“A grandiose holistic plan of winning championships.”
Mike and Dan react to the hiring of Mathieu Darche as the Islanders’ new general manager and the blank slate the future holds.
As Islanders fans across the U.S. prepared for Memorial Day weekend, the Islanders dropped the news that their GM search was over. Mathieu Darche seemed like an unlikely choice given his lack of experience running an NHL club, but he won the owners over and beat out former GMs like Marc Bergevin and Jarmo Kekäläinen. The search that got them to Darche wasn’t smooth (and involved a few more big names and swings that went nowhere). But Darche represents a truly new era for the club and only time will tell if it was the right move. For now, all we can do is observe and see where he takes them.
In the second half, we enjoy another new installment of Master Leaf Theatre, as former team president Brendan Shanahan is told he will be leaving the Ford Performance Center, forcing many Leafs writers/fans to reckon with the failed “Shanaplan” (that they named). We also add a new character to the Master Leaf Theatre canon in MLSE CEO Keith Pelley, who loves to make up stories about his kids and blow smoke up people’s behinds. We might have one more in us this offseason, depending on how things shake out up north. But if not, at least we got our thoughts out.
REFERENCES
- Some more on Darche.
- And his appearance on the Bolts Block Party podcast (with Weird Islander Braydon Coburn!):
This week’s Master Leaf Theatre selections:
- Why the Maple Leafs had to finally end the Shanaplan – James Mirtle
- MLSE boss Keith Pelley discusses Maple Leafs’ future: What we learned – Joshua Kloke
- Pelley sees no need for a new Leafs president – Mark Masters
- Now what?: 67 stray thoughts on the Toronto Maple Leafs – LukeFoxJukeBox
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