General manger Mathieu Darche has confirmed that the New York Islanders were among the teams pursuing Kirill Marchenko before the Columbus Blue Jackets traded the winger to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
“Every time there’s a good player available, we make calls,” Darche told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in the Athletic Wednesday prior to his team’s 2-1 loss to Toronto. “He’s a good player. I thought he was really good last night. Good for the Leafs.”
Toronto paid up to add Marchenko, sending Matthew Knies, Emil Andrae, Steven Lorentz and a second-round pick to Columbus while also taking back Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins.
Darche believes his team could use a boost in scoring, though he is trying to balance their current need with their long-term outlook.
“Tomorrow morning if I hear there’s another opportunity to get more offence on our team, I would look at it,” Darche said. “You turn every stone. It might look like we didn’t do much this summer, but it’s not because we didn’t try. And I don’t want to do anything reckless.”
The Islanders are coming off a largely quiet off-season under Darche, though the general manager said that is not for a lack of trying.
New York brought in depth pieces including Matias Maccelli and more recently defenceman Logan Stanley in their more notable moves.
“It’s my job to always try and improve the team,” Darche said. “We haven’t made the playoffs the last two years. I want to improve the team. Is it easier said than done? Of course. Trust me, I spent the summer trying.”
Not helping the Islanders need for offence is the fact the team is currently without their highest-paid player, Mathew Barzal, to start the season as he was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury.
“It’s an old injury,” Darche explained. “This summer, there was some inflammation with it as camp approached. We just wanted to make sure we did the right thing.
“We hope he’ll be skating very soon. Obviously, we need him, so hopefully he’ll be back soon.”
New York just missed the playoffs last season, finishing with a 43-34-5 record. The team replaced head coach Patrick Roy with Peter DeBoer with just four games left in the season to try to reach the playoffs but went 1-3-0 under their new head coach.
Darche made a made a major splash at the trade deadline last year, acquiring Brayden Schenn from the St. Louis Blues for a package that included a first-round pick and also added veteran forward Ondrej Palat in January in a deal that saw Maxim Tsyplakov head to the New Jersey Devils.
New York will host the rival Devils in their second game of the season on Saturday.
