The New York Islanders have acquired forward Tyce Thompson in a trade with the New Jersey Devils the club announced Sunday.
Thompson has registered 1 assist in 11 career NHL games, with a -4 rating across three separate call ups. Originally taken in the 4th round, 96th overall, by New Jersey in 2019, Thompson figures to add some depth to the Islanders bottom 6, and AHL prospect pool.
One has to figure Islanders GM Lou Lamiorello did his homework on the 24 year old, as he spent 3 years at Providence College, which is Lamiorello’s alma mater. There he recorded 94pts across 101 contests in the Hockey East conference.
An Oyster Bay native, Thompson is the son of former Bridgeport head coach Brent Thompson, and spent time in the Junior Islanders youth hockey program. Tyce is the brother of Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson, who took some time to find his footing amongst his NHL peers as well.
The elder Thompson was drafted by St. Louis in 2016, but didn’t break out until the 2021-22 campaign with the Sabres when he registered 38 goals. The draft pedigree may not be the same (Tage was a former late 1st round pick), but the move presents a relatively low risk, high reward proposition for the Isles.
Heading back the other way is 24 year old left winger Arnaud Durandeau, whom the Islanders selected in the 6th round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Across 4 NHL contests he’s registered 2 PIMs and a +1 rating.
The one for one deal wasn’t the only piece of business New York completed, as the team also acquired defenseman Mike Reilly off waivers from the Florida Panthers. The 30 year old blue liner has only appeared in 2 contests thus far with Florida in 2023-24, but is an NHL veteran of 341 games, registering 98pts (12G, 86A) since being drafted in 2011.
Sitting at 8-6-6 through the first 20 games of the season, New York will look to bounce back from a 1-0 shootout loss to the Flyers when they take on the aforementioned Devils on Tuesday night.
Photo: Andrew Nyr. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.