MILAN — After Czechia came off the ice following its practice Tuesday, Radek Faksa was asked whether he’s been picking Radko Gudas’ brain at all about the Olympic experience from 2014 in Sochi.
“I talk more with Ondrej Palat,” Faksa said.
That’s no shade on Gudas, an alternate captain for the Czechs at these Games and a captain for the Ducks. But Palat, 34 years old with two Stanley Cups, an Olympic Games and countless appearances for Czechia under his belt on the international stage, has as much relevant experience as any other player here in Milan.
The winger who became an Islander barely a week before departing for the Olympics is still something of an unknown quantity in New York. Palat appeared to be adjusting reasonably well through his first six games with the Islanders, and general manager Mathieu Darche is more than familiar with him from their time together with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He’s got three points, he’s meshed well with Bo Horvat, he’s looked good on the walls, though the small sample of advanced numbers haven’t been great.
Still, six games isn’t much time to figure out how someone will fit in with a team.
For a better idea, ask the Czechs.
“I don’t think he’s really changed as a person [since 2014],” said Gudas, the only other Czech NHLer to play both in Sochi and in Milan. “That’s one of the beautiful things about him. He’s a great guy, very humble, brings his best every time he’s on the ice. Does the right things. He’s a double Stanley Cup champion for a reason.
“He brings leadership, like even before he was wearing the letter A in Tampa. So he’s the hardest-working guy in the room, I would call him. Just gets better with age. It’s very fun to still see him being able to do all these things.
“He makes everybody around him a lot better. Gives guys a chance to be a little more offensive. He can stay on defense and make some big plays in the D-zone being at the right time, in the right place.”
Palat is not wearing a letter for Team Czechia, whose leadership group includes Gudas, David Pastrnak and Roman Cervenka, the 40-year-old winger who has played in Europe his entire career and who has been to four Olympics prior to this one.
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Still, Faksa said, Palat is looked at as a leader by a team that has a real chance of getting on the medal stand here in Milan.
“He’s got two Stanley Cups, he’s got the World Championships [win with Czechia in 2024],” Faksa said. “He’s been in the NHL for so long, just a great guy. He plays the game the right way.
“He’s vocal, he can be. When it’s needed, he’s vocal. He can say something for sure.”
As of Sunday — Czechia has closed its practices to reporters since then, so you’ll have to take David Kampf’s word that the lines haven’t changed — Palat was on the second line with Kampf and Ondrej Kase. Czechia opens its Olympics on Thursday against favorites Canada, which it famously beat on the way to gold at the 1998 Games in Nagano.
“A great guy and a great teammate,” Kampf said. “He’s won a lot, won two Stanley Cups. Has a lot of experience. It will be fun to play with him.”
That experience, mentioned by everyone in the Czech camp, is exactly what the Islanders bet on with the deal for Palat. Just nine players on the roster were there for the 2021 conference finals, when Palat’s Lightning beat the Islanders. Palat is the only Islander who’s played in, let alone won, a Stanley Cup Final.
The Islanders are betting that experience will come to matter at some point once the season resumes. They are betting, too, that Palat has more left in the tank than he showed with the Devils, where 10 points in 51 games made his $6 million annual salary an albatross Darche was happy to take on, with two draft picks included.
The next two weeks are going to give us a very good idea of how good a bet that was.