The New York Islanders [http://thn.com/isles]made three official signings on the first day of NHL free agency. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo re-signed on a one-year deal worth $1.75 million annually after proving to be a strong player in Patrick Roy's system. Mathieu Darche: "We wanted to get Tony DeAngelo done. Tony, you saw it last year, he played really well when he came here. He can run a power play, so we're excited to bring him back at a number that makes sense for us and the term that makes sense for us." Goaltender David Rittich isn't coming in to serve as the backup to Ilya Sorokin -- that job still belongs to Semyon Varlamov -- but he provides a nice insurance policy at $1 million for one year. Mathieu Darche: "We just wanted to get more depth at goalie [...] You saw last year, the goalies this team used. So you never have enough goalies. [Varlamov's] rehab is going well, but we still have to prepare in case something happens, right? So David is a veteran around the NHL. He is a is a very capable NHL goalie, so we're excited to have him and increase our depth in net." The last official signing of the day was forward Jonathan Drouin, who will be playing a top-six role for the Islanders and helping out tremendously on the power play. He comes in on a two-year deal at $4 million annually. Mathieu Darche: "We wanted to bring in a bit of talent up front, especially to help the power play. And that's what Jonathan Drouin is going to do. Like he's an elite power-play player. He can bring some offense. He'll play in our top six. And he's a veteran guy too, without committing to too much term. It's a two-year contract for Drouin. So he fits a need we had, and obviously, we want to improve the power play from last year. He's definitely a very good power-play player, and our new coach, Ray Bennett, had him in Colorado last year, so he actually knows his strength, also how to use him on the power play." Darche also shared that he's confident he wil get his restricted free agents done, with one signing very close. Defenseman Mike Reilly and forward Hudson Fasching, his remaing two unrestricted free agents, will not be back. Darche also added that his goal was to bolster his depth without locking players to long-term deals. He'll also be signing some two-way deals -- that's Ethan Bear and Matthew Highmore. Stay updated with the most interesting Islanders stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwpuDfCA?ceid=CA:en&oc=3] to never miss a story. PHOTO: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
