During the 2022 offseason, Ondrej Palat signed a five-year, $30 million ($6 million AAV) deal with the New Jersey Devils. His first year didn’t go as planned, especially since he had to deal with a groin injury. His end-of-the-year stats were mediocre, but I believe he’s bound to have a bounce-back season. I forgot to mention Kevin Bahl’s name in yesterday’s episode, so I decided to talk about his impact and my expectations for him.
Interview soundbite: Ondrej Palat
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5 Comments
I liked how Palat set the tone with the early goal and playing hard early. The Devils last season had a lot of sluggish first periods and they're not going to have that luxury this season they're going to need leaders like Palat to get them going start to finish. You also have to remember the Devils aren't like other teams they're not building a top 6 they're building a top 9. And yeah, Bahl did awesome. I was very impressed.
Health has been an issue throughout Palat’s career, but if he can play 75 games he should be able to produce 45-50 pts which is his career average while being a solid two way player.
Palat is more than just a veteran forward.
Plenty of the players spoke out about learning from him and how important it is to have a player that makes an impact even on the bench by reading the game well.
Dano's platonic love for Palat also comes from understanding how important it is to have a player who has great hockey brain and how much advantage it gives to the whole team.
Palat and Haula will be the soul of this team. I'm happy that you've given them a lot of love. Obviously there are also other players like McLeod that can with their individual story REALLY send this team to another level. Why McLeod? Low ego "bust" player that has already broke the glass prison in 2023 playoffs and could be the mental leader for the 23-24 team.
Timo Meier & Jesper Bratt can’t play on the third line, obviously, but I’m hopeful Palat will make the best out of it on there, even if he’s overpaid or not, we still need that championship experience he brings to the Devils.