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Islanders To Interview Mathieu Darche For GM Vacancy

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The Islanders have received permission to interview Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche to fill their GM vacancy, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News and NHL.com reports (link from The Elmonters).

Darche has been receiving calls for GM roles ever since Tampa Bay’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021. He was a contender for the Canadiens’ in-season vacancy in 2022 before they hired Kent Hughes, and he was also considered for the Canucks’ vacancy in the same window. More recently, he was a finalist for the Penguins’ GM job two years ago before president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas decided to take over the role himself.

The 48-year-old Darche has been in the Bolts’ front office since 2019. He first joined as their director of hockey operations but had AGM added to his title ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. Working under Tampa GM Julien BriseBois, Darche has played a role in not only assembling the Bolts’ championship squads but keeping them in legitimate playoff/championship contention in the years since.

The Quebec native had a 250-game NHL career spanning parts of nine seasons as a depth call-up, mainly consisting of stops in Montreal and Tampa (although he was also a member of the inaugural Blue Jackets). His position with Tampa is the only front-office role he’s held since retiring as a player in 2012.

He’ll emerge as one of the stronger backup options to Hall-of-Fame executive Ken Holland, whom Arthur Staple of The Athletic said earlier this week is New York’s preferred candidate to succeed Lou Lamoriello in the GM’s chair. Other names firmly linked to their search so far include Kings senior advisor Marc Bergevin and Devils AGM Kate Madigan.

Jakub Skarek Signs With Finland’s HIFK

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Islanders pending Group VI unrestricted free agent goaltender Jakub Skarek won’t return to the team – or the NHL – next season. He’s signed a one-year contract with Finland’s HIFK with a second-year option, the team announced.

Skarek has spent the better part of the last six years in North America. Selected by the Isles in the third round back in 2018, they kept waiting for the 25-year-old to take a significant step in his development, but it never came. Over six seasons with AHL Bridgeport, the Czech netminder never once posted a save percentage at or above .900, averaging a .890 mark with a 3.34 GAA and just five shutouts in 161 appearances. He compiled a 49-84-17 record as the Baby Isles made the Calder Cup Playoffs just once in his tenure.

The 6’4″, 211-lb netminder finally made his NHL debut late this season, with injuries taking No. 2 and No. 3 options Semyon Varlamov and Marcus Högberg out of the equation behind starter Ilya Sorokin. He allowed five goals on 39 shots for a .872 SV% across one start and one relief appearance.

Skarek now returns to Finland, where he had some success in the top-flight Liiga with Pelicans in 2018-19, his post-draft season. He logged a 2.45 GAA, .906 SV%, and a 6-8-7 record in 22 appearances there. He’ll now add to his Liiga resume in 2025-26 in Helsinki, positioned as the backup behind former Wild draft pick Niko Hovinen.

Forward Fredrik Karlstrom Signs In Sweden

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  • Forward Fredrik Karlstrom, most recently with the New York Islanders organization, has signed a four-year deal with Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League, per Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey. Karlstrom is set to return to his home country after underwhelming in North America since being drafted in the third round by the Dallas Stars in the 2016 draft. He remained in Sweden until 2021-22 season, when he played in three games for the Stars and 65 games for their AHL-affiliate. He spent three seasons playing in the Stars’ organization but mostly suited up in the AHL. All told, he appeared in just eight NHL contests, posting just a single assist. Karlstrom did have his best AHL season last season, posting 21 goals and 44 points in 72 games for the Texas Stars. However, it wasn’t enough for the organization to retain his services, and he signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Islanders last July. He appeared in 30 games for the Isles’ AHL-affiliate, posting just 13 points and a minus-nine rating.

Islanders Prefer Ken Holland For GM Vacancy

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Former Oilers and Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is the Islanders’ top choice to fill their GM vacancy, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports.

Holland hasn’t worked with a team since his contract with Edmonton as their GM and president of hockey operations wasn’t renewed following their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. He’s still been working with the league as a hockey operations consultant, though, so he hasn’t been out of work entirely.

The belief was that the four-time Stanley Cup-winning GM likely wouldn’t resurface in an everyday role – he will turn 70 in November. It’s still unclear whether he is interested in stepping back into the GM’s chair and if he’d entertain a role with the Islanders, but the job will likely be his if he wants it. They’re on the hunt for a GM and a POHO, as another elder statesman of managerial roles, Lou Lamoriello, was let go last month. They’d likely prefer Holland fills both of those roles.

Holland is far from the first candidate linked to the Isles’ vacancy in the past few weeks. The first was Devils assistant GM Kate Madigan, whom Andrew Gross of Newsday reported would at least get an initial interview. There hasn’t been much reporting on her in connection with the vacancy since.

Staple adds that the Islanders contacted the Canadiens requesting permission to speak to executive VP of hockey ops Jeff Gorton, although it’s unlikely it was granted. Kings senior advisor, Marc Bergevin, is the frontrunner to succeed Rob Blake in their GM role, but is “in the mix” for a role on Long Island as well, per Staple. Some other speculative targets in former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen and Blues VP of hockey ops Peter Chiarelli don’t seem to have much of a chance.

Image courtesy of Gerry Angus-USA TODAY Sports.

New York Islanders, Utah Hockey Club Win 2025 NHL Draft Lottery

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The New York Islanders have won the 2025 NHL draft lottery, jumping up from No. 10 in the pre-lottery order to No. 1. The Utah Hockey Club won the second draw but only moved to pick No. 4, as teams were only able to improve 10 spots from their pre-lottery odds. That means the San Jose Sharks, who entered the night with the top odds, will pick second overall.

The Islanders had a 3.5 percent chance of claiming this year’s top pick. After the lottery and the end of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2025 draft is locked in as follows:

  1. New York Islanders
  2. San Jose Sharks
  3. Chicago Blackhawks
  4. Utah Hockey Club
  5. Nashville Predators
  6. Philadelphia Flyers
  7. Boston Bruins
  8. Seattle Kraken
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. Pittsburgh Penguins
  12. New York Rangers (must send either 2025 or 2026 first to Penguins, yet to decide)
  13. Detroit Red Wings
  14. Columbus Blue Jackets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Montreal Canadiens (from Flames)
  17. Montreal Canadiens
  18. Calgary Flames (from Devils)
  19. St. Louis Blues
  20. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Wild)
  21. Ottawa Senators

For the first time since 2009, the Islanders will call the first name of the NHL Draft. It’s an incredible consolation prize for the squad after missing the postseason for just the second time in the last seven years. In picking first, New York could have a chance to repeat fate and draft an exceptional status OHL center on the heels of a red-hot season. That, of course, refers to Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa, who led the OHL with a dazzling 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games this season.

Misa’s scoring is the most from an OHL draft-eligible player since Patrick Kane scored 145 points in 58 games before going first overall in the 2007 Draft. Misa’s 2.06 points-per-game are the sixth-most from an OHL draft-eligible since 2000, sandwiched between Jason Spezza (2.07) and Mitch Marner (2.00).

But for all of his scoring acclaim, Misa isn’t often considered the top player in this class. That title has instead been bestowed upon defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who hasn’t played since December after sustaining a collarbone injury at the World Junior Championship. Schaefer quickly underwent surgery and lost his draft season, but his performance before injury was strong enough to establish his case.

Schaefer recorded 22 points in 17 OHL games, two points in two World Juniors games, and six points in five games as Team Canada’s captain at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup before the start of the season. All the while, he looked cool, calm, and collected, making very smooth and deliberate plays in his own end and showing great jump on offense. The NHL’s top defensemen are playing an increasingly rangy, 200-foot style of offense that Schaefer mirrors well, with strong passing and a killer instinct for scoring goals.

Behind the pair of OHL stars is America’s top representation in the class – Boston College centerman James Hagens. Hagens stepped into the center role between Gabriel Perreault and Ryan Leonard this season, filling the gap after Will Smith, who centered the duo for three straight years, opted to sign his entry-level contract. And despite some early stumbles, Hagens managed to fill the role seamlessly, netting 37 points in as many games and helping to grow the total goals from BC’s top line by four percent compared to last season.

He’s a diligent playmaker with a keen hockey sense, and one who can’t be second-guessed in this draft. Hagens proved as much at the 2024 World U18 Championship, where his 22 points in just seven games broke the tournament record, previously held by Nikita Kucherov. Hagens also grew up in Hauppauge, New York, and idolized the Islanders growing up. If that wasn’t incentive enough, Hagens was also the set-up man to Cole Eiserman during his years at the U.S. National Team Development Program. The Islanders drafted Eiserman with the 20th-overall pick last year.

Valtteri Filppula Announces Retirement

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16-year NHL veteran Valtteri Filppula has ended his playing career. Helsinki-based Jokerit of Finland’s second-tier league, Mestis, where he spent the 2024-25 campaign, made the announcement today.

Filppula, 41, hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2020-21 campaign but remained steadily active overseas. After a strong three-year run in Switzerland with Genève-Servette HC of the National League, he returned to Jokerit, where he began his professional career, last summer as player and part-owner.

Jokerit, a staple of top-flight Finnish hockey, joined Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League in the mid-2010s but withdrew from the league abruptly in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They were denied re-entry into the top-level Liiga and thus restarted play in Mestis in 2023-24. Filppula captained the team to a Mestis championship this season and finished second on the team in scoring with 14-27–41 in 39 games, but Jokerit dropped the Liiga relegation series against Pelicans and will thus remain in Mestis for 2025-26.

It was a mostly triumphant end to Filppula’s 22-year professional career. He made his Liiga (then the SM-liiga) debut with Jokerit in 2003-04, one year after the Red Wings selected him in the third round of the 2002 NHL draft. He led the league in rookie scoring that year and then reached the championship series in 2004-05 before heading to Detroit for 2005-06.

Filppula spent most of his first season in North America with AHL Grand Rapids, where he exploded out of the gate for a 20-50–70 scoring line in 74 games and was naturally a participant in the league’s All-Star Game. He earned a full-time role on the powerhouse Red Wings for 2006-07 and never looked back. The 6’0″ center played a key depth role in Detroit’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2008 and 2009, winning the only ring of his career in the former year, recording 27 points and a +15 rating in 45 games across the two runs.

The left-shot pivot got more of a run in top-six minutes in the years to come, but his offense was hot and cold from year to year. After scoring 23 goals and a career-high 66 points for Detroit in 81 games in the 2011-12 campaign, he mustered just 17 points in 41 games in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, leading the team to let him walk in unrestricted free agency after the five-year, $15MM deal he signed in the 2008 offseason expired.

Filppula landed another five-year deal on the open market, receiving $25MM from the Lightning to stay in the Atlantic Division. His offensive production came roaring back, lighting the lamp a career-best 25 times in 75 games in 2013-14 while playing just south of 20 minutes per night. In Year 2 in Tampa, he played a crucial top-line role with Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos as the Bolts marched to the Stanley Cup Final but lost to the Blackhawks. He scored 4-10–14 in 26 games in that playoff run.

His offense soon began to taper off for good. He never eclipsed the 20-goal mark again after that 25-goal season, and his last time hitting 40 points was in the 2016-17 campaign. He remained a capable defensive presence in dwindling minutes, though. After brief stints with the Flyers and Islanders in the late 2010s, Filppula hit the open market in 2019 and reunited with Detroit on a two-year, $6MM deal.

An aging Filppula understandably wasn’t much of an impact player, especially on a 2019-20 Red Wings squad that finished with the worst points percentage of any team in the salary cap era. After recording a 12-24–36 scoring line with a -43 rating in 108 games for the Wings over two seasons, Filppula opted to play out the remainder of his career in Europe.

Filppula was one of Switzerland’s premier talents in his three-year run in the NL, scoring 47-84–131 in 145 games with a +16 rating for Genève-Servette after signing there in 2021. He won a league title with the club in 2023 while leading the postseason in assists and won a Champions Hockey League title as the top club in Europe in 2024. Heading overseas at the time also allowed him to represent Finland in the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he recorded two assists in six games as captain and won a gold medal. He also won a gold medal at the World Championship that year, making him the only Finnish member and most recent entrant of the Triple Gold Club.

Filppula retires after scoring 197 goals, 333 assists, and 530 points in 1,056 career regular-season games. The ever-steady center also won 50.8% of his career faceoffs and ranks 34th in playoff scoring since the 2004-05 lockout with 86 points in 166 career postseason games. All of us at PHR wish Filppula the best in retirement.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports.

Palmieri's Future With The Isles Now In Question Following Lamoriello's Departure

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  • Ethan Sears of the New York Post provides (subscription link) an overview of some questions the Islanders now face in the wake of Lou Lamoriello not getting his contract renewed. Chief among them is the fate of contract extension talks between the club and pending UFA winger Kyle Palmieri.  It looked as if a new deal was a matter of when, not if, but if the new GM wants to go a different direction, that could now be off the table.  Sears also flags the handling of Noah Dobson’s next contract as a key question.  While Lamoriello didn’t seem to view the pending RFA as a number one defender, his numbers suggest he’s about to be paid like one.  Does the new GM want to hand out a max-term contract or look for something shorter-term that might come in a little cheaper?

Eastern Conference Notes: Martin, Puljujarvi, Lukashevich

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The New York Rangers have opted to sign general manager Chris Drury to a multi-year extension even after a convoluted and disappointing campaign. That decision could leave assistant general manager Ryan Martin open to finding a promotion elsewhere this summer, and maybe even a move to the New York Islanders, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.

Martin has served as the general manager of the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack for the last four seasons, in addition to his assistant role with the Rangers. He’s an experienced professional in the hockey world, set to reach his 20th season in an NHL front office next season. The bulk of that time was spent in the Detroit Red Wings organization, where Martin began his career as the Director of Hockey Administration in 2005. He served in that role for five seasons before a promotion to assistant general manager in 2010.

The Red Wings added AHL general manager to his title two years later. Martin led the Grand Rapids Griffins to an AHL championship in his first year at the helm in 2012-13, then won again with a new head coach in 2016-17. The Griffins made the postseason in seven out of eight years under Martin, and missed back-to-back playoffs after he left in 2020-21.

Martin continued his strong streak in Hartford. After only making the playoffs once in the prior seven years, the Wolf Pack have made two of a possible four postseason appearances under Martin’s reign – missing in his first season with the club (2021-22) and this season. That’s a dazzling record for a seasoned executive, and could be exactly what some NHL teams  consistently on the fringe of the postseason – like the Islanders – are looking for in their next managerial hire.

Other notes from out East:

  • The Florida Panthers have recalled forward Jesse Puljujarvi but plan to soon send him back down, per Colby Guy of The Palm Beach Post. Guy shares that Puljujarvi will serve his two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mitchell Chafee, before returning to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers for their Calder Cup Playoff run. Puljujarvi received the suspension after Florida’s final game of the regular season. He only played in five games on the Panthers roster this year, with one goal and 15 penalty minutes to show for it. Puljujarvi has been far better in the minors, with 13 points in 22 games with Charlotte and a combined 16 points in 26 games on the full season. Puljujarvi began the season in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.
  • Sticking in Florida, 2021 fourth-round pick Vladislav Lukashevich has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal per NHL.com’s Mark Divver. Lukashevich is expected to transfer to Miami University per Divver and sources available to Pro Hockey Rumors. In Miami, Ohio –  Lukashevich will reunite with former USHL head coach Anthony Noreen. Lukashevich scored seven points in 29 games with Michigan State University this season, while serving in a bottom-pair role. A move to a smaller school should offer a path to more opportunity and, hopefully, more scoring.

Kate Madigan To Interview For Islanders GM Vacancy

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The Islanders will interview Devils assistant general manager Kate Madigan as part of their search to replace Lou Lamoriello at the helm of the front office, Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports.

Madigan, the daughter of former Islanders scout Jim Madigan, has been in the Devils’ front office since the 2017-18 season. Initially hired as an analyst, New Jersey promoted Madigan to their director of professional scouting in 2019 and again to executive director of hockey operations in 2020. After two years in that role, they made her the sixth woman to serve as an assistant general manager in NHL history in the 2022 offseason.

She’s now spent three seasons in that role, working alongside Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, and could become the first woman to serve as GM of an NHL club on Long Island. She’s the first candidate to be firmly linked to the vacancy since the Isles announced Tuesday they wouldn’t be renewing Lamoriello’s contract. Since Lamoriello was also the team’s president of hockey operations, minority owner John Collins is the one overseeing the search for a new top hockey decision-maker.

Madigan is likely to face plenty of competition for the role. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet identified Kings senior advisor Marc Bergevin and former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen as potential candidates on Wednesday’s 32 Thoughts podcast, although it’s not yet clear if they will be involved in the interview process. If they also opt to hire a separate president of hockey operations – a likely outcome if they choose a first-time NHL GM like Madigan – Friedman speculated that Ken Holland and Eddie Olczyk could be options there.

Cal Clutterbuck Announces Retirement

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Longtime agitator Cal Clutterbuck, who spent 17 years in the NHL, has confirmed the end of his playing career. Clutterbuck published a reel on Instagram today announcing his retirement after going unsigned for the 2024-25 season.

“After 17 years, it’s time to hang up the skates,” Clutterbuck wrote. “I’m beyond grateful for every teammate, coach, fan, and moment along the way. Hockey gave me everything — a purpose, a brotherhood, and a lifetime of memories.”

“To Matt and Casey — it was an honor to go to war with you night in and night out. What we built together means more than words can say. And to the Islanders faithful — your passion, loyalty, and love made Long Island home. Thank you all. On to the next chapter.”

Matt and Casey, of course, refer to longtime linemates Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas on Long Island. The trio has essentially served as the Islanders’ fourth line ever since they acquired Clutterbuck from the Wild in 2013, aside from Martin’s two-year stint with the Maple Leafs from 2016 to 2018. One of the more recognizable and feared checking units of the millennium, Clutterbuck certainly played his part. He retires as the league’s all-time hits leader with 4,029, 93 ahead of the second-place Martin.

While Clutterbuck will be most remembered for his time in Nassau County, his NHL career began as a third-round pick by the Wild in 2006, after he dominated junior hockey with 68 points and 139 penalty minutes in 66 games with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. He returned to Oshawa the following year, but thanks to his November birthday, was able to spend the 2007-08 season in the AHL with Minnesota’s affiliate, the Houston Aeros. He didn’t make much of a splash offensively in his first taste of pro hockey, perhaps a sign of things to come, but still managed to make his NHL debut across a pair of early-season contests.

Despite only managing 24 points in 73 AHL games out of the gate, the Wild liked Clutterbuck’s physicality enough to make him a bottom-six fixture as a 21-year-old in the 2008-09 campaign. His 11-goal, 356-hit rookie season meant he never touched minor-league ice again aside from a conditioning stint in 2019-20. A few years into his Minnesota tenure, Clutterbuck looked like he might be able to stick as a true top-nine power forward when he scored 19 goals and 34 points in the 2010-11 campaign while averaging nearly 16 minutes per night, but those numbers would stand as career-highs. Clutterbuck only hit double-digit goals in a season three more times.

Nonetheless, Clutterbuck still carved out a bottom-six niche and played 1,064 games – 718 of which came after the Isles acquired him for then-struggling top-five pick Nino Niederreiter in the 2013 offseason. Niederreiter blossomed into a legitimate two-way top-six winger in Minnesota. Still, Clutterbuck stuck around far longer with his new team, even earning a five-year, $17.5MM extension from the club in 2016, despite his relatively minimal offensive impact.

An alternate captain in New York for the last decade of his career, Clutterbuck retires at 12th on the Isles’ all-time games played list in the regular season. He also added 11-7–18 and 340 hits in 76 games across seven playoff appearances on the Island. The Ontario native recorded a 143-150–293 scoring line with a -19 rating and 698 PIMs in 1,064 career games. All of us at PHR wish Clutterbuck the best in the next phase of his hockey career.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

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