Ondrej Palat signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. It has an average annual value of $6 million.
The 31-year-old forward had 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists) in 77 regular-season games for the Tampa Bay Lightning last season. He had 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in 23 Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Lightning, who lost in six games to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.
Palat scored the game-winning goal in Games 3 and 5 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers and Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. He has 12 game-winning goals in the NHL playoffs, which is third among active players behind Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars (14) and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins (13).
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Selected by Tampa Bay in the seventh round (No. 208) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Palat has 423 points (143 goals, 280 assists) in 628 regular-season games and 94 points (48 goals, 46 assists) in 138 playoff games.
Palat won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021 and was described by Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper as someone with “the ability to play that blue-collar game with white-collar players.”
The Devils made two moves Wednesday; they acquired forward Erik Haula in a trade with the Boston Bruins for forward Pavel Zacha and signed defenseman Brendan Smith to a two-year, $2.2 million contract.
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