Islanders add Matias Maccelli in quiet opening to NHL free agency
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Hours before Anders Lee signed with the Mammoth and drastically changed the outlook of the Islanders roster, Isles general manager Mathieu Darche took a flier on an intriguing forward with plenty of potential in former Maple Leafs winger Matias Maccelli — who signed a one-year deal worth $2.25 million in average annual value, according to TSN.
At his best, Maccelli, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, possesses the potential of someone that Toronto — briefly — wanted skating on the right side of superstar Auston Matthews and is capable of scoring 17 goals, as he did in 2023-24 with the Coyotes. At his worst, the 25-year-old is inconsistent and stuck as a healthy scratch. It’ll be on head coach Peter DeBoer and his staff to determine which path Maccelli veers down.
“Matias is definitely a skill player,” Darche said. “First of all, he’s gonna help us now, and if things go well and he plays well for us and there’s a good fit, nothing says that we can’t continue with him.”
This was supposed to be a quiet day for the Islanders, and it was. Darche previously said that he didn’t anticipate significant changes. Maccelli, a fourth-round pick in 2019, hit the open market after the Maple Leafs and new general manager John Chayka opted not to give him a $4.1 million qualifying offer and represents a low-risk move.
Maccelli could be a piece who plays himself into a larger role, with a 57-point campaign on his ledger from 2023-24 and a 14-goal, 39-point campaign on it from last season. In a moment at the Garden last season, he positioned himself by the net and scored 13 seconds into a game against the Rangers. He scored four goals across a five-game stretch in March, too.
“I have been a big fan of your game,” DeBoer said on a video call with Maccelli and Darche, which the Islanders posted to social media. “Saw you come in through Phoenix. You were dangerous almost every night in the games when we would play against you guys. You were playing with a lot of confidence. You were playing with a lot of skill.”
The Islanders have their goaltending insurance.
While Darche said Saturday that they plan on having Semyon Varlamov back up Ilya Sorokin if healthy, the Islanders also signed Vitek Vanecek to a one-year deal worth $1 million, according to TSN. Vanecek, who won 33 games with the Devils in 2022-23 then won a ring with the Panthers in 2025 as a backup, spent last year with the Mammoth — where he finished with a 5-13-3 record, an .883 save percentage and a 2.03 goals-against average.
Vanecek will essentially fill the role of David Rittich. Varlamov has undergone two knee replacement surgeries and last appeared in an NHL game in November 2024, though he appeared in two games with AHL Bridgeport on a conditioning loan late last season.
The Islanders also added defenseman Matthew Kessel and forward Mitchell Chaffee on one-year deals. Kessel, who has spent his entire career with the Blues organization, doesn’t take away from Isaiah George competing for a spot on their roster in training camp, Darche said. Chaffee has skated in 109 NHL games and is a former Lightning player who overlapped with Darche there.
Darche said that he was still talking with Max Shabanov’s agent Wednesday morning to get a deal done. The Islanders didn’t extend a qualifying offer to the forward.