LOS ANGELES -- The New York Islanders find themselves in a really lucky situation as we approach the 2025 NHL Draft.
Unlike the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023 or the San Jose Sharks in 2024, Mathieu Darche's squad didn't have to be one of the worst teams in the NHL to come away with the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
In a challenging season, plagued by injuries and inconsistencies that hindered their progress, the Islanders finished nine points out of the second wild-card spot and 23rd out of 32 in the league standings.
Luck was on their side when they watched their 3.5% odds at the first overall pick turn into the winning lottery balls, and now Darche will be adding a tremendous talent to a team that already has a defined core.
The question is, how does this first overall pick impact the Islanders' timeline?
The Islanders have forwards Mathew Barzal, 28, and Bo Horvat, 30, locked up for five more seasons, along with 29-year-old star goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
Those five years should be the window to win, right?
But what about Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov, a pair of 25-year-old pending restricted free agents?
A pair of 30-year-old defensemen, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, have four and five years left on their deals, respectively. Scott Mayfield, 32, has five years left on his deal.
Does Darche have the pressure to win a Stanley Cup over the next five years?
What about 23-year-old forward and pending RFA Simon Holmstrom? How does he impact the timeline?
There's other veteran players under contract like forwards Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas, who have two years left on thier respective deals. Are they, at this point, pieces that will play a part in a Stanley Cup roster?
What about Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee, who each have one year left on their deals?
Of the handful of players just mentioned, how many of them are just holding spots until the club's prospects are ready? And is the prospects' collective timeline the real timeline Darche is focusing on when it comes to building his roster into a hopeful Stanley Cup contender?
It wouldn't be fair to use the term stop-gap, so we won't be doing that.
But it is impossible to look at the proveribal writing on the wall and not put a few things together.
Ritchie is a prime candidate to take over Brock Nelson's role as the club's No. 2 center at some point, but it's more likely that he takes Pageau's role first, possibly as soon as this year.
Pageau is someone who may be on the move at the draft, but could also be a strong asset for the Islanders to hold onto and move at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
Danny Nelson, who projects to be a really strong, defensively-minded bottom-six center, could be primed to take Cizikas' spot as the club's fourth-line center iceman.
Scoring winger Cole Eiserman should be able to slide into Palmieri's spot.
If it's 17-year-old Matthew Schaefer who is donning the Blue & Orange on Friday night, is he ready to step into an NHL role immediately?
Is he going to go back to juniors for a year or go play collegiately?
Is he the player the Islanders build their franchise around, taking the pressure away from "having to win" over the next five seasons?
"If I were Mathieu Darche, I would look at moving [Casey Cizikas] right away, because of the value of this type of player in the marketplace right now," Jeff Marek, the host of 'The Sheet' said in a conversation for The Elmonters. "We talked about timelines, and whose timeline are you doing it on? I don't think anyone watching or listening to this for any amount of time will say that Casey Cizikas is going to be part of that timeline. What is everybody looking for out there? Centers."
Had the privilege of chatting with @JeffMarek last night about #Isles ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft.
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) June 25, 2025
Key takeaways from the chat @TheElmontershttps://t.co/vQi2cWkeLB
Marek mentioned Mayfield as well, as someone who the Islanders should have a real conversation with about opportunity, as he's a player that would need to waive his full no-trade clause to go anywhere.
Now, trading all these veteran players to make room for the young players makes sense on paper, but money is a thing. Being competitive is a thing.
There's a reason why former general manager Lou Lamoriello didn't sell off more than Nelson at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline.
With no prospects ready to take the veterans' places in the lineup, the roster they would have fielded for the final month and a half of the season wouldn't have generated ticket sales, that's for sure.
Darche made it clear at his introductory press conference that he thinks his roster is good enough to compete. While that may be true — the roster is good enough to compete for a playoff spot — the gut feeling is that he will evaluate his roster and figure out exactly what he's working with and where the incoming players fit.
By the end of the 2025-26 seaosn, Darche has to be honest with himself on the realistic timeline for the Islanders to win a Stanley Cup.
If he truly thinks that he can win one of the next five years with Barzal, Horvat, and Sorokin being the three cogs, he will need to be proactive on the trade market and clear the necessary cap space to add in free agency.
Prospects are called prospects for a reason, and while the outlook on the team's prospect pool has never been brighter, relying on each one to live up to their potential isn't a realistic approach to building a winning operation.
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PHOTO: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
