Islanders nail their GM choice

The Islanders get a guy who knows about today's hockey, and they get a guy who experienced success with a winning organization.

This is a no-brainer.

The Islanders needed to hire a general manager who understood today’s hockey, which emphasizes speed, skating and scoring.

What better way to do it than to hire someone from the Tampa Bay Lightning front office? The Bolts define how hockey should be played, and that’s why they have been one of the successful hockey franchises in recent years. They denied the Islanders two Stanley Cup championships when they eliminated them in the conference final several years ago.

It’s hard to question the hiring of Mathieu Darche as the new Islanders general manager and executive vice president.

Credit Islanders point man John Collins for conducting a hiring process that proved exhaustive, logical and decisive.

He targeted big names such as Ken Holland, Marc Bergevin and Brendan Shanahan. Holland did Collins and the Islanders a favor by taking the Los Angeles Kings' hockey operations.

The more Collins spent time with Darche, the more he liked him. He did whatever it took to make sure he got his guy and not let him go elsewhere. This explains why Shanahan was too late to get a chance to make a case for himself.

Darche possesses an impressive resume such as talent evaluation, salary cap expertise and analytic knowledge. He worked his way to the top. Most importantly, he played in the NHL, so he has a good understanding of what makes players tick. Plus, he is a team builder. He worked with Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois in building two Stanley Cup championships with the Bolts.

Here’s another thing about the new Islanders hockey boss: He will run his team with a human touch unlike Rangers president of hockey operations Chris Drury, who for some reason disparaged Jacob Trouba and released his wife’s confidential situation about her time at her hospital residency to New York Post’s Larry Brooks in attempt to tick Trouba off that would get him to waive his no-trade clause. Drury for some strange reason, wanted Barclay Goodrow out despite being one of the best postseason players for the Rangers, so he disparaged Goodrow in a way to get him to leave the Rangers.

There’s no doubt in my mind he is ready to take the next step in his role as general manager

This hiring is a crucial time for this franchise. The Islanders won the NHL Draft Lottery, so Darche gets a month to evaluate candidates such as Long Island native James Hagens, Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa, Porter Martone and Caleb Desnoyers and make that choice as the team’s overall No.1 pick.

This itself makes a great hire since Darche knows offense, and he played in today’s hockey. It’s one of the reasons why Collins focused on him. You figure Darche and his staff will focus on drafting a scorer since the team needs one.

Darche will also put a premium on player development, which is a must. The Islanders have struggled to get players to play for them as free agents, and most times, veterans don’t exactly pan out. In a young man’s game today, it’s really important the Islanders do that.

This is not to say Lou Lamoriello never believed in player development. I just don’t think he knew how to find the right guys and he seemed stuck in his ways by focusing on defense and goaltending to win games. It worked for a while, but once the talent waned with age, the team was never the same, and Lamoriello never had answers.

This is why a change in the front office was necessary. If Lamoriello had no answers, there’s no reason to employ him anymore.

Darche’s hiring brings hope, finally. It means there is a direction again. It means the Islanders will have a new identity. It means they are going to be entertaining. There is finally interest again after an organization that stalled in recent years.

This is easier to embrace than the hiring of Holland, who never really had much experience rebuilding a team from the ground up. The Islanders are a team that needs to get younger and build for the long term. This is essentially a rebuilding project. This is why Collins had in mind by hiring Darche.

This is going to be a project. It could take three or four years for the Islanders to become an elite team. Islanders fans are always going to be curious to see how the No. 1 overall pick develops. They will be finding out about the young players in the team’s feeder system.

Rebuilding can be fun. It sure beats what we have seen the last few years. Yes, there will not be pretty nights, and that’s okay. At least, the organization has a plan, and the Islanders will stick to it. That itself is progress from the status quo.

No one knows if it will work or not. That’s the beauty of all this. We are going to find out.

But at least now this organization actually has a plan based on the hiring and the hiring process.