On Wednesday, New York Islanders [http://thn.com/isles] general manager Mathieu Darche [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/the-most-important-thing-mathieu-darche-has-done-as-islanders-gm] joined Jeff Marek [https://x.com/JeffMarek] on Daily Faceoff's "The Sheet". The chat was a tremendous one, but one quote stood out. Marek asked Darche about Mathew Barzal [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/islanders-mathew-barzal-s-message-to-the-shoot-crowd], including his thoughts on the player and who he envisioned No. 13 playing with this season. "Honestly, I'm a big believer that managers manage and coaches coach," Darche said. "I'm obviously always gonna have discussions with Patrick [Roy], but at 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 Mathew is he's, yes, he's a centerman, but the more players you have that can play different positions gives you options. “Last year, he had good moments with Bo Horvat, but sometimes they might both be centers, and sometimes during times of the game, the times of the year, maybe they play together. So having that flexibility is great. But at the end of the day with the coaching staff, I'll have discussions with them like, and listen I learned from the way things are done in Tampa between Julian [Brisebois] and Cooper. And yeah, we'll talk. Well, I'll give my opinion. But at the end of the day, you're the coach. Like, how do you hold your coach accountable if you tell them who plays with whom, and things like that.” Darche continued: “So the reason I wanted to work with Patrick is, I trust him as a coach. We'll have discussions all the time, of course, but he's the coach. I'm not a micromanager,” Darche said. “Like, even with my amateur staff, the pro staff, you hire the right people. You hire them to do their job, and that's how I see it. We're on the same page, me and Patrick. We want to play that up-tempo style. “Maybe I got spoiled in Tampa with that style, with the players, but Mathew[Barzal] is an elite player, skater, and we want to unleash those kinds of guys a bit." Islanders Mathew Barzal's Message To The 'Shoot' Crowd [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/2f103f1f-0fac-4556-965b-415871a65a88.webp] Islanders Mathew Barzal's Message To The 'Shoot' Crowd There might not be a player in hockey who hears "shoot" more than <a href="http://thn.com/isles">New York Islanders</a> forward <a href="https://www.theelmonters.com/p/mathew-barzal-new-york-islanders-mathieu-darche-matthew-schaefer">Mathew Barzal</a>. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/latest-news/islanders-mathew-barzal-s-message-to-the-shoot-crowd] Yes, this was a long quote about Barzal, but the biggest standout is the micromanager line. There's no question that former Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello was the definition of a micromanager. And while having someone like that was needed back in 2018 — maybe less needed with Barry Trotz as head coach — it helped get the Islanders back on track, emerging as a winning culture after years of struggles. But when Lamoriello hired Roy, firing Lane Lambert in January 2023, the Hall of Fame GM tried to control a coach who, well, doesn't like to be controlled. Yes, the coach always reports to the GM, but it seemed there were tense times, and it wasn't a marriage that was going to last. Roy has a fiery personality — that was the reason he was hired — but that style seemed to fade, at least in the public eye and behind the bench, soon after he got the job. But it seems like a rather healthy one now, as we prepare for rookie camp and training camp, which begins in mid-September. PHOTO: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images
