Sport: Hockey
Born: February 1, 1991
Town: Montvale, New Jersey
Kyle Charles Palmieri was born February 1, 1991 in Smithtown, Long Island and grew up in the northern Bergen County suburb of Montvale, NJ. Kyle developed into an elite hockey prospect as part of the Devils’ Pee Wee program, although he was a childhood fan of the New York Rangers. He had above-average speed and a lot of energy. Kyle also had a quick, accurate shot. He attended St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, which had a quality hockey program. He led the school to its first #1 state ranking in 2007.
Kyle spent the next two years in Ann Arbor as part of the USA Hockey Development Program and earned a scholarship to Notre Dame. He was also selected by the Anaheim Ducks with the 26th pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. In 2009–10, Kyle was a member of the national U20 team and had 8 assists in 7 games on the way to a gold medal at the World Junior Tournament in Saskatchewan. He was less effective for the Fighting Irish that season, with 9 goals and 8 assists in 33 games.
After Kyle’s freshman year, he decided to turn pro. He played for Anaheim in a handful of games in the fall of 2010 before being sent down to the AHL Syracuse Crunch. In 62 minor-league games, Kyle scored 29 goals and had 22 assists. He split the next two seasons bak and forth between the AHL and the NHL.
Kyle finally earned regular shifts at right wing for Anaheim in 2013–14 and 2014–15 and scored 14 goals each season. In November 2013, he scored the game-winner against the Rangers in his first-ever game in Madison Square Garden.
After the 2015 playoffs, the Ducks traded Kyle to the New Jersey Devils. He tallied career-highs of 30 goals 57 points in his first year with the club, becoming one of the top offensive players on a goal-starved team. Kyle scored 140 times in five-plus seasons with the Davils. He also did good work on defense, showing a particular aptitude for forechecking. Kyle was a member of the 2016 US World Cup squad along with fellow New Jerseyans James van Riemsdyk and John Carslon.
In 2019, Kyle was picked to replace teammate Taylor Hall in the 2019 NHL All-Star Game. In 2019–20, he scored his first hat trick as a Devil against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Later that year, the team began a rebuild but their asking price for Kyle was very high. Kyle stayed with the Devils until late i the 2020–21 season, when he was packaged with Travis Zajac and traded ti the Islanders. In Kyle first playoff game with the Isles, he scored th overtime game-winner in a 4–3 victory over the Penguins. He found the net 6 more times as New York went to the conference finals against Tampa, but fell short 4 games to 3.