NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche hasn’t betrayed much urgency about signing Anders Lee or Jean-Gabriel Pageau, both pending free agents, to contract extensions, and kept up that posture Thursday.
Not only have there still not been discussions about an extension for either player, Darche said before his team’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Predators, but if the Islanders stay in the playoff mix, he’s got no problem going past the trade deadline with both of them unsigned.
“Yeah. This is the team I have right now,” Darche said. “I don’t give myself a deadline, necessarily. They know I’m happy with them, they know they’re part of our team. We’ll just go from there.”
That stands in stark contrast to how Lou Lamoriello approached negotiations with Brock Nelson a year ago, trying in vain to re-sign Nelson and then moving him to the Avalanche when it became clear no agreement would be reached.
Of course, another key difference is the context: The Islanders were on the outer fringes of the playoff race at last year’s deadline.
Two months before this year’s, they’re in second place in the Metropolitan Division, in the thick of the race.
Still, Pageau’s and Lee’s situations have drawn attention around the NHL. Both have partial no-trade clauses, but if made available, they’d be highly sought after.
Darche’s comments Thursday, in that context, served to strengthen the Islanders’ negotiating posture with other teams: If they have no qualms about keeping either player unsigned, then there’s no reason to take a discounted offer.
Given how the Islanders are playing right now, though, there’s little reason to assume Darche would be soliciting. Neither player, it should be noted, has shown any interest in leaving the Island.
“For me, I’m an Islander,” Pageau told The Post. “I play every night, I want to win. That’s all I control. The other stuff will take care of itself.”
“I understand, look, he’s gotta see where our team is at,” Lee told The Post. “I’ve been focused on our team and putting ourselves in a good position where we’re adding at the deadline. We believe in this room that we’re a playoff team.”
After missing the tournament last year, that belief has been completely validated through the season’s first 43 games, with Tuesday’s 9-0 shellacking of the Devils serving as an exclamation point.
The NHL will have a roster freeze during the Olympic break, which could have mixed effects on the market.
Darche said the freeze could be an incentive to add a player before the Olympics, giving him more time to acclimate, but if a player is going to Italy, teams will want to wait and make sure they come back healthy.
“These things, you never know when it’s gonna happen,” Darche said. “Because it takes two to tango whenever you want to do something. I guess we each have our own situation. When I feel the timing’s good for me to add someone, doesn’t mean it’s the right timing for the other side also. It’s gonna come quick after the Olympics, for sure.”
If the Islanders keep playing the way they have, though, the conversation about Lee and Pageau could become moot.
Darche, in that case, would be in position to not only stand pat with his expiring deals, but to act as a buyer ahead of the March 7 deadline.
“I’m happy that we’ve set ourselves in a position to fight and be in the playoffs,” Darche said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done. The goal during the year is, ‘Hey, we want to make the playoffs.’ There’s half the games left and we’re in a good position.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
