Confirmed with Link: Weekesbomb: Palat to NJ for five-year deal

[Traitor Zach]

It's not just signing a player over 30. If they signed Palat for 3 years at $5m, that would have been fine. 5 years at $6 million is just a bad contract.

I don't get why it's so difficult to agree that (1) it's a bad contract and (2) Palat is still a solid 2nd line player. Both things can be true. Given this team's timeline, they're going to regret the contract in their peak years.

Who would you have signed? Also who was willing to come here. Clearly Gaudreau wasn't.

You can't complain about giving out term with a FA when teams all over are doing it the same, and you don't have a comparable option internally or cap alternative situation forcing you to, that's why you go to FA market. Also, who is the Palat option B internally? Devils have a ton of ??? with their forward prospects right now. They needed a top 6 buffer even just to buy a little time for some guys to develop and get tested or flushed out for the next group to get their shot.

 

[Triumph]

Sign...Jesper...Bratt.

I'm getting such a bad feeling about this.

Because you think bad things about everything. Do you understand that almost no players in Jesper Bratt's situation have signed contracts? Those come later in the offseason when the big UFAs have been dealt with.

 

[OmNomNom]

Yeah, IDK what to say if you don’t think $6 million is a lot. I think it will do significant harm to our chances of winning a cup, I guess we’ll see.

6M is a lot, but i think we're bringing him in for more than just points (mentorship, leadership, etc)

and significant harm is relative to how many points he ends up putting up, right? because we have nico and hughes contracts, but we don't think they're bad. so let's just see where Palat ends up. if he ends up shitting the bed and putting up only 0.5 p/g then 100% agree it ends up being bad

 

[Devil X]

Yeah, IDK what to say if you don’t think $6 million is a lot. I think it will do significant harm to our chances of winning a cup, I guess we’ll see.

If 6 million dollars does significant harm to us winning a Cup then we have bigger problems. With all the "great" young talent we have in the pipleline most of our roster, if it all works out, should be on ELCs or first contracts, none of those talents will likely make more the Jack or Nico, outside maybe Nemec but thats 3 years away at the very least.

The cap will go up and the percentage this contact takes up will likely be less than 5% of our cap. Currently Tatar is 5.5% and Johnnson is 4.1, neither of those deals is effecting or will effect our ability to do anything now or in the future.

Fact is 6 million now is not what 6 million in the NHL was 4-6 years ago. It also won't be what it is now in 4-6 years value wise vs a cap.

 

[Unknown Caller]

even if that is the case (which it won't) who freaking cares! its not going to hurt us trying to bring players in and seeing how johnny wouldn't take MORE to come here its pretty slim pickings out there on who will want to come here. is this your money thats being spent?

It doesn't matter who's money it is, there's a salary cap. You're either going to miss the opportunity to add/extend key players in the contending window or you're going to have to dish out valuable assets for another team to take the contract off your hands. It's just not the position that you should be putting yourself in as a well run organization with a healthy cap picture.

 

[Devils731]

Getting away from the contract.

We’ve all probably seen Palat play a bunch. Games against the devils, national games, playoffs, etc…

Tampa has a lot of stars but, for me, Palat was often a guy standing out as making the right play at the right time, pressing the other team into an error, and rarely looking out of place.

The Devils have probably lacked a guy like that since Coleman so I think this will definitely be helpful in the short term and hopefully Palat holds up decently long term.

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

lots of bad faith arguments. Some being contrarian just for the sake, others bringing up bad points because their emotions are taking over their brain. Skipping over 3 valid points but focusing on the one aspect you disagree with, etc.

Taking a break for a couple days.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Who would you have signed? Also who was willing to come here. Clearly Gaudreau wasn't.

You can't complain about giving out term with a FA when teams all over are doing it the same, and you don't have a comparable option internally or cap alternative situation forcing you to, that's why you go to FA market. Also, who is the Palat option B internally? Devils have a ton of ??? with their forward prospects right now. They needed a top 6 buffer even just to buy a little time for some guys to develop and get tested or flushed out for the next group to get their shot.

As I said yesterday when Gaudreau came off the board, I would have stood pat and rolled with what we had for now unless another trade opportunity popped up before the season. No move is better than a stupid move that you're going to regret.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Ondrej Palat is not going to be the difference between winning and losing.

The Devils forward core is set. Players like Palat are the perfect addition to round out a young and uber skilled top 6 and help them take they next step towards a winning team. So yes, he might be.

 

[minibrodeur]

Yes. How many effective NHLers, especially at forward, can you name that are older than 33? Almost none, and the ones that are were the best players in the league in their prime (Marchand, Crosby, Ovechkin, Pavelski, etc.).

It's gonna be a rough contract for probably the last 3 years.

I think that depends on what you deem as "effective". Sure the price may be high for what he brings in his last 2 years but theres no reason to think he will be ineffective by the time he's 33. Most people supported a Perron deal, he's 34 and just signed for 2 years. Cogliano's 35 and just signed a deal with the Stanley Cup champions probably because they deemed his contributions effective. We're not expecting Palat to lead the team in points, IMO he is a player that brings alot more than that. He brings intangibles that make him an effective hockey player without the big numbers.

 

[JrFischer54]

It's not just signing a player over 30. If they signed Palat for 3 years at $5m, that would have been fine. 5 years at $6 million is just a bad contract.

I don't get why it's so difficult to agree that (1) it's a bad contract and (2) Palat is still a solid 2nd line player. Both things can be true. Given this team's timeline, they're going to regret the contract in their peak years.

who knew that a bottom 5 team signing a 30 year old player to a 5 year deal would break the teams peak years but here we are. 6 million a year broke the devils long term plans

 

[njdevil26]

Couldn't care less about the money. You're always going to overpay for UFAs. I like the move.

Palat-Hughes-Sharangovich
Bratt-Hischier-Holtz
Tatar-Haula-Mercer
Wood-McLeod/Boqvist-Bastian

I would still like a top six RW.

Palat-Hughes-NEW GUY
Bratt-Hischier-Holtz
Sharangovich-Haula-Mercer
Wood-McLeod/Boqvist-Bastian

 

[JrFischer54]

The handwringing over our ~2026 cap situation is bizarre.

That is how bad teams stay bad.

dude its been like that for years here. we might maybe possibly someday need that money! nevermind if palat can possibly help lead this group of kids who have known nothing but losing for the last 5 years.

 

[Unknown Caller]

I think that depends on what you deem as "effective". Sure the price may be high for what he brings in his last 2 years but theres no reason to think he will be ineffective by the time he's 33. Most people supported a Perron deal, he's 34 and just signed for 2 years. Cogliano's 35 and just signed a deal with the Stanley Cup champions probably because they deemed his contributions effective. We're not expecting Palat to lead the team in points, IMO he is a player that brings alot more than that. He brings intangibles that make him an effective hockey player without the big numbers.

Cogliano was/is making $1 mil at 34/35 years old. Not $6 mil. Big difference. You can easily deal with a declining vet bringing intangibles at 35 years old when his cap hit is nothing.

 

[JrFischer54]

Yeah, IDK what to say if you don’t think $6 million is a lot. I think it will do significant harm to our chances of winning a cup, I guess we’ll see.

can we please play meaningful hockey games past the new year first before we start to think about a cup?

 

[OmNomNom]

Cogliano was/is making $1 mil at 34/35 years old. Not $6 mil. Big difference. You can easily deal with a declining vet bringing intangibles at 35 years old when his cap hit is nothing.

you can only get that discount as a competitive team. guys will take paycuts to win. guys WON'T take paycuts to join competitors

that's how the avs got a sweet deal w nuke

 

[EnglishDevil]

That's a terrible contract but it's not really that big of a deal. The cap will probably start moving up again over the next few years and we don't have much money committed long-term as it is, worst case is that we may end up buying out the final year if he falls of a cliff.

 

[minibrodeur]

Tampa has 79,7m cap payroll already for 23/24 season with 12 players signed - how would they do it? Some other team would have do it. And I don't have a problem with signing.

Tampa is the cap experts, if they want to keep someone they'll find a way to make it happen. If Palat was willing to take a team friendly deal they woulda found a way to move Killorn or something similar.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Getting away from the contract.

We’ve all probably seen Palat play a bunch. Games against the devils, national games, playoffs, etc…

Tampa has a lot of stars but, for me, Palat was often a guy standing out as making the right play at the right time, pressing the other team into an error, and rarely looking out of place.

The Devils have probably lacked a guy like that since Coleman so I think this will definitely be helpful in the short term and hopefully Palat holds up decently long term.

I agree. I do think his age/contract is clouding how solid of a player he is. I didn’t really want to make this move, but he literally does the little things well that we suck at. And he has shown the ability to play with top talent effectively.

When Jack is peaking as a 100+ point player, he can be the old fart winning battles and being where he needs to be.

 

[BostonDevil]

Just chiming in to say I like the player, not thrilled about the deal but in the end I see him as a replacement for both Tatar and Johnsson, but with legit winning pedigree to bring to the room.

Need to pay to get FAs and this is someone that hopefully helps off the ice as well.

 

[TF1970]

the only positive about this one is with the cap set to probably jump quite a bit within the next few years, hopefully $6 million right now is the equivalent of $4 million in the near future.

 

[JrFischer54]

It doesn't matter who's money it is, there's a salary cap. You're either going to miss the opportunity to add/extend key players in the contending window or you're going to have to dish out valuable assets for another team to take the contract off your hands. It's just not the position that you should be putting yourself in as a well run organization with a healthy cap picture.

so much to unpack here.

a 2nd round pick is a valuable asset? whats the % on a player picked in the 2nd round to even crack the nhl? better yet to even make an impact? exactly.
our contending window isn't even open yet we don't even know if we will have one

 

[njdevil26]

We have 15 million in additional money coming off after next season with Tatar, Johnsson, Graves, and Haula... that's if Fitz doesn't move Tatar/Johnsson now. That's also in addition to the cap freeze finally ending and it's going to jump up 3+ million. I REALLY don't care about the money on this deal lol.

 

[Triumph]

I don't like the deal, but I love it for the short term and don't think it will have onerous consequences long-term. We're all used to a stable cap environment. It's not going to be that way over the course of this contract. So when the cap's at $93M 3 years into this deal, what does Palat look like?

It's not hard to look at the Devils' long-term future and want to see a contract there, just some stability. While I would've wanted Max Pacioretty, him being here for just a season doesn't help matters much. So it's an overpay, but the Devils will have hopefully have all the other stuff in spades, experience less so, and Palat definitely helps in that regard.

 

[vtdevils2k]

Couldn't care less about the money. You're always going to overpay for UFAs. I like the move.

Palat-Hughes-Sharangovich
Bratt-Hischier-Holtz
Tatar-Haula-Mercer
Wood-McLeod/Boqvist-Bastian

I would still like a top six RW.

Palat-Hughes-NEW GUY
Bratt-Hischier-Holtz
Sharangovich-Haula-Mercer
Wood-McLeod/Boqvist-Bastian

I agree with this.

That lineup would look damn great with a "Pastrnak or "Tkachuk" in that top 3. Much deeper.

Curious to see what Fitz does going forward.

Also, really hope Holtz turns into that sniper at the NHL level.