Mathieu Darche is rewarding his players with his recent activity in the trade market for the NY Islanders

Mathieu Darche and the NY Islanders have been active over the last 48 hours, first acquiring Carson Soucy from the NY Rangers on Monday, followed by trading for Ondrej Palat from the NJ Devils last night.

While neither move is the sexiest on paper and has left the fanbase divided in terms of what was given up, salary cap implications, etc., injuries to Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri have been massive losses for this team, and the recent transactions reward the players in the midst of a playoff push.

Darche is sending a message to the Islanders

“The players have put themselves in the position to be in the playoffs, and I wanted to reward them and bring in a bit more experience and cement that spot in the playoffs,” Darche said earlier today on Frankly Hockey with Frank Seravalli and John Buccigross. “We wanted to improve a little bit defensively if I’m being honest.”

Soucy, a 6’4” defenseman, adds size and grit to the blue line and can contribute on the penalty kill. The Islanders are among the league leaders in high-danger chances allowed, and a player of Soucy’s size should provide a better opportunity to clear out the traffic in front of the goal. 

Palat’s resume speaks for itself. Though he had a rough season with the Devils, he’s a 200-foot player and has performed at a higher level in the playoffs than in the regular season.

“It’s an exciting day for us,” Patrick Roy said after today’s morning skate. “The report that we got from Carson (Soucy) is that he’s steady and plays a defensive game and is pretty good with the puck. And having Palat coming in, two Stanley Cups. I mean, I think that speaks volumes of what he can bring to our team. He’s not here to score 50 goals, but he’s going to be here to bring some depth.”

According to the lines at morning skate, Palat will skate on the wing with Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman, while Soucy was matched with Adam Boqvist. That defensive pairing could be altered as Darche revealed that Ryan Pulock could play in tonight’s matchup with the Rangers.