Mathieu Darche hopes a Cup run won’t be on ice for a healthy Isles squad this season.
“I think we’re a playoff-contending team,” the Islanders general manager told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “We have [Kyle] Palmieri coming back, [Alexander] Romanov coming back, [Pierre] Engvall coming back — [head coach] Pete DeBoer for a full season.”
Darche spoke while he and team staff were constructing a playground at a Bellerose YMCA with the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Palmieri tore his ACL against the Flyers in late November — he still managed to make an epic assist while skating toward the dressing room — and was plenty limber while helping to install a jungle gym days ahead of training camp.
“We should have full participation with camp,” the GM said of the whole roster.
Darche added that Romanov, who the team lost to a shoulder injury also in November for the remainder of the season, has “been back for three weeks.”
“He’s 12 pounds lighter. That’s as good as I’ve seen him.”
While a late-season free fall booted the 91-point Isles out of playoff contention, Darche said Romanov could have come back midway through the opening round if needed.
Engvall missed the entire campaign from an October ankle surgery that came on the heels of a summer hip procedure, but “right now everything looks like he’s going to be able to play,” Darche said .
Veteran goalie Semyon Varlamov, who hadn’t hit the ice for a game since 2024 due to lingering knee issues, is also game ready.
“He’s doing great, actually,” Darche said. “It’s not a miracle because he’s really put in the work. He’s been back here for at least a month. He’s on the ice four to five times a week.
“No medication, no pain, anything like that. He’s going to be a full participant in camp. He’s going to play preseason games.”
Darche added optimism that Varly will provide much-needed load management for overworked starter Ilya Sorokin during the upcoming campaign.
“Hopefully he’s ready to give us a lot of games this year,” Darche said of 38-year-old Varlamov.
The heat is on for players who didn’t fight through long-term injuries as well.
“We expect some progression from guys like [Cal] Ritchie, even [Emil] Heineman, and then [Simon] Holmstrom,” Darche said.
Holmstrom had a 41-point season, while Heineman and Ritchie had 31- and 30-point seasons, respectively.
Darche’s Islanders also enter the season with a vacant captaincy after longtime leader Anders Lee departed for the Mammoth on a three-year, $16.2 million contract after wearing the “C” since 2018.
“I think there’s a strong chance we’ll have a captain this year,” Darche said. “We’ve discussed it, but we haven’t made a decision. We’ll discuss when [DeBoer is] back and sit down. There’s no rush to do it now, so we’ll see where it goes.”
He also said that inking DeBoer for three years with only four games to go last season was “one of the big acquisitions of the summer — even if it happened at the end of the year.
“Another year of [Matthew] Schaefer and Pete’s system, that’s huge,” DeBoer said.
