Ondrej Palat Is Now Signed for 2017-18

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

From NBC Sports:

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/07/14/reports-lightning-land-ondrej-palat-for-5-3m-per-year-avoid-arbitration/

 

Capfriendly's breakdown of new contract:

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/ondrej-palat

 

Steve Yzerman and the TB Lightning have gotten the last of the major pieces re-signed for the 2017-18 campaign when Ondrej Palat inked a deal for 5 yrs / $5.3M AAV.

 

Palat, another Bolts player who underperformed and was hampered by injuries last season, only scored 17 goals while accruing 52 points on the season, hopes to get back to form and find himself free of nagging problems of various sorts.

 

His past season wasn't "terrible" by many players' standards, but for him, yea, it was kinda  a down year marked with streak both good and bad.

At his best, I believe Palat easily scores 20+ goals and 60+ points or so should be the norm for him. In addition, he normally is among the team leaders in hits and is a capable agitator as well.

 

Of the Bolts' "Triplets" (Palat, Johnson, Kucherov), Ondrej is the least flashy and glamorous, but, IMO, happens to be the guy that 'stirs the drink', does the dirty work and creates space while setting up the likes of Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov.

 

Interestingly, Palat will be making slightly more than Tyler Johnson in AAV with their new contracts, however, Johnson's is worth more overall as he has a 7 year term as opposed to Palat's 5.

 

Why 5? Not sure. Most may say 5 is the perfect amount...not too long, but committed enough.

Perhaps Yzerman, knowing full well Palats somewhat rugged style, figured Ondrej may be more susceptible to body wear as time goes on.

But then again, Johnson, while not as physical as Palat, still is the recipient of some hellacious checking from non co-operative opposing defenses.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other? Probably.

 

At any rate, nice to see Palat return at a reasonable rate, but he, like Tyler Johnson, will have much to prove this coming season.

Their Triplet brother Nikita Kucherov has far exceeded their production numbers, but that doesn't mean Tyler Johnson, and especially Ondrej Palat, won't be playing important roles in the Lightning's success this coming year.

 

Welcome back to the fold, Ondrej Palat!

[jammer2]

 I tell ya TFG, I REALLY like what Stevie did in this off season. He's put himself in the talk for top 5 GM's in the league this summer. He was in a bind, and worked his way out masterfully. I theorize he did not think Drouin was "championship" material, ie, not a cornerstone to build around. He's super skilled, but I think there was other parts of Douin's game that rubbed Stevie the wrong way. Stevie, of course played the way it was supposed to be played, every night, every shift....so he has high standards, and he SHOULD HAVE. So what does he do, he STEALS one of the best dmen prospects alive in Sergachev. This kid is gonna score some highlight reel goals. I have seen him make rushes that gave me chills, he is a superstar, plain and simple. The one probelm I have noticed his the skating, he can turn it off and on like butter, but he gears up every once and while, but he needs to maintain his speed at the pro level, he does a bit to much gliding and will have to cut it out at the next level. Just pure skating and rushing ability, I believe he'll be top 5 in the league. When he goes into his top gear, nobody, and I mean nobody is catching him. 

 

Craig Morgan: Salary breakdown for Palat: 2017-18 – $5.6 million, 2018-19 – $6.855 million, 2019-20 – $5.3 million, 2020-21 – $3.445 million and 2021-22 – $5.3 million.

Renaud Lavoie: The Lightning signed Michael Bournival to a one-year, two-way deal for $650,000.

 

 If you look at the salary breakdown for Palat, I think Stevie stuctured it that way on purpose. It goes from 5.6 to 6.8 then down to 5.3 and then way down to 3.4 and back up to 5.3. I believe this makes him a tad more tradeable in the second last year, a cheaper team might find paying him an actual salary of 8.7 mill for 2 years of service. Damn, it's a bargain now, in 3 years, it will be gold, make him way more valuable as a trade chip....smart, smart, smart. 

 

 Like the signing if Bornival also. He has offensive upside, low risk, high reward...again, smart. 

[yave1964]

Love what Yzerman has done locking up the right people long term and giving short term deals to the players with stuff to prove. very few bad contracts in Tampa (Callahan comes to mind, that is about it) and a core that should remain intact for five years. This is what a team with a plan looks like, they are proactive rather than being panicky and reactive.

[jammer2]

19 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Love what Yzerman has done locking up the right people long term and giving short term deals to the players with stuff to prove. very few bad contracts in Tampa (Callahan comes to mind, that is about it) and a core that should remain intact for five years. This is what a team with a plan looks like, they are proactive rather than being panicky and reactive.

 

 Stevie is a lot like the Hill Street Blues credo...."let's do it to them, before they do it to us"!! 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

@jammer2

@yave1964

 

Guys, if and/or when Stevie Y decides to vacate the Lightning GM's chair, whomever succeeds him will have a tough act to follow!

I agree...Bolts fans really can't ask for a much better job than Yzerman has done with this team.

 

And it wasn't like he was just handed a good team. He started there when the team was still a bunch of nobodies/unknowns and has seen his share of team struggles and bottom feeding from the GM's position.

But he and his hockey intelligent staff have given this franchise solid NHL credibility.....now, the team needs to do their part and reward their GM with a Stanley Cup!

 

I mean, the Tampa Bay Lightning went from having decent ownership/management to laughing stock ownership/management then back to the current regime of top notch management (and Jeff Vinik as owner has been incredible too).

I still laugh my head off when I think, years ago, of people making fun Yzerman in the GM's chair...

 

"Oh, he doesn't know what he is doing"

"Meh..great player, not so good manager"

"Yzerman is clueless....if he wasn't he wouldn't have taken a hockey job in Florida"

"Yzerman will regret (or Yzerman won't last long) being an NHL GM...especially with the Lightning"

 

Yep...these were some of the things I heard from hockey fans in general, and even from some Bolts fans too.

I sincerely hope the crow that has been served to those people over the last several years continues to be nice n yummy... 

 

As for bad contracts, right now, I'd have to agree the Callahan one looks that way. At the time it was made, didn't seem like it, and when he IS healthy, Ryan Callahan is definitely a force on the ice.

But as we have seen, he isn't aging too well as a player, makes too much for what he is actually producing...and the Bolts are on the hook still for 3 more seasons.

 

Ahh, well...at least we can see Yzerman is still human, makes mistakes like the rest of us......but still, none of us would be able to hold a candle to the job he has done for the Lightning.

 

[OccamsRazor]

58 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Guys, if and/or when Stevie Y decides to vacate the Lightning GM's chair, whomever succeeds him will have a tough act to follow!

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Thanks, OR!