In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on which rental forward teams should be prioritizing at the trade deadline.
Todd Cordell
Kyle Palmieri.
Palmieri is generally good for 25+ goals per 82 games and is a very dangerous weapon on the power play. He’s also a valuable defender at 5v5 and he provides some of the physicality and grit that teams love to add to their team heading into the playoffs.
While his counting stats are down a bit this season, that could well benefit inquiring teams. In what is already a buyer’s market, it should help keep the price lower than it otherwise would be. Nobody is getting him for free, of course, but the usual premium that we’d see for a player like Palmieri might not be required.
Back to his production. I’m not sure it is much cause for concern. His usage on a terrible power play has been questionable (he played a lot at net-front earlier in the season). That hurts his outputs. So, too, has a lack of puck luck. Palmieri leads the Devils in scoring chances and expected goals yet he’s not necessarily being rewarded for it.
Lowest Goals Scored Above Expected (All Situations) - March 22 pic.twitter.com/jk3xxJ3UhE
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) March 22, 2021
Palmieri has an excellent shot and, historically, has been an above average finisher. I put more stock into years of data as opposed to 30 unlucky games on a bad team that dealt with a full-blown covid outbreak.
So, yeah, I’d be all over Palmieri if I’m a contending team looking for a boost; especially if it’s not going to cost me a 1st round pick.
Sean Maloughney The New Jersey Devils look like they will be sellers and they have a few pending free agent forwards such as Zajac and Gusev but none are more enticing than Kyle Palmieri. The 30 year old has been a consistent 25+ goal scorer for years but has slid this year to only 5 goals in 28 games. His 7% SH% when he usually averages at about 13% would be an indicator that he does have more to offer.
Most teams are pretty tight on cap this season and the 4.65 million dollar price tag for Palmieri is far easier to manage than say the 8 million of a Taylor Hall. Palmieri has always spoken fondly of New Jersey and he may not want to leave but it would be excellent asset management to send Palmieri to a contender now and allow him to decide in free agency what he would like to do.
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and CapFriendly.com Recent posts