Another day, another trade for the Islanders. After acquiring Carson Soucy from the Rangers last night, the Islanders made another deal with a Metro Division foe today, shipping Max Tsyplakov to the Devils. In exchange for Tysplakov the Islanders acquired Ondrej Palat, a 2026 3rd round pick and a 2027 6th round pick. Palat like Tsyplakov is signed through next season, but his cap hit is much higher at 6 million.
The Islanders signed Tsyplakov out of Russia before last season. Last season, Tysplakov actually wasn't bad in a bottom 6 role tallying 35 points in 77 games. However, with the turnover up front over the summer that left Tsyplakov spot in the lineup in limbo and that shows with him only playing 27 games so far this season.
Now while Tsyplakov wasn't doing anything, taking on Palats massive cap hit given his recent decline in play without requiring the Devils to retain anything is pretty questionable to say the least. The picks are all well and good but cap space is our most valuable tool and putting that much into a player like Palat raises red flags to say the least.
My one hope is given Darche prior relationship with Palat from their time with the Lightning, maybe he sees things in his game that could be changed like he used to play in Tampa. If that doesn't happen, Darche probably would've been better off just dumping Tsyplakov for a mid round or late round pick.
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