The hard work of turning around an Islanders team that has missed the playoffs twice in the past four years, and not won a series since reaching the 2021 semifinals, starts now with New York anticipated to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer.

That rant aside, here is how I think tonight could go.

LOS ANGELES – Mathieu Darche had nothing to do with the Islanders winning the NHL Draft Lottery despite just a 3.5% chance to do so, as that happened almost three weeks before he was hired as general manager/executive vice president on May 23.