![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769660351_672_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nOndrej Palat smiled under the IronMan mask awarded to him by teammates as the Islanders best player in the game. Later, goalie and fellow Czechian David Rittich came over for a happy conversation in their native tongue before enveloping his new teammate in a bear hug.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the guys I was thankful they made it very easy for me to blend into the team today,\u201d the newest Islander said after scoring a power-play goal and adding an assist in Wednesday\u2019s 5-2 win over the Rangers at UBS Arena. \u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy day but I\u2019m glad it\u2019s behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ex-Devil, acquired on Tuesday, and defenseman Carson Soucy, acquired from the Rangers on Monday, both had successful Islanders\u2019 debuts. Palat had the two points and three shots in 11:53 skating on Bo Horvat\u2019s line with Emil Heienman while Soucy logged 15:49 with a blocked shot paired with Scott Mayfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great first day,\u201d captain Anders Lee said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great first day for everyone. It\u2019s great to have Soucy here, to have Ondrej. Those guys contributed big time tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why the Islanders wanted Soucy and Palat was purely for hockey reasons with injuries leaving holes in their lineup. Why the two players wanted to come \u2014\u00a0and commute \u2014\u00a0to Long Island was a mix of family concerns and a chance to be part of a playoff push.<\/p>\n
Neither wanted to relocate their wives and children \u2014\u00a0Soucy and his wife welcomed their third child less than two weeks ago \u2014\u00a0and both are familiar with the Metropolitan Division.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one made sense,\u201d said Soucy, 31, a pending unrestricted free agent in the final season of a three-year, $9.75 million deal who was sent from the Canucks to the Rangers just prior to last season\u2019s trade deadline. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely going to be weird going up (against the Rangers) in these next two games but, ultimately, it\u2019s coming in here to try and make a playoff push.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soucy, who had three goals and five assists in 46 games for the Rangers this season, also logged 47 seconds on the penalty kill.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just the fourth trade between the New York rivals since the Islanders were born in 1972 and the first since 2010.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it just kind of showed where both teams are at really,\u201d Soucy said. \u201c(Rangers GM Chris) Drury did me a favor of not wanting to ship my family, like last year, across the country. It\u2019s nice that we\u2019re not having to move houses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palat, 34, in the fourth season of a five-year, $30 million deal, has a history with GM Mathieu Darche, the assistant GM with the Lightning, where Palat played his first 10 NHL seasons. They were together for Stanley Cup wins in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n
Palat had no-movement protection and a modified no-trade clause in his contract but said he waived it to come to the Islanders and a chance for a fresh start after compiling just four goals and six assists in 51 games for the Devils.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t judge my play on the points,\u201d said Palat, known for his two-way play. \u201cI\u2019m happy I got a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tAndrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John\u2019s and MLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ondrej Palat smiled under the IronMan mask awarded to him by teammates as the Islanders best player in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,5791,575,170734,85],"class_list":["post-444366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-sider","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}