Confirmed with Link: Devils sign Tomas Tatar - 2 years @ $4.5M AAV

[JK3]

“Let them have their Ta-Tar sauce”.

-Monty Burns

 

[HenriquesJawLine]

Hopefully he's a decent teammate because that seems to be the concern. But the signing makes a lot of sense. Hard to complain with that term.

That's not a concern at all, he's loved by teammates. Here's his latest tweet while in a shirt and tie.

 

[aboriginal]

This is great for the top 9 but for f***s sake get jack a legit sniper and pony up the bread for it. f***ing do it.

 

[Brodeur]

75 flex stick, I approve.

 

[Blackjack]

Also, I'd rather have Tatar on Hoffman's contract (3 x 4.5) than Hoffman on Tatar's contract.

 

[LeedsMonster]

Tatar has racked up around 140 points in the last 3 seasons. Say again what’s the problem with him?????

The fact hes 31 coming off arguably the worst season of his career is a little concerning, but it's not a terrible deal if he can bounce back.

 

[MartyOwns]

damn...4.5 was more than i thought it would be. not complaining, though. great offseason for fitz, and i would bet there will be some more moves made.

 

[Blackjack]

This is great for the top 9 but for f***s sake get jack a legit sniper and pony up the bread for it. f***ing do it.

Calm down Patrick Stewart we just signed his sniper this morning for $2 million.

 

[BostonDevil]

Depending on what the price for Tarasenko is, would much rather have gone that route.

Signing a guy who wasn't playing because of an injury makes me feel better than signing one who wasn't playing because he was a healthy scratch.

 

[Blender]

This is great for the top 9 but for f***s sake get jack a legit sniper and pony up the bread for it. f***ing do it.

Legit sniper you say?

 

[Nubmer6]

Depending on what the price for Tarasenko is, would much rather have gone that route.

Signing a guy who wasn't playing because of an injury makes me feel better than signing one who wasn't playing because he was a healthy scratch.

My suspicion is that the ask was way more than we expected. Maybe not a 1st round draft pick, but probably one of our active players like Kuokannen.

Whatever it is, I really want him, and I'm willing to give away a couple futures in draft picks and B prospects, but we don't have the players ready this year to be giving any away.

 

[Hisch13r]

We were a decent team at 5on5 last year, with adding some analytic kings to the team and growth from our yutes, we should be a very good 5on5 team this season. Hopefully our special teams are at least mediocre as well.

Better special teams and Bernier can make a world of difference

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Will Tatar give the Devils a potential 20-goal scorer in their top 6? Certainly. Will he make the Devils better on the PP? Also, yes. Is a 2 year deal a reasonable term, even though $4.5 million is a bit high? Sure.

But we're also talking about a player who was a consistent playoff scratch for not one but two straight teams under two different coaches for the playoffs. He's also pretty soft, and one of the Devils biggest problems in the top 6 is that it's too soft. The Devils have just become a more perimeter team with more problems getting second chances on rebounds and deflections in the crease. Tatar is very good in space, for certain, but more physical defenders have little trouble dispatching him from danger areas.

I like Tatar, and he's likely to fill the role which Andreas Johnsson failed miserably in last year and he is certainly a better option as he is far more skilled with a far higher hockey IQ. But there's several buts. If you replace Kuokkanen with Tatar on the top line, it's not a good idea. Jack Hughes played his best hockey of the season when playing alongside Sharangovich -- an excellent shooter and puck-hawk -- and Kuokkanen -- who excels at digging the pucks out of the corners and off the boards and crashes the net. Hughes benefits more from these players than perimeter scorers.

I'm more concerned that the Tatar signing signifies that Zacha will be slotted in as the third-line center with Tatar joining Jesper Bratt on Nico Hischier's wings. Again, this is a problem because, although Bratt is very competitive, you're surrounding Nico with two wingers incapable of winning corner or crease battles which Zacha is capable of winning. More importantly, Pavel Zacha has pretty much proven to be an excellent winger while being very mediocre at center.

Essentially, Tatar makes either of the Devils top 2 lines worse than they were last year, and the idea of Zacha slotting as 3C makes the Devils top 3 lines worse than last year.

This is not to say I'm completely correct in how the Devils plan to shuffle their top 9. If Tatar is on the 3rd line to start the season, I'm fine with the deal because he will certainly represent an upgrade there offensively, and he can slot up to the top 6 in case of injury. So, I don't dislike the deal, I'm just lukewarm to it because we're talking about a player on the other side of 30 who, although adding offense, does not really move the needle. Again, I feel Tatar will certainly help on the power play and on transition, and the reported 2 years at $4.5 million per is not a huge risk. But I do feel the need to state that replacing either Kuokkanen or Zacha in the Devils top 6 with Tatar represents a very likely downgrade.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Nice contract! That's the term I was hoping for, money doesn't matter for us with a 2 year deal.

Hoping with all these moves we can play some meaningful games near the end of the season

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Love it. 2 years any AAV top 6 winger was a nice move to make. Now about that 3c spot...

 

[Blackjack]

I'm cautiously optimistic. Will Tatar give the Devils a potential 20-goal scorer in their top 6? Certainly. Will he make the Devils better on the PP? Also, yes. Is a 2 year deal a reasonable term, even though $4.5 million is a bit high? Sure.

But we're also talking about a player who was a consistent playoff scratch for not one but two straight teams under two different coaches for the playoffs. He's also pretty soft, and one of the Devils biggest problems in the top 6 is that it's too soft. The Devils have just become a more perimeter team with more problems getting second chances on rebounds and deflections in the crease. Tatar is very good in space, for certain, but more physical defenders have little trouble dispatching him from danger areas.

I like Tatar, and he's likely to fill the role which Andreas Johnsson failed miserably in last year and he is certainly a better option as he is far more skilled with a far higher hockey IQ. But there's several buts. If you replace Kuokkanen with Tatar on the top line, it's not a good idea. Jack Hughes played his best hockey of the season when playing alongside Sharangovich -- an excellent shooter and puck-hawk -- and Kuokkanen -- who excels at digging the pucks out of the corners and off the boards and crashes the net. Hughes benefits more from these players than perimeter scorers.

I'm more concerned that the Tatar signing signifies that Zacha will be slotted in as the third-line center with Tatar joining Jesper Bratt on Nico Hischier's wings. Again, this is a problem because, although Bratt is very competitive, you're surrounding Nico with two wingers incapable of winning corner or crease battles which Zacha is capable of winning. More importantly, Pavel Zacha has pretty much proven to be an excellent winger while being very mediocre at center.

Essentially, Tatar makes either of the Devils top 2 lines worse than they were last year, and the idea of Zacha slotting as 3C makes the Devils top 3 lines worse than last year.

This is not to say I'm completely correct in how the Devils plan to shuffle their top 9. If Tatar is on the 3rd line to start the season, I'm fine with the deal because he will certainly represent an upgrade there offensively, and he can slot up to the top 6 in case of injury. So, I don't dislike the deal, I'm just lukewarm to it because we're talking about a player on the other side of 30 who, although adding offense, does not really move the needle. Again, I feel Tatar will certainly help on the power play and on transition, and the reported 2 years at $4.5 million per is not a huge risk. But I do feel the need to state that replacing either Kuokkanen or Zacha in the Devils top 6 with Tatar represents a very likely downgrade.

The impact of Kuokkanen on Hughes's line is often overlooked, he provides so much. Great pickup by Fitz.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I wanted Devs to sign Tatar, and Fitz did it. Good deal.

 

[Canadienna]

Hey Devils fans. Habs fan here with my 2c.

Tatar is a high end player. He attacks the center of the ice and can dangle and make plays to do so. Once there he's got a great wrister that can beat goalies clean.

He was also one of the most liked players in the room on the Habs.

He won't win corner battles, he won't throw his body around and he for some reason struggles on the PP - but he's an excellent addition I hope does well for you.

 

[JimEIV]

I really like Fitzgerald's defensive signings/additions...

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

 

[Devil X]

I dunno if Fitz was planning on adding both Tatar and Tank. But the signing of Tatar might turn the pressure back on to Armstrong. I understand that he has "time" but he also knew he had a team in the Devils that he could get something out of so it allowed him to wait.

Now.... Fitz doesnt have to engage at all if he doesnt want and can even lower his price some. I have to imagine we are just about the only team willing to take on the whole hit. He went from losing all 7.5 to some if the deal isnt with the Devils.

Who knows if the Devils are still going to try and get Tank but its an interesting thought process IMO.

 

[Team Concept]

This top 6 is going to be soft as....whatever the softest thing is. Im worried about not replacing the physicality/board work of Zajac, Bastian and Pamieri. Hopefully the added skill cam more than make up for that.

In my view Tatar is replacing Palmieri. Even though Tatar is only 5-10 he averages between 75-95 hits a season and prorate last years numbers to an 82 game schedule and he would have had 103 hits.

Palmieri Hits:
2018-2019 74 games 98 hits
2019-2020 65 games 74 hits
2021-2021 51 games 62 hits 50-10-11-21 -5 (scoring)

Tatar Hits:
2018-2019 80 games 77 hits
2019-2020 68 games 79 hits
2020-2021 50 games 63 hits 50-10-20-30 E (scoring)

Tatar is only 2 months older than Palmieri. I am going to be very curious to see the contract that Lou gives Palms. Want to bet its more than 2 years and 4.5 per?

 

[JimEIV]

That's not a concern at all, he's loved by teammates. Here's his latest tweet while in a shirt and tie.

That pizza looks like crap. Do they not know how to make pizza in Montreal?

 

[Guadana]

Nice. I dont wanna spend prospects for injury prone temporary players. It`s a safe deal.
I`m not a fan of Graves trade, i`m dissapoint we lost Bastian, Luke isn`t my guy, and I hate Vilen and Marek over Bar, but wow. This offseason is good.

 

[13BearerOfHope]

You will never be able to get this out of your head again.