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Tomas Tatar

Tomas Tatar Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s EV Zug

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After 14 years, Tomas Tatar’s NHL career has likely drawn to a close. The pending unrestricted free agent winger has signed a two-year contract with EV Zug of the Swiss National League, the club announced.

Once a consistent 20-goal scorer and one of the game’s better defensive forwards, the Slovakia native’s game declined sharply two years ago. After posting 20 goals, 48 points, and a career-high +41 rating in 82 games for New Jersey in 2022-23, he mustered just 24 points in 70 games split between the Avalanche and Kraken the following year before returning to New Jersey on a one-year, $1.8MM contract last summer.

The return to the Garden State didn’t work out nearly as well as either side would have hoped for. He was limited to a 7-10–17 scoring line in 74 appearances, a career-low 0.23 points per game pace over a full season, and averaged just 11:06 per game. He was a healthy scratch at times throughout the campaign before going pointless with a plus-one rating in the Devils’ first-round elimination at the hands of the Hurricanes.

Tatar’s jump to Europe doesn’t come out of nowhere. There were rumors of him potentially heading overseas in the summer of 2023 when he had trouble finding a fit in free agency. He eventually signed a contract with Colorado just before training camp. This year, Zug made their interest in Tatar clear even before the regular season ended and said he was atop their list of offseason targets.

Zug, which has been more of a middle-of-the-pack club in the NL since winning back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, gets their man. While the 34-year-old has exclusively played on the wing since making his NHL debut for the Red Wings back in 2010, he’ll shift to center as he takes his career to Europe, Zug GM Reto Klay said in the team’s announcement of his signing.

Detroit picked up Tatar with the penultimate pick of the second round in the 2009 draft. Among the class, he ranks 13th in games played (927), 11th in goals (227), 14th in assists (269), 15th in points (496), and 12th with a career +43 rating. He’ll easily jump 40 or so spots in any redraft.

As such, teams looking for experienced wing depth on the open market this summer will need to scratch Tatar’s name off their list. Zug’s press release made no mention of an NHL out-clause next summer if the first year of his deal goes quite well, so all indications are he’ll remain in Switzerland through the 2026-27 campaign.

Tomas Tatar On EV Zug’s Radar

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In his prime, veteran winger Tomas Tatar was a quality secondary scorer, notching seven seasons of at least 20 goals.  However, his production and role have dropped in recent years and it appears that has caught the eye of at least one international team.

Speaking with the Zuger Zeitung last weekend, EV Zug’s manager Reto Klay acknowledged that Tatar is on a shortlist of players the team intends to target this offseason, one that also includes former NHL winger Dominik Kubalik.  Zug has seven import players to sign for next season so they’ll be casting a wide net to do so; Klay acknowledged that his shortlist currently consists of somewhere between 20 and 30 players.

After his contract with Montreal ended in 2021, Tatar inked a two-year, $9MM contract with New Jersey.  However, his market wasn’t the strongest in 2023 despite a 20-goal, 48-point campaign, resulting in him settling for a one-year, $1.8MM pact.  Then this past summer, he opted to sign quickly, taking $1.5MM to return to the Devils.

Last season, Tatar had just nine goals and 15 assists in 70 games between Colorado and Seattle.  This year, he has just seven tallies and ten helpers in 71 contests while his playing time is down to just 11 minutes a night, a career low.  Given the sharp drop in production, there’s a strong possibility that Tatar could have a weak market this summer, potentially landing in PTO territory.  With that in mind, it’s understandable that Zug (and perhaps other international teams) have him on their radar for next season.

It remains to be seen if Tatar would be open to playing overseas at this point of his career.  Now 34 and with over 900 NHL regular season games under his belt, would he prefer a low-cost NHL contract or even a tryout opportunity to try to extend his career at the top level?  Or, would he be open to heading overseas where he’d take a pay cut but get to play in the top-six role that he’s best suited for?  He still has a few more months to make that determination.

Metro Notes: Zibanejad, Haula, Tatar, Engvall

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The New York Rangers have made the brazen decision to scratch team captain Jacob Trouba, in anticipation of a trade or waiver placement. But the team isn’t looking to shake things up too much further, with Mollie Walker of the New York Post sharing that centerman Mika Zibanejad has yet to waive his no-movement clause. Zibanejad’s name has been side-by-side with Trouba’s in fan discussions about the team’s issues. He’s in the third year of an eight-year, $60MM contract – carrying a cap hit of $8.5MM each season. The deal features a full no-movement clause in every season, something that’s become quickly contentious as Zibanejad has struggled to make a mark off the puck this season.

To his credit, Zibanejad still has five goals and 18 points in 24 games this season. Still, that’s an 82-game pace of just 62 points – Zibanejad’s lowest scoring pace since the 2017-18 season. Four of his goals have come at even-strength, but his assists are nearly perfectly-split between five-on-five and special teams. That’s undermined Zibanejad’s role in the top-six, not helped along by a -14 showing off his defensive woes. There seemingly has to be more for the 31-year-old centerman who scored 39 goals and 91 points just two seasons ago – and who has received Selke Trophy votes in four of the last five seasons. For now, the Rangers will look to rediscover those talents internally – while they sort through a similar situation with their top defender.

More notes from the Metro Division:

  • The New Jersey Devils will see the return of both Erik Haula and Tomas Tatar on Friday, per NHL.com’s Amanda Stein. Tatar has missed the team’s last two games with a lower-body injury in the Devils’ last Friday matchup against Detroit. He logged just six shifts and three minutes of ice time before stepping away with a lower-body injury that game, but still found a way to record an assist – bringing him up to four points in his last five games. Tatar will return to the lineup with nine points in 26 games this season, operating out of New Jersey’s bottom-six. He’ll be joined in that assignment by centerman Haula, who missed practices this week with an undisclosed injury. Haula hasn’t missed any gametime, and returns to full health with five goals, 11 points, and 46 shots through 28 games this season.
  • The New York Islanders will be scratching forward Pierre Engvall on Saturday. When asked about the decision, head coach Patrick Roy told Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, “I know Pierre is trying hard, and we are all trying hard. Right now, maybe, my expectations are higher than what he’s been showing. That’s all it is.” Engvall has been a contentious piece of the Islanders lineup. He posted a three-game scoring streak earlier in the month, but has no points and a -4 in six games since – while rotating through New York’s bottom-six. He’ll now head to the press box, creating room for Kyle MacLean and Hudson Fasching to earn more ice time.

Metro Notes: Kreider, Chytil, Smith, Tatar, Smith

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The New York Rangers saw the return of Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider (X Link) to the lineup this afternoon in their win against the Montreal Canadiens. According to Vince Z. Mercogliano, the organization surprisingly made Reilly Smith a healthy scratch to open up a roster spot for the returning forwards.

Smith had largely been operating on the team’s second line but hasn’t produced up to that standard in recent games. He got off to a solid start to his tenure with the Rangers organization scoring two goals and eight points through his first 11 games.  In the following 11 games, he’s been much more disappointing with one goal and four points with a -3 rating.

Chytil and Kreider went scoreless in their return to the ice this afternoon though the former did manage a 53.8% faceoff rate. Chytil’s most recent game came on November 14th against the San Jose Sharks although much of his injury absence was due to getting cleared for a concussion by multiple medical teams.

Other notes from the Metro Division:

  • Jim Biringer of RG Media shared that the New Jersey Devils will be without forward Tomáš Tatar this evening due to a lower-body injury. The ailment was likely suffered in the team’s most recent game yesterday evening against the Detroit Red Wings. Tatar has recorded three goals and nine points in his first 26 games for the Devils since the 2022-23 NHL season.
  • In what is becoming a theme for the organization this season, the Carolina Hurricanes have again reassigned defenseman Ty Smith to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. It’s becoming apparent that Smith will serve primarily as a practice player for the Hurricanes this season barring injury to the regular six defensemen on the active roster. The constant movement from Carolina to Chicago has cost him playing time in the AHL as Smith has only managed to suit up in four games for the AHL Wolves this season.

Devils Sign Tomáš Tatar

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Winger Tomáš Tatar has landed back with the Devils on a one-year, $1.8MM deal, the team announced Tuesday.

Tatar will be set to return to the Devils after just one season away from the club. He signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract with the Colorado Avalanche last summer, but appeared in just 27 games before the team traded him to the Seattle Kraken for a 2024 fifth-round pick. Tatar played in 43 more games with Seattle, ultimately totaling a meager 24 points in 70 games this season. That’s a hefty step down from the 20 goals and 48 points that Tatar managed with New Jersey in 2022-23, though signs of bleak scoring shined through as he posted just one goal in 12 games during the 2023 playoffs.

But regardless of the down year, Tatar is still moving back to New Jersey as an acclaimed middle-six scoring winger. Tatar earned that role through five strong seasons with the Detroit Red Wings early in his career, continuously rivaling 20 goals and upwards of 40 or 50 points. Detroit traded Tatar to the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the 2018 Trade Deadline, receiving a first, second, and third-round pick in return. Tatar was just a rental for the Golden Knights, though, getting dealt to the Montreal Canadiens alongside Nick Suzuki and a second-round ahead of the 2018-19 season in the deal that landed Vegas Max Pacioretty.

Tatar found the best years of his career in Montreal, setting a career-high 58 points in his first year with the club that he then topped with 61 points in the following year.

Now 33, Tatar likely won’t chase the same scoring heights he once managed. Instead, he’ll look to provide a bunch from the Devils’ bottom-six, likely set for a role alongside Erik Haula and Ondrej Palat. That’s a stout third-line, though New Jersey will certainly have to make up for their lack of speed elsewhere.

Kraken Notes: Eberle, Kartye, Wright

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Alison Lukan of Root Sports is reporting that Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle will be out of the lineup tonight with a lower-body injury and won’t dress for their matchup tonight with the Los Angeles Kings.This season, it’s been a struggle for the 33-year-old as he has just three goals in 28 games, while also registering 11 assists. Eberle is shooting just 5.2% which is a substantial drop from his career average of 12.7%.

Eberle’s injury means that newly acquired forward Tomas Tatar will draw into the lineup for the Kraken just a day after he was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche for a fifth-round pick. Tatar appears slated to play on the Kraken’s top line alongside Matty Beniers and Jared McCann. Both McCann and Beniers have also struggled this season along with Eberle as all three men have posted offensive numbers well off what put up last year.

In other Kraken notes:

  • The Kraken announced today that they’ve reversed a move from yesterday and have recalled Tye Kartye from their AHL affiliate the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Kartye is having a decent rookie season in Seattle as the 22-year-old has posted six goals and five assists in 30 games. It’s not shocking to see Kartye recalled so quickly as he has been productive recently with two goals and an assist in his last five games. Kartye has been a great story this season for the Kraken as he has emerged as an NHL talent after being undrafted just a few years ago. He spent just a single full season in the AHL and was productive last year with the Firebirds tallying 28 goals and 29 assists in 72 games.
  • With the move to recall Kartye, the Kraken have also reversed the corresponding move that came along with it and sent Shane Wright back to the AHL. Wright was recalled Friday and spent just over 24 hours on the Kraken roster. The move might seem nonsensical on the surface, but this transaction is likely part of the series of moves Seattle Times writer Geoff Baker was referring to yesterday in his tweet. Baker said that the Kraken would make a series of moves that would be for salary cap purposes and with the Kartye and Wright moves it appears that is exactly what they are doing. Wright has been recalled and reassigned quite a few times this year and this probably isn’t the last time he will be involved in that type of transaction.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Tomas Tatar

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Per a team announcement, the Seattle Kraken have acquired forward Tomas Tatar from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. After signing with the Avalanche on a one-year, $1.5MM contract this past summer, Tatar will end his tenure with Colorado after having only played 27 games.

In what will now become a very brief experiment with the Avalanche, Tatar struggled to fit into the team system in Colorado, only scoring one goal and nine points overall. Only averaging a touch over 11 minutes of ice time per night, it was Tatar’s lowest usage rate since his sophomore campaign back in the 2012-13 NHL season.

With a relatively cheap contract, and brought in late in the summer to serve as increased offensive depth for the Avalanche, Tatar became an easy contract to move out, allowing Colorado to replenish a separate fifth-round selection, after having moved out their own two years ago in a trade for Andrew Cogliano.

Moving forward, the Avalanche will likely utilize either Ross Colton or Miles Wood in their top six, replacing Tatar on the wing. Also brought in as offensive depth over the offseason, Colton and Wood have translated much better to the system in Colorado, outperforming Tatar in almost every metric.

Similar to the reasoning that brought him to Colorado in the first place, the Kraken are dealing with their own injuries up front, as both Andre Burakovsky and Jaden Schwartz find themselves on the team’s injured reserve and long-term injured reserve, respectively. Upon the eventual return of both forwards, Tatar should still have a relatively safe spot in the Kraken’s middle six forward group.

Being a change of scenery candidate, Tatar can only benefit from this move to the West Coast, as he is in the midst of one of the worst seasons of his 13-year career. Sporting career lows in shooting percentage, points per game, and CorsiFor%, Tatar can only improve his game from here on out.

Unfortunately, with both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers passing them in the standings over the last few weeks, Seattle has an uphill climb to return to the playoffs this season. Being only one of three teams to pass the 30-game mark up to this point, the Kraken are sporting a 10-14-7 record, Seattle sits two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with two more games played.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Detroit Red Wings

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Detroit Red Wings.

Who are the Red Wings thankful for?

Dylan Larkin.

Larkin had the opportunity to leave the Red Wings this past summer but opted to remain with the franchise signing a massive eight-year extension. Few people would’ve faulted the 27-year-old for bolting the only organization he’s ever known as his tenure in the Motor City hasn’t exactly been full of memorable moments. The Red Wings haven’t made the playoffs since Larkin’s rookie season back in 2015-16 and haven’t finished better than fifth in their division since that five-game ouster at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Larkin arrived in Detroit at a time when it seemed possible that the Red Wings could avoid a long rebuild and retool on the fly as they had a pile of emerging young talent to play alongside Larkin. However, many of Detroit’s top young players at the time failed to live up to expectations leading the Red Wings into a full-on rebuild that is in its eighth year.

Larkin has done his part through some very lean years in Detroit as he has led the team in scoring in five of the past seven seasons. As well as being their on-ice leader he has also become a leader in the dressing room when he was named their captain in January of 2021. Larkin has been a point-a-game player in each of the past three seasons and has done so without a ton of offensive help from his teammates.

Detroit should be thankful for Larkin, and thankful that the Waterford, Michigan native grew up in the metro Detroit area, which was probably a very big factor when it came to his decision to sign a long-term extension.

What are the Red Wings thankful for?

Scouting.

An argument can be made that perhaps the Red Wings scouting isn’t what it once was, but even if it is a fraction of what it used to be, that’s still better than most of the NHL. The Red Wings have historically been able to hit big on late-round draft picks and much of that credit belongs to Håkan Andersson who is the Director of European Scouting for Detroit. Andersson is largely responsible for the Red Wings drafting Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula, Tomas Tatar, Jiri Hudler, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, and Gustav Nyquist. While that list is impressive, even more impressive is that Detroit only drafted one of those players in the first round (Kronwall).

Unfortunately for Detroit’s scouting department, the NHL is very much a what have you done for me lately league and their drafting hasn’t been what it once was. That’s not to say they haven’t hit home runs. Tyler Bertuzzi was a late second-round pick, as was Filip Hronek, while Andreas Athanasiou was selected late in the fourth round. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, none of those players worked out in Detroit and they all find themselves in other uniforms.

At this moment, the Red Wings do have some emerging young forwards who could make an impact over the next few years. It will be interesting to re-evaluate the Red Wings scouting in five years to look back and see how they assessed their talent.

What would the Red Wings be even more thankful for?

A Patrick Kane return to form.

If Patrick Kane can be anything close to what he was before double hip surgery, the Red Wings will be a real threat in the Eastern Conference. If he ends up like many of his peers who have undergone a hip resurfacing procedure, he might not be able to make much of an impact.

Those are obviously very different outcomes, and it could ultimately be the difference in the Red Wings season. Kane is just two years removed from posting 26 goals and 66 assists in 78 games and if he can bring some of that offense to Detroit’s lineup, along with the leadership that comes with winning three Stanley Cups, then he could push Detroit to be among the contenders in the East. But, if he can’t, Detroit may not be able to outscore some of the subpar goaltending they have received from Ville Husso.

It’s too early to tell how Kane will hold up under the grind of the regular season, but so far, he has looked strong with a goal in two games. Despite starting a huge percentage of his shifts in the defensive zone, Kane has been able to drive play, and get some good looks at both five-on-five and on the power play. As he gets into better game shape, he could become a difference-maker for the Red Wings and that would be something for Detroit fans to be even more thankful for.

What should be on the Red Wings holiday wish list?

A starting goaltender.

Ville Husso isn’t it for Detroit. The 28-year-old has started the majority of the Red Wings games this year and has not been good. In 14 games thus far, the native of Helsinki, Finland has gone 8-4-2 with a .886 save percentage and 3.65 goals against average. Those numbers will not do for a team that is desperate to get back into the playoffs and who has a good enough lineup to do so if they can get the goaltending.

What complicates matters is that backups James Reimer and Alex Lyon have outplayed Husso by a very wide margin. Reimer is 2-2-2 in six starts and has a .922 save percentage with a 2.18 goals-against average, while Lyon is 4-2-0 with a .931 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.13.

The wings are faced with several choices when it comes to their goaltending. They can ride it out with Husso and hope he finds his game while having Lyon and Reimer as backup options in case he falters. Or they can try and move Husso and his $4.75MM cap hit and then try and find another starting goaltender to replace him. Another option might be to add some additional depth, but with Lyon and Reimer already in the system it would become tricky to carry four goaltenders as one would have to be exposed to waivers. Carrying three goaltenders is already unusual, and if Detroit was to target a depth option, they would probably have to move one from one of their netminders.

Something that could work in Detroit’s favor is that they are one of the only contending teams that have a sizeable amount of cap space, meaning they could potentially acquire a goaltender and keep Husso if they wanted to, or move on from Husso and retain some of his cap hit in a trade.

If Husso does continue to struggle Detroit’s starting goalie job will be available, and it could become something to keep an eye on as we get closer to the trade deadline.

Avalanche Release Multiple Injury Updates

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Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has released an update on a slew of players in preparation for the team’s Wednesday night matchup against the St. Louis Blues. Bednar shared that newcomers Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar are likely to miss the matchup, while Cale Makar and Bowen Byram are game-time decisions. Drouin and Tatar were the last two skaters on the practice ice for Colorado, hinting that they could be leaning towards sitting out. If they do miss time, Bednar hinted at Kurtis MacDermid drawing into the lineup.

Drouin and Tatar have both played in all eight games for Colorado this season, with very different results. Drouin is off to a slow start, netting a sole assist on the season while averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time per game. Tatar has served in a similar role to Drouin – averaging 12 minutes of ice time each game – but has managed four assists. The duo are two of three Colorado forwards that haven’t scored a goal yet this season – Andrew Cogliano being the other.

Bednar said yesterday that one of Byram or Makar would likely sit out of the team’s Wednesday outing. Which defender may miss time is, unfortunately, unclear. While Byram has made an impact through the early going, he doesn’t bring the takeover ability that Makar can.

The Avalanche are now faced with the decision of whether to ice 12 forwards and six defensemen, or 11 forwards and seven defensemen – given the injuries to two top-nine forwards. MacDermid is likely to play regardless of what decision Colorado makes here – either slotting in on offense or defense depending where they need support. If Colorado decides to ice 11 forwards, Caleb Jones will draw in as the seventh defender. If they ice 12 forwards, Riley Tufte is expected to make his Avalanche debut. Both players were recalled to the NHL lineup yesterday.

Devils Offered Tomáš Tatar A One Year Contract

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Colorado Avalanche forward Tomáš Tatar lingered in free agency peril for most of the summer before he finally signed a one-year deal with the team for $1.5MM. However, he recently told the Boris a Brambor Podcast that the New Jersey Devils had offered him a one-year contract earlier in the offseason.

When discussing the one-year offer from the Devils, Tatar said he wanted more term from the Devils when they made their offer, but only realized later in free agency that a multi-year deal wasn’t possible. By the time he’d changed his mind, the Devils had already acquired forward Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames, making his return to New Jersey improbable.

Given Tatar’s timeline of events, it seems likely the Devils made their offer prior to June 27th when Toffoli was dealt to New Jersey. It’s hard to fault Tatar for thinking he could get a multi-year deal as he was coming off a good season in which he scored 20 goals and 28 assists in 82 games. His run-in free agency was one of the more puzzling things that happened this summer in hockey as he didn’t come close to getting the contract that many pundits predicted he would. The Athletic had Tatar projected to receive a three-year contract with an average annual value of $3.9MM but the flat cap and an underwhelming playoff hurt his earning potential.

Tatar’s situation is not unlike that of Evan Rodrigues last summer, he also signed with Colorado on a one-year deal after lingering in free agency for quite a while. Rodrigues signed a four-year $12MM contract this year with the Florida Panthers, something that Tatar could mimic next summer if he has another good year.

Free agency is often a guessing game, and it is sometimes hard to project who will take a one-year deal and who can get term. Many people were blindsided by which players received term on their new deals (Ryan Reaves) and which players took one-year deals (Jason Zucker). But with the flat cap, free agency has become harder than ever as evidenced by a useful middle six forward like Tatar going more than two months unsigned.

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