Player Discussion: Ondrej Palat

[LightningStrikes]

The guy deserves his own thread. Hardly anybody outside of Tampa has him on their radar. He's been one of our best players during pre-season and he's been nothing short of spectacular in the past few games.

Impressions from last night:

Lightning coach Jon Cooper had quite a list of things he said Ondrej Palat does well. He plays defense. He controls the puck. He plays physically.

And for the past few games, Cooper said, Palat has been the Lightning's best player: "He's doing almost everything, but give the kid a cape."

"He's not a flashy guy, but he just does everything so well," right wing Teddy Purcell said. "He's smart, and he battles."

"He's just extremely dependable," Cooper said. "When he makes a mistake, you're almost shocked that it happened. And it doesn't happen very often."

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/lightning-tops-sabres/2149399

Click to read more...

 

[The Macho King]

I'm checking in to this thread. He's been excellent all year. Love him and what he brings.

 

[GulfCoastBolt]

Glad he finally got his face on TV last night.

 

[Nealssens]

Has he been as good as his stats appear to have been lately? Who's more valuable to your team Palat or Killorn?

 

[chasespace]

Has he been as good as his stats appear to have been lately? Who's more valuable to your team Palat or Killorn?

Palat right now. He's been absolutely electric since before the Christmas Break

 

[Coopers Gum]

Has he been as good as his stats appear to have been lately? Who's more valuable to your team Palat or Killorn?

I'd say Palat. He plays better D, has better vision, and just makes the people around him better.

 

[Steazy Doo]

Palat played a hell of a game tonight.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

Has he been as good as his stats appear to have been lately? Who's more valuable to your team Palat or Killorn?

I am going to try to be fair here. In all regards. 1st palat to johnson palat has been amazing and johnson has failed a ton of closes.

Second killorn has had his fails a lot of last second lifted sticks in closing also.

Yet you give me killorn or palat I take palat.

You give me palat or johnson I take palat.

Brown - palat? Palat.

One factor his hockey IQ is off the charts the better you line him up with the more he does overall. He is starting to not always pass and take shots will make him more dangerous overall. His confidence in last two games ive seen is through the roof.

I think overall he is or has been our most valuable rookie this season. I get what coop said

He is the gel the driving force the quiet mvp of the two years in minors. The kid just does everything well and you put him with closers? He will get you a ton of points because his vision is amazing. Pass to johnson and pass to kucherov were just not something you see from 7th round picks rookies at his age but he mixes it up hardly ever makes mistakes in own end etc..

I really like palat and put him above killorn who I think is as close to him as anyone on the team in what they can bring overall than is brown.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

Palat is really starting to remind me a bit of Jere Lehtinen. But this kid hits more. Not sure what his upside is yet but he looks good.

 

[Butchered]

Palat is so damn good. So responsible and smart. It's a damn shame this guy won't get even a sniff of the Calder. IMO, he's the most complete rookie playing.

 

[Swipes]

He was nominated to the Czech Olympic team today!

 

[The Wyzerhood]

I am going to try to be fair here. In all regards. 1st palat to johnson palat has been amazing and johnson has failed a ton of closes.

Second killorn has had his fails a lot of last second lifted sticks in closing also.

Yet you give me killorn or palat I take palat.

You give me palat or johnson I take palat.

Brown - palat? Palat.

One factor his hockey IQ is off the charts the better you line him up with the more he does overall. He is starting to not always pass and take shots will make him more dangerous overall. His confidence in last two games ive seen is through the roof.

I think overall he is or has been our most valuable rookie this season. I get what coop said

He is the gel the driving force the quiet mvp of the two years in minors. The kid just does everything well and you put him with closers? He will get you a ton of points because his vision is amazing. Pass to johnson and pass to kucherov were just not something you see from 7th round picks rookies at his age but he mixes it up hardly ever makes mistakes in own end etc..

I really like palat and put him above killorn who I think is as close to him as anyone on the team in what they can bring overall than is brown.

I'm sorry, but I really couldn't follow anything you were saying.

Has Palat been more valuable than all our other 2nd year/rookie forwards? Yes, I don't think many would disagree with that. I still think Killorn has more offensive potential and is suffering through a sophomore slump, but Palat has always been the more well rounded player.

 

[Callum]

I'm sorry, but I really couldn't follow anything you were saying.

Has Palat been more valuable than all our other 2nd year/rookie forwards? Yes, I don't think many would disagree with that. I still think Killorn has more offensive potential and is suffering through a sophomore slump, but Palat has always been the more well rounded player.

Killorn is a complementary player, hopefully when Stamkos is back his game will pick-up again. It looks like he's been going through the motions as of late, he really needs to find his game.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

I'm sorry, but I really couldn't follow anything you were saying.

Has Palat been more valuable than all our other 2nd year/rookie forwards? Yes, I don't think many would disagree with that. I still think Killorn has more offensive potential and is suffering through a sophomore slump, but Palat has always been the more well rounded player.

I had thought Killorn was more complete. Just saying I like palat over the other rookies right now. He does little things and constantly shows super high hockey IQ.

I wish he was just a little faster a half of step even he would be sooo much more dangerous with johnson at times he is a step behind. His hockey IQ makes up for that step or half of a step though along with his work ethic.

 

[BIitz]

Been a fan of this guy since his AHL playoff run last year. And because I have him in my keeper pool . Great player, I see huge upside all around in this kid.

 

[Rschmitz]

Palat is really starting to remind me a bit of Jere Lehtinen. But this kid hits more. Not sure what his upside is yet but he looks good.

His offensive game is more akin to Adam Oates but Lehtinen is a great comparison size/position/all around game

 

[walle]

Its amazing how impressive Palat has been yet so much under the radar everywhere especially considering Calder-talks. Palat leads all rookies in Evenstrenght points. Anyone need a doubletake? Yeah thats our Ondrej. Also in ratestats just below Hertl and Toffoli.

Anyway considering visible improvement in Palat's playing lately especially offensive playing made me think if there's statistical improvement, and what kind of improvement between preMarty and postMarty playing. (disclaimer: stats from hockeyanalysis and not including 2 of the latest games/Jan 9 upd database

Palat has played 560 5on5 mins, on ice corsi percentage (52,8%)
2.39 shots/20min (67 total)
4 iCorsi/20min (112 iCorsi) (invididual Corsi is all shot attempts for including shots on net, missed and blocked shots)
19 points, or 2.04points/60min

With Marty he's played 213.5min or 38% of all icetime during this season. So is there a difference? Palat with/without Marty:

with 55,9 CF% (on ice corsi percentage)
without 50,5 CF%

with 2.43 shots/20min
without 2.37 shots/20min

with 4,78 iCorsi/20min
without 3.52 iCorsi/20min

with 10 points or 2.81 points/60min
without 9 points or 1.56 points/60min

with 78,6 GF% (onice goals scored for percentage)
1,031 GF20/0,281 GA20
without 57,1 GF%
0,693 GF20/0,519 GA20

Now there's improvement okey, quite expected from the eyetests.
So why this is nice to see is when you take account how the quality of competition has changed. Now to start off, they were quite sheltered Palat and TJ. Doing pretty nice, getting set, but nothing really amazing. Avoiding the real top guys and getting easier minutes. Then the Boston game happened and roles suddenly changed. Then it was another 9-10 games before Marty set in there. How much it changed? I wanted to see if i could get it visible how tough competition Palat played in the first 16, compared to last 16 games.

graph from extraskater
Red 'things' are first and last 16 games and quite expected its increased but still a very big jump from 28 TotTM% Qoc to 30. Actually not very many in the league average over 30 so last 16 indeed has been some tough competition. first i tried to put zonestarts aswell but they're a bit off, cant bother get exact numbers, dont mind about em.

So besides having much higher competition lately, Palat has been very impressive and doing nice things and having kinda a season peak at this point. Fluke? Luck? Skill? Effort? Does it last? Calder? Stanley Cup? Stay tuned!

Also, quite like the Lehtinen comparasion, definately could end up beeing similar player and not only in defensive play.

bonus: I love some Palat-PKing

ps. where do one get Palat-jersey from?

 

[DFC]

I feel like Palat has just recently, over maybe the last ten games, become a confident NHLer. And the confidence has led to consistency, which was about the only thing that lacked in his game up until now. He simply always seems to make the right decision, whatever the situation.

 

[that is unfortunate]

So happy Tampa gave this guy a chance, he's slowly becoming a favorite of mine. What a story too, getting picked almost last in 2011 to making the Olympics 2 years later.

What do you guys think his ceiling is? A two-way 2nd liner/fringe 1st liner?

 

[The Macho King]

So happy Tampa gave this guy a chance, he's slowly becoming a favorite of mine. What a story too, getting picked almost last in 2011 to making the Olympics 2 years later.

What do you guys think his ceiling is? A two-way 2nd liner/fringe 1st liner?

Well, he's a first liner right now... and may very well stay on the top line even when Stamkos gets back.

The kid just gets it. He has good skill (not great), but his smarts are through the roof. I don't know what his ceiling is, but he's the type of guy you want on a championship team.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

So happy Tampa gave this guy a chance, he's slowly becoming a favorite of mine. What a story too, getting picked almost last in 2011 to making the Olympics 2 years later.

What do you guys think his ceiling is? A two-way 2nd liner/fringe 1st liner?

I have no idea on ceiliing is kinda like killorn in that regards you put him with marty and st louis and he both of them ceilings go way up 70 point or more.

I see palat with kucherov and his play becomes something to another level even over the johnson st louis thing. So mix in drouin? Killorn seems more like a guy that will do better with the better players by being carried along. Where palat seems to add something I can't even explain well truthfully to a mixture like that making the other players even better which is DAMMMED SCARY to me. Defensively he is like selke mentioning and imo just gonna get better.

I think honestly palat winds up on third line and mixture is something like johnson palat and kucherov which would be deadly.

Still think killorn drouin and connolly will be moving up to top two lines somehow. That third line is gonna make the NHL very sad to have to play against lol. Can he be moved to first with marty and stamkos YES lol.

Just think killorn gets that on first and once we move teddy you see flip drouin and connolly on second.

We are going to be a very tough team to play against.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Just got a notification that he is the NHL's January rookie of the month. Kinda cool. Didn't really think anyone knew about him.

 

[zeykshade]

For those of us who've watched him in Juniors and in the AHL and into the NHL, it's always the same story.

In Juniors he was thought of as being carried by higher picked and bigger named players. In the AHL, he started out slow because he had to learn the pro game. He did the same thing here making the jump to the NHL. If you go back and watch the games at the start of this year, you can see him make mistakes in one, and then in the next (game and sometimes shift) the same situation occurs and he won't make the same mistake. He's a ****ing sponge to coaching.

Like Cooper said, it is shocking when he makes a mistake. His ability to correct it quickly and put himself on the right side of the puck more often than not is what amazes me the most about his game. He's one of the rarer types of players imo. He's the complimentary player who you can put on any line and it gets better. Those guys are pure gold as far as I'm concerned. He's like David Krejci to me. Only after Krejci consistently owns the playoffs did people start to notice that he was as good as he is. Under the radar, flashier players on his line getting more notice from the press.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

For those of us who've watched him in Juniors and in the AHL and into the NHL, it's always the same story.

In Juniors he was thought of as being carried by higher picked and bigger named players. In the AHL, he started out slow because he had to learn the pro game. He did the same thing here making the jump to the NHL. If you go back and watch the games at the start of this year, you can see him make mistakes in one, and then in the next (game and sometimes shift) the same situation occurs and he won't make the same mistake. He's a ****ing sponge to coaching.

Like Cooper said, it is shocking when he makes a mistake. His ability to correct it quickly and put himself on the right side of the puck more often than not is what amazes me the most about his game. He's one of the rarer types of players imo. He's the complimentary player who you can put on any line and it gets better. Those guys are pure gold as far as I'm concerned. He's like David Krejci to me. Only after Krejci consistently owns the playoffs did people start to notice that he was as good as he is. Under the radar, flashier players on his line getting more notice from the press.

I am glad its just not me seeing this trait right there. He actually makes elite players more elite and makes good players great etc.. That is something that is super rare.

That is the difference between him and Killorn in a nut shell. I have seen his chemistry with kucherov which makes kucherov even better or maybe makes kucherov the guy I envision him to see long term. No one not FLIP not Marty not Purcell or Killorn has been able to get the best results out of Kucherov. But the times you put him with Palat? Pure gold and we score at a super high rate.

No one we have but Stamkos makes guys around him become so much better imo hopefully drouin brings that. I think kucherov has a little of that but he needs higher players or better players to get the results.

Palat think you could put on fourth line with thompson and crombeen/malone and all of sudden they would score a goal a game his hockey IQ and vision is through the roof.

So just mentioning am glad someone else is seeing what he brings in terms of making guys around him better and that is difference for me he is our best kid by a long way right now.

P.S. this is no shot to marty. He makes everyone he plays with better but a lot of times he carries a guy purcell and killorn etc.. in a lot of ways. Palat does something else not necessarily carrying someone just getting the puck to ideal situation making right choices etc.. Hes smooth man. Kucherov has a little of that

 

[DFC]

For those of us who've watched him in Juniors and in the AHL and into the NHL, it's always the same story.

In Juniors he was thought of as being carried by higher picked and bigger named players. In the AHL, he started out slow because he had to learn the pro game. He did the same thing here making the jump to the NHL. If you go back and watch the games at the start of this year, you can see him make mistakes in one, and then in the next (game and sometimes shift) the same situation occurs and he won't make the same mistake. He's a ****ing sponge to coaching.

Like Cooper said, it is shocking when he makes a mistake. His ability to correct it quickly and put himself on the right side of the puck more often than not is what amazes me the most about his game. He's one of the rarer types of players imo. He's the complimentary player who you can put on any line and it gets better. Those guys are pure gold as far as I'm concerned. He's like David Krejci to me. Only after Krejci consistently owns the playoffs did people start to notice that he was as good as he is. Under the radar, flashier players on his line getting more notice from the press.

A very high-profile example of that is Pavel Datsyuk being overshadowed by Ilya Kovalchuk. Rob will probably remember this, but when Datsyuk first came to the NHL, he played on a line with Brett Hull (and I believe Boyd Devereux), and it was clear that Datsyuk was carrying the line. It was a long time before the NHL realized the guy even existed because he was a twenty-something rookie whom the Wings had found basically under a rock.

It also maybe happened a bit with Adam Erne last year. (Maybe this is the Al Murray secret? :p )

But anyway, it seems pretty obvious right now that we've found a real gem in Palat. In the years to come I think what's going to best separate us from other teams is our ability to find useful players in the late rounds. In Palat's case though, he's a lot more than useful.

I'm probably not the only one who gets giddy when I think about how a 7th rounder is the highest drafted guy currently playing on our top line.