"When you come in... you study the team, but until you're there, there's so many things that you find out,"
"So I figured the first year... let's see what we have."
"Did we think Schaefer would be that good that early? Probably not, if I'm being honest,"
"After his seventh game, I didn't wait for nine. I said, 'Yeah, he's not going back.'"
Mathieu Darche entered as the Islanders' general manager intending to learn the roster and let the team reveal itself before forcing change. He judged the prior-year team as better than its record suggested, citing injuries and timing, and believed the core centers—Bo Horvat, Mathew Barzal, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau—were competitive. Darche sought tweaks and culture adjustments rather than an overhaul, leading to the Noah Dobson trade driven by contract views and described as a win-win. Rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer exceeded expectations, moving from a planned short audition to regular heavy minutes by early games.
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