ELMONT, NY — New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche’s appetite to make more trades after acquiring defenseman Carson Soucy and forward Ondrej Palat still very much exists.
“I’m on the phone every day. We still have cap space,” Darche said on Wednesday prior to the Islanders’ matchup with the Rangers at UBS Arena. “But I’m not making deals just to make deals. I’m making deals because I think I’m improving the team, which I am. I think we’re a better team today than we were yesterday with [Palat and Soucy]. So if something else comes up that I can improve the team, I’ll look at it.”
In the span of 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday, Darche shored up the blue line by acquiring Soucy from the Rangers for a third-round draft pick, then flipped Max Tsyplakov to the Devils for the two-time Stanley Cup-winner Palat, who worked with Darche during a decade run with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Soucy shores up the bottom pairing for the defense after losing Alex Romanov for the remainder of the season. Veteran Ryan Pulock is also facing an extended absence with an upper-body issue. Palat bolsters the bottom six of New York’s forward lines as a 200-foot player and penalty killer.
“It’s been a while we’ve been looking to help our D-core… this is about us bringing more experience, and Carson Soucy has a big presence, can kill penalties,” Darche said. “He’s a player that can play physical, and you saw it this year with New York… Ondrej Palat, I obviously have a history with him… We’re getting a player that played 155 playoff games, and if you look at his stats in the playoffs, his points per game, goals per game, everything, it’s higher than the regular season…
“I want to reward the players for putting us in this position to get to the playoffs. And I felt like, without making crazy moves, these are two players that will help us as we push toward the playoffs.”
Both Darche and head coach Patrick Roy were quick to point out that Palat is not a “50-goal scorer,” with the GM adding that, “Yeah, we want to score more goals.”
For that to happen, though, the Islanders will have to pay a much higher price than what they gave up for Palat or Soucy. That would include dealing one of his 2026 first-round picks.
“If the right deal comes along, absolutely [I’ll trade it],” Darche said. “Again, nothing’s off the table if I can improve the team. It doesn’t mean I’m going to move a first-round pick by any means, but if something makes sense, I’m not afraid to move it. But I won’t move one just to get a name that ‘Oh, it sounds exciting,’ but it doesn’t quite fit. But if the right deal comes along and the price is whatever deal you feel is right, there’s a price to pay if I feel that the deal is right for a first-round pick.”
