Mike Palmateer
| Mike Palmateer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
January 13, 1954 Toronto, ON, CAN |
||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||
| Weight | 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb) | ||
| Position | Goaltender | ||
| Caught | Right | ||
| Played for |
Toronto Maple Leafs Washington Capitals |
||
| NHL Draft | 85th overall, 1974 Toronto Maple Leafs |
||
| Playing career | 1976–1984 | ||
Michael Scott Palmateer (born January 13, 1954) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey goalie. He played in the NHL from 1976 to 1984 for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Palmateer was drafted 85th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft. Palmateer played 356 games in the NHL, posting 149 wins against 138 losses and 52 ties while compiling a 3.53 Goals Against Average. Palmateer began his career with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1976-77 season and would serve as the clubs starting goaltender the next three seasons. His fourth season, the 1979-80 campaign, Palmateer was slowed by injuries and made just 38 appearances for the Leafs while sharing the duties with four other net minders. Off ice drama this season would lead to his departure from Toronto. After being sidelined with an ankle injury that kept him out of the crease for six weeks, Palmateer's injury was questioned by the team's brass who felt he was healthy enough to play. Palmateer, a pending free agent, couldn't get Maple Leafs general manager Punch Imlach to agree to a multi-year contract and their impasse ultimately led to the goaltender signing a four-year $800,000 deal with the Washington Capitals. In lieu of working out the compensation required for the signing, the two clubs agreed to a trade that would send Palmateer's rights to Washington while the Maple Leafs acquired defensemen Robert Picard along with forward Tim Coulis. The clubs also swapped draft picks. Following the trade, Capitals general manager Max McNab declared "With a player like Palmateer, I feel we are set in goal for the next ten years."
Things didn't work out that way, however. Palmateer's first year in Washington saw the netminder win 18 games for the lowly Capitals but the following year, he won just two games and spent the bulk of the season sidelined by a knee injury. Palmateer's knee woes, which seriously hampered his mobility, ultimately cost GM McNab and head coach Gary Green their jobs. Capitals owner Abe Pollin, who had committed a large chunk of money towards securing Palmateer's services, was not happy to see the goalie struggling and demanded coach Green continue to use him despite diminishing returns. When Green protested and said that his knees were "gone" and he could no longer play him, Pollin instructed Green to "fix him" so that, at the very least, the Capitals could trade him for something in return. When Palmateer continued to falter, both McNab and Green were fired. During the off-season, David Poile was hired as the new general manager of the Capitals and just days into the job, on September 9, 1982 made his first trade by sending Palmateer back to the Maple Leafs for cash considerations.
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