LOS ANGELES — His first NHL Draft as a general manager drew some rave reviews around the league for both quality and quantity. Mathieu Darche was asked about that as he sat in Long Island traffic late Saturday afternoon, on his way to the airport to meet some of the nine players he drafted for the Islanders as they flew in from the West Coast.

“Listen, we’re happy,” Darche said by telephone. “We got different elements in the draft. We’re looking for character people. Competitors with the skill level that we want. I think we accomplished that.”

Picking defenseman Matthew Schaefer first overall on Friday night was a no-brainer. Having Swedish wing Victor Eklund and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson fall to the Islanders at Nos. 16 and 17 — the two picks Darche acquired from the Canadiens after being forced to trade defenseman Noah Dobson because of a contract impasse — was good fortune. But he also added intriguing prospects in the second and third rounds, selecting 6-5 Russian wing Daniil Prokhorov at No. 42 and speedy center Luca Romano at No. 74.

In all, rounds 2-7 on Saturday at the Peacock Theater brought size, speed and organizational depth.

Darche said he both wanted to work on organizational depth while being interested in trying to make additional trades, which did not materialize on Saturday.

That doesn’t mean a trade won’t materialize for Darche.

“I called around today before the draft, there might still be something,” Darche said. “I’m still in some conversations. I kicked tires. I can offer whatever I want to the other team but I can’t force the other team to trade me a player, either. I’m still kicking tires.

“We’ll regroup and start a plan for free agency and I’ll keep talking to GMs about potentially moving things. That doesn’t mean for sure I’m doing something. I’m going through the process of evaluating every option we may have or create some options if I can.”

The Islanders open their summer prospect development camp on Monday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow and Darche said he’s hoping all nine draft picks can attend. Prokhorov came to Los Angeles for the draft so he’ll be able to make it to Long Island.

Of course, he attended the draft sans family members.

“My older brother is getting married today,” Prokhorov said through his translator. “They didn’t plan it, it just worked out that way. The whole family is celebrating the wedding.”

Getting fourth-round pick Tomas Poletin, a Czech left wing who plays in Finland, to Long Island in time might be difficult. Darche said he hopes to have 18 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goalies at the development camp.

Then, the free agent market opens on Tuesday and the Islanders have $20.9 million in space under the $95.5 million salary-cap ceiling.

It’s all part of the whirlwind that has been Darche’s life since he was hired on May 23 to replace former president/GM Lou Lamoriello.

Lamoriello, who used four successive first-round picks to acquire Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Alexander Romanov and Bo Horvat, made four first-round selections in his seven seasons with the Islanders. Darche is just one shy of Lamoriello after one draft.

“My friends in Tampa were texting me that I had more picks in the first round this year than I had in my six years in Tampa,” said Darche, the former Lightning assistant GM.

“I learned a lot from [GM] Julien BriseBois when I was in Tampa and our amateur staff that we’ve had there. And the staff here [with the Islanders] has been here for a while so they have the experience. I know the process and the questions I want to ask to pick my players that we feel have the best chance of becoming NHL players.”

In addition to Prokhorov, Romano and Poletin, the Islanders selected defenseman Sam Laurila in the fifth round, goalie Burke Hood in the sixth round and right wing Jacob Kvasnicka in the seventh round.

Darche said he had a strategy for his scouts to follow in the lower rounds.

“Once you get to the bottom end of the draft, that’s when you try to find the little things,” Darche said. “I was telling scouts, ‘Hey, pound your fists on the table if you think highly of a certain player.’ That’s when you take chances. Let’s go for home runs at that point. Let’s go for guys that maybe their floor is lower but their ceiling is higher. Is drafting an exact science? Of course not.”