MONTREAL -- Mathieu Darche (BCom '00), a former McGill University hockey star who earned a commerce degree from the Desautels faculty of management, was hired as general manager and executive vice president of the New York Islanders on Friday.
The 48-year-old native of St. Laurent, Que., replaces Lou Lamoriello, who served with the team as president and general manager. Darche becomes the fourth McGillian to serve as a GM of an NHL team, joining an elite group that includes Lester Patrick (N.Y. Rangers), Frank Patrick (Boston) and Bryan Murray (Detroit, Florida, Anaheim, Ottawa).
"I am truly honored by the opportunity to be the New York Islanders general manager and executive vice president," said Darche, who is one of 16 McGillians to win the coveted Stanley Cup, collecting back-to-back championship rings in 2020 and 2021. "I'd like to thank [co-owners] Scott Malkin, Jon Ledecky, John Collins, and the entire ownership group for entrusting me with the hockey operations of this great franchise."
Darche had been assistant GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning the previous three seasons, following three years as their director of hockey operations. Tampa defeated the Islanders in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each championship run.
"Mathieu is the perfect choice to lead our hockey operations," Collins said in a statement released by the team. "He will be given every resource available to put the Islanders first-in-class on the ice, with our business initiatives, and in the community. Mathieu has served as a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has a diverse background in top-level business models. He is a proven winner and is committed, as is our ownership group, to building a group that will be highly competitive next season and beyond."
The Islanders (35-35-12) finished nine points behind Montreal for the second wild card into the Eastern Conference playoffs this season. They had lost in the first round of the postseason the previous two years.
"With the Islanders owning the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Draft and preparing to welcome the Olympic sendoff at UBS Arena next season, there is much to which our franchise, our players, and our passionate fans can look forward," Collins said. "Mathieu's arrival adds to that momentum."
Prior to getting into management, Darche was the 10th player from McGill to skate in the NHL, where he played nine seasons as a forward with Columbus, Nashville, San Jose, Tampa and Montreal. He scored 72 points, including 30 goals, and collected 58 penalty minutes in 250 regular season games in addition to three points in 18 playoff contests.
Darche, who was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, was hired by
Julien Brisebois to join the Lightning in 2019 after formally retiring as an NHL player in 2013. He was heavily involved as part of the NHLPA negotiating committee during the 2012-13 work-stoppage, also serving on the negotiating committee of the Professional Hockey Players Association for the American Hockey League's collective bargaining agreement.
After his playing career, he worked for Delmar International, a Canadian customs broker based in Montreal, in the position of vice president of sales and marketing. He also served five years on the board of Ronald McDonald House and six years as a television analyst on RDS. In his role with the Lightning, his primary focus was budgeting, negotiation and execution of player contracts, scheduling and salary cap tracking.
Darche skated four seasons at left-wing for the McGill hockey squad – from 1996 to 2000 – and received the team's Dr. Bobby Bell Trophy three times as most valuable player. He served as team captain before graduating in 2000 with a commerce degree, majoring in marketing and international business. An All-Canadian and three-time OUAA East all-star, he tallied 170 career points, including 78 goals, in 133 McGill games overall. He received the Dr. Randy Gregg Trophy in 1999-00 as the Canadian university player who best combines hockey, academics and citizenship.
Aside from his NHL career, Darche played in the American Hockey League, with stints in Syracuse, Milwaukee, Hershey, Worcester, Norfolk, Portland and Hamilton. He dressed for 552 regular season games in the AHL -- won the Calder Cup with the Milwaukee Admirals in 2004 -- and tallied 443 points, including 212 goals. He also toiled for one season with Duisburg, in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga, more commonly known as the DEL.
Darche and his wife Stephanie have two boys, Samuel and Benjamin.
| McGillians in NHL as players, coaches, management (50) |
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| PLAYERS (10): |
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| NAME |
POSITION |
NHL TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Lester Patrick |
Defence / Goaltender |
NY Rangers |
1926-1928 |
| Sam Rothschild |
Left Wing |
MTL Maroons / Pittsburgh Pirates / NY Americans |
1924-1928 |
| Russ Blinco |
Forward |
Montreal Maroons / Chicago Blackhawks |
1938-1939 |
| Nels Crutchfield |
Defence |
Montreal Canadiens |
1934-1935 |
| Jack McGill |
Left Wing |
Montreal Canadiens |
1934-1937 |
| Reg Sinclair |
Right Wing |
NY Rangers / Detroit Red Wings |
1950-1953 |
| John Pierson |
Forward |
Boston Bruins |
1946-1958 |
| Jack Gelineau |
Goaltender |
Boston Bruins / Chicago Blackhawks |
1948-1954 |
| *Ken Dryden |
Goaltender |
Montreal Canadiens |
1970-1979 |
| Mathieu Darche |
Left Wing |
Columbus / Nashville / San Jose / Tampa / Montreal |
2000-2011 |
| * not associated with a McGill varsity sports team |
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| COACHING STAFF (10): |
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| NAME |
POSITION |
NHL TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Lester Patrick |
Head Coach |
NY Rangers |
1924-1954 |
| *Bryan Murray |
Head Coach |
WASH / DET / FLA / ANA / OTT |
1981-2008 |
| *Doug Carpenter |
Head Coach |
New Jersey / Toronto |
1984-1991 |
| George Burnett |
Head Coach / Asst. Coach |
Edmonton / Anaheim |
1994-2000 |
| Jamie Kompon |
Asst. Coach / Video Coach |
St. Louis / LA Kings / Chicago / Winnipeg / Florida |
1997-present |
| Jon Elkin |
Goaltender Coach / Dir. of Goaltending |
Calgary / Arizona / Toronto / Pittsburgh |
1999-2018; 2022-present |
| Mike Babcock |
Head Coach |
Anaheim / Detroit / Toronto / Columbus |
2002-2020; 2023-24 |
| Guy Boucher |
Head Coach / Asst. Coach |
Tampa / Ottawa / Toronto |
2010-2013; 2016-2019; 2023-24 |
| Martin Raymond |
Asst. Coach |
Tampa / Ottawa |
2010-2013; 2016-2019 |
| *Todd Woodcroft |
Asst. Coach / Video Coach |
WIN / CAL / LA / MIN / WASH / ANA |
2000-2020; 2025-present |
| * not associated with a McGill varsity sports team |
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| MANAGEMENT & STAFF (27): |
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| NAME |
POSITION |
NHL TEAM |
NHL YEARS |
| Philip D. Ross |
Trustee, Stanley Cup |
National Hockey League Office |
1893-1949 |
| Lester Patrick |
General Manager |
NY Rangers |
1924-1954 |
| Frank Patrick |
General Manager |
Boston Bruins |
1934-1936 |
| Brian O'Neill |
Exec. VP / Trustee, Stanley Cup |
National Hockey League Office |
1966-1992 |
| Gaetan Lefebvre |
Athletic Therapist |
Montreal Canadiens |
1981-2000 |
| Fred Steer |
VP Finance / CFO / Exec. VP |
Montreal Canadiens |
1982-2017 |
| *Ken Sawyer |
Exec. VP / CFO / CEO |
National Hockey League Office / Pittsburgh |
1985-2011 |
| *Bryan Murray |
General Manager |
Detroit / Florida/ Anaheim / Ottawa |
1990-2008 |
| *Ken Dryden |
President / Vice Chairman |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
1997-2004 |
| Ray Lalonde |
VP Marketing & Sales |
Montreal Canadiens |
2001-2011 |
| Matt Nichol |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2002-2009 |
| *Joseph Desousa |
Senior Exec. VP & Chief Financial officer |
National Hockey League Office |
2005-present |
| *Martin Madden, Jr. |
Asst. GM / Dir. of Amateur Scouting / Amateur Scout |
Anaheim Ducks / Carolina / NY Rangers |
1998-present |
| Shauna Denis |
VP, Content Strategy & Commercial Marketing |
Montreal Canadiens |
2008-present |
| Ken Morin |
Hockey Ops / Amateur Scout |
Montreal Canadiens / Florida Panthers |
2010-present |
| Real Paiement |
Hockey Ops / Amateur Scout |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2015-present |
| Dan Cote-Rosen |
VP Marketing |
Edmonton Oilers |
2016-present |
| Patrick Delisle-Houde |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Montreal Canadiens |
2017-2021 |
| Jack Han |
Player Development Analyst |
Toronto Maple Leafs |
2017-2019 |
| Jerome Burke |
Chief of Staff |
Florida Panthers |
2018-2024 |
| *Paul Wilson |
Sr. VP Public Affairs & Communications |
Montreal Canadiens |
2018-2021 |
| Mathieu Darche |
General Manager / Dir.Hockey Ops / Asst. GM |
NY Islanders / Tampa Bay Lightning |
2019-present |
| Thomas Barbeau |
Strength & Conditioning Coordinator |
Carolina Panthers |
2019-present |
| Patrick Magee |
Lead High Performance Coach |
Pittsburgh Penguins |
2023-present |
| Chris Armstrong |
Dir. of Hockey Operations & Alt. Governor |
Utah Hockey Club |
2023-present |
| *Jonathan Arsenault |
Data Scientist |
Carolina Panthers |
2024-present |
| Adam Gold Asst. General Manager & Dir. of Legal Affairs Boston Bruins |
2015-present |
| * not associated with a McGill varsity sports team |
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| ASSOCIATED MEDICAL STAFF (3): |
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| Dr. David Mulder |
Chief Surgeon |
Montreal Canadiens |
1963-2023 |
| Dr. Vincent Lacroix |
Physician |
Montreal Canadiens |
1993-2003, 2012-2016 |
| Dr. Penny Baylis |
Consulting physician |
Montreal Canadiens |
2012-2016 |
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
