Winners, losers from the very early days of Islanders' Mathieu Darche era
Barely a week into the Mathieu Darche era on Long Island, the new general manager's vision is already taking shape.
The Post picks the (very) early winners and losers from the Darche Era.
Winners
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Patrick Roy
Not only is Roy back behind the bench as head coach, but he gets a larger say in shaping his assistant coaching staff after John MacLean and Tommy Albelin were let go and has a general manager who sounded very much aligned with him on how the team should play.
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And they came up with the idea of Sport Beach, some folks at [full-service creative agency] 72andSunny, and we said 'yes,' and best to do in the corporate team, ran it, and the first year it was just a clear success.' 7 Carmelo Anthony speaks at a panel at Sport Beach. Erik Messori Penn then detailed the path to building on that success. 'I always talk about 'Godfather' syndrome. Okay, well, the first one was really path-breaking. The second one was the best. And then you have to worry that the third one went downhill. So, I think we met the challenge, the third is not downhill,' he said. '… I think in general, too, the economy is better. I think more people are here, more people are in a good mood to go hear about sports. And so I think we aimed for bigger and better, and we got bigger and better.' Penn's career spans 40 years in market research, advertising, public relations, polling, and consulting. 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'… But the first thing we thought would happen is [that] the athletes would come in and they'd be here for a half hour, and as soon as their panel was over, they'd cut out. This is just not what happened. 'This is cool. And they hung out, and they got to know us all here at Stagwell, and now it became a regular thing, like this is part of their year, to come show up, so I'm really pleased it worked out that way.' The world's top athletes and entrepreneurs essentially had trust and believed in Penn, taking a gamble on the idea he and his team at Stagwell were presenting. 7 Carmelo Anthony has been part of Sport Beach since its inception. Erik Messori 'It wasn't that we gave them an incredible sales job or had million-dollar checks, it really was that they… came to enjoy it, their agents said, 'Hey, this is good for you and your career. Where else are you going to get 50 brands together in a room that you can talk to?' 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