Mathieu Darche went against orthodoxy in April when he fired Patrick Roy and brought in Pete DeBoer with four games left in the season.
It didn’t save the 2025-26 Islanders, who were already too far gone, but it already looks like a move that can have a hugely positive impact on the 2026-27 club. Indeed, the single biggest reason to believe the Islanders can survive the rash of injuries that’s hit them before they’ve even played 10 games is DeBoer.
We don’t know the prognosis yet on Calum Ritchie or Matias Maccelli after both left the ice in the first period Saturday night in Toronto and didn’t return. At least in that sense, there’s room for optimism. Maybe they’ll both emerge for practice Monday no worse for wear and the whole episode can be forgotten.
As a practical matter, though, it behooves the Islanders to hope for the best and expect the worst. Which means thinking hard about how they can survive with Ritchie and Maccelli joining Mat Barzal — half of their top six in a perfect world — on the injured list for a period of time, in addition to Alexander Romanov being out for the season.