Ondrej Palat knows it didn’t end well personally for him with the New Jersey Devils. For the last few days, he’s known it was coming to an end with New Jersey.
“It’s been a couple of days that I knew something was going to happen,” Palat explained. “I just didn’t know when. It was going on for a little while.”
The morning after Palat was traded to the New York Islanders with draft picks in exchange for Maxim Tsyplakov, he participated in a fully attended morning skate that revealed his new deployment under head coach Patrick Roy.
Palat, for now, is playing on the Islanders’ second line with Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman. The Islanders have had a void to fill ever since Kyle Palmieri went down with a torn ACL in his left knee, shelving him for 6-8 months.
Palat explained he knew it didn’t end well for himself in New Jersey, explaining he hopes to offer more on Long Island.
“I had, obviously, a bad year in New Jersey. They traded me, and now I’m here. I want to be better and help the team to win. I would love to produce a little bit more than I did [with the Devils], but I’m not here to score 50 goals a season. I’m here to bring the two-way game that’s important in this league,” Palat said.
“And wherever the coach puts me, I’ll do my best to help the team win”
Palat scored four goals and 10 points in 51 games with the Devils this season, playing in several roles between the first and fourth lines.
After signing a five-year, $30 million contract with the Devils in 2022, his best season in New Jersey was during 2023-25, scoring just 11 goals and 31 points. He scored a Devils tenure high 15 goals in 2024-25.
On the motivation to acquire Palat, Islanders GM Mathieu Darche explained, “He’s a competitor, he’s an awesome person, and he’s an awesome teammate. I didn’t make the trade because, oh, I love him so much because we had him in Tampa… he can help us. He’s a real pro. He’s got great leadership; he competes every game.”
The Islanders take on the New York Rangers on Wednesday night at UBS Arena. The Devils will face Palat and the Islanders for the first time on February 5th, before the NHL takes pause for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
