Ondrej Palat moves on from Bolts, signs with Devils

The Tampa Bay Lightning are losing another member of their back to back Stanley Cup championship roster. 

Forward Ondrej Palat, who proved to be a diamond in the rough when drafted by then-GM Steve Yzerman with the 208th overall pick in 2011, has moved on from the Bolts and is signing a five year contract with the New Jersey Devils: 

According to Elliotte Friedman, the deal carries an AAV of $6 million: 

Lightning GM Julien BriseBois seemed resigned to the fact that Palat likely wasn't going to be able to be afforded. 

"We knew it was going to be hard from the get go,” BriseBois saidWednesday. “From before even the first conversation ... you have an idea of what he should be getting on the open market, you get an idea of the cap space I have available and all of the positions that need to be filled, all the holes that need to be filled.

“So I knew that was going to be challenging, but there was, I think, a very strong willingness on both sides to explore all the possibilities. So we did work with them until so we kind of ran out of ideas that were worth exploring."

Palat has scored 143 goals and 280 career assists in 628 total games, all with Tampa Bay. He's also scored 48 goals and 46 assists in 138 career postseason games, including 11 goals in 23 games this season as one of Tampa's unsung heroes in their quest for a three-peat that would fall just short.