One of the best forwards left on the market chose to come to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Tomas Tatar is coming off one of the most interesting careers, and at 30 years old he was looking to cash in. He probably didn’t get exactly what he was looking for, thus why he lasted more than a week on the unrestricted free agent market. The Devils eventually gave him a two-year deal worth $9 million total ($4.5 million AAV).
Tatar is coming off one of the most confusing playoff runs in a long time. The Montreal Canadiens made a run all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, taking out the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, and Vegas Golden Knights in the process. Tatar played in the first five games of the first-round series against the Maple Leafs, then he just disappeared. The Canadiens never said if he was injured or what the reason was for his absence.
He never played another game despite the Canadiens playing 15 more games that postseason. Reporters were wondering why the Canadiens’ head coach wasn’t playing the man who had 30 points in 50 games last season despite looking like they had no chance to score for most of the Final.
It’s clear the Devils are targeting a certain type of player this offseason. Tatar is an analytical darling, just like Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Graves are.
Good deal and good term for a productive analytics darling. Tatar might not be this good, but he's probably still very much worth his new deal. pic.twitter.com/dewR3hsCba
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) August 5, 2021
Tatar is very much the top six forward the Devils were looking for this season. At $4.5 million per season, his deal doesn’t stop the Devils from making a deal for, say, Vladimir Tarasenko. Or one of the other options who could be on the market. The Devils also aren’t killing themselves for Jack Hughes‘ contract extension next summer (among others).
Tatar has been traded twice in major moves. The Vegas Golden Knights surprisingly traded a massive package of picks to take him from the Detroit Red Wings. He struggled in the half season in Vegas before he was sent to the Canadiens in the deal that sent Max Pacioretty to the Knights. The deal also gave the Canadiens Nick Suzuki, so they came out on top in that deal. Tatar was awesome for the Canadiens, scoring 58 and 61 points over the past two seasons. He appears to be a late bloomer, and now he’s a good bet for the Devils.
It seems like the Devils needed very specific questions surrounding players to find them coming to New Jersey in free agency. Hamilton has questions from traditional hockey people that left him available to New Jersey. Now they have a top defenseman on the right side for years to come. Tatar had a bizarre playoff, so teams were reluctant to break the bank for Tatar. Now, the Devils, who never get the big free agent, get two of the biggest free agents in one offseason. The Devils might still not be a playoff team, but they are going to be so much better this season even if they don’t make another move.