Palat will get a fresh start with Islanders

Ondrej Palat is on the move.

The 34-year-old forward was acquired by the New York Islanders on Tuesday, along with two future draft picks, in a trade with the New Jersey Devils that sends Maxim Tsyplakov the other way.

The move comes after Palat was held out of the lineup for the Devils’ game on Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets.

Palat recorded just four goals and six assists for 10 points through 51 games with the Devils this season. He spent his first 10 NHL seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he earned two Stanley Cup rings and posted seven 40-plus point campaigns.

However, after signing a five-year, $30-million contract with the Devils ahead of the 2022-23 season, a deal which pays him $6 million per year, Palat has never recorded more than 31 points in a season.

Now a member of the Islanders, Palat has a chance for a fresh start with a New York squad that’s competing for a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the trade and whether the move will pay off in both the short and long term.

Carter Hutton: It hasn’t gone well in New Jersey for Palat, and I feel like that relationship is frayed. For the Islanders, this is a deal where you get a guy who0 has a winning pedigree. Maybe he’s going to be a fourth-line player and will play minimal minutes.

Maybe he can grow himself out of that, in the sense of where he fits with the Islanders, but again, this is a guy who has been around winning cultures and he’s been around playoff success. I think that’s where Mathieu Darche and Patrick Roy are valuing this trade, right?

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…