New Jersey Devils: Tomas Tatar Among The Huge Moves Made Today

The New Jersey Devils are crushing it this summer. They landed a stud in defenseman Luke Hughes in the 2021 NHL Draft to kick things off. He is going to come to play with his brother Jack Hughes at some point and join the budding core. The news became even better when they added Dougie Hamilton on the free-agent market. He is the biggest name to sign with a new team this year, and he chose the Devils’ seven-year offer.

They even added a solid backup goalie in Jonathan Bernier to help out Mackenzie Blackwood. All of these moves have been solid, but they still need a lot to go their way to be a playoff team in 2021-22. However, they increased their chances of that happening on Thursday.

It started with the news that they gave Yegor Sharangovich a two-year deal worth $4 million. The $2 million average annual value is an absolute steal for a player like him who could still get better. It is a major pay bump, but there might be more of those in his future if he keeps it up.

Sharangovich had 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in 54 games played. He was brilliant for his team every time that he was on the ice. If he brings that level of production to the club every night next season, they will be very happy over 82 games. He was also a rookie and could get even better which is incredibly exciting. His ability to shoot and score will really fit in well on this team.

The New Jersey Devils spent Thursday making a lot of different moves to help the team.

As exciting as it is to know that Sharangovich is taken care of, there was even more exciting news that came out on Thursday. We knew Sharangovich would eventually get figured out but we didn’t know if another top-six forward would join the group. Luckily for them, one will.

The Devils announced that Tomas Tatar was signing a two-year deal with an average annual value of 4.5 million. He is going to be a great addition to the Devils forward group as the young kids try to progress. With his addition, they should be able to score a lot more than they did in 2020-21. Young centers like Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes will enjoy having a chance to play with him.

Tatar had 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points in 50 games for the Montreal Canadiens last season. It is really nice production and you can argue that he could be better. This Devils team is going to be fast and vibrant so it will be interesting to see what he can do with them.

Outside of player news, there were some other things announced with the team as well. Former Binghamton Devils coach Mark Dennehy is not the Chief Scout of Amateur Scouting. Their new AHL team in the Utica Comets has hired Kevin Dineen to be their new head coach. It is an interesting set of moves that could really help out New Jersey’s development program.

The New Jersey Devils are trying to improve the organization the smart way. They are drafting and developing well with the hopes that some of these free-agent additions can help them along. It is clear that they will be better in 2021-22 and Thursday’s moves will go a long way in that.