The trade<\/p>\n
New York Islanders get: Ondrej Palat, 2026 third-round pick, 2027 sixth-round pick<\/p>\n
New Jersey Devils get: Maxim Tsyplakov<\/p>\n
Harman Dayal: The Devils desperately needed to clear some cap space, and by offloading the full freight of Palat\u2019s contract, which had another year remaining at a $6 million AAV, they accomplished exactly that.<\/p>\n
Palat, 34, is a hard-working, defensively reliable winger with commendable veteran leadership qualities, but his offensive game has fallen off a cliff compared to his days with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He mustered just four goals and six assists in 51 games this season, despite getting plum opportunities with talented, skilled linemates for most of the year. Palat\u2019s $6 million AAV felt like an anchor relative to his on-ice impact, so the fact that the Devils got out of the deal without retaining any salary is a big win.<\/p>\n
Sure, New Jersey had to pay sweeteners with a couple of picks and take back the struggling Tsyplakov\u2019s contract ($2.25 million AAV through next season), but the cost was modest for a crucial $3.75 million gain in cap flexibility. It may be too late for the Devils to salvage this season, but those cap savings will be important for bolstering the team\u2019s supporting cast ahead of next season. There\u2019s even a chance that Tsyplakov, a big, heavy 27-year-old winger whose production has cratered after scoring 35 points as a rookie last season, can bounce back with a fresh start.<\/p>\n
From the Islanders\u2019 perspective, I\u2019m not very confident that Palat will bounce back, but I do understand the logic behind this move.<\/p>\n
New York gains a third-round pick, which is useful because the club didn\u2019t own a 2026 second-rounder and had traded away its own 2026 third-round pick in the Carson Soucy move. Tsyplakov was a contract they wanted to get rid of anyway. Palat, while limited in his on-ice utility, should be a useful mentor with his playoff experience and championship pedigree. The $3.75 million in extra cap commitment they took on is notable, but the Isles probably weren\u2019t going to go big-game hunting in the offseason anyway, so the opportunity cost of taking on extra salary for next season probably isn\u2019t that high.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, if Palat does somehow rebound, the Islanders can always retain 50 percent on his contract and recoup another draft pick by selling him as a deadline rental next year.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if Palat looks completely washed through the remainder of this season, the Isles have the option to buy him out this summer as well. Palat has no signing bonuses left, so New York could buy him out on favorable terms \u2014 he\u2019d only count for $2.7 million against the cap in 2026-27 and $1.65 million in 2027-28 if they went down the buyout route.<\/p>\n
In other words, while Palat is unlikely to meaningfully bounce back, the Isles still did fine in this trade by replenishing their missing 2026 third-round pick for the extra $3.75 million they incurred against the cap.<\/p>\n
Devils grade: A-
Islanders grade: B-<\/p>\n
James Mirtle: The ol\u2019 problem for a problem trade. Among two rivals, no less!<\/p>\n
The Devils have been looking to dump salary most of the season, but after Luke Hughes went down with an injury, it made more sense for Palat to be the cut rather than Dougie Hamilton (who probably fits better as an offseason trade anyway).<\/p>\n
I\u2019m somewhat surprised\/impressed it was this painless to move him, given Palat has a $6 million cap hit remaining both this season and next. In the old frozen cap world, that might have necessitated some serious salary retention or a higher pick, but with the cap projected to hit at least $104 million next season, a lot of teams are feeling flush, and even a struggling player like Palat can have more value.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s about to turn 35 and has just 10 points on the season, but Isles general manager Mathieu Darche is banking on him being a veteran playoff performer after watching Palat excel when Darche was an exec in Tampa all those years. And the Islanders could use more depth as they attempt to lock in a playoff spot, given they\u2019ve been dealing with a number of injuries.<\/p>\n
Tsyplakov was playing just nine minutes a night on the Island, having clearly fallen out of favor with coach Patrick Roy, but he had a promising rookie campaign last season and makes sense as a reclamation project given his age, size and potential offensive ability. It\u2019s possible he has more success in a sheltered scoring role in a different system.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see what New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald does with the nearly $4 million cap space he gained here, as that\u2019s the wild card in the deal. But this has the potential to work out for both teams, given the two players are likely to be better fits in the other organization.<\/p>\n
Devils grade: B+
Islanders grade: C+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade New York Islanders get: Ondrej Palat, 2026 third-round pick, 2027 sixth-round pick New Jersey Devils get:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4822,394,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-434272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-new-jersey-devils","9":"tag-new-york-islanders","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}