On Tuesday, recently appointed New York Islanders assistant general manager and Hamilton Hammers general manager Evan Gold was asked by Jeff Marek on The Sheet how he viewed his new organization from afar while he was still with the Boston Bruins.
“I don’t know that it’s any different than how I see them now, really. They’re a transitional team, with some really good veterans, and what appears to be a generational defenseman. They have really strong goaltending and now with Pete [DeBoer] here, especially, a veteran coach who’s had tremendous success pretty much everywhere he’s gone, so that’s really exciting for me. Coming to work for a leader like Mathieu [Darche], who I’ve known personally for several years, all of that together, and what I think we could build here is what was really exciting for me.”
Apparently, the word “transitional” didn’t land too well with a certain portion of the fan base.
On Wednesday, my pal Joe Pantorno asked Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche about Gold’s comments and what exactly that transition looks like for the organization.
“Transitional doesn’t mean that you don’t think about today, either,” Darche said. “It’s just like, yes, we have some younger guys coming. We’re trying to incorporate some young guys, whether it’s this year right away, whether it’s halfway through the year, whether it’s next year.
“But I think in the last two years we’ve replenished our prospect pool. In the last two drafts, we drafted four times in the top 17—three last year and one this year. So we’re excited about those guys. And I even think we’ve had some good picks later on in the draft.”
That is really where this transition begins, because it’s hard to transition when you don’t have the prospect pipeline ready to do so.