Ondřej Palát wasted little time making his presence felt on Long Island. In his Islanders debut, Palát scored the opening goal and added an assist as the New York Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 5-2 on Wednesday night at UBS Arena, extending their recent surge and delivering another blow to their cross-town rivals.
Palat has been slotted in that position more frequently than any other skater, but it's time to consider other possibilities. He wound up with just 28 points in 72 games played, despite having the chance to skate with the team's two most elite offensive producers. Looking at the advanced numbers, when Palat is on the ice, the Devils were outshot by 86 SOG, outscored 42-38, and controlled the puck less than 50% of the time with a Corsi-for percentage of 48.9%.