Ondrej Palat has gone from one of the most questioned names on the New York Islanders roster to one of the steadier forwards on the ice.
That’s a sharp turn for a player plenty of Islanders fans didn’t want back this season. When Mathieu Darche brought Palat over from New Jersey in February, the move was greeted with more skepticism than enthusiasm. Devils fans were relieved to clear his $6 million cap hit, and Palat seemed to arrive on Long Island looking like a player whose best days were behind him.
The first stretch in blue and orange only made that case louder. He scored in his Islanders debut, then went silent offensively after that. His skating looked labored, his impact faded, and the idea of a summer buyout - even with the dead money that would have followed - was very much on the table.
Darche chose not to go that route, and so far this season that decision has been validated.
Palat still isn’t filling the net. He has only one goal and one assist through eight games.
But his value has shown up in the way the Islanders have played when he’s on the ice. At even strength, he leads the team with a 63.5% Corsi For percentage, nearly five points ahead of Matthew Schaefer.
The on-ice results have been hard to ignore. In Saturday’s 4-1 win over Toronto, the Islanders outshot the Maple Leafs 19-1 with Palat out there.
And it hasn’t been a one-off. It’s become a pattern.
“Right from training camp, he's been engaged. He wants more," said head coach Peter DeBoer after the game.
"It's on me to give him a little bit more. He's been that good"
Palat has not said much about what he altered in his offseason preparation, but whatever the change was, it has clearly made a difference.
That doesn’t mean the Islanders should suddenly treat him like a $6 million difference-maker again. Eight games is a tiny sample, and last season’s struggles are still part of the story. But for now, the same player who had so many doubters is making them look pretty foolish.
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The concern came early, when Cal Ritchie and Matias Maccelli both exited in the first period, leaving the Islanders to juggle their lines for most of the night. Any win on the road is useful, but a victory that costs you two forwards can change the mood fast, especially with one injury appearing more serious and the team now waiting to find out how much more damage came out of a night it otherwise controlled. [Read more 🡒]
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Flyers Lose Another Key Forward As Early Scoring Pressure Builds
The Islanders had to navigate another uneasy night against Toronto when both Calum Ritchie and Matias Maccelli left the game with lower-body injuries. It was the kind of setback that can change a lineup in a hurry, especially when a club is already trying to manage its way through the grind of an early season schedule and keep enough skill on the ice to stay competitive.
Ritchie was hit on his first shift by Nick Blankenburg, while Maccelli left after getting tangled up with Darren Raddysh, and each exit only added to the sense of a game slipping into survival mode. Around the league, the injury list keeps growing in different ways, with the Flyers already missing Owen Tippett and the Senators expecting Jake Sanderson back soon, but for the Islanders the immediate concern is simply how they patch together their next look if either absence lingers. [Read more 🡒]