{"id":506639,"date":"2026-01-10T17:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506639\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T17:34:11","slug":"mathieu-darche-explains-why-the-ny-islanders-are-relying-on-bridgeport-depth-on-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506639\/","title":{"rendered":"Mathieu Darche explains why the NY Islanders are relying on Bridgeport depth on D"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathieu Darche <\/strong>isn\u2019t panicking \u2014 and that may be the most important part of the New York Islanders\u2019<\/strong> response to Alexander Romanov\u2019<\/strong>s absence. Rather than forcing a trade or rushing into an external fix, the Islanders\u2019 general manager is leaning into something he believes in deeply: development, patience, and the Bridgeport pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to make a knee-jerk reaction,\u201d Darche said via the New York Post<\/a> when asked about replacing Romanov. \u201cThe reason you have a minor league system, and I strongly believe in the minor league system \u2014 maybe because I played too many games in that league \u2014 I believe in those guys getting opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

That belief has translated directly into action. Instead of chasing short-term solutions, the Islanders have cycled through internal options, giving multiple defensemen a look and letting performance \u2014 not reputation \u2014 dictate opportunity. Darche is in constant communication with Bridgeport head coach Rocky Thompson, asking a simple but telling question: who deserves the next shot?<\/p>\n

\"NHL:<\/p>\n

NHL: NOV 12 Islanders at Oilers | Icon Sportswire\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to [coach] Rocky [Thompson] in Bridgeport, \u2018Alright, who plays well? Who deserves to be called up?\u2019 We give them the opportunity,\u201d Darche said.<\/p>\n

That approach explains the movement fans have seen on the back end. Call-ups and returns haven\u2019t been indictments. They\u2019ve been auditions. \u201cSome of the guys we sent back, it\u2019s not necessarily because they were playing poorly,\u201d Darche explained. \u201cIt\u2019s just, hey let\u2019s try somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, that \u201csomebody else\u201d is Cole McWard,<\/strong> and Darche has liked what he\u2019s seen. \u201cA few guys deserved an opportunity and they gave us good minutes when they were here,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, it\u2019s Cole McWard and he\u2019s played well. We\u2019ll see where it goes from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travis Mitchell received the opportunity before McWard, scored his first NHL goal, and also had some moments where it looked like he could stick. The player the organization and fans are waiting on is Isaiah George, the brisk skating blueliner who played 33 NHL games last season. A pair of injuries this season have delayed his chance back in the NHL, but he’s expected to back in the AHL lineup soon and if he plays well, his opportunity shouldn’t be far behind either.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture is clear. Darche is using Romanov\u2019s absence not as a crisis, but as a proving ground. It\u2019s a chance to stress-test the organization\u2019s depth, reward performance, and gather real NHL data before making any major decisions.<\/p>\n

For an Islanders team trying to balance competitiveness with sustainability, that philosophy matters. Bridgeport isn\u2019t just a holding pen \u2014 it\u2019s an investment. And under Darche, they intend to use it until the right external opportunity is there to pursue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mathieu Darche isn\u2019t panicking \u2014 and that may be the most important part of the New York Islanders\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-506639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115872012929988906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}