TORONTO — Within two hours after they received an excited phone call from their son in late July, Mom and Dad had booked flights to Toronto.
“There’s no way they were missing this,” Kyle Palmieri, who has several family members in town for the World Cup, told Sportsnet in an interview. “Everyone’s excited, but no one’s as excited as me.”
Weeks after being named as the lone injury replacement on a relatively healthy U.S. World Cup squad, the 25-year-old New Jersey Devils forward is still beaming.
“It’s awesome,” Palmieri said, nearly blinding a reporter with the twinkle in his eye.
“This is something I’ve been looking forward to for the past month since I was announced as part of the team. I knew I had an opportunity; I had known [Ryan] Callahan had gotten surgery. But there are so many good American-born players, this wasn’t something I was holding my breath for. So when I got the call I was thrilled.”
He quickly rang his parents and then his girlfriend and texted double teammate Cory Schneider with the good news: Summer’s ending early.
“They know they can plug me in pretty much anywhere. That’s something I’m willing to do, whether that’s a fourth-line shutdown guy, someone who just chips in and brings a lot of energy and being a good teammate. That’s what they expect out of me. They’ll let my play dictate the opportunities I get,” Palmieri said.
One could be tempted to assume Palmieri, as the club’s last addition, will be the healthy-scratched 13th forward, but he’s done all he can to prove his worth to a coaching staff that includes a familiar face in the Devils’ John Hynes.
Palmieri took line rushes on the fourth unit centred by Brandon Dubinsky Friday, but head coach John Tortorella would not divulge his scratches.
The U.S. penciled in lines entering camp and challenged its skaters to play themselves up the roster. Toronto’s James van Riemsdyk, for example, has soared from a healthy scratch at that wild first pre-tournament game to MVP Patrick Kane’s line.
“We’ve been fair in the short amount of time with our players, not our goaltenders, to allow them to show us where they fit within our situation. Some guys early on, I looked at and said, ‘They’re just not ready to give here.’ You have talks along the way, and you see guys step up,” Tortorella said.
“I won’t give their names, but I was really worried about a couple guys, but then they’ve come right to the forefront. They’ll be in the lineup. Some other guys have played themselves out of it.”
For Palmieri, clawing for minutes is far from foreign. He did that on a daily basis for five years in Anaheim.
“Everyone’s competing for time, but it’s one common goal. If it took me sitting in the press box and watching our team win a gold medal, I’d take it,” Palmieri said.
“My years in Anaheim got me ready for any role, any situation. It’s tough playing five, six minutes a night. I had the opposite end of the spectrum this last year in Jersey, playing almost 20 minutes a night when [Mike] Cammalleri was hurt.”
U.S. captain Joe Pavelski praises Palmieri’s competitive nature, his “tremendous” quick-release shot, and his foot speed.
Versatility is the first word out of Schneider’s mouth.
“He’s able to grind and play along the wall in the hard areas of the ice and come away with pucks, but he also has a knack for scoring goals. In practice, he loves to score goals. He whoops it up and talks some crap to you if he scores,” says Schneider. (And, yes, he did use the word crap.)
“He can beat you with a one-timer from the flank on the power play, or he can drive the net and beat you to the far post. He can jam away at a rebound or tip pucks. His versatility in how he gets goals is what made him so successful last year.”
Mom and Dad’s trip to Toronto tops off a wondrous 2016 for the 5-foot-10 right wing who failed to become a permanent fixture in Anaheim, despite the Ducks’ drafting him first-round in 2009.
Traded in 2015 for a couple of picks, he was granted a top-line role in Jersey. Palmieri tore off for 30 goals, more than doubling a personal best and earning a sweet five-year, $23.5-million extension. GM Ray Shero kicked in the best kind of signing bonus—he swiped Taylor Hall to skate on the left side.
Team USA’s critics have every right to bemoan the absence of Phil Kessel or Tyler Johnson or Kyle Okposo this week. Alternatively, they can look at Palmieri’s drive.
“I play with a lot of emotion,” he said. “It’s an emotional game. It’s hard not to invest everything you have and leave everything out there.”
One-Timers ahead of Team USA vs. Team Europe, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
– Blake Wheeler took a strong stance against putting ads on NHL sweaters last summer but seems accepting of the SAP shoulder patch on the World Cup jerseys. “I haven’t even noticed it,” Wheeler said with a sly smile. “I guess they hid it pretty good.
“Everyone has to be accepting towards change and some creative ways to try to increase the revenue pool… There’s ways to do it without tarnishing kind of the look of the jerseys. Hopefully there can be a good balance.”
– Patrick Kane’s pre-game analysis of Team Europe: “You look at North America and it looked like they kind of had their way with them, but at the same time [Europe] beat Sweden 6-2. They’re a team that’s very capable of moving on in this tournament, very capable of winning games. Not a team we can take lightly by any means. It’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
– USA has a rally slogan for this tournament: “It’s time.”
– Max Pacioretty continues to deliver strong statements. “It’s a unique tournament and I’d go as far as to say our team has a good chance because Patrick Kane is in his prime. I feel like he’s the best player in the game,” Pacioretty said. “I think it’s time to prove to the world what USA Hockey is all about.”
– Marian Gaborik names Zdeno Chara and Nino Niederreiter as two Europeans who can get rough with the Americans, but the underdogs plan to rely on intelligence and discipline to win the World Cup opener.
“We have a few guys that can play that [U.S.] style, but we just have to play smart,” Gaborik said. “They’re going to play a physical game. We have to bring our experience and play to the strengths we have.”
– Jonathan Quick and Jaroslav Halak are your starting goaltenders.
USA’s practice lines Friday:
Parise-Pavelski-Wheeler
Van Riemsdyk-Stepan-Kane
Pacioretty-Kesler-Oshie
Dubinsky-Backes-Palmieri
Abdelkader
