NY Islanders' Front Office Understandably Receives Mediocre Grade

Is the front office for the New York Islanders doing a good job?

Nov 22, 2025; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders General Manager Mathieu Darche speaks with fans at a pre-game event prior to the game against the St. Louis Blues at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the start of training camp and the 2026-27 regular season right around the corner for the New York Islanders, the team will have their eyes set on making the postseason. However, a recent poll doesn’t have a lot of fans showing the most confidence in the fairly new front office of the team. 

Coming off a surprisingly good 91-point season, expectations for the Islanders are going to be higher heading into next season. The addition at the end of the year in Peter DeBoer will only increase those expectations, and New York will have a lot to live up to. 

However, this summer was a rather quiet one for the team. The Islanders didn’t make too many major moves, and they did see their captain Anders Lee leave in free agency. 

General manager Mathieu Darche just finished up his first year running the show, and there have been some interesting decisions made so far. 

Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic (subscription required) recently polled thousands of NHL fans to get an assessment on how they feel about their franchise's front office. For the Islanders, they had some mixed results when it came to Mathieu Darche and his team. 

New York’s Front Office Receives Mediocre Grades

Mar 21, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; New York Islanders left wing Ondrej Palat (81) looks on during warm-up before the game against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It isn’t surprising to see the front office of the Islanders not receive the best grades, but both from the fans of the Islanders' perspective and outside people, the results aren't horrible. 

While Darche didn’t inherit a great situation, the trades for Brayden Schenn and Ondrej Palat at the trade deadline last year were puzzling. Darche was clearly trying to help get the team into the playoffs, but these moves didn’t work out last year, and the salaries of both of these players impacted New York this summer. 

The Islanders could have allocated that money into multiple other areas and likely gotten more productive players for the roster. 

Of the categories that were graded, the cap management was seen as the worst by New York fans, who gave them a grade of a D+. The additions at the deadline certainly played a major factor in that, but a lot of money will be coming off the books at the end of the year. 

When looking forward, the Islanders are expected to have about $40 million in cap space next summer, and that grade will be much better next time. Overall, being ranked 20th overall isn’t terrible, but this will be an important upcoming year for Darche as he tries to be the team up.