Monday served as a good reminder that Mathieu Darche will soon be judged on a lot more than just being the new guy on Long Island.

A bevy of decisions await in short order for the Islanders general manager/executive vice president that will help shape the franchise for the coming seasons, including the NHL Draft on Friday and Saturday when Darce is expected to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer first overall.

But on Monday, almost simultaneously as Darche was naming former Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson the new bench boss for the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, came news that the Flyers were acquiring potential difference-maker Trevor Zegras from the Ducks. The 24-year-old, when healthy, is an electric offensive player who adds to a young top-six core for the Flyers that also includes Matvei Michkov, Bobby Brinks and Tyson Foerster.

Darche’s concern, of course, is not the Flyers but the Metropolitan Division rival’s trade for Zegras, not to mention the Rangers’ clearing salary-cap space by dumping Chris Kreider to the Ducks, does highlight the Islanders’ need to improve their roster to get younger and faster after missing the playoffs to end Lou Lamoriello’s seven-season tenure as president/GM.

Like Lamoriello, Darche has kept things close enough to his vest to keep others around the NHL speculating as to how extensive his franchise overhaul might be.

Defensemen Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov are key restricted free agents with arbitration rights – the free agent market opens on July 1 – who could potentially attract offer sheets. Darche, speaking to Newsday during the NHL Scouting Combine, indicated a strong desire to retain both even as Dobson’s name keeps cropping up in trade rumors.

But Darche seems to recognize that a defense corps including those two, Schaefer and, possibly, developing prospect Isaiah George could give the Islanders a back-end advantage.

Darche also showed no inclination to buy out the remaining four seasons of defenseman Scott Mayfield’s seven-year, $24.5 million contract.

Lamoriello fielded calls on center Jean-Gabriel Pageau and captain Anders Lee along with the since-dealt Brock Nelson prior to the NHL trade deadline on March 7. Logically, there’s still interest around the NHL for Pageau and Lee.

So Darche will have to figure out how to balance his stated opinion that the Islanders’ core likely should have gotten the team to the playoffs last season and a need to position this franchise to have sustained success over the coming seasons. And, if Pageau is traded, Darche and coach Patrick Roy must also balance whether it’s more prudent to keep Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal together as two-thirds of the top line or return the elite skating Barzal to his natural center position.

One of the main criticisms of Lamoriello’s final seasons with the Islanders was that he kept running it back with essentially the same group of players with diminishing results.

Darche can ill afford to take the same mistaken leap of faith.

But it should be taken as a good sign that since Darche was hired on May 23, he seems to be attacking his to-do list with meticulousness.

At his introductory press conference on May 29, he announced Roy would return but assistant coaches John MacLean and Tommy Albelin – both with strong ties to Lamoriello – would not. He also announced Rick Kowalsky would not be retained as Bridgeport’s coach while stressing the need to create a winning environment for the Islanders’ top affiliate.

Darche replaced MacLean and Albelin with former Sharks coach Bob Boughner and longtime NHL assistant Ray Bennett on June 9 to run the penalty kill and power play, respectively. Importantly, Darche retained goalie coach Piero Greco – who has a tight relationship with Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov – and handpicked Roy assistant coach Benoit Desrosiers. For the first time since becoming Islanders coach on Jan. 20, 2024, Roy has a staff that he can truly call his.

Darche then hired Ryan Bowness as his presumed second-in-command as assistant GM/director of player personnel on June 16. Bowness will supplant Ken Morrow as the director of player personnel though the Islander legend will remain active in the organization’s scouting efforts. Holdover assistant GMs Chris Lamoriello – also the Bridgeport GM – and Steve Pellegrini remain with the Islanders, presumably at least through the Draft.

So Darche will soon be judged on the moves he has made, not the ones he could make.

Here’s to a fun couple of weeks.