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

[SKNJD9]

Probably the same reason the team hasnt announced the two smaller deals we know about as well. Dugan and Pinho, they just havent wanted to yet or theyre dong it all at once

 

[Mgd31]

Where Fitz?

 

[Devs3cups]

Where Fitz?

Working the phones.

 

[britdevil]

Probably the same reason the team hasnt announced the two smaller deals we know about as well. Dugan and Pinho, they just havent wanted to yet or theyre dong it all at once

That makes no sense….

Where Fitz?

At f***ing Denny’s with Lou apparently….

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

Where Fitz?

We’re gonna need some silver bullets.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Umm yeah. If any team loses their best center and best winger, their forward core isn't going to look good. Even Colorado had JT Compher playing 2C for stretches. They had like NAK in the top-six for a time. That's what happens.

Like I said, see post 906 for the logic. I would have preferred the Devils to add to their "experience" bucket more cheaply, still have room to improve the roster elsewhere, and still have more long-term cap flexibility.

I've said numerous times I think Palat is a good player. But it's a bad contract. And the wrong timing. If the Devils seriously wanted to contend next season, then I wouldn't have a huge problem with it. Sometimes you gotta pay the piper. But the Devils aren't even at that point yet.

There's no logic. You're saying that signing mediocre players who happened to be on playoff teams is as valuable as signing good players. Again - signing Palat has nothing to do with bringing in veteran depth at other positions. You're acting like we can only do one or the other.

We had literally three great forwards and two good forwards, the rest was replaceable trash. Zacha, Tatar, Bastian, Kuokkanen, Boqvist, Johnsson, Vesey, McLeod....there's like three NHL players in there. It's all fodder. That's not good enough. We need better forwards.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

I can't help but think that this Palat contract is going to really hinder us in the future.

 

[Darkauron]

I can't help but think that this Palat contract is going to really hinder us in the future.

Its not

 

[megajake]

I can't help but think that this Palat contract is going to really hinder us in the future.

Of course it will. Dude has so much miles on his body from all these cup runs as well. Cannot believe we gave him that term with 6 million a year. It has to be the worst contract in free agency so far

 

[Forge]

Where Fitz?

Thor Love and Thunder started 25 minutes ago

I can't help but think that this Palat contract is going to really hinder us in the future.

Only if he completely bombs right out the gate.

 

[devilsfan35]

See Andrew Ladd, Milan lucic, JVR….
You don’t give long term contracts to players like palat. Whatever though, fitz knows what he’s doing

 

[JrFischer54]

I can't help but think that this Palat contract is going to really hinder us in the future.

tell me you don't know anything about the cap without telling me you don't know anything about the cap.

 

[Jets012]

Okay the "cap doesn't exist" takes have gone way too far lol

 

[Nico Hischier]

People are gonna complain no matter what fitz does. I like the moves he made getting a vet for the top 6 and a vet for the defense both fitting needs both bringing leadership, experience and some grit to a young team.

People complain they don’t like the contract but then would complain if we didn’t sign anyone. Maybe Palat wouldn’t sign for less term or less aav I don’t think it’s a bad contract wish he was a year or 2 younger tho. if it becomes a bad contract then we will deal with it at that time but right now it’s fine

 

[Bleedred]

I still don't like it much, but I also don't vehemently hate it.

All the more reason to be mindful of signing guys like Blackwood, Graves, Wood, long term and into their UFA years.

We already disposed of Zacha, who was right at the very top of that list, so it's a good start.

 

[NJDevs26]

Okay the "cap doesn't exist" takes have gone way too far lol

The cap exists, it's just a lot easier to make moves with it than many of you are making it out to be.

 

[megajake]

Palat certainly makes us better/harder to play against, but I feel like we should have just tanked again. What's the point of being mediocre?

 

[MauDevils]

Look how easy it was for the Flyers to dump JVR. The cap has never cost anybody a star player.

 

[NJDevs26]

Look how easy it was for the Flyers to dump JVR. The cap has never cost anybody a star player.

Because JVR was really the only bad contract the Flyers had. And they didn't also blow other assets (picks, players) to acquire said bad contracts. If they had a second-rounder before like 2026 maybe they could have moved the contract for that. But they didn't so people were holding them up for a first.

You guys take the most extreme examples of a bad strategy and immediately compare one single move to that.

 

[JrFischer54]

Look how easy it was for the Flyers to dump JVR. The cap has never cost anybody a star player.

they could've moved it if they really wanted to. didn't seem they really wanted johnny so they didn't make the move.

 

[Nico Hischier]

Palat certainly makes us better/harder to play against, but I feel like we should have just tanked again. What's the point of being mediocre?

Our tanking is over. It’s time we develop a winning culture with our young core. Adding Palat helps with that

 

[Guttersniped]

Palat is the rare player that both stats nerds and eye testers agree is underrated.











That sure is a lot of blue. He's going to be a very good player for us. So excuse me if I'm not hating this deal because of what might happen to the cap in 5 years.

I don’t think this was a “oh, shit” we need someone and he won two Cups! I think Fitz specifically wanted him and he paid up for him.

Also remember Fitz’s “”Whatever It Takes” motto from the end of the season presser, which was on rookie development camp t-shirts.

I forget exactly but it was a list with finishing your checks, blocking a shot, puck battles, etc.

And Palat is near the top of Tampa’s forwards in blocks, hits and he battles. He does all that shit while being a creative playmaker who can play with elite players. Cooper adored him and the Lightning hated losing him.

And I’m a big believer in vet leadership, Zajac and Greene were critical pieces that taught every young player on the roster with them a ton. Tatar is nice fella and is playing that role but he’s leaving and not exactly the ideal player for it.

Just being a vet, even a vet from a cup team, doesn’t give you influence necessarily but this dude just scored 21 points (w/ 11 goals, including 3 game winners) in 23 PO games. He’s going to be a rock star in that room with the younger players. And he “plays the right way” in every sense of the phrase.

I’m as budget conscience as anyone on the board but this one contract won’t kill us. Fitz can’t hand out more like it or the bloat will be an issue. The cap is just a puzzle, until I see him start putting us in a jam I’m not worried.

I wish to god this was less than 6m, just 5m+something would make it look better lol but he was going to be in high demand and Fitz likely wanted him locked up now.

if we have to buy him out in 3 years, we're stuck w 3M AAV for 4 years.

3M AAV will be about 3.33% of the cap (assuming 90M limit) -- are we going to be spending up to that amount? bc if we are, that assumes we've succeeded at the rebuild, so why should we be complaining at that point?

Other people might have corrected you (I’m behind lol) but just like Cory, the buyout is 2m a year for a 6m deal. IF (and that’s a big if) it’s a straightforward regular old-fashioned 6m salary a year deal.

We don’t know if there’s any signing bonuses though. You can make a deal basically “buy out proof” by getting paid in signing bonuses in the last seasons of a deal.

So I’m curious how this deal is set up.

Dougie’s deal was an adventure but he was a very big fish.

Dougie’s deal is middle/back loaded like a lot of post-COVID big deals to avoid the huge escrow % of these seasons.

You can see the big signing bonuses in his year 5 & 6, that make it buy out proof.

If we bought Dougie out before 2025-26 we would have a 8m cap hit in the first two years. If we bought him out before 2026-27 we would have 9m cap hit the first year.

You can also see that he has a 1m salary in 2026-27 after his signing bonus is paid and then has no signing bonus & a smaller salary (5.25m) in 2027-28. His full NTC changes to 10 team No Trade Clause in 2025-26 as well.

That sets up two scenarios at the end of his contract.

We pulled Toronto-style move, creating a player who makes very little salary in his last two seasons, after his last big signing bonus is paid, to make a trade more palatable. (Hey, it worked for San Jose with Burns.)

And a buy out in the last season isn’t great but 3.5m of cap space is saved.

 

[bossram]

There's no logic. You're saying that signing mediocre players who happened to be on playoff teams is as valuable as signing good players. Again - signing Palat has nothing to do with bringing in veteran depth at other positions. You're acting like we can only do one or the other.

We had literally three great forwards and two good forwards, the rest was replaceable trash. Zacha, Tatar, Bastian, Kuokkanen, Boqvist, Johnsson, Vesey, McLeod....there's like three NHL players in there. It's all fodder. That's not good enough. We need better forwards.

Nope. Literally not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is you can add leadership/experience and talent without breaking the bank.

You know it is possible to say that, 1. Palat is a good player, and 2. it is a bad contract. Both things can be true.

You'd be surprised how many "trash" forwards are on other teams much better than the Devils then.

And again as I've said repeatedly, I wouldn't even have a problem with the Palat deal if the Devils were already in a competitive position. This is a win-now move.

 

[HersheyBob27]

Doing something Zacha+Jarnkrok rather than Palat+Haula would’ve been smarter. Yes Zacha+Jarnrkok is worse but it’s not crazy better and it doesn’t hinder you long term

Couldn’t agree with you more here

 

[megajake]

Our tanking is over. It’s time we develop a winning culture with our young core. Adding Palat helps with that

We are still nowhere close to being a playoff contender. Supposedly this draft has an insane amount of young talent. We waited 10 years, what's another going to do?