get opportunities, but you have to see the opportunities. So I believe, like, it doesn't mean you're going to win the Calder Cup every year because let's face it, it's a tougher space to coach in the H.L. Because you're affected by your injuries, by the NHL injuries.

There's various factors. So you're double hit by injuries. And you might have guys that. you expected it to be on your HL team that made the NHL team or vice versa. But I believe that we, I want the culture down there to be we're trying to win also. Like it doesn't mean that you don't develop by any means. But even if you're a prospect, let's face it, it's the same thing in the world outside of sport.

You usually get what you deserve. The word you put in is what you're going to get out. So if you perform well, the minors, you'll have the opportunities to play. and I want us to win games. I want us to be in the playoff in the minors. Is it automatic every year? Like I told you earlier, there's a lot of factors that affect your performance in the HL,

but that's a mentality I want everyone to have in the organization. A small thing, but maybe a big thing to someone. People that you bring along with you, this is your first general manager job in the NHL. We've always said about Matthew Darsh, that guy's going to be a GM in the NHL. That guy's going to be a GM in the NHL. And I think a lot of us are always curious,

who you bring along. Assistant Equipment Manager from the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jason Berger. Do you have a little smile on your face when I say that name? What can you tell us about Jason? Well, you know, I didn't know him until I got to Tampa. Like, we made some changes in equipment staff in Tampa,

but he stayed and he's just full of energy. So there was an opening when I got here and I spoke with various people. There was good people I spoke to from the outside and even internally, but then I felt like I'm happy as Jason is a guy I mean you've seen videos online of him oh yeah line up like that's full of energy I've had some players on the lightning text me he's like hey you stole

burger from us and uh it's just like he I know how he works he know I like things he's extremely organized and he brings sometimes we don't play the role of these guys like he brings energy in the room like it's and you know what I have Patrick meet with him because I know in Tampa whenever we talk to the the equipment guys, like Kook was involved. Because at the end of the equipment guy will deal with the coach more than he does with the GM. So Patrick spent like an hour and a half, two hours on the phone.

He called me right after he's like, oh my God, we need this guy. He's my type of guy, the energy and like just on the phone. So it's great. And he's a great person. And so he got his, like me, I got my opportunity as a GM. He was the number two in Tampa. And he gets the opportunity of being number one. So I'm excited to have him on board.

And I think the guys who are really enjoying him. He brings a lot of life to the locker room. I think that's awesome. Last one for you. Is there any update on Simeon Varlamov? Do we know anything when joining injury? Well, he's, from what I've been told, like his rehab is progressing well. He's getting on the ice the next week, I believe.

And so, I mean, obviously my job is to protect the organization. So I brought another goalie in and David Riddick. And we hope he's healthy. But we'll see at that point, like he just said, he's had a great career. going and he had a tough year last year with injuries with surgeries and they told me the rehab is going well but I still have to protect what I feel because it's a big it's a big role so obviously Ilya Sorokin will carry most of the load but you

sometimes that's a difference being in the playoffs or not so I hope he's he's great and like I said they've told me like I saw him when I just got the job and he says he's progressing well he feels good so we'll see what he gets on the ice. Let me close with this quickly because I was mentioning this before he came on. Quick, I put a smile to my face up because I like the player. Sean Day.

I really like the signing. I used to watch him and watch him a ton in his U-16 year dominating tournaments. I remember one in Whippy where he couldn't take the puck off of his stick. Of course, you would have had him in Tampa playing in Syracuse. A quick thought on this signing him. We'll let you get on with your vacation.

Actually, Sean is one of the smoothest skaters you can find. He glides on me. It's impressive. It's effortless. I wish on half of his skating what I play. Maybe I would have played more in the NHL. But, yeah, like, we obviously there's a certain number of NHL contracts you can sign.

And at the end, I still wanted to improve, like, part of, I want to improve the Islanders. I wanted to improve Bridgeport. And we've had Sean in Syracuse for two years. And I got to stop saying we, I guess, like, Tampa had Sean in Syracon for two years. And he was an outstanding. HL defenseman and I told him when I talked to him on the phone and say I might be an HL deal but like

work in Tampa Yanni Gord started you know David DeRene when I was in Montreal and like he's a real good age I still think he has the potential to be in an HL player so that's the position I had for him right now as an HL contract

and what's great is I think he's comfortable with me because I was in Tampa with him he won a M Cup with Rocky Thompson 2017. I was there. Oh, he was outstanding. Sorgachev on that blue lines. Good, that field. That's a good blue line. And, you know, when I said, I want to improve Bridgeport, he's definitely going to help our team. And who knows? I saw some workout videos of him. He's really dedicated. He's excited. I talked to him when I signed him, talked to his agent a few times in summer.

It's just I didn't have an NHL contract for now. I'm actually really happy because that's, listen, even some people in Tampa, like they told me, hey, that's a great signing. You got him on an HL deal, you know? So I think he's got to be a lot of help for Bridgeport for the organization. And let's see where it goes because he still has a lot of potential. He's a good size. He's a strong guy. And he skates, like it's as effortless as a skater as you can see, like forward, backwards.

Like, he's impressive. So I'm excited to have him part of the organization. I was happy to see that signing. On that, we'll let you go. Vacation on the horizon, Bon Vacants. Thank you so much for this. Merci beaucoup. who we'll chat soon again.

Congratulations on all the early successes you've had so far, Matthew. Much of the one again. I knew you were going to say that. I haven't dropped the buck yet. We're building it, and I'm excited. It's a great place to be. Thanks for having you. I know Islanders fans are certainly excited.

Matthew, thank you so much for this. Much appreciated. All of our comes. Thank you. this week every day this month I can't get out my head lifestyle ambitions day to day because I can call it all right

I went to the dark man and tried to give me a little medicine I'm like now and that's fine I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this is gonna be fixing my mind to go on the bag of it. I turned on the music I do want to be able to turn on music

It's enough Yeah, I'll get you sometimes losing I've been on the days that we're wrong