PRAGUE — Ondrej Palat has won the Stanley Cup twice. He’s won a gold medal with the Czech Republic at the world championships.
This week, the forward will check another item on his bucket list when his New Jersey Devils and the Buffalo Sabres open the NHL regular season with two games in Prague.
“I have been fortunate enough to realize many of my dreams in hockey,” Palat said. “But to play an NHL hockey game in my beloved Czechia is something I’ve never imagined.”
The NHL Global Series games on Friday and Saturday will bring the number of regular season games hosted by Prague to nine. Stockholm, Sweden, is the only location outside North America that has had more.
Two more international games will be played in Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2 when defending Stanley Cup champion Florida faces the Dallas Stars.
Palat said travelling together for overseas games can be a good team-building experience. Five years ago, he was part of the Tampa Bay Lightning who swept a two-game series against the Sabres in Stockholm. The team went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and again the following year.
“With Tampa, the trip to Stockholm was great for us,” Palat said. “We had some fun and it translated on the ice and we played great. We need to do (something) a little bit similar. We’re going to have some fun but also it’s a business trip and we need to start good the season.”
Hockey-crazed Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic have been the go-to destinations for NHL regular season games overseas in recent years. Together with Russia, those countries account for the bulk of the European players in the league.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in August that the league wants to expand to other markets and mentioned Germany, Switzerland and Britain as possibilities. London had two regular season games in 2007 and Berlin one in 2011. Switzerland has never hosted a regular-season game.
The Devils have previously played in Europe; in 2018 they beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Sabres have played four. Before the losses to Tampa in 2019, they won twice in 2011 against the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in Helsinki and the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 in Berlin. They played an exhibition game in Munich last week.
Czech NHL players are hugely popular at home and the presence of Palat and Sabres rookie forward Jiri Kulich ensures that Prague’s O2 Arena will be packed this weekend. Palat was on the Czech team that beat Switzerland to win the Worlds in the same arena in May.
The Devils signed Palat, who has 101 career post-season points, to a five-year, $30 million contract in 2022, eager to tap his playoffs experience. However, they failed to make the playoffs last spring for the 10th time in 12 seasons.
Sheldon Keefe, who coached the Toronto Maple Leafs to the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, was hired by the Devils to make a difference.
“We’re still learning for sure, but guys want to learn, get better and want to build something sustainable here, recognizing it’s not going to happen overnight,” Keefe said.
The Sabres hope to end a 13-season playoff drought. Coach Lindy Ruff, who guided them to their last post-season in 2011, is back after he was fired by New Jersey. During his previous stint from 1997-2012, Buffalo advanced eight times and reached the Stanley Cup final in 1999.
Ruff needs to improve the offence that produced 2.98 goals per game — 23rd in the league.
The good news for the Sabres is that Jack Quinn is fit after injuries limited him to 27 games last season, and nine goals and 10 assists.
“With the injuries and everything I just haven’t been able to take the steps I’ve wanted as a player yet,” Quinn said. “I feel like last year I would have been able to if I wasn’t injured, so I’m on a mission to do that this year.”
