As the New Jersey Devils trickled out for Tuesday night’s warmups, the team announced that Ondrej Palat be held out for “roster related reasons”. Now, per Pierre LeBrun, Palat has been dealt to the New York Islanders, in addition to a 2026 third-round pick and 2027 sixth-round pick, in exchange for forward Maxim Tsyplakov.
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While a lot has come out publicly regarding the team’s willingness to move Dougie Hamilton ($9 million AAV), there had been very little to support the idea that Ondrej Palat ($6 million AAV) was also being shopped. Now, that’s irrelevant; this is a move the Devils clearly felt they needed to make in order to have enough flexibility to upgrade ahead of the deadline.
Furthermore, Tsyplakov could certainly make an impact for the Devils; he had 35 points in 77 games last season but has struggled in a (very) limited role this season (2 points in 27 games).
Per Elliotte Friedman, the #NJDevils are trading Ondrej Palat to the Islanders. Maxin Tsyplakov is coming back.
He’s struggled this season, but he had a good rookie season last year. Worth the flyer for sure pic.twitter.com/M4IuLN1kqi
— Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_NJD) January 28, 2026
Palat has dealt with a lot of scrutiny since joining the team in 2022-23; he notched just 92 points in 248 games as a Devil. This season, he has just 10 points in 51 games, which is the lowest pace of his career.
While he was often spoken highly of as a veteran presence in the locker room, his continuous decline — in addition to his hefty cap hit — held the team back. The Islanders will now have him under contract for the entire 2026-27 season in addition to this one.
Now, the Devils have a little more flexibility to upgrade ahead of the deadline. As it stands, the team is sixth in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind the New York Islanders for the third divisional spot.
While the deadline is on March 6th, with the Olympic break in the way, the Devils have just nine games before they’re no longer able to make any moves. Let’s see how they utilize this newfound cap space.
Per Moneypuck, they have just a 19.9% chance to make the playoffs.
