Why Do So Many People Hate Ondřej Palát?

Why Do So Many People Hate Ondřej Palát?

Andre poot a solid contributor at times but not frequent enough to the point where he’s worth $30 million what should the Devils do with them and are there any positive takeaways we have a lot to break down in today’s episode locked on Devils fuckle up everybody you’re locked on Devils your daily podcast on the New Jersey Devils part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hi this is Bryce Salvador and you’re locked on devil trade Matthews scor St Ste up got the what a shot the devil win Stanley all righty now what is up New Jersey welcome back to the lockon podcast here on locked on network I’m your host College hockey pl Play announcer Del Puck pitchforks and also parttime credential Mia member Trey Matthews in today’s episode we’re going to talk talk about one of the more controversial players on the devil’s roster why is this player controversial you might be asking well a couple summers ago Tom fitgerald signed Andre poot to a fiveyear $3 million contract he has a cap hit of $6 million and did I forget to mention that he also has a no movement Clause considering the fact that his numbers are anywhere from solid to Med mediocre people have strong opinions and emotions as to what Andre pilot is supposed to bring to the organization and at the price that he’s being paid we’re going to reflect on his 2023 2024 season I will play a few sound bites from his exit interview and I’ll talk about what maybe fans can expect from Pilot moving forward because he does have a history of stepping up his game when it matters most but but first to kick off this episode let’s talk about how the Devils got here in the first place now I know that I’ve talked about it on this show before but just a refresher like I said a couple summers ago Andre poot signed with the Devils when he was an unrestricted free agent and why the $30 million deal well let’s recap that off season the Devils were projected to be buyers there were a few key players that were available on the market via a trade some come to mind Alex De braat Kevin fiala remember Johnny goodro was an unrestricted free agent and the Devils were also linked to him because it was rumored that goodro wanted to return back to the States and move closer to home well where’s home for Johnny goodro South New Jersey now he did grow up a Flyers fan but he’s still in the state of New Jersey people are saying it could be the Islanders it could be the Devils it could be the Flyers but goodro shocked a lot of people and signed a big contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets basically Tom fitgerald was just in the Batters box and he was whiffing at everything and he couldn’t get a big name player it seemed like plans a b and c all fell through and this was before Matthew kachuck was available in the market as well and Tom feral was just put into a corner Andre poot was available and it seemed like the Devils were interested in him as well but they were waiting to see how the Johnny goodro signing turned out and like I said he decided to go to Columbus and if I had to make an educated guest this is just pure speculation on my end I think Pat’s people kind of forced Fitzgerald to give poot a little bit more money because they were like we know that you were interested in us but we also know that we were not your first option so you better Fork up some more cash otherwise we’re going to take our services elsewhere and you’re GNA strike out on another potential signing Andor trade and Fitzgerald had to do what he had to do because it was either that or playing CDE F however you want to formulate it would have fallen through as well thus Andre pilot fresh off of appearing in three straight Stanley Cup final with the Tampa Bay Lightning signed a 5-year deal with the devils and people are wondering what does he bring in general to the devil’s roster because that’s where people start to ponder do you look at the points do you look at the advanced analytics do you just go from an optic standpoint here’s what I noticed from Andre palot I think he is a pretty solid player when it comes to defense here’s a concrete example when he was on the line when niik heser and jper brat Nico heer he’s the captain of this team he’s centering that line and he is a phenomenal two-way player Jesper brat for the first time in his career he was a point per game player and he had an Allstar season but poot he focuses more on the defense when it comes to those two because heer’s job is to Dish the puck and Jesper brat is a sniper he is quick he is fast and he knows how to rack up the goals rack up the points that’s how that sort of dynamic worked and hopefully I’m not a little controversial but I kind of like the pairing of Nico heser and Jesper brat better than I liked Jack Hughes and Jesper brat even though Hughes said that he and brat are sort of like peanut butter and jelly that’s just my personal opinion but I think pilot was a pretty solid glue piece and I saw it on full display when the Devils were in Seattle taking on the Kraken that line came out to play and they were a big reason why the Devils walked away with a victory because poot brat and also heer walked away with at least a point each but obviously five years3 million I I think that’s a bit of an overpay for someone who is solid at defense I’m not saying that pilot is spectacular at it but he’s a complimentary piece to heer and brat when he’s on that same line and people are just wondering where can poot go from here well we’re going to talk more about that in the second segment because like I said signed to a big contract however he has two Stanley Cups under his belt and he just won Gold for CIA during worlds and he actually went off during that tournament we’re gonna talk more about that momentarily but before we continue let me tell you about game time I actually use the game time app quite frequently to buy myself some baseball tickets last minute deal save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports 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performance and where he can try to improve it take a listen how do you feel about your game uh two years into your contract uh I thought obviously not not the not great year not not a lot of points but like I said I’m not judging my season on the points I’m judging it on uh how if I’m working hard enough if I’m winning battles if I’m if I’m setting example for the for the group and I thought I did I did okay uh not not great obviously if so there’s a room for improvement and hopefully I’ll be better next year where do you see yourself wanting to improve your game uh I mean offensively I would love to score more goals uh I’m doing anything I can but some sometimes just not going to happen so uh you know offensively I would like to improve my game but like I said uh like I said I I want I need to be better like I said in segment one Andre pilot is anywhere from solid To Mediocre here’s how his numbers ranked during the 2023 2024 season he had 11 goals which ranked ninth on the team 20 assists seventh on the team 31 points ninth on the team he had a plus minus rating of minus 9 30th on the team he had four power play assists seventh on the team 49 blocks ninth on the team 92 hits eighth on the team he had a point share rating of 2.1 which was 20th on the team yeah his numbers doesn’t really jump out all that much now does it and people are wondering what is on Andre Plott supposed to do like what am I supposed to get excited for when I see Andre poot on the rank I’ll play Devil’s Advocate real quick I think for Andre pilot where he really thrives is during the playoffs or when he’s on a big stage I sort of alluded to it during segment one when I talked about him winning gold for czechia during that tournament he appeared in 10 games he had three goals three assists for a grand total of six points I think we can all agree that’s not all that bad and before I talk about his playoff performance with the Devils last season here’s what he did with the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2022 playoffs he appeared in 23 games he had 11 goals 10 assists for a grle of 21 points he was close to being a point per game player and that season in 77 regular season game appearances he had 49 points and uh if we go back a couple more Seas Seasons during the 2020 bubble playoffs he Beed in 25 games he had 11 goals seven assists for a gral of 18 points that was the season in which the lightning won their first Stanley Cup since 2004 when John torella was at the helm and if we go back even more 2018 he appeared in 17 playoff games six goals six assists 12 points 2015 if you want to go even further back 26 games eight goals eight assists 16 points Andre palot has a knack for elevating his game when it matters most during the playoffs and I think that’s where the Devils were looking for in that sort of aspect during the 2023 playoffs he appeared in 12 games three goals four assists seven points that first series against the Rangers he played a big part as to why the Devils were able to overcome a 20 deficit and beat the Rangers in seven if you recall what was the narrative what was the storyline Jack Hughes Nico heser Jer brat I don’t think they were the stars in that series it was the story of the role players players like Akira Schmid inette or Michael McLoud Andre palott Eric H all of them elevating their games during the playoffs and Devil’s fans basically sending each and one of them an apology saying we weren’t familiar with your game and that’s when Eric Holla became a fan favorite and I think that’s when people started to turn around their feelings for Andre pilot temporarily because that season he dealt with a growing injury and he missed some significant time and he only appeared in 49 regular season games and this is just speculation on my end and I’m not in the film room sessions I am in the lock room time to time when it’s postgame pregame whatever the case might be but I think Andre pilot is a very intelligent player but it just takes him time to get it going I think the reason why he’s able to elevate his game during the playoffs is something that I’ve talked about on this show before when it comes to the playoffs in the regular season it’s a different animal and in the words of Kobe Bryant you have to be a different animal but the same Beast because you have to beat a team four times out of seven in order to advance to the next round and then ultimately win the Stanley Cup I think when you look back on those back-to-back Stanley Cup victories by the lightning Andre poot was one of the more underrated players or during the 2022 playoffs and which the lightning went to three straight Stanley Cups Unfortunately they ended up losing to the Avalanche poot still had a good showing and once again the lightning played the Rangers at one point and I think pilot played a huge role in that back-to-back years in 2023 for the Devils this time around played a big role as to why the Devils were able to beat the Rangers because it’s like when you play the same team over and over and over again you’re able to see weaknesses you’re able to see holes you’re able to just break it down on a meticulous level as opposed to a regular season when you face one team you might not see that team again for another few weeks or months however the schedule unfolds or unless you’re playing the Toronto Maple Le in which the Devils play them like three times in like a what a week span just a little bit of a joke digressing a little bit I think that’s why Andre pilot is able to put up some solid postseason production is because he’s a very intelligent player and he can just see it from a different perspective and that’s why I think the Devils made him one of the alternate captains and he’s going to talk more about that in the third segment but how he evaluates his game is Just based on how he can also contribute in the locker room and poot being a veteran player and also having a couple Stanley Cups under his belt I think that is really good for New Jersey and I’m not trying to say that the contract is great he’s worth it he’s really not but if if he is stuck here for the next few years you might as well just try to see it from a different perspective because the devils are trying to build a team that’s made for the playoffs and having someone like Andre palot who maybe his impact doesn’t show up in the score sheet but in different ways maybe that’s how you can view it I know that’s kind of a controversial take but once again Andre plot is not going anywhere and you can either complain about it or you could just try to embrace it I’m trying to embrace it and just look at some positive takeaways now before we continue and wrap up today’s episode let me tell you guys about ultimate hockey GM a new sponsor over here at lockon ever dreamed of becoming an NHL GM and managing your own hockey franchise do you think you could run the better than Tom Fitzgerald well your dream can come true and this game is most 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the playoffs take a listen what do you hope are sort of the Lessons Learned of an 82 game schedule from last year to this year that you you think is important I mean it’s more like uh learn how to win games you know we there’s so many games we we I thought we deserve points but we we didn’t we lost we got scored on last second or last period and we we didn’t get anything and then at the end it cost us uh playoffs but it’s just not that it’s just not the points it’s uh it’s our it’s our game uh mentality to you know uh play good defense I think we we doing good enough job uh this season looking at your current T obviously there were times where team went to The Cup Final lost and two years later missed the playoffs then a couple years later win back toback cups what can you teach this locker room about sometimes you take steps backwards two take steps forward exactly and sometimes you need to you need to lose to to to learn and and be better and exact that’s exactly what we did in Tampa we we had a terrible playoffs we got swept uh we look ourselves in a mirror we made some CH changes coaches made some changes in uh in um in the structure uh and we took the defensive part of the game as a number one that it’s going to help us to success in this league so that’s what happened uh the next couple years here are some of the takeaways I want to get from some of his sound bites from the second segment and also the Third how Andre pilot evaluates his game is sometimes based on points but also the battles and how he can impact the team within the locker room and here are my thoughts on Andre pilot moving forward the reason I conducted this episode is because the past few days I’ve been discussing Silly Season and potential trade outcomes for New Jersey and when I bring those Silly Season discussions onto social media a lot of people are saying trade away Andre pilot for Jacob marstrom or trade Andre pilot for this player or that player and see what get out of them I know it’s mostly a joke but for any of you who legitimately think that the Devils can trade away Andre pilot unfortunately that’s only a fantasy like I said in segment one he has a no movement Clause Andre palot will leave New Jersey when Andre palot wants to leave New Jersey and that’s that for the time being I don’t see him waving his no movement claws to play for Calgary he has to sign off on that why would he want to go to Calgary especially with the championship experience he has and what New Jersey is trying to bring and I do agree with a lot of people Andre pilot is severely overpaid a cap hit of $6 million for the next three years maybe if that was cut in half I think a lot of people wouldn’t be complaining and that could give tomen sherald some more wiggle room and trade discussions maybe if he didn’t have that no movement Clause But ultimately Andre palot is here whether you like it or not and the thing is is like I said there’s no way I can twist and turn and just say like he is actually a really really good player and you just have to see in this perspective I can’t even do that but the one thing I can say is like I do think sometimes he gets a little overh hated on he’s not meant to be a point per game player that’s just not how his game is is uh formed he just has to find other ways to contribute and also be a leader on the team and he does elevate his game when it matters most like I said in segment two Andre pilot is just a controversial player and I think you just got to embrace it and Tom fer has to work with what he’s being given have your own thoughts on Andre pilot and what the devil should do with them moving forward but your options are pretty scarce but I’m curious to hear your thoughts anyway leave a comment down below if you’re watching on YouTube hit me up on my personal xpage app at trat 4 or the show’s xpage app at lockon Devils if you’re listening on a podcast streaming service as’s episode that’s all time I have for you continue stay safe have a wonderful day in New Jersey go Devils what do you think of Andre pilot share them down below I’ll catch you guys in the next episode thanks for listening in once again

A couple of summers ago, Ondřej Palát signed a five-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. While his production and experience are sometimes solid, he is definitely overpaid. However, he does have a history of stepping up his game when it matters most. Maybe there’s some upside to his capabilities.

Interview soundbite: Ondřej Palát (Courtesy of the New Jersey Devils)

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