Palmieri goes back to Jersey roots for Stadium Series with Islanders

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Kyle Palmieri recalled his childhood when the New York Islanders practiced at MetLife Stadium on Thursday.

“Felt a bit like a kid again,” he said.

It wasn’t just that the 33-year-old forward had skated outdoors. It was that he had skated outdoors here, at home, in New Jersey.

The first time he put on skates was at a buddy’s backyard rink in Ramsey, New Jersey. He learned to skate at an open-air rink with a roof at Mackay Park in Englewood, New Jersey. His high school team practiced -- and might have even played a couple of games -- at an open-air rink with a roof at Pershing Field Park in Jersey City, New Jersey.

All within 30 minutes of the site of MetLife Stadium, which has been decorated to look like a park in a New Jersey town for the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. The rink is surrounded by grass, plants and paths. During the event, people will jog, push strollers and walk dogs. Kids will play street hockey.

The Islanders hosted the New York Rangers on Sunday. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 on Saturday.

“It’s a pretty cool experience, being from this area with a lot of family around,” Palmieri said. “It’ll just be a fun event.”

Palmieri is originally from Long Island. He was born in Smithtown, New York, and lived in East Moriches, New York, until he was about 4.

But then the family moved to Montvale, New Jersey. That’s where he spent most of his formative years. He played youth hockey in the Devils AAA program and high school hockey for St. Peter’s Prep. His dad, Bruce, coached hockey at Pascack Valley High.

To get to St. Peter’s in Jersey City, he’d take the train through the Meadowlands, passing the Devils’ former arena, which went by multiple names, and Giants Stadium, the forerunner of MetLife Stadium. There was a stop in East Rutherford. He’d get off in Hoboken.

He watched his high school win a football state championship at Giants Stadium. He said he wasn’t a big pro football fan. But asked if he rooted for the New York Giants or the New York Jets -- who once played at Giants Stadium and now play at MetLife Stadium -- he said he leaned slightly toward the Giants. The Islanders used the Giants locker room Thursday.

“Yeah,” he said. “All familiar sights.”

Palmieri played for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program -- then based in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- from 2007-09. The Anaheim Ducks took him in the first round (No. 26) of the 2009 NHL Draft. After a season at Notre Dame, he split three seasons between the NHL and the American Hockey League.

He established himself as a full-time NHLer in 2013-14, when the Ducks got to play in a Stadium Series. He had an assist in a 3-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25, 2014.

“It’s just such a fun event,” he said. “You kind of wish you could be a part of them all the time.”

But this will be the first time Palmieri has gotten to play in an NHL outdoor game since.

After another season with the Ducks, he came home to play five seasons and part of another with the Devils, who traded him to the Islanders on April 7, 2021. This is his fourth season on Long Island.

“It's been an incredible journey,” he said.

Palmieri has 32 points (15 goals, 17 assists) in 35 games, including seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past six games.

“Very happy with him,” said Patrick Roy, who replaced Lane Lambert as Islanders coach Jan. 20. “He’s been playing really well with [forward Brock Nelson], scoring a lot of goals for us. Great vet for our team. Great vet.”

Which makes this a great story.

“I think it’s obviously cool,” Palmieri said. “I think it’s a cool experience for everybody in this room and our fans and the staff. It’s just a cool event to be a part of. Fortunately enough for me, obviously being familiar with his area and being from here, we’ll have a lot of family watching and some friends keeping tabs on it.”

Palmieri and his wife, Ashlee, have a son, Luca, who just turned 2. Luca was on the ice at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, just like his dad was for the Islanders, just like his dad was as a kid in New Jersey once upon a time.

“My little guy’s obviously a little young and not quite skating on his own yet,” Palmieri said, smiling, “But it’s definitely something as a family that we’ll remember for a long time.”