Did Ondrej Palat just play his last game for the New Jersey Devils? Team reporter Amanda Stein made the surprising announcement right before the game against the Winnipeg Jets that Palat was being held out of the lineup for “roster-related” reasons.
That has Devils fans wildly speculating that a trade is on the horizon. Well, when we think about it, it’s not that wild. Every time this has happened in the past, a trade is days away. The Devils are the only Metropolitan Division team that hasn’t made a trade since the puck dropped on the season. So, a trade of any kind is long overdue.
Ondrej Palat being held out of the New Jersey Devils lineup has fans speculating about a trade
Palat has been a player fans have asked for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald to consider moving. There were rampant reports that Fitzgerald had resisted that move, and Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman even said on multiple occasions that he had never heard Palat’s name in the rumor mill. When the rumors were loudest around the Quinn Hughes trade, Dougie Hamilton and Palat had very different reactions, with Palat outright saying nobody had asked him to waive his no-trade clause.
It appears now that the $6 million winger could be formally asked, and possibly accepted, a move to a new home. He’s been loosely tied to clubs in the past, including the Nashville Predators, but none of those ties were worth more than a passing mention.
If this is the last game of Palat’s Devils career, he’ll finish with 38 goals and 54 assists over four seasons. Obviously, fans wanted more after he was the big signing of the 2022 offseason. He did give them seven points in 12 playoff games and helped them beat the New York Rangers in the first round, but that remains his biggest moment in a Devils’ uniform. He never came close to the high-leverage impacts he had with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
We’ll continue to monitor the situation to see if and when we hear about a trade.