The Islanders officially are Mathieu Darche’s to run. The team on Friday named the 48-year-old Darche — the Lightning’s assistant general manager/director of hockey operations — as GM/executive vice president, ending a search to find a successor to Lou Lamoriello that lasted nearly a month.

It’s been several years since Mathieu Darche first emerged as a candidate to become an NHL general manager. As the Lightning’s assistant GM and director of hockey operations, he has been Julien BriseBois’ right-hand man in leading the team’s hockey operations department.