Player Discussion: Ondrej Palat

[Volodya Krutov]

We had two other lines playing strong hockey last night though. I think Coop really likes what the third line's bringing right now and he's rewarding them with ice time. The top line was pressing too and getting a lot of the D-zone faceoffs. I don't think TKO's time was reduced last night because their play was off. They created a lot of chances.

Well I agree about everything you said, that's why I mentioned the depth on this team, I mean in the first period I was literally saying to myself "this team has an amazing depth when the TKO playing ok can be the "worst" line on your team tonight". In the 2nd and 3rd period the TKO slowly started to look dominant again though.

What I presume Cooper reduced the TKO's ice-time because of health concern, not because of their play but that's just me.

 

[Glide5]

Well, TKO is starting to get harder competition since they had the breakout over the last month+. Once they get used to playing a tougher role, they will get going again. At the least, it opens up the top line some potentially, because you can only counter so many lines.

 

[chasespace]

Well, TKO is starting to get harder competition since they had the breakout over the last month+. Once they get used to playing a tougher role, they will get going again. At the least, it opens up the top line some potentially, because you can only counter so many lines.

It's not even that. The past few games there are multiple spells of dominance by the TKO line in the offensive third where they're shooting the puck at will but they just can't seem to get it past the goalie. The skill is obvious, they're just having a bad run of puck luck it seems. Once those bounces start going their way they are going to destroy teams again.

 

[The Macho King]

Bumping this for a reason.

When Palat missed a couple of games and Vlad was tasked with replacing him on TKO (or Drouin for that matter) - the line just didn't work. Johnson goes down, and TKO (now VKO) goes without a hitch.

Straw that stirs the drink. This kid is too damn good. I know Johnson gets the love as our MVP this season, but I don't know if it's not actually Palat. He just always makes the best play.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

Bumping this for a reason.

When Palat missed a couple of games and Vlad was tasked with replacing him on TKO (or Drouin for that matter) - the line just didn't work. Johnson goes down, and TKO (now VKO) goes without a hitch.

Straw that stirs the drink. This kid is too damn good. I know Johnson gets the love as our MVP this season, but I don't know if it's not actually Palat. He just always makes the best play.

The guy does everything right. There's not a flaw in his game.

 

[c_robio]

Bumping this for a reason.

When Palat missed a couple of games and Vlad was tasked with replacing him on TKO (or Drouin for that matter) - the line just didn't work. Johnson goes down, and TKO (now VKO) goes without a hitch.

Straw that stirs the drink. This kid is too damn good. I know Johnson gets the love as our MVP this season, but I don't know if it's not actually Palat. He just always makes the best play.

Agree

Killorn was also tried there earlier in the year when palat was hurt and it didn't look near as good

Johnson and Palat should never be broken up imo.

 

[MattM92]

29 other teams are kicking themselves. 417 other players were picked in the 2010 and 2011 draft before we picked him. I bet we would have a really hard time finding 10 guys out of those 417 who are better than Palat.

 

[DFC]

TKO, VKO, 18-9-26, 18-51-24...

Palat is ALWAYS on our hottest line. Always.

 

[Houdas]

Also, he is right now 14th in the league in assists, 2nd in the league in Points/60 (2.97) at even strength, only after TJ (3.02). Arguably, Palat is more of a defensive type of a forward than TJ.

As far as my thinking goes, that really narrow gap between their P/60 makes Palát my personal MVP.

 

[Stamper]

Palat is Hossa reborn.

If Hossa had played like he plays now when he was as old as Palat is now. Being uber-good defensive winger at his age is remarkable, I remember only handful of those in the past 20 years.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Only 3 players, Nugent-Hopkins (187 pts), Landeskog (189 pts), and Saad (123 pts) have more career points than Palat (122 pts) from the 2011 draft. Saad has played 201 games and RNH (256 gp) and Landeskog (275 gp) have both played about 100 games more than Palat (165 gp).

 

[Sky04]

He's also nearly a career +70 in 2 seasons. Johnson is still MVP of the year due to consistency but Palat has surpassed Stralman for 2nd right now.

 

[DFC]

He's also nearly a career +70 in 2 seasons. Johnson is still MVP of the year due to consistency but Palat has surpassed Stralman for 2nd right now.

Agreed. If Palat hadn't taken a while to warm up this year, who knows? Makes you wonder what kind of offensive numbers he can put up with a hot start to the season. But I can't see anyone saying he hasn't established himself as a 60 point, two-way winger. That's a rare animal in the NHL these days. There might be 10-12 wingers capable of combining that level of production with that level of D. And that might be a bit generous on the D side.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say
But nothing comes out when they move their lips
Just a bunch of gibberish

And mother******* act like they forgot about Drej

gettyimages

 

[Swingit]

From what I've seen: Palat is your best player. He does it all, and makes everyone around him better: battles hard, wins pucks, creates space for others. Just the ultimate gritty, skilled player. He's kinda like Toews, tbh.

 

[DFC]

From what I've seen: Palat is your best player. He does it all, and makes everyone around him better: battles hard, wins pucks, creates space for others. Just the ultimate gritty, skilled player. He's kinda like Toews, tbh.

I have no idea who our best player is. Palat is a pretty good candidate though. It's always great to see an outside fan recognize this rather than the usual, "Stamkos, duh" stuff.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

Someone above said it best, he can be Hossa 2.0. I think he needs to refine a few of his offensive skills to hit that level but there's time.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Drej's already one hell of a playmaking winger, his main weakness, his shot, has been in the post-season actually pretty effective and accurate. With that release over a complete season he's flirting with the 1 point per game mark I believe.

 

[Sky04]

Drej's already one hell of a playmaking winger, his main weakness, his shot, has been in the post-season actually pretty effective and accurate. With that release over a complete season he's flirting with the 1 point per game mark I believe.

He also has a tendency to go cold for pretty long periods, if he could play at the level he always plays post January, Palat could put up huge numbers.

Had a monster 2nd half to his rookie season, same thing in his sophomore season and once again the same thing in the playoffs after the Detroit series.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Jere Lethinen 2.0 maybe?

 

[Rschmitz]

Jere Lethinen 2.0 maybe?

Best comparison. I see a lot of room for Palat's game to grow

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Patrik Elias

 

[Swingit]

Jere Lethinen 2.0 maybe?

He was sort of a defensive type player, right? Looking at the stats it seems like Palat is way better than him offensively.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Best article on Drej I had the chance to read, very touching. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/palat-inspired-by-kubinas-2004-cup-experience/


As for comparison in style I saw Jeff Marek with an interesting one: Zetterberg

 

[Vasilevskiy]

For Palat, Kubina was a beacon of hope. The 13-year-old was the biggest Lightning fan you could find 8,000 kilometres from Tampa and he had his dad wake him up in the middle of the night to watch them beat Calgary in the Stanley Cup final.

Excellent, I bet he will take a home discount