Is it possible that Ondrej Palat does need to be in the top six to succeed?

The New Jersey Devils signed Ondrej Palat to a five-year, $30 million deal in July 2022. Many called it a reactive deal after the Devils lost out on Johnny Gaudreau, who declined the Devils offer and signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Palat and Gaudreau brought very different aspects to the Devils, but it seems like New Jersey took a while to figure out what made the most sense for him as far as the lineup goes.

Prior to the season, we predicted Palat would end up on the third line with Erik Haula and Tomas Tatar. Palat has played with four line combinations of note this season according to Natural Stat Trick. He’s never played a 5v5 minute with Tatar. 

Sheldon Keefe found the right spot for Ondrej Palat.

For the most part, Palat has been split between three pairs. One was a third-line pair with Stefan Noesen and Erik Haula. Another was a fourth-line pair with Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian. He looked inept on both lines. His lack of speed after a few years’ worth of injuries was apparent, and he wasn’t able to provide what those lines needed. 

Then, the Devils put Palat on the top line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. It seemed somewhat insane, but Sheldon Keefe was just trying to figure out what he could do with them. 

So far, it’s worked pretty well. They’ve combined for 16 high-danger chances for and just 10 high-danger chances against. While that’s only turned into two goals for and three against, those numbers will even out to follow their chances eventually. This is just a 54-minute sample size, but it’s pretty clear that it’s working.

The only line that’s doing better at HDCF% is the Nico Hischier-Timo Meier-Dawson Mercer line. The way these lines have worked out have given the Devils a great offensive structure without totally impacting the bottom six. The fourth line is trying to figure itself out after the injury to Curtis Lazar, but that would happen no matter where Palat was.